Understanding Black History & Recognizing Black Icons 

A travelogue, a history, a quest, a warning and a call for a reckoning that the history of slavery is the history of our country, central and defining to who we were and who we are, individually and collectively. In powerfully lyrical prose, Clint Smith challenges us to really learn our history, listen to our legacies, understand the recollections that “remain in the marrow of our bones,” that travel through time and generations. A tour de force that will keep you engaged long past the last page. 

This riveting conversation among journalists, historians, poets, novelists, essayists and photographers lends a Technicolor depth to our American story, opening a kaleidoscopic historical vista that leaves us to ponder voices and stories only now heard. An exhilarating read, The 1619 Project responds to W.E.B DuBois’ once asked question: “Nations reel and stagger on their way; they make hideous mistakes; they commit frightful wrongs; they do great and beautiful things. And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this, so far as the truth is ascertainable?” 

Eighty Black writers and 10 Black poets, 400 years of history, told in five-year increments — this is a work of counterpoint and panorama, a book wholly its own, wonderfully unique. Read it slowly and with intention, allowing the voices and histories to “speak” in conversation, author to author, author to reader. It is indeed the history of African America, but one clear takeaway is that “the true story of America begins here, in 1619. This is our story. We must not flinch.” 

Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin, three men of one generation who changed history, each of whom acknowledged their debts to their mothers as influences crucial to their paths. And yet, these mothers — Louise, Alberta and Berdis — like so many Black women throughout history, have until now remained largely unknown and unacknowledged. Who were these unsung Black mothers? What were their own journeys and what were the lessons they taught? Intimate and arching in scope, The Three Mothers is celebratory, revelatory and surprising. A remarkable book. 

This bestselling trilogy accounts John Lewis and his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, bringing readers a new way to engage with the movement through this vivid and dynamic historical account. With stunning artwork that truly captures the friction and conflict that came with the movement, the March trilogy presents Lewis’s extraordinary life in a humble and powerful way that will stick with readers for years to come.  

Half American is the history of World War II but including the events and actors that history books have long erased. Telling the story of Black Americans who fought on two fronts, fighting for their rights in America and for the country abroad, this book compiles the stories of such Black heroes as Thurgood Marshall, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., Ella Baker, James Thompson, and Langston Hughes. Meticulously researched and indispensable, this is the World War II book that every history buff and military history fan should be reading. 

This graphic portrait of the boxing legend Jack Johnson, Last On His Feet gives readers a front-row seat to the Battle of the Century which took place on July 4, 1910. In this boxing match between Jack Johnson, the world’s first heavyweight champion, and Jim Jeffries, a former heavyweight championed deemed the “great white hope,” spectators were hoping for Jeffries to beat Johnson to restore the racial hierarchy. This masterful book is full of breathtaking illustrations and lyrical verse that bobs and weaves throughout Johnson’s life to paint the full picture of who Johnson was both in and out of the ring.   

For a moving memoir full of courage, resilience, and perseverance, pick up My Greatest Save. Briana Scurry is one of the greatest keepers in the history of women’s soccer, and her memoir explores the barriers she broke as well as her perseverance through a career ending injury that left her depressed, in debt, and in great pain, inspiring readers that sometimes the most courageous thing to do is to save yourself. 

Angela Davis’s autobiography recounts a life of activism, scholarship, and abolition. At the forefront of Black Liberation, feminist, queer, and prison abolitionist movements for over 50 years, Angela Davis’s account of her early years in struggle only shines a light on how she got to where she is now. From her childhood in Birmingham to her time on the faculty on the Philosophy Department at UCLA and so much more, Davis explores her own life with warmth, humor, and conviction that will touch readers as they learn from this brilliant life.  

An authoritative tribute to the greatest guitar player in rock and roll history, JIMI is a visual celebration of his life in a collaboration with Jimi’s sister, Janie Hendrix, and John McDermott of Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. Featuring a new introduction by Janie, biographical texts, and so much more, everything in this book recognizes the legacy Jimi Hendrix left behind through photographs, lyrics, and quotations about Hendrix by other legendary musicians such as Paul McCartney, Ron Wood, Jeff Beck, Lenny Kravitz, Drake, Dave Grohl. This is a must-have for fans of Hendrix and musicians alike! 

This deeply personal book from a fearless writer will stay with you long after you finish the last chapter. It’s a revelatory memoir that not only exposes what a lifetime of secrets, lies, and deception does to a man but also delivers a powerful story of truth, love, and freedom.  Bringing us a gutting account of strife and abuse, none of which can be separated from his upbringing as a Black man, Kiese Laymon deftly explores his complex relationships with his family, the South and America at large. 

The touching and illuminating story of living through loss, Jesmyn Ward’s Men We Reaped reflects on the five years when she watched five young men dear to her die and the exploration of why. While writing about these devastating losses to drugs, accidents, suicide, and the bad luck that follows people living in poverty, Ward discovers a heartbreaking truth — her brother and friends died because of who they were and where they were from. As the sole member of her family to leave home to pursue a college education, Ward writes with an unflinchingly honesty that has roots in her intimate knowledge of the way racism and economic struggle effected the men in her life.