In honor of Black History Month, Penguin Random House Education is highlighting stories about the history of Black America from the Colonial Era to the Civil Rights Movement to the Present, with topics ranging from women’s history and cultural history to music, art, and film and community. The list includes essential stories, non-fiction, and history.
Celebrating Black History Month
By Colleen Rowe | January 10 2023 | History
The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad
978-0-593-53438-0
Here is the remarkable and inspiring story of William Still, an unknown abolitionist who dedicated his life to managing a critical section of the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia—the free state directly north of the Mason-Dixon Line—helping hundreds of people escape from slavery.
$30.00 US
Nov 01, 2022
Hardcover
432 Pages
Knopf
This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song
978-1-9848-8035-2
From the New York Times bestselling author of Stony the Road and one of our most important voices on the African American experience comes a powerful new history of the Black church as a foundation of Black life and a driving force in the larger freedom struggle in America.
$20.00 US
Jan 18, 2022
Paperback
304 Pages
Penguin Books
- History > Race and Gender Studies > History of African-Americans
- History > Topical History > History of Religion
- History > U.S. History > African American
- History > U.S. History > Religious History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Social Science > American Popular Culture
- Religion > Comparative Religion > American Religions
- Religion > Comparative Religion > Christianity
- Religion > Introduction to Religion > History of Religion
- Religion > Special Topics > Religion and Culture
- Sociology > Social Institutions > Sociology of Religion
A New Origin Story
978-0-593-23057-2
Visit 1619books.com to access free online curricular materials for the book.
$38.00 US
Nov 16, 2021
Hardcover
624 Pages
One World
- Communication > Journalism > News Writing and Reporting
- Education > Curriculum and Instruction > Curriculum Development – Secondary
- Education > Curriculum and Instruction by Subject > Reading and Literacy – Secondary (AP)
- Education > Curriculum and Instruction by Subject > Reading and Literacy – Secondary (Grades 7-12)
- Education > Curriculum and Instruction by Subject > Social Studies Methods – Secondary (AP)
- Education > Curriculum and Instruction by Subject > Social Studies Methods – Secondary (Grades 7-12)
- Education > Foundations > Multicultural Education
- English > Comparative Literature: American > African American Fiction
- English > Comparative Literature: American > African American Non-Fiction
- English > Comparative Literature: American > African American Poetry
- English > Literature > American Literature – African American
- History > Survey Courses > U.S. History Survey – Colonial to Present
- History > Topical History > History of Slavery
- History > U.S. History > African American
- History > U.S. History > U.S. Cultural History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Literature
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Social Science > American Studies
- Political Science > American Government and Politics > American Government
- Political Science > Introduction to Political Science > Political Theory and Thought
- Sociology > Race / Class / Gender > Race Relations
- Student Success and Career Development > Student Success > First-Year Experience
978-0-8070-0199-8
A vibrant and empowering history that emphasizes the perspectives and stories of African American women to show how they are--and have always been--instrumental in shaping our country
$17.00 US
Mar 16, 2021
Paperback
296 Pages
Beacon Press
The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation
978-0-385-54488-7
From an award-winning writer at the New York Times Magazine and a contributor to the 1619 Project comes a landmark book that tells the full story of racial health disparities in America, revealing the toll racism takes on individuals and the health of our nation.
$30.00 US
Jun 14, 2022
Hardcover
288 Pages
Doubleday
- History > U.S. History > History of Medicine
- Sociology > Race / Class / Gender > Race Relations
- Sociology > Race / Class / Gender > Social Stratification
- Sociology > Social Institutions > Sociology of Health / Medicine
- Student Success and Career Development > Student Success > First-Year Experience
- Healthcare Professions > Medical Sciences > History of Medicine
- Healthcare Professions > Medical Sciences: Clinical > Community Medicine / Public Health
- Environmental Science > Environmental Health
The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad
978-1-9848-8039-0
The definitive history of World War II from the African American perspective, written by civil rights expert and Dartmouth history professor Matthew Delmont
$30.00 US
Oct 18, 2022
Hardcover
400 Pages
Viking
- History > Global Conflicts > World War II
- History > Race and Gender Studies > History of African-Americans
- History > Topical History > Military History
- History > U.S. History > African American
- History > U.S. History > U.S. Military History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Sociology > Race / Class / Gender > Race Relations
- Sociology > Race / Class / Gender > Social Stratification
A Community History of African America, 1619-2019
978-0-593-44934-9
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A "choral history" of African Americans covering 400 years of history in the voices of 90 writers, edited by the bestselling, National Book Award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi and award-winning historian Keisha N. Blain.
