Begin again : James Baldwin's America and its urgent lessons for our own
by Eddie S. Glaude

James Baldwin grew disillusioned by the failure of the Civil Rights movement to force America to confront its lies about race, and the author explores what Americans can learn from Baldwin’s struggle in the era of President Trump.

The black cabinet : the untold story of African Americans and politics during the age of Roosevelt
by Jill Watts

Describes the group of African-Americans that joined the Roosevelt administration during the Great Depression, forming the Black Cabinet, who worked to devise and recommend solutions to the exclusion and racism they faced as part of the New Deal.

Black Indian
by Shonda Buchanan

Black Indian, searing and raw, is Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club and Alice Walker's The Color Purple meets Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony--only, this isn't fiction. Beautifully rendered and rippling with family dysfunction, secrets, deaths, alcoholism, and old resentments, Shonda Buchanan's memoir is an inspiring story that explores her family's legacy of being African Americans with American Indian roots and how they dealt with not just society's ostracization but the consequences of this dual inheritance.

Blood, sweat, and tears : Jake Gaither, Florida A&M, and the history of Black college football
by Derrick E White

Blood, sweat, and tears explores the legacy of black college football, taking as its central figure one of the most successful coaches in its history, Jake Gaither. A paradoxical figure, he was leader of the most feared and respected black college football program in the country, and yet many questioned his racial loyalties during the height of the civil rights movement ... a ... story of black college football that complicates the heroic narrative of integration and grapples with the complexities and contradictions of one of the most important sources of pride of black life in the twentieth century.

The book of awesome black Americans : scientific pioneers, trailblazing entrepreneurs, barrier-breaking activists and Afro-futurists
by Monique L. Jones

We are familiar with a handful of African Americans who are mentioned in American history books, but there are also countless others who do not get recognized in mainstream media. Their actions may not have appeared to shake the world, but their contributions to shifting American culture were just as groundbreaking. African Americans have made history by challenging and changing the American landscape. This was accomplished not by shedding layers of originality, but by wearing their colors proudly and openly in the world. Growth has been made possible by a resistance to conformity and a fusing of cultures, African and American alike.

Defining moments in black history : reading between the lies
by Dick Gregory

The activist and social satirist who trail-blazed a new form of racial commentary in the 1960s examines 100 key events in Black History through this collection of essays which examine Middle Passage, the creation of Jheri Curl and the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Educated for freedom : the incredible story of two fugitive schoolboys who grew up to change a nation
by Anna Mae Duane

In the 1820s, few Americans could imagine a viable future for black children. Even abolitionists saw just two options for African American youth: permanent subjection or exile. Educated for Freedom tells the story of James McCune Smith and Henry Highland Garnet, two black children who came of age and into freedom as their country struggled to grow from a slave nation into a free country.

Hidden figures : the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race
by Margot Lee Shetterly

An account of the previously unheralded but pivotal contributions of NASA's African-American women mathematicians to America's space program describes how they were segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws in spite of their groundbreaking successes. 

The last negroes at Harvard : the class of 1963 and the eighteen young men who changed Harvard forever
by Kent Garrett

A Harvard graduate who attended as one of 18 African-American recruits in an early affirmative-action program describes how he reconnected with his fellow graduates half a century later to learn their remarkable stories.

The new Jim Crow : mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness
by Michelle Alexander

Argues that the War on Drugs and policies that deny convicted felons equal access to employment, housing, education, and public benefits create a permanent under caste based largely on race.

No crystal stair : a documentary novel of the life and work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem bookseller
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

A fictionalized biography of the bookseller and civil rights activist who owned the African National Memorial Bookstore in Harlem, New York City.

Once in a great city : a Detroit story
by David Maraniss

Despite everything that made Detroit great — from the auto industry visionaries, to influential labor leaders, to the hit-makers of Motown — shows how there were hints of the city's tragic collapse decades before the riot, years of civic corruption and neglect took their toll.

Overground railroad : the Green Book and the roots of Black travel in America
by Candacy A Taylor

Examines the important historical role of the “black travel guide to America” published from 1936 to 1966, celebrating the courage of black-safe businesses that advanced race relations by including themselves in Green Book listings. 

The Quilts of Gee's Bend
by John Beardsley

Since the 19th century, the women of Gee's Bend in southern Alabama have created stunning, vibrant quilts. Beautifully illustrated with 110 color illustrations, The Quilts of Gee's Bend includes a historical overview of the two hundred years of extraordinary quilt-making in this African-American community, its people, and their art-making tradition. This book is being released in conjunction with a national exhibition tour including The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, and theWhitney Museum of American Art.

The rise : black cooks and the soul of American food
by Marcus Samuelsson

Celebrates the culinary contributions of black chefs and cooks to American cuisine including recipes such as chilled corn and tomato soup, saffron tapioca pudding, and steak frites with plantain chips and green vinaigrette.

Soul City : race, equality, and the lost dream of an American utopia
by Thomas Healy

The story of the landmark 1970s effort to create a city dedicated to racial equality in North Carolina which was eventually crushed by the racist Senator Jesse Helms and false claims of fraud and corruption. 

Strange Fruit, Vol. II : More Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History
by Joel Christian Gill

 A collection of stories from early African American history that represent the oddity of success in the face of great adversity. Each of the eight illustrated chapters chronicles an uncelebrated African American hero or event. Joel Christian Gill offers historical and cultural commentary on heroes whose stories are not often found in history books, such as Cathay Williams, the only known female buffalo soldier, and Eugene Bullard, a fighter pilot who flew for France during World War II. These beautifully illustrated stories offer a refreshing look at remarkable African Americans. 

The three mothers : how the mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin shaped a nation
by Anna Malaika Tubbs

From Gates Scholar and First Lady of Stockton, CA, comes the first book to celebrate the three great women who raised and shaped America's most pivotal heroes: MLK, Malcolm X, and James Baldwin. 

Vanguard : how black women broke barriers, won the vote, and insisted on equality for all
by Martha S. Jones

Examines the struggle of African American women to achieve equality and political power by examining the lives and work of black women, including Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and Fannie Lou Hamer.

Wandering in strange lands : a daughter of the Great Migration reclaims her roots
by Morgan Jerkins

From an acclaimed cultural critic and the New York Times best-selling author of This Will Be My Undoing comes the story of her journey to understand her northern and southern roots, the Great Migration and the displacement of black people across America. 

When they call you a terrorist : a black lives matter memoir
by Patrisse Khan-Cullors

A lyrical memoir by the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement urges readers to understand the movement's position of love, humanity and justice, challenging perspectives that have negatively labeled the movement's activists while calling for essential political changes.

The warmth of other suns : the epic story of America's great migration
by Isabel Wilkerson

In an epic history covering the period from the end of World War I through the 1970s, a Pulitzer Prize winner chronicles the decades-long migration of African Americans from the South to the North and West through the stories of three individuals and their families. Reprint. A best-selling book. A National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.