Books That Every African American Should Read (Huffington Post List)

1.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
by: Malcolm X
4.37 avg rating — 285,183 ratings
2.
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 — 568,942 ratings
3.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Their Eyes Were Watching God 3.99 avg rating — 377,787 ratings
4.
The Color Purple
The Color Purple 4.27 avg rating — 737,195 ratings
5.
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
Roots: The Saga of an American Family 4.45 avg rating — 163,547 ratings
6.
The Bluest Eye
The Bluest Eye 4.13 avg rating — 288,104 ratings
7.
Invisible Man
Invisible Man 3.92 avg rating — 198,732 ratings
8.
Native Son
Native Son 4.04 avg rating — 103,287 ratings
9.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 4.12 avg rating — 131,993 ratings
10.
The Souls of Black Folk
The Souls of Black Folk 4.31 avg rating — 44,284 ratings
11.
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf 4.29 avg rating — 34,461 ratings
12.
Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1)
Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1) 3.74 avg rating — 403,090 ratings
13.
Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1)
Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1) 3.97 avg rating — 476,949 ratings
14.
Kindred
Kindred 4.31 avg rating — 258,318 ratings
15.
Song of Solomon
Song of Solomon 4.15 avg rating — 123,933 ratings
16.
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 — 113,286 ratings
17.
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance 3.94 avg rating — 229,609 ratings
18.
Sula
Sula 4.05 avg rating — 117,011 ratings
19.
A Lesson Before Dying
A Lesson Before Dying 3.98 avg rating — 63,055 ratings
20.
Black Boy
Black Boy 4.09 avg rating — 55,306 ratings
21.
Go Tell It on the Mountain
Go Tell It on the Mountain 4.05 avg rating — 78,205 ratings
22.
A Raisin in the Sun
A Raisin in the Sun 3.85 avg rating — 107,564 ratings
23.
The Coldest Winter Ever (The Coldest Winter Ever, #1)
The Coldest Winter Ever (The Coldest Winter Ever, #1) 4.46 avg rating — 42,219 ratings
24.
The Women of Brewster Place
The Women of Brewster Place 4.20 avg rating — 21,532 ratings
25.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Logans, #4)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Logans, #4) 3.90 avg rating — 128,894 ratings
26.
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 — 115,044 ratings
27.
Coffee Will Make You Black
Coffee Will Make You Black 4.08 avg rating — 5,553 ratings
28.
Giovanni’s Room
Giovanni’s Room 4.34 avg rating — 226,069 ratings
29.
Up from Slavery
Up from Slavery 4.11 avg rating — 35,601 ratings
30.
The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man
The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man 3.93 avg rating — 11,073 ratings
31.
Notes of a Native Son
Notes of a Native Son 4.37 avg rating — 23,280 ratings
32.
Coming of Age in Mississippi: The Classic Autobiography of a Young Black Girl in the Rural South
Coming of Age in Mississippi: The Classic Autobiography of a Young Black Girl in the Rural South 4.13 avg rating — 11,515 ratings
33.
What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day (Idlewild, #1)
What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day (Idlewild, #1) 3.75 avg rating — 21,453 ratings
34.
Devil in a Blue Dress (Easy Rawlins, #1)
Devil in a Blue Dress (Easy Rawlins, #1) 3.87 avg rating — 29,362 ratings
35.
Half of a Yellow Sun
Half of a Yellow Sun 4.34 avg rating — 176,456 ratings
36.
Passing
Passing 3.92 avg rating — 76,699 ratings
37.
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano 3.74 avg rating — 14,418 ratings
38.
Mama Day
Mama Day 4.19 avg rating — 11,153 ratings
39.
The Street
The Street
by: Ann Petry
4.27 avg rating — 12,961 ratings
40.
The Wretched of the Earth
The Wretched of the Earth 4.34 avg rating — 30,601 ratings
41.
The Wake of the Wind
The Wake of the Wind 4.47 avg rating — 1,614 ratings
42.
Family
Family 4.43 avg rating — 2,717 ratings
43.
Buck: A Memoir
Buck: A Memoir 4.05 avg rating — 3,060 ratings
44.
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman 4.18 avg rating — 14,106 ratings
45.
Paradise (Beloved Trilogy, #3)
Paradise (Beloved Trilogy, #3) 3.86 avg rating — 28,535 ratings
46.
The Known World
The Known World 3.84 avg rating — 44,321 ratings
47.
The Rose That Grew from Concrete
The Rose That Grew from Concrete 4.41 avg rating — 12,996 ratings
48.
Breath, Eyes, Memory
Breath, Eyes, Memory 3.90 avg rating — 30,928 ratings
49.
The Ways of White Folks
The Ways of White Folks 4.46 avg rating — 5,398 ratings
50.
