{"id":1804,"date":"2025-01-31T01:14:27","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T01:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=1804"},"modified":"2025-01-31T01:14:27","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T01:14:27","slug":"10-black-american-books-to-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=1804","title":{"rendered":"10 Black American Books To Read"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You should always celebrate Black voices (not just during Black History Month), and literature is one of the best ways to honor some of the community\u2019s most illuminating stories. We\u2019ve selected some of the all-time 10 Black American Books To Read to add to your reading list.<\/p>\n<p><em>This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">10 Black American Books To Read<\/h2>\n<div class=\"simpletoc wp-block-simpletoc-toc\">\n<h2><button class=\"simpletoc-collapsible\">Table of Contents<span class=\"simpletoc-icon\"><\/span><\/button><\/h2>\n<div class=\"simpletoc-content\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-black-american-books-to-read#10-black-american-books-to-read\">10 Black American Books To Read<\/a>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-black-american-books-to-read#their-eyes-were-watching-god-by-zora-neale-hurston\">Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-black-american-books-to-read#go-tell-it-on-the-mountain-by-james-baldwin\">Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-black-american-books-to-read#the-nickel-boys-by-colson-whitehead\">The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-black-american-books-to-read#song-of-solomon-by-toni-morrison\">Song of Solomon by  Toni Morrison<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-black-american-books-to-read#devil-in-a-blue-dress-by-walter-mosley\">Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-black-american-books-to-read#i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings-by-maya-angelou\">I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-black-american-books-to-read#invisible-man-by-ralph-ellison\">Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-black-american-books-to-read#the-color-purple-by-alice-walker\">The Color Purple by Alice Walker<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-black-american-books-to-read#between-the-world-and-me-by-tanehisi-coates\">Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-black-american-books-to-read#kindred-by-octavia-e-butler\">Kindred by Octavia E. Butler<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3ZxKqkc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DZora%2520Neale%2520Hurston%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DTheir%2520Eyes%2520Were%2520Watching%2520God\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>With haunting sympathy and piercing immediacy, Their Eyes Were Watching God tells the story of Janie Crawford\u2019s evolving selfhood through three marriages. Light-skinned, long-haired, dreamy as a child, Janie grows up expecting better treatment than she gets until she meets Tea Cake, a younger man who engages her heart and spirit in equal measure and gives her the chance to enjoy life without being a man\u2019s mule or adornment. <\/p>\n<p>Though Jaine\u2019s story does not end happily, it does draw to a satisfying conclusion. Janie is one black woman who doesn\u2019t have to live lost in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, instead Janie proclaims that she has done \u201ctwo things everbody\u2019s got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin\u2019 fuh theyselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4i8vujX\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DJames%2520Baldwin%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DGo%2520Tell%2520It%2520on%2520the%2520Mountain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Drawing on James Baldwin\u2019s own boyhood in a religious community in 1930s Harlem, his first novel tells the story of young Johnny Grimes. Johnny is destined to become a preacher like his father, Gabriel, at the Temple of the Fire Baptized, where the church swells with song and it is as if \u2018the Holy Ghost were riding on the air\u2019. But he feels only scalding hatred for Gabriel, whose fear and fanaticism lead him to abuse his family. Johnny vows that, for him, things will be different. <\/p>\n<p>This blazing tale is full of passion and guilt, of secret sinners and prayers singing on the wind.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3ZxbQqf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DColson%2520Whitehead%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DThe%2520Nickel%2520Boys\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Underground Railroad, <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/11-best-alternative-history-books\">Colson Whitehead<\/a>, brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in 1960s Florida.<\/p>\n<p>Elwood Curtis has taken the words of Dr Martin Luther King to heart: he is as good as anyone. Abandoned by his parents, brought up by his loving, strict and clearsighted grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But given the time and the place, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy his future, and so Elwood arrives at The Nickel Academy, which claims to provide \u2018physical, intellectual and moral training\u2019 which will equip its inmates to become \u2018honorable and honest men\u2019.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Song of Solomon by  Toni Morrison<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/49yhQTn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DToni%2520Morrison%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DSong%2520of%2520Solomon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Soon after a local eccentric leaps from a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight, Macon \u2018Milkman\u2019 Dead III is born. Brought up by his well-off black family to revere the white world around him, Milkman strives to make sense of his conflicting identities. Always seeking flight in some way, he leaves his Michigan home for the South, retracing the steps of his forebears in search of his own buried heritage and is introduced to an entire cast of strivers and seeresses, liars and assassins; the inhabitants of a fully realised black world.