WNPL Book Picks for Black History Month 2021

Honoring Black History

Black culture has a rich history and we’re celebrating all of it during the month of February! Everything from beauty and music to families and stories, we invite you to find books for all ages in our list below. To find out more about how to pick up your items via curbside,  review our contactless pickup instructions.

Honoring Black History

Vanguard: How Black women broke barriers, won the vote, and insisted on equality for all
by Martha S. Jones
Honoring Black HistoryDefining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies
by Dick Gregory
Homey Don’t Play That!: The story of In Living Color and the black comedy revolution
by David Peisner
A Black Woman’s History of the United States
by Daina Ramey Berry
Kevin Hart’s Guide to Black History (Documentary)
Boss: The black experience in business (Documentary)
Tell Them We Are Rising (Documentary)

For Children:

The Port Chicago 50 : Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights
by Steve Sheinkin
Birmingham Sunday
by Larry Dane Brimner
Simeon’s Story: an Eyewitness Account of the Kidnapping of Emmett Till
by Simeon Wright
Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
How to Build a Museum : Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
by Tonya Bolden
Strange Fruit: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History
by Joel Gill


Appreciating Black Families

The Black Calhouns: From Civil War to civil rights with one African American family
by Gail Lumet Buckley
Appreciating Black FamiliesThe Three Mothers: How the mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin shaped a nation
by Anna Malaika Tubbs
Motherhood So White: A memoir of race, gender, and parenting in America
by Nefertiti Austin
The Warrior Method: A parents’ guide to rearing healthy Black boys
by Raymond A. Winbush, PhD

For Children:

One Crazy Summer
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
by Mildred Taylor
Ways to Make Sunshine
by Rene Watson
As Brave as You
by Jason Reynolds
Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963
by Christopher Paul Curtis


Celebrating Black Beauty

Glory: Magical visions of black beauty
by Kahran and Regis Bethencourt
Twisted: The tangled history of black hair culture
by Emma Dabiri
Palette: The beauty bible for women of color
by Funmi FettoCelebrating Black Beauty
The Black Woman’s Hair Bible
by Lisa C Johnson

The Science of Black Hair
by Aufrey Davis-Sivasothy

Milady Standard Natural Hair Care and Braiding
by Diane Carol Bailey
Thick: And other essays
by Tressie McMillan Cottom

For Children:

Hair Love
by Matthew Cherry
Chocolate Me!
by Taye Diggs
Crown: an Ode to the Fresh Cut
by Derrick Barnes
Bedtime Bonnet
by Nancy Redd


Amplifying Black Music

Jay-Z: Made in America
by Michael Eric Dyson
Queen Bey: A celebration of the power and creativity of Beyoncé Knowles-CarterAmplifying Black Music
by Veronica Chambers
Contact High: A visual history of hip-hop
by Vikki Tobak
I am Hip-Hop: Conversations on the music and culture
by Andrew J. Rausch
The Best of Soul Train (DVD)
Hip Hop: The Songs that Shook America (Documentary)

For Children:

Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotton
by Laura Viers
Nina: Jazz Legend and Civil Rights Activist
by Alice Briere-Haquet
Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
by Katheryn Russell-Brown
The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop
by Carole Boston Weatherford


Magnifying Black Stories

You Can’t Touch My Hair and Other Things I Still Have to Explain
by Phoebe Robinson
Conversations in Black: On power, politics, and leadershipMagnifying Black Stories
by
Ed Gordon
Our Time is Now
by Stacy Abrams

Brown: Poems
by Kevin Young

Bluff City: The Secret Life of Photographer Ernest Withers
by Presten Lauterbach

Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
I am Not Your Negro (Documentary)
Prince Among Slaves (Documentary)

For Children:

This is Your Time
by Ruby Bridges
Preaching to the Chickens: the Story of Young John Lewis
by Jabari Asim
Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks
by Suzanne Slade
Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace
by Ashley Bryan