You may have heard about recent challenges to books, sometimes with the result of having them removed from schools or public libraries. The American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom has noted that such challenges are disproportionately brought against books written by authors of color and/or authors of marginalized gender/sexual identities. Author Zora Neale Hurston's books, including Their Eyes Were Watching God, are frequently challenged. If you're a fan of Hurston's books--as many are--you should join us for a Living History Performance with Gwendolyn Quezaire-Presutti portraying Zora Neale Hurston tonight, 2/24, at 7pm via Zoom.
Even if you can't make the presentation, these books bring history to life every day. At MHL we always believe in condemning censorship and celebrating our freedom to read, but since it's Black History Month here are some frequently-challenged books by Black authors. This list includes some newer favorites for young readers as well as some acclaimed classics. And they're all available here at MHL!
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All American boys
by Jason Reynolds When sixteen-year-old Rashad is mistakenly accused of stealing, classmate Quinn witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who happens to be the older brother of his best friend. Told through Rashad and Quinn's alternating viewpoints. |
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The bluest eye
by Toni Morrison A new edition of the first novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author relates the story of Pecola Breedlove, an eleven-year-old Black girl growing up in an America that values blue-eyed blondes, and the tragedy that results because of her longing to be accepted. |
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The color purple
by Alice Walker The lives of two sisters--Nettie, a missionary in Africa, and Celie, a southern woman married to a man she hates--are revealed in a series of letters exchanged over thirty years. |
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The hate u give
by Angie Thomas Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life. |
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I know why the caged bird sings
by Maya Angelou The author and poet recalls the anguish of her childhood in Arkansas and her adolescence in northern slums. |
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Native son
by Richard Wright Traces the fall of a young black man in 1930s Chicago as his life loses all hope of redemption after he kills a white woman. |
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New kid
by Jerry Craft Enrolled in a prestigious private school where he is one of only a few students of color, talented seventh grade artist Jordan finds himself torn between the worlds of his Washington Heights apartment home and the upscale circles of Riverdale Academy. |
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Roll of thunder, hear my cry
by Mildred D Taylor This 40th anniversary edition of the 1977 Newbery Medal-winning title tells of a black family's struggle to overcome the prejudices and hatred they face in Mississippi during the Great Depression. |
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The 1619 Project : a new origin story
by Nikole Hannah-Jones This ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began on the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery reimagines if our national narrative actually started in late August of 1619, when a ship arrived in Jamestown bearing a cargo of 20-30 enslaved people from Africa. |
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Stamped : racism, antiracism, and you
by Jason Reynolds A timely reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s National Book Award-winning Stamped From the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America while explaining their endurance and capacity for being discredited. |
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Their eyes were watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston When independent Janie Crawford returns home, her small African-American community begins to buzz with gossip about the outcome of her affair with a younger man, in a novel set in the 1930s South. |