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By Sophia Oppedisano
Editor-in-Chief
When Carter G. Woodson established Black History Month 100 years ago, he declared, “We must give our own story to the world.”
Black authors have taken up Woodson’s call over the past 100 years and have been writing their stories for decades before it.
Novels and nonfiction works by Black authors are often overlooked by readers browsing for new titles, as many titles have been banned or stigmatized due to their content.
From classic literary fiction to informative nonfiction, here are five recommendations to add to your to-be-read list and engage with Black stories.
The Hate U Give
This one has been on my shelf for years. Angie Thomas’s 2017 novel focuses on Starr Carter, a 16-year-old grappling with her identity as a poor, Black teenager attending a predominantly white, wealthy prep school.
Starr is split between her home life and her school life, code-switching between them and never feeling like her authentic self.
Her life is upended when she becomes the sole witness to the fatal shooting of her childhood friend Khalil by a police officer, pushing her to confront her identity and find her voice to protect herself, her family, and her community.
Thomas was inspired to write this novel after Oscar Grant was shot and killed by a police officer in Oakland, California. “In my anger, frustration, and hurt, I only knew to do one thing – and that was write,” she wrote on her website.
“The Hate U Give” is a phenomenal exploration of young, Black identity in a white world as well as social justice and the poverty cycle.
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race
This incredibly important work by Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum highlights why Black students often stick together to cope with and adapt to a racially charged environment.
Tatum explores prejudice, critical-race theory, otherness, and white privilege as starting points for conversations about race in the 21st century and why Black children are self-segregating at school.
The book confronts the narrative of white culture’s embrace of silence on the topic of racism and Tatum encourages readers to expand their sphere of influence, including with media like books.
She challenges readers to “unlearn” what they have been taught about race and how to confront biases and prejudices in their own lives to stop the cycle of learned, inherent racism.
The Color Purple
“The Color Purple” by Alice Walker has been adapted into a musical (starring Cynthia Orivo in the original Broadway cast) and two movies since its publication in 1982.
This literary classic follows Celie, a Black woman from the rural south, who narrates the story in the form of letter – most of which are written to God.
Celie’s story takes place over a 40-year span, during which she experiences tragedy, heartbreak, and a queer awakening – all of which lead Celie to seek solace in her female friendships.
Walker illustrates these friendships as places of peace, where women are able to tell their stories and lean on each other in a world all too willing to accept male violence.
Cleopatra: A Novel
According to Roman legend, Cleopatra was a villain – a seductress and political power player all too willing to levy her wiles on anyone who stood in her way.
Saara El-Arifi’s take, however, is a bit different.
In her novel “Cleopatra,” El-Arifi gives Cleopatra a first-person narrative platform to tell her historically epic tale as a pharaoh.
When El-Arifi released the book in 2025, she wrote on her Instagram, “White men built her myth, and a Black woman will break it down. It is in that rubble that I put pen to paper.”
Cleopatra blooms from villainous antagonist to powerful, feminist icon with each stroke of El-Arifi’s pen.
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot
Mikki Kendall’s collection of essays focuses on the feminist movement’s neglect of marginalized, poor women in favor of white-centric issues.
Her powerful essays contest that a lack of basic needs such as food, shelter, and freedom from violence are inherent feminist issues.
Each essay takes on a different issue and Kendall offers a call to action for the feminist movement at the end of each chapter to address the problem.
Kendall’s work is a call for reflection of privilege so feminists can embrace intersectionality.
