Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Find more on the history of Black History Month here.
Here’s a selection of titles about the history of Black America, being African American today, and essential novels by African American writers.
Jacqueline Woodson’s National Book Award and Newbery Honor winner is a powerful memoir that tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse.
Black leaders, writers, civil rights activists, scientists, and more have influenced, inspired, and changed the societies we live in. This history book’s pages are filled with the stories of these historical giants and their contributions to the world.
When eleven-year-old Langston’s father moves them from their home in Alabama to Chicago’s Bronzeville district, it feels like he’s giving up everything he loves.
Four Hundred Souls is a unique one-volume “community” history of African Americans. The editors, Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain, have assembled ninety brilliant writers, each of whom takes on a five-year period of that four-hundred-year span.
A new historical anthology from transatlantic slavery to the Reconstruction curated by the Schomburg Center, that makes the case for focusing on the histories of Black people as agents and architects of their own lives and ultimate liberation, with a foreword by Kevin Young
The Beautiful Struggle (Adapted for Young Adults)
Ta-Nehisi Coates details with candor the challenges of dealing with his tough-love father, the influence of his mother, and the dynamics of his extended family, including his brother “Big Bill,” who was on a very different path than Ta-Nehisi.
Notes from a Young Black Chef (Adapted for Young Adults)
This inspiring memoir, now adapted for young adults, chronicles Top Chef star and Forbes and Zagat 30 Under 30 phenom Kwame Onwuachi’s incredible and odds-defying fame in the food world after a tough childhood in the Bronx and Nigeria.
Discover more titles
Black History Month Titles for Middle School Students
Black History Month Titles for High School Students
#AmplifyBlackStories
Join us as we #AmplifyBlackStories all year long! Celebrate Black authors, leaders, creators, and more who have forged a path for themselves and others. Share the Black stories you love and discover books that can transform your world.
Penguin Random House is excited to partner with We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) as the inaugural sponsor of the Black Creatives Fund, which will focus on amplifying the work of Black creatives who have written books and are seeking publication. We are also partnering with WNDB on our 28th annual Creative Writing Awards to support young writers across the country from underrepresented backgrounds.
