published 2020, avg rating 4.39 — published 2018, avg rating 4.22 — Tressie McMillan Cottom shares intimate details of her own life and covers a broad spectrum about her thoughts on racism and white superiority and what is wrong with America today. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was a really clever gradual unfolding of friendship and the suffering undergone by the captive population of Guernsey during the occupation of the Third Reich during the early 1940's. Every page forward in this book until the very end was more informative and freeing and space creating and life-affirming than the page before it. This is one of the best nonfiction Books by Black Authors. published 2001, avg rating 3.81 — Young uses the form of the essay to both tell his own story of growing up black in Pittsburgh AND write about the culture around him. We must move forwards together. Becoming by Michelle Obama Nonfiction – Memoir, Released November 13, 2018 426 Pages Affiliate Link: Buy from Amazon Plot Summary: Obama’s story of her childhood and experience being the wife of Barack Obama and the First Lady of the United States. published 2016, avg rating 3.98 —

He is a force of nature. If anyone has read Kristin Hannah's 'The Nightingale,' they will enjoy this book, and vice versa. Gates also describes how pseudo scientific ideas of the era posited a biological basis for the inferiority of the African race employing such quackery as phrenology and misconstrual of Darwin’s theories evolutionary theories that had so recently taken hold in the intellectual world. Gates tells us how this push toward reestablishing white supremacy was instilled in the public psyche. 25,276 ratings — Barracoon: The Story of the Last ‘Black Cargo’ is a previously unpublished work by author Zora Neale Hurston.

published 1996, avg rating 4.42 — It is part memoir, part social commentary, with hard-won and well-argued definitions of racist and anti-racist thought, action, and policy underpinning both threads. However, this book is also a guide to the author’s personal thoughts about a variety of different political and social issues, and the Green Book is often just a backdrop to what she wants to say about later decades’ events and contemporary problems. Too many people think their hardships ended when slavery did, and nothing could be further from the truth. 28 ratings — So many places to look towards for understanding and to share with others as a means of highlighting truths of the black experience.

published 1967, avg rating 4.00 — published 2010, avg rating 4.24 — published 2015, avg rating 0.0 — This list of nonfiction Canadian books by Black authors about racism, anti-Blackness, and anti-racist activism is one place to start. You have entered an incorrect email address! 318 ratings — published 1995, avg rating 4.31 —

Despite his age, his memory is excellent and, as Deborah G. Plant points out in the introduction, if he gets minor details wrong, his story overall matches objectively known facts. 3,040 ratings — Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Overground Railroad is one of the best nonfiction Books by Black Authors written recently. Growing up in the South. published 1993, avg rating 4.42 — Many thanks to everyone who has suggested additional books to feature to the present list via email and social media. The mission was to remain on the Red Planet for thirty-one days, but six days into their stay, a huge dust storm blew up with ferocious winds that forced the crew to abandon the mission. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Laymon is talented at capturing a person’s strengths as well as their flaws, including his own, and his prose is rhythmic and full of memorable lines. Eloquent Rage is a really striking, compelling, dense book that breaks down Black female anger, Black inequality, and the fact that Black women have shown up and continue to show up for everyone and everything, despite no one showing up for them. But among the pain in this book, you also feel the interminable love of a son for his mother. 583,697 ratings — 1,238 ratings — published 2017, avg rating 4.40 — Beautifully written, intelligent and sensitive essays about the intersection of black and white in America and in the author’s life. published 2012, avg rating 3.99 — The Alice Network by Kate Quinn reads as a fascinating piece of historical fiction torn between the events of World War I and post-World War II France. This was a great examination of the extent of the racial terrorism black people had to face through well into the 20th Century. 802 ratings — Only when one comes to terms with the emergence of and magnitude of racially grounded stereotyping of African-Americans from the end of Reconstruction to the civil rights breakthroughs in the 1960’s can one fully grasp how great is the blot this era on the purported values and principles of the republic.

