Celebrate Black History Month this month (and every month!) by checking out these nine books. For even more titles, check out our Featured Reads!
 
 
 
The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne
A revisionary portrait of the iconic civil rights leader draws on hundreds of hours of interviews with surviving family members, intelligence officers, and political leaders to offer new insights into Malcolm X's Depression-era youth, religious conversion, and 1965 assassination.
Physical | Libby | Hoopla

 
Paul Robeson: A Life of Activism and Art by Lindsey R. Swindall
Traces the life and multifaceted career of the African American icon and his dedicated commitment to promoting social change.
Physical

 
Black Women Will Save the World by April Ryan
The trailblazing White House correspondent reflects on 2020 and the unprecedented role of African American women in helping to uphold democracy and recalls her own personal journey from working-class Baltimore to the pinnacle of her profession.
Physical | Libby | Hoopla

 
Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America by John Lewis
In turbulent times Americans look to the Civil Rights Movement as the apotheosis of political expression. As we confront questions of social inequality, there's no better time to revisit the lessons of the '60s and no better leader to learn from than Congressman John Lewis. In Across That Bridge, Congressman Lewis draws from his experience as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement to offer timeless guidance to anyone seeking to live virtuously and transform the world. His wisdom, poignant recollections, and powerful ideas will inspire a new generation to usher in a freer, more peaceful society.
Physical | Libby

 
Civil Rights Queen by Tomiko Brown-Nagin
Civil Rights Queen captures the story of a remarkable American life, a figure who remade law and inspired the imaginations of African Americans across the country. Burnished with an extraordinary wealth of research, award-winning, esteemed Civil Rights and legal historian and dean of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Tomiko Brown-Nagin, brings Motley to life in these pages. Brown-Nagin compels us to ponder some of our most timeless and urgent questions–how do the historically marginalized access the corridors of power? What is the price of the ticket? How does access to power shape individuals committed to social justice? In Civil Rights Queen, she dramatically depicts some of the most profound judicial and societal changes made in twentieth-century America.
Physical

 
The Black Period: On Personhood, Race, and Origin by Hafizah Augusts Geter
Reclaiming her origin story as the queer daughter of a Muslim Nigerian immigrant and a Black American visual artist, the author creates a space for the beauty of Blackness, Islam, disability, and queerness to flourish, emerging from the erasures America imposes to exist proudly and unabashedly as herself.
Physical

 
The Chiffon Trenches by André Leon Talley
The Chiffon Trenches offers a candid look at the who's who of the last fifty years of fashion. At once ruthless and empathetic, this engaging memoir tells with raw honesty the story of how André not only survived the brutal style landscape but thrived--despite racism, illicit rumors, and all the other challenges of this notoriously cutthroat industry--to become one of the most renowned voices and faces in fashion.
Physical | Libby | Hoopla

 
The Three Mothers by Anna Malaika Tubbs
In her groundbreaking and essential debut, The Three Mothers, scholar Anna Malaika Tubbs celebrates Black motherhood by telling the story of the three women who raised and shaped some of America's most pivotal heroes: Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin. Much has been written about Berdis Baldwin's son James, Alberta King's son Martin Luther, and Louise Little's son Malcolm. But virtually nothing has been said about the extraordinary women who raised them, who were all born at the beginning of the 20th century and forced to contend with the prejudices of Jim Crow as Black women. Berdis, Alberta, and Louise passed their knowledge to their children with the hope of helping them to survive in a society that would deny their humanity from the very beginning-from, Louise teaching her children about their activist roots to Berdis encouraging James to express himself through writing, to Alberta basing all of her lessons in faith and social justice.
Physical | Libby | Hoopla
 

Ida B. the Queen by Michelle Duster
Written by her great-granddaughter, a historical portrait of the boundary-breaking civil rights pioneer includes coverage of Wells' early years as a slave, her famous acts of resistance, and her achievements as a journalist and anti-lynching activist.
Physical | Hoopla