Black History Month Reading List: Black Voices

UNC Press began publishing books on African American studies in the late 1920’s and we are proud to continually publish distinguished scholarship in this area. In celebration of Black History Month we will be highlighting titles that amplify black voices, underline the black experience, and engage with Black history. You can find weekly reading lists here on the blog and also follow along on social media as we highlight additional titles there.

Our first reading list of the month is comprised of some—of our many—must-read books by black authors. You can browse our full African American Studies list here and be sure to also check out our new Black Women’s History series.

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From Here To Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century, second edition by William A. Darity JR and A. Kirsten Mullen

2021 Lillian Smith Book Award

2021 Association for the Study of African American Life and History Book Prize

2020 Ragan Old North State Award for Nonfiction, North Carolina Literary and Historical Association

2021 Best Book Awards in Social Change Category, American Book Fest

May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem by Imani Perry

2019 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Nonfiction Winner

2019 John Hope Franklin Publication Prize, American Studies Association

Nominee, 50th NAACP Image Awards, Outstanding Literary Work (Nonfiction)

“Highly recommended.”—Library Journal, starred review

“A timely reminder of histories forgotten and voices unremembered.”—Journal of American History

Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Finalist, 2020 Pulitzer Prize in History

2019 National Book Award Finalist

2020 Ellis W. Hawley Prize, Organization of American Historians

2020 Liberty Legacy Foundation Award, Organization of American Historians

2020 James A. Rawley Prize, Organization of American Historians

2020 Pauli Murray Book Prize, African American Intellectual History Society

A 2020 Choice Outstanding Academic Title

Cross-Border Cosmopolitans: the Making of a Pan-African North America by Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey

“An impressive study of Pan-Africanism and the Black Power movement in twentieth-century North America.”—Michael Gomez, New York University

“A fascinating and original examination of the transnational orientation and border-crossing practices of ‘African North Americans’ in the long twentieth century.”—Russell Rickford, author of We Are an African People: Independent Education, Black Power, and the Radical Imagination

Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition, Revised and Updated Third Edition by Cedric J. Robinson

“A towering achievement. There is simply nothing like it in the history of black radical thought.”—Cornel West, Monthly Review

“Black Marxism has become an unlikely handbook for a new generation of radicals and activists.”—London Review of Books

“This is a text that should be read and reread and then read again.”—Angela Y. Davis

“Black Marxism provides a well-documented foundation upon which to build ideological and mass social movements.”—Phylon

Shelter in a Time of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership and Activism by Jelani M. Favors

2020 Museum of African American History Stone Book Award

2020 Lillian Smith Book Award

Finalist, 2020 Pauli Murray Book Prize, African American Intellectual History Society

“This vivid exploration of an important topic is a must-read for anyone interested in higher education and HBCUs in particular.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Poignant. . . . Delves deeply into issues of student activism at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and sets out to write a more complex history of Black colleges.”—African American Review