It is very likely I will not complete all the books in this list, but I am going to give it my best effort and I will be back at the end of the month to let you know what I think about the books I do manage to read.
Let Us March On: The Untold Story of Lizzie McDuffie, the White House Made Who Became FDR’s Unofficial Secretary by Shara Moon
A stirring novel inspired by the life of an unsung heroine, and real-life crusader, Lizzie McDuffie, who as a maid in FDR’s White House spearheaded the Civil Rights movement of her time.
A Different Drummer by William Melvin Kelley
June, 1957. One hot afternoon in the backwaters of the Deep South, a young black farmer named Tucker Caliban salts his fields, shoots his horse, burns his house, and heads north with his wife and child. His departure sets off an exodus of the state’s entire black population, throwing the established order into brilliant disarray. Told from the points of view of the white residents who remained, A Different Drummer stands, decades after its first publication in 1962, as an extraordinary and prescient triumph of satire and spirit.
The Struggle for the People’s King by Hajar Yazdiha
How the misuses of Martin Luther King’s legacy divide us and undermine democracy
In the post–civil rights era, wide-ranging groups have made civil rights claims that echo those made by Black civil rights activists of the 1960s, from people with disabilities to women’s rights activists and LGBTQ coalitions. Increasingly since the 1980s, white, right-wing social movements, from family values coalitions to the alt-right, now claim the collective memory of civil rights to portray themselves as the newly oppressed minorities. The Struggle for the People’s King reveals how, as these powerful groups remake collective memory toward competing political ends, they generate offshoots of remembrance that distort history and threaten the very foundations of multicultural democracy.
Fearless and Free: A Memoir by Josephine Baker
Published in the US for the first time, Fearless and Free is the memoir of the fabulous, rule-breaking, one-of-a-kind Josephine Baker, the iconic dancer, singer, spy, and Civil Rights activist.
After stealing the spotlight as a teenaged Broadway performer during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, Josephine then took Paris by storm, dazzling audiences across the Roaring Twenties. In her famous banana skirt, she enraptured royalty and countless fans—Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso among them. She strolled the streets of Paris with her pet cheetah wearing a diamond collar. With her signature flapper bob and enthralling dance moves, she was one of the most recognizable women in the world.
Jackie Ormes, Leaders Like Us Series by Marie Therese Miller, Amanda Quartey (Illustrator)
Learn about Jackie Ormes’ fascinating life, who became the first syndicated female African American cartoonist, in the kids book Jackie Ormes, part of the Leaders Like Us African American children’s books series.
Leaders Like Us: Charlotta Bass – Biography About Civil Rights Activist and African American Leader in Journalism Charlotta Bass by J. P. Miller, Amanda Quartey (Illustrator)
In Leaders Like Us: Charlotta Bass, kids learn about the dedication, passion, and integrity of Bass, who fought for justice and equality, becoming the first woman and African American to run for vice president of the America.
Counting Descent by Clint Smith
Smith explores the cognitive dissonance that results from belonging to a community that unapologetically celebrates black humanity while living in a world that often renders blackness a caricature of fear. His poems move fluidly across personal and political histories, all the while reflecting on the social construction of our lived experiences. Smith brings the reader on a powerful journey forcing us to reflect on all that we learn growing up, and all that we seek to unlearn moving forward.
