Black Lives Matter: A List Of Books By Black Authors

Friday. June 05, 2020 - 2 mins

This list is by no means comprehensive, but I thought it would be a good idea to make a list of books that people could use as educational resources, that are actually written by people of colour. There’s plenty of books out there that fit into that category, but sadly I’ve not seen a lot of lists that specifically highlight only black voices. I’ve included nonfiction books talking about racism in the US, Britain, and Australia.

If you’d rather see the list as a goodreads shelf, here you go! But note that the goodreads list is not sorted by genre.

Nonfiction

Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsch - about racism in Britain
Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge - also about racism in Britain
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates- letter from a father to his 15 year old son about his life, trauma, and the history of racism in the US
The Hate Race by Maxine Beneba Clarke - memoir featuring institutional racism in Australia
Black on Both Sides by C. Riley Snorton: A Racial History of Trans Identity - US based
Bodyminds Reimagined by Sami Schalk: (Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction
Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper: A Black Feminist Finds Her Superpower
How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Killing Rage: Ending Racism by bell hooks
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
On Intersectionality: The Essential Writings of Kimberlé Crenshaw by Kimberlé Crenshaw
Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life by Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. Fields
Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do by Claude M. Steele
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum

Fiction

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward - one of my favourite books, follows the past and present of an African American family
Ruby by Cynthia Bond - coming of age story, definitely needs about a thousand trigger warnings though
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo - follows 12 characters, mostly queer black and British
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams - follows 25 year old Jamaican-British woman
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - YA book about racism and police violence

Poetry

Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith - about growing up as a black queer person in the US

Short Story Collections

Manchester Happened by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi - stories by Ugandans living in Manchester
Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? by Mumia Abu-Jamal
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

Jamie Cayley

Grad Student & TA at Missouri State University