You know how the saying goes: Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. But when we're still living through a historical moment, educating ourselves on where those forces originated and how we got where we are becomes even more important. Reading books from Black authors can help lend important context to the ongoing protests against police brutality, persisting systemic racism, and the discrimination that Black people face every day. For those of us who don't have that experience firsthand, reading about experiences other than our own is doubly important. It can help us engage with our own antiracist education more thoughtfully, and can save you from possibly painful snafus in your interactions with Black friends and colleagues, too. Reading doesn't absolve us of taking further action against injustice, but it's a good start.
When most of us went through school, we learned history from a largely white-centric point of view. African history, and the history of Black people in the United States, didn't feature prominently in most of our lessons. If your own education has a few gaps, and it's easy to fill those in now. Doing the reading also takes the burden of educating others off our Black friends and colleagues, so consider working your way through this reading list a double win.
1
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
Audre Lorde
bookshop.org
$15.63
This collection of 15 essays and speeches takes on racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and class in the searing, lyrical prose that makes Lorde an icon. Her language will work its way under your skin and stay with you long after you turn the last page.
RELATED: 20 Best Books About Anti-Racism
2
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement
Angela Y. Davis
bookshop.org
$14.67
Powerhouse activist Angela Y. Davis reveals the connection between Black feminism, prison abolition, and liberation struggles that stretch from South Africa to Ferguson and Palestine in this powerful collection of essays, speeches, and interviews. You'll realize how similar the struggle for freedom really is the world over, no matter which forces you're railing against.
RELATED: 25 Books By Black Authors to Add to Your Reading List
3
The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison
bookshop.org
$13.75
If you've never read Toni Morrison, her first novel is a great place to start. You'll meet Pecola Breedlove, who longs for the blue eyes and blonde hair she (and her white schoolmates) consider the paradigm of beauty. Learn more about gender, race, and class through a novel that's as gorgeous as it is illuminating.
4
The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin
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$12.83
Get to know the Harlem James Baldwin called home while delving into the ramifications of racial injustice in this hugely necessary read. Part sermon, part history lesson, this one earns its status as a classic.
5
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Michelle Alexander
bookshop.org
$25.75
The criminal justice system has been disproportionately weaponized against Black people, and this seminal tome on the issue should be required reading for all of us. This tenth anniversary edition includes a new foreword by the author on the criminal justice reform movement's progress.
6
The Wretched of the Earth
Frantz Fanon
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$14.72
If you don't know much about the path to liberation of colonized people and the role violence and racism plays in these struggles, this book by a psychoanalyst who took part in the Algerian Nationalist Movement can help break it down. It's a great, slightly dense primer on just how entrenched racism is in our society, and what it'll take to truly eradicate.
7
Assata: An Autobiography
Assata Shakur
bookshop.org
$17.43
Learn the origin story and journey of one of the most prominent members of the Black Panthers in this gripping autobiography. Shakur recounts her story in her own wry voice from where she now lives in Cuba after escaping from prison following her conviction after the notorious Jersey State Turnpike shooting that took the life of a police officer.
8
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color
Cherrie Moraga; Gloria Anzaldua
bookshop.org
$34.95
Women of color often get left behind in big conversations about race, but their experience is a uniquely important one. This anthology of essays, poetry, criticism, and visual art explores the intersection between race, class, and feminism.
9
Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism
Bell Hooks
bookshop.org
$41.94
The title of this classic work by Bell Hooks says it all. Feminism has historically left out Black women. Move beyond racist and sexist assumptions with the help of this groundbreaking book.
10
A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story
Elaine Brown
bookshop.org
$16.51
You may know the life stories of Black male icons like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and John Lewis, but you may never have heard of Elaine Brown, the first and only female leader of the Black Panthers. Rectify that with this book.
11
How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir
Saeed Jones
bookshop.org
$23.92
Not all Black history books are scholarly – some are beautiful memoirs told in prose that will take your breath away. This memoir of his life growing up as a gay Black man in the South is the latter. Jones' struggles with queerness, love and sex, and his relationships paint a broader picture of our society, too.
12
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
bookshop.org
$7.35
Angelou's heartbreaking and gorgeous coming-of-age memoir tells the story of a difficult and lonely childhood, sexual assault as a young girl, and how her own strength of spirit and discovery of literature sustained her through tragedy and trauma.
13
Mules and Men
Zora Neale Hurston
bookshop.org
$14.71
By the author of Their Eyes Were Watching God comes an anthology of folklore, sermons, tall tales, and other cultural fabric that made up the cultural fabric of Black lives in the South. These elements are an important part of history too, so don't leave them behind.
14
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
Alex Haley
bookshop.org
$17.47
Following one man's family from Africa, through the middle passage and into slavery, and then six generations of farmers, blacksmiths, porters, lawyers, and architects, this rich text will speak to anyone who has ever yearned to know their own family history, too.
15
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead
bookshop.org
$15.59
In Whitehead's imagining, the underground railroad is more literal than it was in real life, but the struggles of its characters as they flee slavery are all too real. This brilliant book gives faces and names to the journey toward freedom, and the unrealized promise that holds.
Lizz Schumer
Senior editor
Lizz Schumer is the senior editor for Good Housekeeping, and also contributes to Woman's Day, and Prevention, covering pets, culture, lifestyle, books, and entertainment.
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