$20.00 US
Feb 01, 2022
Paperback
528 Pages
One World
A Black History on the Conflict, Hope, and Fallout of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
978-1-64009-502-1
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of The Year
$27.00 US
Nov 01, 2022
Hardcover
336 Pages
Counterpoint
- History > Period History: U.S. > America in the 20th Century (1900-1945)
- History > Race and Gender Studies > History of African-Americans
- History > Survey Courses > U.S. History Survey – 1865 to Present
- History > U.S. History > History of the South
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Sociology > Race / Class / Gender > Race Relations
- Sociology > Race / Class / Gender > Social Stratification
A Story of Pain and Perseverance in America
978-0-593-32058-7
From one of America’s most transformative politicians and activists, a powerful and inspiring memoir that sheds light on a harrowing personal journey and reveals how urgently we need our political leadership to prioritize meeting the needs of our most marginalized communities.
$28.00 US
Oct 04, 2022
Hardcover
272 Pages
Knopf
One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice
978-0-593-49061-7
“Since we know George Floyd’s death with tragic clarity, we must know Floyd’s America—and life—with tragic clarity. Essential for our times.”—Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist
$30.00 US
May 17, 2022
Hardcover
432 Pages
Viking
- History > Period History: U.S. > America in the 21st Century
- History > U.S. History > African American
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Social Science > American Studies
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Women's and Gender Studies > Race, Class, and Gender
- Political Science > Comparative Politics > Race and Politics
- Sociology > Race / Class / Gender > Race Relations
- Student Success and Career Development > Student Success > First-Year Experience
- Criminal Justice > Ethics in Criminal Justice
- Criminal Justice > History of Criminal Justice
- Criminal Justice > Introduction to Criminal Justice
- Criminal Justice > Introduction to Policing / Law Enforcement
- Legal and Paralegal Studies > Legal Studies > Civil Rights
The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
978-1-9848-5501-5
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • KIRKUS PRIZE FINALIST • In this "remarkable book" (New York Times), a renowned historian traces the life of an object handed down through three generations of Black women to craft an extraordinary testament to people left out of the archives.
$18.99 US
Feb 01, 2022
Paperback
416 Pages
Random House Trade Paperbacks
- History > Historiography
- History > Race and Gender Studies > History of Women in America
- History > Topical History > History of Slavery
- History > U.S. History > African American
- History > U.S. History > History of Women
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Women's and Gender Studies > Race, Class, and Gender
Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America
978-0-8070-0725-9
Explores the Black activist’s ideas and political strategies, highlighting their relevance for tackling modern social issues including voter suppression, police violence, and economic inequality.
$16.95 US
Oct 04, 2022
Paperback
200 Pages
Beacon Press
- History > Race and Gender Studies > History of Women in America
- History > Topical History > History of Women
- History > U.S. History > African American
- History > U.S. History > History of Women
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Women's and Gender Studies > Introduction to Women's Studies
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Women's and Gender Studies > Race, Class, and Gender
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Women's and Gender Studies > Women and Politics
- Sociology > Social Change > Social Change
A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power
978-0-593-32958-0
A landmark work of Black and Native American history that reconfigures our understanding of identity, race, and belonging and the inspiring ways marginalized people have pushed to redefine their world.
$28.00 US
Jun 07, 2022
Hardcover
272 Pages
Riverhead Books
- History > Period History: U.S. > America in the 19th Century
- History > Period History: U.S. > Civil War and Reconstruction (1854-1876)
- History > Race and Gender Studies > History of Native Americans
- History > U.S. History > African American
- History > U.S. History > Native American
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > Native American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > Native American Studies
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Social Science > American Studies
- Student Success and Career Development > Student Success > First-Year Experience
978-1-5247-3258-5
Robin Coste Lewis’s family had survived one of the largest migrations in human history, when six million Americans fled the South, attempting to escape from white supremacy and white terrorism. The poetry Lewis joins to these vivid images from her family stands forth as an inspiring alternative to the usual ways we frame the old stories of “race” and “migration,” placing them within a much vaster span of time and history.
$35.00 US
Dec 06, 2022
Hardcover
384 Pages
Knopf
The Black Radical Imagination
978-0-8070-0703-7
The 20th-anniversary edition of Kelley’s influential history of 20th-century Black radicalism, with new reflections on current movements and their impact on the author, and a foreword by poet Aja Monet
$19.95 US
Aug 23, 2022
Paperback
336 Pages
Beacon Press
- History > Race and Gender Studies > History of African-Americans
- History > U.S. History > African American
- History > U.S. History > U.S. Cultural History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Political Science > Comparative Politics > Race and Politics
- Political Science > Introduction to Political Science > Political Ideologies
- Sociology > Race / Class / Gender > Race Relations
- Sociology > Race / Class / Gender > Social Stratification
A Graphic Novel History
978-1-9848-5770-5
A bold and fascinating graphic novel history of the revolutionary Black Panther Party.
