Today is the first day of Black History Month! Originally started in February 1926, it spanned one week, encompassing the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The response was incredible: Black organizations formed; teachers demanded materials to teach their students Black history; and progressive white people endorsed the efforts. In 1976, the celebration was officially changed to the entire month of February, to honor the achievements, contributions, and history of Black Americans.
Here are a few selections of nonfiction and fiction books to start celebrating, learning, and enjoying during Black History Month and beyond:
Nonfiction
Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl’s Love Letter to the Power of Fashion by Tanisha C. Ford
A Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry
Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith
Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen by George McCalman
Fiction
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
How Long ‘til Black Future Month by N.K Jemisin
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
And if you’re local, join us at the Library on February 14 at 7PM for a discussion on Rivers Solomon’s novel An Unkindness of Ghosts.
-Linnea
Read it or Weep 