Books for Black History Month

By Coll Rowe | December 16 2025 | History

In honor of Black History Month this February, we are highlighting essential fiction and nonfiction for students, teachers, and parents to share and discuss this month and beyond. Join Penguin Random House Education in celebrating the contributions of Black authors and illustrators by exploring the titles here:

BLACK HISTORY – MIDDLE SCHOOL

BLACK HISTORY – HIGH SCHOOL

Explore these additional genres by Black creators:

 HISTORY

FAMILY & CULTURE

FICTION

POETRY

SOCIAL JUSTICE

THE ARTS

FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION

PICTURE BOOKS

Three or More Is a Riot
Three or More Is a Riot
Notes on How We Got Here: 2012-2025
Jelani Cobb
9780593978207
From one of the definitive journalists of this era  -- acclaimed historian, Pulitzer finalist, staff writer at the New Yorker, and dean of Columbia Journalism School--comes a kaleidoscopic, real-time portrait of our last turbulent decade.
$32.00 US
Oct 14, 2025
Hardcover
496 Pages
One World
Night Flyer
Night Flyer
Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People
Tiya Miles
9780593491188
From the National Book Award–winning author of All That She Carried, an intimate and revelatory reckoning with the myth and the truth behind an American everyone knows and few really understand
$20.00 US
Jun 17, 2025
Paperback
336 Pages
Penguin Books
Integrated
Integrated
How American Schools Failed Black Children
Noliwe Rooks
9780553387391
A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF 2025 • A powerful, incisive reckoning with the impacts of school desegregation that traces four generations of the author’s family to show how the implementation of integration decimated Black school systems and did much of the Black community a disservice "Rooks deftly sketches this lamentable, sobering history."—The Atlantic
$28.00 US
Mar 18, 2025
Hardcover
240 Pages
Pantheon
Lovely One (Adapted for Young Adults)
Lovely One (Adapted for Young Adults)
Ketanji Brown Jackson
9798217117772
The New York Times bestselling memoir now adapted for young adults! Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to ever be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, chronicles her life story and her extraordinary path to becoming a jurist on America's highest court in this inspiring, intimate memoir.
$20.99 US
Jan 20, 2026
Hardcover
368 Pages
Bright Matter Books
American Wings
American Wings
Chicago's Pioneering Black Aviators and the Race for Equality in the Sky
Sherri L. Smith, Elizabeth Wein
9780593323991
From the acclaimed author of Flygirl and the bestselling author of Code Name Verity comes the thrilling and inspiring true story of the desegregation of the skies. Now in paperback!
$12.99 US
Jan 14, 2025
Paperback
384 Pages
G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Forever for the Culture
Forever for the Culture
Notes from the New Black Digital Arts Renaissance
Steven Underwood
9780807013380
THE CURATORS OF CULTURE: Celebrate Black digital art in this essay collection revealing how Black artists have shaped everything from TikTok dances to viral memes
$29.95 US
Jan 27, 2026
Hardcover
240 Pages
Beacon Press
Black Legacy
Black Legacy
A History of New York's African Americans
William Loren Katz
9781644214398
Discover the complete Black history of New York—from 1609 to the present—by the award-winning author of Breaking the Chains and Black Indians. For readers 12 and up. Includes a new intro and last chapter with insights on modern-day movements like Black Lives Matter, plus 50+ historical maps, illustrations, and photos. Essential for NY teachers, librarians and teens.
$18.95 US
Jan 27, 2026
Paperback
400 Pages
Triangle Square
The Black History Book
The Black History Book
Big Ideas Simply Explained
DK
9780744042146
Discover the rich and complex history of the peoples of Africa, and the struggles and triumphs of Black cultures and communities around the world.
$34.99 US
Nov 23, 2021
Hardcover
336 Pages
DK
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