<\/p>\n<p>Evocative and kaleidoscopic, Song of Solomon is a brilliantly imagined coming-of-age tale.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3CQxOvw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DWalter%2520Mosley%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DDevil%2520in%2520a%2520Blue%2520Dress\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the summer of \u201948 in the city of Angels and there\u2019s heat on the streets when Daphne Monet hits the sidewalk. Heat when she disappears with a trunkload of somebody else\u2019s cash.<\/p>\n<p>Easy Rawlins is a war veteran just fired from his job. Drinking in a friend\u2019s bar, he wonders how to meet his mortgage when a white man in a linen suit walks in, offering good money if Easy will locate Miss Monet, a blonde with a reputation.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a simple decision, but for one thing. Nobody warned him \u2013 better the devil you know\u2026<\/p>\n<p>In the sleazy, fearful city, Easy must rely on his instincts, not just to solve the case, but to save his own life.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/49faBze\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DMaya%2520Angelou%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DI%2520Know%2520Why%2520the%2520Caged%2520Bird%2520Sings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Maya Angelou\u2019s seven volumes of autobiography are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Loving the world, she also knows its cruelty. As a Black woman she has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy,achievement and celebration. In this first volume of her six books of autobiography, <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/best-memoirs-to-read\">Maya Angelou<\/a> beautifully evokes her childhood with her grandmother in the American south of the 1930s. She learns the power of the white folks at the other end of town and suffers the terrible trauma of rape by her mother\u2019s lover<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3ZgrB3N\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DRalph%2520Ellison%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DInvisible%2520Man\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ralph Ellison\u2019s blistering and impassioned first novel tells the extraordinary story of a man invisible \u2018simply because people refuse to see me\u2019. Published in 1952 when American society was in the cusp of immense change, the powerfully depicted adventures of Ellison\u2019s invisible man \u2013 from his expulsion from a Southern college to a terrifying Harlem race riot \u2013 go far beyond the story of one individual to give voice to the experience of an entire generation of black Americans.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">The Color Purple by Alice Walker<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4eRbwqU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DAlice%2520Walker%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DThe%2520Color%2520Purple\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Set in the deep American South between the wars, The Color Purple is the classic tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation.<\/p>\n<p>Raped repeatedly by the man she calls \u2018father\u2019, she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie and is trapped into an ugly marriage.<\/p>\n<p>But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker \u2013 a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. Gradually Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3D5PMu3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DTa-Nehisi%2520Coates%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DBetween%2520the%2520World%2520and%2520Me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>oates takes readers along on his journey through America\u2019s history of race and its contemporary resonances through a series of awakenings \u2013 moments when he discovered some new truth about our long, tangled history of race, whether through his myth-busting professors at Howard University, a trip to a Civil War battlefield, a journey to Chicago\u2019s South Side to visit aging survivors of 20th century America\u2019s \u201clong war on black people,\u201d or a visit with the mother of a beloved friend who was shot down by the police.<\/p>\n<p>In his trademark style \u2013 a mix of lyrical personal narrative, reimagined history, essayistic argument, and reportage \u2013 Coates provides readers a thrillingly illuminating new framework for understanding race: its history, our contemporary dilemma, and where we go from here.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Kindred by Octavia E. Butler<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3CSzzIK\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DOctavia%2520E.%2520Butler%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DKindred\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>n 1976, Dana dreams of being a writer. In 1815, she is assumed a slave.<\/p>\n<p>When Dana first meets Rufus on a Maryland plantation, he\u2019s drowning. She saves his life \u2013 and it will happen again and again.<\/p>\n<p>Neither of them understands his power to summon her whenever his life is threatened, nor the significance of the ties that bind them.<\/p>\n<p>And each time Dana saves him, the more aware she is that her own life might be over before it\u2019s even begun.<\/p>\n<p>Octavia E. Butler\u2019s ground-breaking masterpiece is the extraordinary story of two people bound by blood, separated by so much more than time.<\/p>\n<p>If you enjoyed 10 Black American Books To Read,  check out <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/colson-whitehead-a-colossus-in-new-york\">Colson Whitehead: A Colossus in New York<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You should always celebrate Black voices (not just during Black History Month), and literature is one of the best ways to honor some of the community\u2019s most illuminating stories. We\u2019ve selected some of the all-time 10 Black American Books To Read to add to your reading list. This post may contain affiliate links that earn [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}