Table Of Content

Boston Public Library black is... Books about the African American Experience Booklisfto r Adults |2 018 yyehold Me ays , S“ un eg D R E A M E C Sb Newa le oun The egacy of Bou BROOKS Angelala ckson ere was me | myS OUL © LOOKS BACK THE AMAZING STORY OF ESCAPE FROM Ss MY MOTHER WAS A UNLON_H FREEDOM FIGHTER eeenara ns CE & i ws << RB Grate. - “g a 9a "5 i ¥ AT ExttInwe ; eo ( / NGIE THOMAS aS ‘ a) e naw vonra ses vA hy 6 WOMAN rT ye ae #\ 'VE L. EWING Papel NEXT ee ee cive ' (XC aan Y OF BARACK OBAMA a j Al Al | iv il Xe 3T bhp re mh. ' ONA JUDGE‘ ‘4 Pinay Sfaety~ te [ 1bWOES E SCTovAeRt ncn isuees iww ea:l da Bil EN »>MAS MULLEN Ma aE Sea i aD TYSON wAC Novel pos bpl.org * 700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116 Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf By Helene Cooper BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR This book tells the story of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the first female president of Liberia. BIOG DT636.53 J64 C66 2017 Be Free or Die: The Amazing | Story of Robert Smalls’ Escape © The Meaning of Michelle: % 16 Writers on the Iconic First | Lady and How Her Journey | This is the little-known story of »~~| Inspires Our Own aes RObert Smalls, aman who frees Edited by Veronica Chambers ree his family, and several other slaves in 1862 and later becomes one of the first veRront “| Contemporary African American African Americans elected to the House of authors eee Michelle Obama's unique Representatives. impact on black beauty standards, class politics, and parenting. BIOG E185.97 .S6 L56 2017 BIOG E909 .024 M43 2017 Chasing Space: An Astronaut's Story of Grit, Grace, and Second Chances 2 My Life, My Love, My Legacy By Leland Melvin : ee By Coretta Scott King, as told to | Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds The former NFL wide receiver and hearing- impaired astronaut Leland Melvin shares his Towards the end of her life, Mrs. Story. My Legacy | Coretta Scott King told her life Coretta Scot—t —Kin g | story to one of her closest friends. BIOG TL789.85 .M46 A3 2017x BIOG E185.97 .K47 A3 2017 Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body My Soul Looks Back: A Memoir By Roxane Gay By Jessica B. Harris Pa Roxane Gay explores the complexity of loathing and loving Jessica Harris shares stories of her life in New her body under the weight of a York during the 1970s, from her experiences as traumatic sexual assault that an editor at Essence magazine and frequenter happened in her youth. of the jazz clubs and restaurants of Manhattan to her friendships with Toni Morrison, Maya BIOG BF697.5 B63 G39 2017X Angelou, and James Baldwin. BIOG TX649 .H348 A3 2017 CANE @ | Can't Make This Up: | MAKE = | Life Lessons | THIS ai | Never Caught: The Washingtons’ |B y Kevin Hart with Neil Strauss BESTSELLER Brag Relentless Pursuit of Their |e e A 4 | Superstar actor and comedian = ._-) Runaway Slave, Ona Judge HARUE PA Kevin Hart shares his comical and By Erica Armstrong Dunbar == inspirational stories of survival, { Dunbar shines a light on Ona success, and self-confidence. Judge, a slave who successfully BIOG PN2287 .H26 A3 2017X escaped her supposedly benevolent masters, George and Martha Washington. BIOG E444 .D86 2017X Rising Star: The Making Dear ljeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto of Barack Obama in Fifteen Suggestions By David J. Garrow By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie This book presents a Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers comprehensive and controversial the daughter of her childhood friend biography of former President five suggestions on how to become an Barack Obama. independent and empowered woman. BIOG E908.3 G37 2017x HQ1206 .A354 2017X The Song and the Silence: A Story About ‘s) | Am Not Your Negro: Family, Race, and What Was Revealed ina eeu A Major Motion Picture Small Town in the Mississippi Delta While Searching for Booker Wright ~ |F rom texts by James Baldwin; | compiled and edited by Raoul By Yvette Johnson Peck Yvette Johnson examines her own family , The transcript of the award- history and Jim Crow racism in 1960s winning documentary film in which James Greenwood, Mississippi, as she discusses Baldwin discusses racism in America. the life of her outspoken and subsequently persecuted uncle, Booker Wright. E185.61 .B196 2017 BIOG E185.96 J585 2017x Tears We Cannot Stop: | A Sermon to White America ~~. _|A Surprised Queenhood in _| the New Black Sun: The Life & | By Michael Eric Dyson | Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks Michael Eric Dyson believes that rN ewia ntche Sm By Angela Jackson | in order to make racial progress, ~~ White America should reckon Fellow Chicagoan Angela Jackson with the grievances of African Americans. dives deep into the poetry, family stories, and personal papers of prolific poet b185.015.D97 2017x Gwendolyn Brooks, a protégé of Langston Hughes and a contemporary of Richard We Are Never Meeting in Real Life: Essays Wright. By Samantha Irby BIOG PS 3503 .R7244 2685 2017 Blogger, essayist, and humorist Samantha Irby chronicles the disasters and emotional truths of her life. See ONS | PN 2287 .173 A3 2017 My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter | uae | By Aja Monet The Art of Death: eo Sea j 4») Aja Monet of slam poetry fame Writing the Final Story = delves into the experiences By Edwidge Danticat == of women, particularly black Edwidge Danticat’s book is women, who were shaped by racism and both a discussion of how writers sexism and became warriors in their own right. approach death and a memoir about her PS3613.052458 M9 2017x mother's death from cancer. PN 56 .D4 D36 2017x ~~ || The Color of Law: A Forgotten n.|| History of How Our Government ' | Blending poetry, prose, and || Segregated America a / mixed-media collage, poet and | By Richard Rothstein sociologist Eve Ewing's debut poetry collection || Richard Rothstein, an expert tells the coming-of-age story of a young black =! on housing policy, makes woman. the case for how local, state, and federal PS3605.W553 E44 2017x policies caused widespread racial housing discrimination in America. E185.61 .R8185 2017 HISTORY is Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice CONTEMPORARY By Dr. Willie Parker ISSUES © Dr. Parker, a Christian obstetrician, explores his belief that poor women should have access to all forms of birth control. R154 .P258 A3 2017x | 30 Days a Black Man: _ The Forgotten Story That LLOOCC KING U»P | Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Exposed the Jim Crow South Our QW \ Punishment in Black America By Bill Steigerwald pa~ By James Forman Jr. {CHIME as 4 Puws HMENT _ Bill Steigerwald tells the story of “nHH sELAiCK mA sW its | Former public defender and Yale mm how Atlanta-based Civil Rights FORMM a) IR. | Law School professor James activist Wesley Dobbs and Ray Sprigle, a Forman Jr. analyzes the roles that famous white journalist from Pittsburgh, African Americans play in the war on crime. helped expose the shameful system of nVS950. F655 2077 Southern racial segregation. E165 6153/96 20Ty | We Were Eight Years in Power: |A n American Tragedy By Ta-Nehisi Coates 1 By Timothy B. Tyson | Ta-Nehisi Coates’s collection of | Timothy Tyson explores the personal essays reflects on race |t rue story of what happened and identity in America during Errno |° Emmett Till, the African | Obama's presidency. = American boy lynched by white E907 Cos 207s men inthe Mississippi Delta in 1955. HV6465 .M7 197 2017 FICTION Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel Te By Jesmyn Ward SING Thirteen-year-old Jojo and ANOVED JESMYN his young sister struggle to WARD survive their childhood in rural fame V\ississippi. On a road trip, he And Then There Was Me: A Novel encounters the ghost of a thirteen-year-old of Friendship, Secrets, and Lies prison inmate. By Sadega Johnson FICTION WARD J This book narrates the journeys of lifelong friends Bea and Awilda. The Talented Ribkins: A Novel FICTION JOHNSON S By Ladee Hubbard Johnny Ribkins and his niece Eloise drive | Lightning Men: A Novel around Florida digging up buried money they By Thomas Mullen owe a mob boss. Officer Denny Rakestraw and FICTION HUBBARD L “Negro Officers” Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith battle the What We Lose: A Novel Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, bootleggers, and arson in 1950s segregated By Zinzi Clemmons Atlanta. Thandi was raised in Pennsylvania but her FICTION MULLEN T mother is from Johannesburg; as a result, she does not feel like she belongs anywhere. » No One Is Coming to Save Us: FICTION CLEMMONS Z A Novel By Stephanie Powell Watts JJ Ferguson returns to his | By Attica Locke declining hometown in North |I n this mystery, African American Carolina to pursue his now- | Texas Ranger Darren Matthews married high school sweetheart. | investigates two murders deep Attica Locke FICTION WATTS S in rural East Texas. MYSTERY LOCKE A Passage: A Novel By Khary Lazarre-White Breathless Warrior is a young African American man By Beverly Jenkins living in New York during the early 1990s Portia Carmichael runs a hotel in the Arizona who, though surrounded by family, love, and Territory. She reconnects with childhood friend connections, must cope with poor schools Kent Randolph and learns to trust him with her and street violence. heart. A romance. FICTION LAZARREW K