Plenty is surfacing online via social media. However, black books are the ultimate source to immerse ourselves in the resilience and wonderment of blackness past and present.
I contemplated on whether or not I was going to write a blog post this week or even this month if I’m being honest. I wasn’t sure what to say or if what I had to say was going to be interesting enough or well received by my readers. However, too many times have I received DM’s, texts, or engaged in conversations stating that “I wanted to say that” or “I wanted to talk about that?” from other people after I made a post or a statement.
Fear of people and their opinions seem to keep us silent. Not in this season! And not moving forward! We all have voices, we all have gifts,we all have stories to tell, and knowledge to share so I pray that something that I say or a resource that I share in today’s blog post resonates with you or prompts you to dig deeper, to see brighter, and promote healthy dialogue. Yesterday on my Instagram feed I talked about how during this time and even thereafter, it is imperative that we refrain from and be mindful of belittling, bullying, judging, suppressing,or ridiculing our fellow black counterparts, friends, and/ or family merely because of the difference in perspective.
Going through graduate school and now journeying through my second year of a Doctoral program,research has naturally become a part of who I am. Anything that you hear, whether you saw it in a movie, documentary, in class, or in conversation, you have to do your own research as all of these mediums are merely sources. That goes for your Pastor's and teachers also. They’ve done their research in order to share and teach you and therefore, we must reciprocate that same energy! So today, I have compiled this list of books, documentaries, and movies as a resources for you to be enlightened, aware, and educated yourself and others. I have also included a list of over 50 independent black-owned bookstores which I also was able to locate from Corinne Sega over at the Lit Hub. We so appreciate the list Corinne. Please support and purchase from them. You can also get a PDF list to reference here as well.
Black Pearls for Parents: Eric V. Copage
To Black Parents Visiting Earth: Raising Black Children in the 21st Century: Janet Christine Stickmon
Black Pregnant and Loving It: Dr. Suzanne Greenidge- Hewitt& Yvette Allen- Campbell
Motherhood So White: A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America- Nefertiti Austin
My Brown Baby: Oh the Joys and Challenges of Raising African American Children
The Measure of Our Lives: Toni Morrison
I am Not your Negro: James Baldwin and Raoul Peck
Ordinary Light: Tracy K.Smith
Narrative of Sojourner Truth: By Sojourner Truth
I know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Maya Angelou
Between the World and Me: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Dreams from My Father: Barack Obama
Becoming: Michelle Obama
The Portable Frederick Douglass: Frederick Douglass
The Souls of Black Folk: W.E.B.Du Bois
Sister Outsider: AudreLorde
On the Other Side of Freedom: DeRay Mckesson
Conversations of a Conscious Black Girl: C.M. Fox and K.C. Dillon
The Mis-Education of the Negro: Carter Woodson
Black Feminist Thought: Patricia Hill Collins
Women, Race, Class: Angela Y. Davis
The Sisters are Alright: Tamara Winfrey
White Fragility: Robin Diangelo
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness: Michelle Alexander
Black Rage: William H. Grier and Price M. Cobbs
Killing Rage: Ending Racism- Bell Hooks
Racism without Racists: Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
Racist America: Joe Feagin
Ain’t I a Woman: Bell Hooks
Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: Beverly Daniel Tatum, PhD
The Fire Next Time: James Baldwin
13th
The Black Panthers
The Black Power Mixtape- 1967-1975
Dark Girls
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Quincy
LA 92
Strong Island
Through a Lens Darkly
The Black Godfather
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
Freedom Riders
Maya Angelou: And I Still Rise
Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Slavery by another Name
Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement
Chisholm’72: Unbought and Unbossed
Hidden Colors: The Untold History of People of Aboriginal, Moor, and African Descent
Just Mercy
The Great Debaters
12 Years of Slave
Urban Knowledge Bookstore, LLC
Timbuktu Book Store
Book Exchange Va. Beach
Black Swab Books
Positive Vibes
Mahogany Books (DC)
Everyone’s Place African Culture Center (Baltimore, MD)
Black and Nobel (PA)
Sister’s Uptown Bookstore (NY)
Harambee Books and Artworks(Chesapeake, VA)
XoXo,
