Reading

Black History Month (Books for Adults)

Fiction

• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Roots by Alex Haley
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
• Swing Time by Zadie Smith
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin
• The Lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon
• Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
• Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
• Their Eyes are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
• Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
• Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi
• Ayiti by Roxane Gay
• Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
• Tell Me Your Secret by Dorothy Koomson
• Ruby by Cynthia Bond
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley
• A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
• Bluebird, Bluebird: A Novel by Attica Locke
• Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
• The Sellout by Paul Beatty
• Here Comes The Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
• The Freedom Artist by Ben Okri

Non-fiction

• Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Chang
• Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala
• The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire by David Olusoga
• Bob Marley: The Untold Story by Chris Salewicz
• Black Poppies: Britain's Black Community and the Great War by Stephen Bourne
• I Can't Breathe: The Killing that Started a Movement by Matt Taibbi
• Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
• Windrush: The Irresistable Rise of Multi-Racial Britain by Mike Phillips
• Abolitionism: A Very Short Introduction by Richard S. Newman
• Africa's Long Road to Independence: The Many Histories of a Continent by Keith Somerville
• Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, at Home and at War by Linda Hervieux
• I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin
• Grime Kids: The Inside Story of the Global Grime Takeover by DJ Target
• Black and Britain: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga
• Back to Black: Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century by Kehunde Andrews
• The Making of Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of an Idea by Christophe Lebron
• The Good Immigrant by Nikesh Shukla
• They Can't Kill Us All: The Story of Black Lives Matter byWesley Lowery
• Born a Crime and Other Stories by Trevor Noah
• This is Grime by Hattie Collins
• Chuck D presents This Day in Rap and Hip-Hop History by Chuck D
• Rise Up: The Merky Story So Far by Stormzy
• The Penguin Atlas of African History by Colin McEvedy
• Eskiboy by Wiley
• The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah: The Autobiography by Benjamin Zephaniah
• A Short History of Slavery by James Walvin
• Inner City Pressure: The Story of Grime by Dan Hancox
• Island People: The Caribbean and the World by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro
• Black British History: New Perspectives by Hakim Adi
• Sounds Like London: 100 Years of Black Music in the Capital by Lloyd Bradley
• Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson by Geoffrey C. Ward
• Notes from Africa: A Musical Journey with Youssou N'Dour by Jenny Cathcart
• Black, Listed: Black Culture Explored by Jeffrey Boakye
• Bloody Foreigners: The Story of Immigration to Britain by Robert Winder
• Arthur Ashe: A Life by Raymond Arsenault
• Voices of the Windrush Generation: The Real Story Told By The People Themselves by David Matthews
• Kumukanda by Kayombo Chingonyi
• Afropean: Notes from Black Europe by Johny Pitts
• Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution by Simon Schama
• The Oxford Companion to Black British History by David Dabydeen
• Ali: The Fight America Didn't Want by Russell Routledge
• Memphis 68: The Tragedy of Southern Soul by Stuart Cosgrove
• Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
• Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation by Colin Grant
• They Don't Teach This by Eniola Aluka
• Lady Sings the Blues by Billie Holiday
• Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey by Colin Grant
• Black Artists in British Art: A History from 1950 to the Present by Eddie Chambers
• The Making of Black Working Class Britain by Ron Ramedin
• The Heart of the Race: Black Women's Lives in Britain by Beverley Bryan
• Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles by Richard Dowden
• I & I: Marley, Tosh and Wailer by Colin Grant
• Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama by David J. Garrow
• Dare Not Linger: The Presidential Years by Nelson Mandela
• Harlem 69: The Future of Soul by Stuart Cosgrove
• The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr by Martin Luther King Jr
• There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack: The Cultural Politics of Race and Nation by Paul Gilroy
• The Three Degrees by Paul Rees
• Black Britain: A Photographic History by Paul Gilroy
• Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King by Lloyd Bradley
• Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of Lifetime by Ron Stallworth
• The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race by Jesmyn Ward
• Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
• Maya Angelou: The Complete Poetry by Maya Angelou
• England's Other Countrymen: Black Tudor Society by Onyeka Nubia
• Hip Hop Raised Me by DJ Semtex
• Motown: The Sound of Young America by Adam White
• Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain by Peter Fryer
• Becoming by Michelle Obama

Black History Month (Books for Young People)

Fiction

• Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America by Ibi Aanu Zoboi
• Noughts + Crosses by Malorie Blackman
• Crossfire by Malorie Blackman
• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
• The Sun is also a Star by Nicola Yoon
• The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• On The Come Up by Angie Thomas
• Nothing But the Truth by Dick Lehr
• Oh My Gods by Alexandra Sheppard
• Indigo Donut by Patrice Lawrence
• The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
• The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton
• Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds
• Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
• Becoming Dinah by Kit De Waal
• Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Black History Month (Books for Children)

Fiction

• Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
• Look Up! by Nathan Bryon
• How High The Moon by Karyn Parsons
• Hair Love by Matthew Cherry
• Billy and the Dragon by Nadia Shireen
• No Longer Alone by Joseph Coelho
• Baby Goes to Market by Atinuke
• Julian the Mermaid by Jessica Love
• The Tunnels Below by Nadine Wild-Palmer
• Astro Girl by Ken Wilson-Max
• Mira's Curly Hair by Maryam Al Serkal
• Patina by Jason Reynolds