To celebrate Black History Month and highlight the contributions by the Black community, we asked our people to share their favorite books by Black authors. From literary classics to cookbooks, young adult fantasy to lyrical memoirs, and everything in between, below is the full list of our people's recommendations.
For a PDF version with book covers and short synopses, click here.
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
- Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Sula by Toni Morrison
- Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
- The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
- The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by bell hooks
- Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks
- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
- The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
- Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
- This Is the Honey by Kwame Alexander
- Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
- The Known World by Edward P. Jones
- Deacon King Kong by James McBride
- Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
- Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
- Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes From a Native Son by James Baldwin
- Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
- A Phoenix First Must Burn, edited by Patrice Caldwell
- Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
- Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
- Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine by Uché Blackstock, MD
- Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking by Toni Tipton-Martin
- Cooking for the Culture: Recipes and Stories from the New Orleans Streets to the Table by Toya Boudy
- The Dooky Chase Cookbook by Leah Chase
- Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean & Southern Flavors Remixed by Bryant Terry
- Have You Thanked an Inventor Today? by Patrice McLaurin
- What Color is My World: The Lost History of African-American Inventors by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James
- The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
- Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola
- The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
- The Other Mistress by Shanora Williams
- Memorial by Bryan Washington
- Decent People by De’Shawn Winslow
- Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
- The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