In Born a Crime, Trevor Noah takes us on a journey from his childhood being born a crime in apartheid South Africa. 10 ratings — This is one of the most compelling nonfiction Books by Black Authors . His trial was a sham, his court appointed lawyer couldn’t have cared less, the police told him to his face they didn’t care if he was innocent because “If you didn’t do it some other nigger did”, the prosecutor Robert McGregor, I will only say that I hope he enjoys heat because he’s burning in Hell. See our must-read list, featuring black authors such as Maya Angelou, Alice Walker & Ben Okri.
Brown describes her experience of diversity: there is a quota and brochures proudly show that it is being met, but the employee is not listened to and is expected to be patient and understanding of racist statements and acts, educate the offender, and of course, never be angry. published 2004, avg rating 4.09 — 549,658 ratings — 25 ratings — There are many ways to take action against racism. 5,536 ratings —

The story of the failure of Reconstruction and the rise of the “Redeemed” South with its virulent white supremacy in the late 19th and most of the 20th centuries is critical to fully understand; the painful state of political and social injustice that persisted throughout most of the 20th century, and whose effects linger today. 103,318 ratings — Black Is the Body: Stories from My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, and Mine by Emily Bernard Publication Year: 2019. 7,152 ratings — In this brilliant combination of memoir and commentary, Young takes us through his upbringing in a lower-income family, his experiences as a high school basketball star and then struggling college player, through his relationships with women, the world of black barbershops and haircuts, the experience of trying to make enough money to live a middle-class life, and the constant racism that permeates and informs his world.

Read some of the best fiction and nonfiction by contemporary Black authors, including books in every genre from literary fiction to personal memoirs. For whites seeking to understand racial divisions and tension and see a hope for the future, some of the nonfiction books by black authors may seem intimidating or aggressively sharp-edged. 239 ratings — Saeed Jones neither apologizes for who he is, nor does he gloss over his experiences to make himself look better. Perhaps it shouldn’t have needed Kendi’s honest evaluation of his own struggle with racism and prejudice to make us consider our own, but his candour demands an equally frank response. published 2010, avg rating 4.32 — What makes the book worth reading is Hinton himself.

The author uses the Green Book as a guide to take us through the decades of “The Greatest Generation” and beyond to show us exactly how opposite of “great” this time period was for black people.

She tells it all with compassion and empathy. Our present moment serves not only as a call to action, but a chance to teach ourselves and our society about the underlying issues that led to the unnecessary murder of George Floyd. Anthony Ray Hinton is an amazing and Godly man.

This is one of the best nonfiction Books by female Black Authors.

This innocent man could have been put to death, for the crime of being black & poor.

He took the high road in difficult circumstances and looked for the humanity in everyone, including his fellow inmates. The power of this book is that it is both intensely personal and consciously universal. Here are 50 commendable books by black authors published in the past five years. This is one of the most influential nonfiction Books by Black Authors that you need to read. From wise artists like Maya Angelou to new voices like Marlon James and Kiley Reid, and leaders like the Obamas, we've gathered some of the all time best books by Black authors to add to your reading list. Thanks to the work of African American authors, the world can better understand both the struggles and triumphs of Black people in America. A Silent Takeover was intense and suspenseful, and was a thriller to its very core. The subtitle of this book reveals the main theme of the book: “Creating the Ideal Career”. published 2014, avg rating 4.19 — 13,934 ratings — There are many ways to take action against racism. This is a powerful book about the systemic oppression of people of color in the USA (and other predominantly white countries). Her writing is at once conversational and accessible but also intellectual and sharp. published 1942, avg rating 4.10 — Gritty, smart, original, Thick is a powerful collection of essays on race and womanhood, especially Black womanhood and the many injustices heaped upon Black women. 98 ratings — published 2014, avg rating 4.64 — avg rating 4.48 — published 1965, avg rating 4.33 —

The author writes about so many things–living as a black woman in Vermont.