Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List for Adults

1.
The Bluest Eye
The Bluest Eye 4.13 avg rating — 288,139 ratings
2.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Their Eyes Were Watching God 3.99 avg rating — 377,818 ratings
3.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou's Autobiography, #1)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou's Autobiography, #1) 4.30 avg rating — 568,992 ratings
4.
Men We Reaped: A Memoir
Men We Reaped: A Memoir 4.30 avg rating — 27,671 ratings
5.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches 4.53 avg rating — 39,728 ratings
6.
But Some of Us Are Brave: All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men: Black Women's Studies
But Some of Us Are Brave: All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men: Black Women's Studies 4.40 avg rating — 1,782 ratings
6.
What Happened to Suzy
What Happened to Suzy it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 8 ratings
8.
American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin 4.27 avg rating — 4,349 ratings
9.
The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story
The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story 4.15 avg rating — 984 ratings
10.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
by: Malcolm X
4.37 avg rating — 285,197 ratings
11.
Bad Feminist
Bad Feminist 3.92 avg rating — 117,719 ratings
12.
Between the World and Me
Between the World and Me 4.40 avg rating — 357,425 ratings
13.
Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do
Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do 4.32 avg rating — 8,625 ratings
14.
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution 4.39 avg rating — 7,202 ratings
15.
A Black Women's History of the United States
A Black Women's History of the United States 4.29 avg rating — 3,589 ratings
16.
Breathe: A Letter to My Sons
Breathe: A Letter to My Sons 4.20 avg rating — 1,615 ratings
17.
A Brief History of Seven Killings
A Brief History of Seven Killings 3.89 avg rating — 37,306 ratings
18.
Brown: Poems
Brown: Poems 4.06 avg rating — 677 ratings
19.
Brutal Imagination
Brutal Imagination 4.26 avg rating — 700 ratings
20.
Citizen: An American Lyric
Citizen: An American Lyric 4.26 avg rating — 50,755 ratings
21.
The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010
The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 4.65 avg rating — 695 ratings
22.
The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America
The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America 4.19 avg rating — 1,215 ratings
23.
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South 3.87 avg rating — 8,046 ratings
24.
Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul
Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul 4.10 avg rating — 1,242 ratings
25.
Diasporic Blackness: The Life and Times of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg
Diasporic Blackness: The Life and Times of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg 4.41 avg rating — 22 ratings
26.
Don't Call Us Dead
Don't Call Us Dead 4.46 avg rating — 12,106 ratings
27.
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower 4.38 avg rating — 13,759 ratings
28.
Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land
Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land 4.67 avg rating — 509 ratings
29.
Feel Free: Essays
Feel Free: Essays 3.82 avg rating — 8,148 ratings
30.
Fences (The Century Cycle, #6)
Fences (The Century Cycle, #6) 3.88 avg rating — 29,473 ratings
31.
The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)
The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) 4.29 avg rating — 317,229 ratings
32.
The Fire Next Time
The Fire Next Time 4.55 avg rating — 115,168 ratings
33.
The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race
The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race 4.35 avg rating — 9,413 ratings
34.
Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement
Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement 4.44 avg rating — 33,949 ratings
35.
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation 4.47 avg rating — 2,325 ratings
36.
Harlem Nocturne: Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II
Harlem Nocturne: Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II 4.24 avg rating — 101 ratings
37.
Heavy
Heavy 4.47 avg rating — 43,666 ratings
38.
High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America
High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America 4.19 avg rating — 1,389 ratings
39.
The History of White People
The History of White People 4.07 avg rating — 3,174 ratings
40.
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot 4.36 avg rating — 60,797 ratings
41.
How to Be an Antiracist
How to Be an Antiracist 4.37 avg rating — 118,334 ratings
42.
How We Fight For Our Lives
How We Fight For Our Lives 4.27 avg rating — 22,737 ratings
43.
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose 4.29 avg rating — 8,252 ratings
44.
Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking
Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking 4.52 avg rating — 1,271 ratings
45.
Just Mercy
Just Mercy 4.63 avg rating — 254,512 ratings
46.
Kindred
Kindred 4.31 avg rating — 258,385 ratings
47.
