Drama
A Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry
A Chicago family debates how to use an inheritance and faces resistance to moving into a new home.
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18 books
History
Black Against Empire
Joshua Bloom, Waldo E. Martin Jr.
A history of the Black Panther Party follows its organizing strategies and the pressures that weakened it.
Memoir
Brown Girl Dreaming
Jacqueline Woodson
Woodson remembers growing up between South Carolina and New York in verse attentive to family stories.
Biography
Dream Boogie
Peter Guralnick
A biography follows Cooke from gospel performance into popular music and independent business ventures.
Oral history
Freedom on the Border
Catherine Fosl, Tracy E. K'Meyer
Kentuckians’ oral histories illuminate the work of challenging segregation across the state.
History
Hidden Figures
Margot Lee Shetterly
Black women mathematicians navigate segregated workplaces while doing work central to American aviation and spaceflight.
Biography
Looking for Lorraine
Imani Perry
Perry connects Hansberry’s theatre work with her political thought, private life, and artistic networks.
Graphic memoir
March: Book One
John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell
The first volume traces Lewis’s childhood and the organizing that led to the Nashville lunch-counter sit-ins.
Biography
Princess Noire
Nadine Cohodas
The book follows Simone’s musical education, performance career, and political commitments.
Music history
Respect Yourself
Robert Gordon
Stax Records offers a vantage point on Memphis soul, collaboration, and the pressures surrounding the label.
Music history
Sweet Soul Music
Peter Guralnick
Musicians, producers, and studios tell the story of Southern soul across a network of regional scenes.
Memoir
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Malcolm X, Alex Haley
Malcolm X recounts the institutions, encounters, and journeys that transformed his political and religious life.
History
The Black Arts Movement
James Edward Smethurst
A study of the Black Arts Movement examines regional networks and the connection between artistic practice and political action.
Essays
The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin
Two essays examine faith, racial power, and the obligations Americans owe one another.
Memoir
The Heart of a Woman
Maya Angelou
Angelou recalls work in the arts and civil rights organizing while raising her son.
Fiction
The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963
Christopher Paul Curtis
A Michigan family’s visit to Birmingham brings a child’s perspective to an era of racial violence.
Poetry
Turn Me Loose
Frank X Walker
Poems use distinct voices to consider the killing of Medgar Evers and the persistence of public memory.
Memoir
Walking with the Wind
John Lewis, Michael D'Orso
Lewis recalls the practical training, collective decisions, and personal risks behind movement campaigns.