Celebrate Black History Month with these #OwnVoices books by writers from across the African diaspora. Several of these titles were suggested by your peers!
Looking for more? These are just a selection of the books we have--and there are even more available through iShare and your local public library. And don't forget to check out the films on display, too!
Gather Out of Star-Dust: A Harlem Renaissance Album by Melissa Barton et al
Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago's South Side by Lee Bey with Amanda Williams
The Black Skyscraper: Architecture and the Perception of Race by Adrienne R. Brown
Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work by Edwidge Danticat
Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman by Jeffreen Hayes
The Chicago Black Renaissance edited by Darlene Clark Hine & John McClusky, Jr.
She Begat This: Twenty Years of the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Joan Morgan
Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths edited by Allen F. Roberts, Tom Joyce, Marla Berns, William Joseph Dewey, Henry John Drewel, & Candice Lee Goucher
Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism by Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley
Upending the Ivory Tower: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Ivy League by Stefan Bradley
A Political Education: Black Politics and Education Reform in Chicago Since the 1960s by Elizabeth Todd-Breland
E-Books
The Black Revolution on Campus by Martha Biondi
The January Children by Safia Elhillo
1919 by Eve L. Ewing
Electric Arches by Eve L. Ewing
The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon by Willie Perdomo
Indecency by Justin Phillip Reed
Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith
Ironheart: Those With Courage by Eve L. Ewing, Matt Milla, & Clayton Cowles, et al
Hot Comb by Ebony Flowers
March series by John Lewis, Nate Powell, & Andrew Aydin, et al
Angola Janga: Kingdom of Runaway Slaves by Marcelo d'Salete & translated by Andrea Rosenberg
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Later Novels by James Baldwin
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
Pet by Awkwaeke Emezi
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (co-winner of the 2019 Man Book Prize)
Knots by Nuruddin Farah
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
Selected Poems by Claude McKay
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, & Jonathan Snipes
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
Petals of Blood by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
The Underground Railroad: A Novel by Colson Whitehead
Zone One by Colson Whitehead
American Street by Ibi Zoboi
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
How to Love a Jamaican by Alexia Arthurs
New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent edited by Margaret Busby
Kirk? Krak! by Ediwidge Danticat
Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves edited by Glory Edim
Princess of the Hither Isles: A Black Suffragist's Story from the Jim Crow South by Adele Logan Alexander
The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom
The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love With Me by Keah Brown
Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen Carter
How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America by John Lewis
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black & Free in America by Darnell Moore
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected by Nnedi Okorafor
The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke by Jeffrey C. Stewart
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
Tacky's Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War by Vincent Brown
The Black Republic: African Americans and the Fate of Haiti by Brandon R. Byrd
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper
Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbat
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped WIn the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
Upsetting the Apple Cart: Black-Latino Coalitions in New York City from Protest to Public Office by Frederick Douglass Opie
The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of the Haitian Revolution by Julius S. Scott
The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander & Kadir Nelson
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick D. Brown & Gordon C. James
Parker Looks Up by Parker Curry, Jessica Parker, & Brittany Jackson
Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman by Nikki Grimes & Earl B. Lewis
Auntie Luce's Talking Paintings by Francie LaTour
The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth, & Harlem's Greatest Bookstore by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson & R. Gregory Christie
Thunder Rose by Jerdine Nolan
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o & Vashti Harrison
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
Another by Christian Robinson
Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford & Eric Velasquez
Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets written by Kwame Alexander with Chris Colderley & Marjory Wentworth & illustrated by Ekua Holmes
Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood written by James Baldwin & illustrated by Yoran Cazac
As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds
Ghost by Jason Reynolds