ROMANCE JENKINS B Haine | Binti: Home | By Nnedi Okorafor | Stay With Me In this sci fi/fantasy novel, Binti | By Ayobami Adebayo |a nd her friend Okwu return to | Yejide and Akin met and married hase == face her friends and family on while in college. But after Yejide Earth, her home planet. is unablet o conceive a child, her SCIFIFANTASY OKORAFORN = parents introduce the couple to Akin’s second wife. FICTION ADEBAYO A INTERNATIONAL What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky FICTION © By Lesley Nneka Arimah This debut short story collection explores the ties that bind people and the places they call home. | Behold the Dreamers: A Novel FICTION ARIMAH L |B y Imbolo Mbue | In 2007 New York, immigrants The Woman Next Door | Jende and Neni Jonga get Buintatiia positions in the household of By Yewande Omotoso ee Wall Street executive Clark Two widowed elderly neighbors, Edwards. Then the 2008 financial collapse one black and the other white, changes everyone's lives. share a hedge and a long feud FICTION MBUE | until unexpected events bring them together. FICTION OMOTOSO Y Foreign Soil and other Stories By Maxine Beneba Clarke In this collection set in Africa, | London, the West Indies, and TEEN FICTION | Australia, Maxine Benebe _ Clarke tells stories about the miserirenenicen the lost, and the mistreated. FICTION CLARKE M ANGIE THOMAS The Hate U Give Hum If You Don't Know the Words By Angie Thomas ~ Hate : By Bianca Marais Give Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter ic struggles to balance her life in the In 1970s Johannesburg, Robin Conrad, an inner city and her elite suburban orphaned white nine-year-old girl, is sent to ————— prep school. live with her irresponsible aunt and is cared for by Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman from a rural TEEN FICTION THOMAS A Bantu village. FICTION MARAIS B Long Way Down Three Piece Meal By Jason Reynolds Wao By Zane PIECES | Fifteen-year-old Will sets out to Yigewee = Psychologist Prodigy Jenkins avenge the death of his brother | tests her theory that dating = | Shawn and encounters seven ZANE multiple men at one time ghosts who reveal truths about m=! avoids dating traps and Shawn to Will. increases true fulfillment. TEEN FICTION REYNOLDS J URBAN FICTION ZANE The Bank Sisters 3 By Nikki Turner ime ON The two remaining Banks sisters hit rock bottom. They meet good guy Rydah who “brings the drama” to this popular series. URBAN FICTION TURNER N BY Black President: The World Will Never Be the Same Animal 4.5 | By Brenda Hampton By K'wan | St. Louis native Stephen C. Animal embarks on a suicide | Jefferson is elected President mission to save his family from ' of the United States and must the deadly assassin Tiger Lily and overcome the difficulties within his own family, ' the rest of the cartel. Congress, and his administration. URBAN FICTION KWAN URBAN FICTION HAMPTON B Baby Momma Saga Part1 } Never Trust a Stranger By Ni'chelle Genovese | By Mary Monroe This book tells the story of three | Best friends Lola Poole and | women and their involvement Joan Proctor-Riley engage in a with hustlers and the family risqué fantasies with Calvin, an ™ drug trade. ' outwardly kind and responsible URBAN FICTION GENOVESE N truck driver who is hiding a deadly secret. FICTION MONROE M Support our free programs and services for all ages and interests by texting “BPL” to 27722 to donate $5 to the Boston Public Library. When prompted, follow the link to complete your gift. $5 donation to Boston Public Library. Charges will appear on your wireless bill, or be deducted from your prepaid balance. All purchases must be authorized by account holder. Must be 18 years of age or have parental permission to participate. Message and Data Rates May Apply. Text STOP to 27722 to STOP. Text HELP to 27722 for HELP. Full Terms: mGive.org/T. Privacy Policy: mGive.org/P. Boston Public Library black Is... i sfore).<-¥-] ole) 1ad al= Niven Na al=ia (eral =>.4el-14(-)ales Booklist for Adults |2 018 City of Boston Martin J. Walsh, Mayor Compiled by Boston Public Library staff: Boston Public Library David Leonard, President Anne Smart Black Is Chairperson, South End Branch Board of Trustees Robert E. Gallery, Chair Akunna Eneh Dudley Branch Evelyn Arana-Ortiz, Vice Chair Zamawa Arenas Janice Knight Ben Bradlee. Jr. Codman Square Branch Cheryl Cronin Margaret Phillibert Priscilla Douglas Lower Mills Branch John Hailer Paul La Camera Representative Byron Rushing The Black Is Booklist is a list of recent books concerning the African American experience. It is published as part of the Boston Public Library's observance of Black History Month each year. bpl.org * 700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116