Assata: An Autobiography
Assata: An Autobiography 4.59 avg rating — 29,691 ratings
51.
12 Years a Slave
12 Years a Slave 4.22 avg rating — 123,130 ratings
52.
The Fire Next Time
The Fire Next Time 4.55 avg rating — 115,141 ratings
53.
Black Skin, White Masks
Black Skin, White Masks 4.26 avg rating — 18,206 ratings
54.
Cane River
Cane River 4.08 avg rating — 50,067 ratings
55.
A Gathering of Old Men
A Gathering of Old Men 4.09 avg rating — 6,826 ratings
56.
Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class
Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class 3.74 avg rating — 1,942 ratings
57.
Invisible Life
Invisible Life 4.31 avg rating — 6,791 ratings
58.
Daughters of the Dust
Daughters of the Dust 4.30 avg rating — 341 ratings
59.
Another Country
Another Country 4.30 avg rating — 32,342 ratings
60.
My Bondage and My Freedom
My Bondage and My Freedom 4.38 avg rating — 12,159 ratings
61.
The Weary Blues
The Weary Blues 4.43 avg rating — 3,067 ratings
62.
In Search of Satisfaction
In Search of Satisfaction 4.46 avg rating — 3,371 ratings
63.
Cane
Cane 3.82 avg rating — 11,324 ratings
64.
White Teeth
White Teeth 3.79 avg rating — 170,746 ratings
65.
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. 4.34 avg rating — 23,718 ratings
66.
No Disrespect
No Disrespect 4.27 avg rating — 3,754 ratings
67.
Uncle Tom's Children
Uncle Tom's Children 4.13 avg rating — 3,357 ratings
68.
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose 4.29 avg rating — 8,252 ratings
69.
Nervous Conditions
Nervous Conditions 4.04 avg rating — 22,078 ratings
69.
The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row
The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row 4.65 avg rating — 75,648 ratings
69.
Buses Are a Comin': Memoir of a Freedom Rider
Buses Are a Comin': Memoir of a Freedom Rider 4.50 avg rating — 918 ratings
72.
Flyy Girl (Flyy Girl, #1)
Flyy Girl (Flyy Girl, #1) 4.27 avg rating — 14,586 ratings
73.
The Mis-Education of the Negro
The Mis-Education of the Negro 4.49 avg rating — 9,978 ratings
74.
The Intuitionist
The Intuitionist 3.62 avg rating — 16,071 ratings
75.
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
by: ZZ Packer
3.88 avg rating — 7,777 ratings
76.
The Black Rose
The Black Rose 4.26 avg rating — 984 ratings
77.
Krik? Krak!
Krik? Krak! 4.16 avg rating — 9,528 ratings
78.
Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)
Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1) 4.20 avg rating — 238,932 ratings
79.
Salvage the Bones
Salvage the Bones 3.96 avg rating — 71,439 ratings
79.
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention 4.19 avg rating — 19,915 ratings
81.
The Marrow of Tradition
The Marrow of Tradition 3.92 avg rating — 3,509 ratings
82.
N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law
N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law 4.33 avg rating — 63 ratings
82.
BLACK CHESS: A Novel
BLACK CHESS: A Novel 4.48 avg rating — 23 ratings
84.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier 4.16 avg rating — 192,415 ratings
85.
Silver Sparrow
Silver Sparrow 3.90 avg rating — 45,091 ratings
86.
Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self
Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self 4.06 avg rating — 5,036 ratings
86.
Caucasia
Caucasia 4.08 avg rating — 10,080 ratings
88.
Callus on My Soul
Callus on My Soul 4.38 avg rating — 159 ratings
89.
What You Owe Me
What You Owe Me 4.15 avg rating — 2,122 ratings
89.
Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton
Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton 4.35 avg rating — 1,642 ratings
91.
Wild Seed (Patternmaster, #1)
Wild Seed (Patternmaster, #1) 4.21 avg rating — 38,337 ratings
92.
God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse
God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse 4.26 avg rating — 639 ratings
93.
Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America
Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America 4.16 avg rating — 704 ratings
94.
The White Boy Shuffle
The White Boy Shuffle 4.09 avg rating — 6,129 ratings
95.
The Value in the Valley: A Black Woman's Guide Through Life's Dilemmas
The Value in the Valley: A Black Woman's Guide Through Life's Dilemmas 4.44 avg rating — 781 ratings
96.
The Third Life Of Grange Copeland
The Third Life Of Grange Copeland 4.14 avg rating — 4,584 ratings
97.
Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day
Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day 4.42 avg rating — 1,013 ratings
98.
Salvation: Black People and Love
Salvation: Black People and Love 4.34 avg rating — 1,814 ratings
99.
Quicksand
Quicksand 3.72 avg rating — 8,339 ratings
100.
The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama
The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama 3.77 avg rating — 397 ratings
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