Helen Hall Library Guides: Celebrating Cultural Heritage: Black History Month

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African American

Author Spotlights

James Baldwin

author & activist (1924-1987)

Notable works: Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), Giovanni's Room (1956)

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Octavia E. Butler

author & MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipient (1947-2006)

Notable works: Kindred (1988), Parable of the Sower (1993)

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Ta-Nehisi Coates

author, journalist, & MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipient (1975-)

Notable works: Between the World and Me (2015), The Water Dancer (2019)

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Eric Jerome Dickey

novelist (1961-2021)

Notable works: The Blackbirds (2016), The Son of Mr. Suleman (2021)

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Ralph Ellison

author & literary critic (1913-1994)

Notable works: Invisible Man (1952)

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Jasmine Guillory

novelist & former lawyer (1976/1977-)

Notable works: The Wedding Date (2018), The Proposal (2021)

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Zora Neale Hurston

author & anthropologist (1891-1960)

Notable works: Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)

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Beverly Jenkins

novelist (1951-)

Notable works: Josephine (2009), Forbidden (2016)

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James McBride

author & musician (1957-)

Notable works: The Color of Water (1995), The Good Lord Bird (2013)

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Toni Morrison

novelist, professor, & Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient (1931-2019)

Notable works: The Bluest Eye (1970), Song of Solomon (1977), Beloved (1987)

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Rivers Solomon

author (1989-)

Notable works: The Deep (2019), An Unkindness of Ghosts (2017)

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Colson Whitehead

author & MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipient (1969-)

Notable works: The Underground Railroad (2016), The Nickle Boys (2019)

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Recommendations Header

Recommendations

Black History Recommendations


Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie F ADICHIE available in other formats:	Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin F BALDWIN available in other formats:	The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett F BENNETT available in other formats:	My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite F BRAITHWAITE available in other formats:	The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates F COATES available in other formats:

The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat F DANTICAT	Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison F ELLISON available in other formats:	The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory F GUILLORY available in other formats:	The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris F HARRIS available in other formats:	Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston F HURSTON available in other formats:

Passing by Nella Larsen F LARSEN available in other formats:	Luster by Raven Leilani F LEILANI available in other formats:	Deacon King Kong by James McBride F McBRIDE available in other formats:	Beloved by Toni Morrison F MORRISON available in other formats:	Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid F REID available in other formats:

No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull F TURNBULL available in other formats:	The Color Purple by Alice Walker F WALKER available in other formats:	The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead F WHITEHEAD available in other formats:	Native Son by Richard Wright F WRIGHT	Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia M AFIA available in other formats:

As the Wicked Watch by Tamron Hall M HALL available in other formats:	The Trap by Melanie Raabe M RAABE available in other formats:	The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin SF JEMISIN available in other formats:	Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi SF ONYEBUCHI	The Deep by Rivers Solomon SF SOLOMON available in other formats:

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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou BIO ANGELOU available in other formats:	Basquiat: A Graphic Novel by Paolo Parisi BIO BASQUIAT	How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones BIO JONES available in other formats:	Becoming by Michelle Obama BIO OBAMA available in other formats:	The Dead Are Rising by Les Payne BIO X

Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall 305.420973 K332h 2020 available in other formats:	A Black Women's History of the United States by Daina Berry 305.48896073 B5341b 2020 available in other formats:	How to Be Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi 305.800973 K335h 2019 available in other formats:	The Three Mothers by Anna Tubbs 306.87430896073 T884t 2021	Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth 322.4209788 S7829b 2018 available in other formats:

Black Fortunes by Shomari Wills 338.092396073 W7411b 2018	Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture by Emma Dabiri 391.508996 D112t 2020	The Annotated African American Folktales by Henry Louis Gates Jr. 398.208996073 A6152a 2018	The Pretty One by Keah Brown 616.8360092 B87717p 2019	My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi 641.59296073 O598m 2022

A Little Devil in America by Hanif Adburraqib 791.08996073 A136L 2021	Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde 814.54 L867s 2020 available in other formats:	The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones 973 S6253s 2021 available in other formats:	The Black History Book ed. by Nemata Blyden NEW 973.0496 B6271b 2021	How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith 973.0496073 S6421h 2021 available in other formats:

Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching by Mychal Smith 973.0496073092 S6421i 2016	The Black History of the White House by Clarence Lusane 975.3 L968b 2011	The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971) dir. by Howard Alk DVDE 322.420973 M9741 2007	Amazing Grace (2019) dir. by Alan Elliott DVDE 782.254 Am157 2019	When We Were Kings (1996) dir. by Leon Gast DVDE 796.83092 W5671 2019

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Beloved (1998) dir. Jonathan Demme DVD BELOVED	BlacKkKlansman (2018) dir. Spike Lee DVD BLACKKKLANSMAN	Chi-Raq (2015) dir. Spike Lee DVD CHI-RAQ	Dope (2015) dir. Rick Famuyiwa DVD DOPE	Fences (2016) dir. Denzel Washington DVD FENCES

For Us, the Living (1983) dir. Michael Schultz DVD FOR	42 (2013) dir. Brian Helgeland DVD FORTY-TWO	Get on Up (2014) dir. Tate Taylor DVD GET	Get Out (2017) dir. Jordan Peele DVD GET	Girls Trip (2017) dir. Malcolm D. Lee DVD GIRLS

Harriet (2019) dir. Kasi Lemmons DVD HARRIET	If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) dir. Barry Jenkins DVD IF	Inside Man (2006) dir. Spike Lee DVD INSIDE	Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) dir. Shaka King DVD JUDAS	The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) dir. Joe Talbot DVD LAST Check out Circulation Clerk Emory's review! Stream this movie on

Loving (2016) dir. Jeff Nichols DVD LOVING	Marshall (2017) dir. Reginald Hudlin DVD MARSHALL	Moonlight (2016) dir. Barry Jenkins DVD MOONLIGHT	Nope (2022) dir. Jordan Peele BLU & DVD NOPE	Pariah (2011) dir. Dee Rees DVD PARIAH

Red Tails (2012) dir. Anthony Hemingway DVD RED	Selma (2014) dir. Ava DuVernay DVD SELMA	Straight Outta Compton (2015) dir. F. Gary Gray DVD STRAIGHT	12 Years a Slave (2013) dir. Steve McQueen DVD TWELVE	Widows (2018) dir. Steve McQueen DVD WIDOWS Check out Circulation Clerk Emory's review!


The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander available as:	March by Geraldine Brooks available as:	Dawn by Octavia E. Butler available as:	Kindred by Octavia E. Butler available as:	Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat available as:

Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany available as:	The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory available as:	The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis available as:	*Behold the Dreamers* by Imbolo Mbue available as:	Redefining Realness by Janet Mock available as:

*Tar Baby* by Toni Morrison available as:	Crafts That Celebrate Black History by Kathy Ross available as:	Forty Acres by Dwayne Alexander Smith available as:	Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward available as:	Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward available as: