Fiction
Giovanni's Room
James Baldwin
An American expatriate confronts desire, shame, and his capacity for betrayal in Paris.
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113 books
Fiction
Go Tell It on the Mountain
James Baldwin
A Harlem teenager’s encounter with the church opens onto the private histories of his family.
Poetry
Head Off & Split
Nikky Finney
Finney’s poems move between family, public history, and the language that mediates what people see.
History
Hidden Figures
Margot Lee Shetterly
Black women mathematicians navigate segregated workplaces while doing work central to American aviation and spaceflight.
History
How the Word Is Passed
Clint Smith
Visits to historic sites and memorials ask how public institutions tell the story of American slavery.
Memoir
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
Angelou revisits a childhood divided among homes, shaped by Southern segregation and the struggle to speak.
Fiction
If Beale Street Could Talk
James Baldwin
Tish and Fonny’s plans for a life together are upended by a wrongful accusation.
Essays
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens
Alice Walker
Walker locates artistic inheritance in the everyday work and imagination of Black women.
Memoir
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Harriet Jacobs
Jacobs recounts exploitation, years spent in hiding, and her efforts to secure freedom for her children.
Fiction
Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
An unnamed narrator moves through Southern schooling and Harlem politics, questioning who gets to define him.
Poetry
Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride
Frank X Walker
A poetry sequence approaches the life of the celebrated Black jockey through imagined voices.
Fiction
Jazz
Toni Morrison
A Harlem love triangle unfolds through a shifting narrative shaped by musical improvisation.
Biography
John Coltrane: His Life and Music
Lewis Porter
Porter places Coltrane’s musical practice and innovations alongside the events and relationships of his life.
Biography
Katherine Dunham
Joyce Aschenbrenner
Dunham’s work in anthropology and choreography illuminates a major exchange between research and performance.
Speculative fiction
Kindred
Octavia E. Butler
A Black writer is repeatedly pulled from twentieth-century California to a Maryland plantation.
Biography
King of the Blues
Daniel de Visé
B. B. King’s life connects rural beginnings, touring labor, and the international reach of electric blues.
Memoir
Life in Motion
Misty Copeland
Copeland recounts discovering ballet and finding her way through its demanding institutions.
Biography
Looking for Lorraine
Imani Perry
Perry connects Hansberry’s theatre work with her political thought, private life, and artistic networks.
Drama
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
August Wilson
A recording session brings musicians and industry power into collision as Ma Rainey insists on her terms.
Memoir
Men We Reaped
Jesmyn Ward
Ward links the deaths of five men she knew to the pressures shaping life in her Mississippi community.
Memoir
Miles
Miles Davis, Quincy Troupe
Davis recounts the bands, relationships, and musical changes that shaped his career.
Memoir
Mo' Meta Blues
Questlove, Ben Greenman
A musician and bandleader remembers a life shaped by records, influences, and collaborations.
Biography
Moanin' at Midnight
James Segrest, Mark Hoffman
Howlin’ Wolf’s biography follows his path from Mississippi to the Chicago electric blues scene.
Memoir
Mom & Me & Mom
Maya Angelou
Angelou looks back on the complicated reunion and enduring bond with her mother, Vivian Baxter.