February was chosen as Black History Month because both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas celebrate their birthdays in February. In recognition of Black History Month, we’d like to make some reading suggestions. Here are six books for Black History Month to add to your reading list in 2023.
Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America
Gilbert King tells the story of racial injustice in 1949 Florida. Marshall defended four wrongly convicted Black teenagers in a case that went to the Supreme Court. This book won a Pulitzer Prize and Marshall, a historian, has covered racial issues and Supreme Court cases for decades. What Marshall withstood to get through this case is nothing but extraordinary.
Books for Black History Month: Sing, Unburied, Sing
Author Jesmyn Ward won the National Book Award and was a finalist in many other literary competitions with this coming-of-age novel about a young teenager in Mississippi. It’s a story of a family dealing with mass incarceration, drugs, poverty, and racism. The book teaches the hero about fathers and sons and the legacies of violence and love. Ward writes with a lyrical style, sometimes compared to Toni Morrison.
Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors
Although this book is a little older, it can still be found in bookstores. It’s a nonfiction account of the environmental justice movement, reporting how race and the environment are interconnected. Many African Americans are determined to change the dialogue about who has access to natural spaces. The author, Carolyn Finney, is a natural storyteller who became an “accidental environmentalist.” This book is a chance to see environmental issues through a different set of eyes.
Books for Black History Month: My Bondage and My Freedom
This autobiography of Frederick Douglass is expensive to buy in print, but there is a more affordable Kindle version. It’s worth perusing to understand the politics of the 1850s and what led up to the Civil War through the eyes of a spokesperson for abolition and social change. Douglass was an amazing man who lived in a time that didn’t give him much chance to succeed, but he did. It is worth a read to get American history from a different perspective.
Books for Black History Month: Black Nature
This anthology of 180 poems dedicated to African American poets and nature offers a unique perspective into African American culture. It includes poetry from over four hundred years of writings, not just contemporary poetry. Read just one poem a week and let yourself meditate on the poems that express beautiful viewpoints about how the poets saw their natural world. Each group of poems is introduced with an essay to help you understand some of the issues of the times.
Books for Black History Month: Another Country
James Baldwin, one of the most important African American authors of the last century, penned this 1962 novel that was banned in some places when it was published. It is a highlight of the racism in New York City, which is often considered a melting pot. It delves into many themes, such as jazz music, love, and homosexuality, as well as racial injustices that have plagued America for centuries.
Expand Your Mind
Books are a great way to explore other worlds that you might not ever get to visit. They are a time machine to the past as we read the world of the author. Pick up some books for Black History Month to give yourself a new perspective of Black Lives Matter and learn more about what you can do to change your part of the world.