Kwame Brathwaite: Black Is Beautiful
Kwame Brathwaite: Black Is Beautiful 4.53 avg rating — 32 ratings
48.
The Light of the World
The Light of the World 4.10 avg rating — 10,143 ratings
49.
Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America
Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America 4.37 avg rating — 4,460 ratings
50.
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention 4.19 avg rating — 19,917 ratings
51.
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor 4.33 avg rating — 30,142 ratings
52.
Monument: Poems New and Selected
Monument: Poems New and Selected 4.39 avg rating — 690 ratings
53.
My Song: A Memoir
My Song: A Memoir 4.20 avg rating — 959 ratings
54.
Negroland
Negroland 3.62 avg rating — 7,833 ratings
55.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness 4.52 avg rating — 115,055 ratings
56.
The Nickel Boys
The Nickel Boys 4.26 avg rating — 291,087 ratings
57.
Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America
Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America 4.23 avg rating — 2,133 ratings
58.
Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation
Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation 3.98 avg rating — 5,295 ratings
59.
Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination
Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination 4.32 avg rating — 7,357 ratings
60.
Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good
Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good 4.23 avg rating — 9,153 ratings
61.
Policing the Planet: Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter
Policing the Planet: Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter 4.15 avg rating — 275 ratings
62.
Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present
Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present 4.49 avg rating — 75 ratings
63.
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools 4.35 avg rating — 6,610 ratings
64.
A Raisin in the Sun
A Raisin in the Sun 3.85 avg rating — 107,574 ratings
65.
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More 4.30 avg rating — 16,468 ratings
66.
S O S: Poems, 1961-2013
S O S: Poems, 1961-2013 4.24 avg rating — 221 ratings
67.
Shake Loose My Skin: New and Selected Poems
Shake Loose My Skin: New and Selected Poems 4.33 avg rating — 1,234 ratings
68.
So You Want to Talk About Race
So You Want to Talk About Race 4.49 avg rating — 107,279 ratings
69.
The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome
The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome 3.97 avg rating — 269 ratings
70.
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America 4.53 avg rating — 37,886 ratings
71.
Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow
Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow 4.16 avg rating — 4,105 ratings
72.
The Street
The Street
by: Ann Petry
4.27 avg rating — 12,961 ratings
73.
Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family
Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family 3.77 avg rating — 1,289 ratings
74.
Sweat
Sweat 4.04 avg rating — 4,457 ratings
75.
Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black
Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black 4.37 avg rating — 2,562 ratings
76.
Thick: And Other Essays
Thick: And Other Essays 4.43 avg rating — 18,145 ratings
77.
The Tradition
The Tradition 4.23 avg rating — 10,005 ratings
78.
The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad 4.06 avg rating — 433,375 ratings
79.
Vibration Cooking or the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl
Vibration Cooking or the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl 4.36 avg rating — 214 ratings
80.
Voyage of the Sable Venus and Other Poems
Voyage of the Sable Venus and Other Poems 4.28 avg rating — 1,717 ratings
81.
Wade in the Water: Poems
Wade in the Water: Poems 4.08 avg rating — 3,740 ratings
82.
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration 4.48 avg rating — 113,298 ratings
83.
The Ways of White Folks
The Ways of White Folks 4.46 avg rating — 5,399 ratings
84.
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval 4.43 avg rating — 4,693 ratings
85.
We Should All Be Feminists
We Should All Be Feminists 4.40 avg rating — 320,766 ratings
86.
We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom
We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom 4.53 avg rating — 6,312 ratings
87.
We're On: A June Jordan Reader
We're On: A June Jordan Reader 4.33 avg rating — 36 ratings
88.
Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves
Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves 4.36 avg rating — 6,485 ratings
89.
What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays
What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays 4.14 avg rating — 4,694 ratings
90.
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? 3.84 avg rating — 4,387 ratings
91.
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir 4.49 avg rating — 25,287 ratings
92.
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 4.62 avg rating — 3,830 ratings
93.
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide 4.47 avg rating — 14,603 ratings
94.
Who Fears Death
Who Fears Death 3.93 avg rating — 27,811 ratings
95.
The Wretched of the Earth
The Wretched of the Earth 4.34 avg rating — 30,607 ratings