$19.99 US
Jan 19, 2021
Paperback
192 Pages
Ten Speed Press
- English > Comparative Literature > Graphic Non-fiction
- History > Period History: U.S. > America in the 20th Century (1945-2000)
- History > Period History: U.S. > The Sixties (1960-1969)
- History > U.S. History > African American
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
The Tulsa Race Massacre and an American City's Search for Justice
978-0-593-18299-4
Now in paperback, the definitive, newsbreaking account of the reopened investigation into the Tulsa Race Massacre and its aftermath
$18.00 US
May 17, 2022
Paperback
336 Pages
Dutton
- History > Period History: U.S. > America in the 20th Century (1900-1945)
- History > Race and Gender Studies > History of African-Americans
- History > U.S. History > African American
- History > U.S. History > History of the South
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
Hip-Hop, Time, and Afrofuturism
978-1-913689-28-5
Essays that explore the connections between time, representation, and identity within hip-hop culture.
$21.95 US
Sep 13, 2022
Paperback
352 Pages
Strange Attractor Press
- History > Topical History > History of Music
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Music > Music Appreciation > World Music
- Music > Music History > 20th Century Music
- Music > Music History > 21st Century Music
Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality
978-1-5247-4718-3
The first major biography of one of our most influential but least known activist lawyers that provides an eye-opening account of the twin struggles for gender equality and civil rights in the 20th century.
$30.00 US
Jan 25, 2022
Hardcover
512 Pages
Pantheon
- History > Period History: U.S. > Civil Rights Movement (1940-1968)
- History > U.S. History > African American
- History > U.S. History > History of Women
- History > U.S. History > U.S. Constitutional History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Women's and Gender Studies > Women and History
- Political Science > American Government and Politics > Constitutional Law
- Legal and Paralegal Studies > Legal Studies > Civil Rights
978-0-14-313746-7
The most influential work by “the father of Black history”, reflecting the long-standing tradition of antiracist teaching pioneered by Black educators
$15.00 US
Jan 31, 2023
Paperback
224 Pages
Penguin Classics
- English > Comparative Literature: American > African American Non-Fiction
- History > Period History: U.S. > America in the 20th Century (1900-1945)
- History > Race and Gender Studies > History of African-Americans
- History > U.S. History > African American
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Social Science > American Studies
- Political Science > Comparative Politics > Race and Politics
- Sociology > Race / Class / Gender > Race Relations
A Photographic Celebration of Black Life
978-1-9848-5929-7
A photographic celebration and exploration of Black identity and experience through the twentieth century from the founder and curator of the hit multimedia platform Black Archives.
$35.00 US
Feb 14, 2023
Hardcover
288 Pages
Ten Speed Press
Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power
978-0-307-38924-4
Winner of Frederick Jackson Turner Award and the Lillian Smith Award
$18.00 US
Oct 04, 2011
Paperback
416 Pages
Vintage
- History > Period History: U.S. > America in the 20th Century (1945-2000)
- History > Period History: U.S. > Civil Rights Movement (1940-1968)
- History > Race and Gender Studies > History of Women in America
- History > Survey Courses > U.S. History Survey – 1865 to Present
- History > Topical History > History of Women
- History > U.S. History > African American
- History > U.S. History > History of Women
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Women's and Gender Studies > Gender and Violence
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Women's and Gender Studies > Women and History
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Women's and Gender Studies > Women and Politics
A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop
978-0-593-13273-9
American pop music is arguably this country’s greatest cultural contribution to the world, and its singular voice and virtuosity were created by a shining thread of Black women geniuses stretching back to the country’s founding. This is their surprising, heartbreaking, soaring story—from “one of the generation’s greatest, most insightful, most nuanced writers in pop culture” (Shea Serrano)
$18.00 US
Feb 14, 2023
Paperback
336 Pages
Roc Lit 101
- History > Topical History > History of Music
- History > Topical History > History of Women
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American Studies
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Social Science > American Popular Culture
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Women's and Gender Studies > Race, Class, and Gender
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Women's and Gender Studies > Women and Art
- Music > Music Appreciation > Music Appreciation
- Sociology > Social Institutions > Popular Culture
The Untold Story of the Children and Teenagers Who Galvanized the Civil Rights Movement
978-0-8070-5543-4
An authoritative history of the overlooked youth activists that spearheaded the largest protests of the Civil Rights Movement and set the blueprint for future generations of activists to follow.
$18.95 US
Jan 25, 2022
Paperback
328 Pages
Beacon Press
978-0-525-56300-6
A new Vintage Classics edition of the abolitionist leader’s classic autobiography.
$12.00 US
Mar 06, 2018
Paperback
160 Pages
Vintage
- English > Comparative Literature: American > African American Memoir
- English > Comparative Literature: American > African American Non-Fiction
- English > Literature > American Literature Survey – Colonial to 1870
- History > Topical History > History of Slavery
- Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African American History
- Sociology > Race / Class / Gender > Race Relations
Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom
978-1-66260-166-8
One of the New York Times' 6 New Paperbacks to Read Now in paperback and with new material, a 2021 Kirkus Best Book of the year in both Nonfiction and Current Events, the book Naomi Klein called: “a triumph of political imagination and a tremendous gift to all movements struggling towards liberation.”
$18.00 US
Oct 04, 2022
Paperback
320 Pages
Astra House
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