Must Reads on the Black Experience: A Juneteenth Booklist

From General Order Number 3:
"The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer."

And thus Juneteenth was born (in 1865) when Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, arrived in Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved Africans were now free. Yes, years after President Lincoln had already said so in the Emancipation Proclamation. Let's just say it took Texas a minute or two to catch up! 

Today, everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon, and that's fine, as long as the meaning behind the celebration isn't lost in performative allyship and/or commercialization. I ask that, along with anything else you might be doing to commemorate this day, you take the time to really educate yourself on the Black experience, and there's no better place to start than at the library!

Now, being of Latinx/Caribbean heritage AND being educated in these United States means that Juneteenth, or anything substantive about slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, or Black history was not something I was ever taught. Therefore, in brainstorming this 'Black Liberation and Heritage' primer of a book list for you, I crowdsourced from amongst my circle of educated and well-read friends, whose families did the work and made sure their progeny knew their complete history and heritage.

If you haven't already read them, fill in the gaps of your American history knowledge and enrich you cultural awareness with these books:

Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur 
Shakur recounts the experiences that led her to a life of activism and portrays the strengths, weaknesses, and eventual demise of Black and White revolutionary groups at the hand of government officials. 

The Autobiography of Malcolm X (as told to Alex Haley)
Haley wrote this from conversations he had with Malcolm X in the years before Malcolm was assasinated. It includes a perspective on the lies and limitations of the American Dream, and the inherent racism in American society.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarciration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
In this book, civil rights advocate and lawyer Alexander argues that criminals convicted by our justice system face the same obstacles—legal discrimination and disenfranchisement—African Americans faced during the Jim Crow era.

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Baldwin's essays, written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that strongly encourgaes Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism.

The Parable of The Sower by Octavia Butler
In 2025 California—a time of severe social chaos (Y'ALL. THIS TAKES PLACE IN FIVE YEARS!)—Lauren Olamina, suffering from a hereditary trait that causes her to feel others' pain as well as her own, flees northward from her small community and its desperate citizens.

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
A collection of essays taking aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement, arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women.

A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story by Elaine Brown
A memoir by Brown, the first and only female leader of the Black Panther Party.

Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism by Carmichael Stokely
In the speeches and articles collected in this book, Stokely explains his belief that the destiny of African Americans could not be separated from that of oppressed people the world over; his Black Power principles insisted that Blacks resist white brainwashing and redefine themselves.

Women, Race & Class by Angela Davis
A powerful study of the women's liberation movement in the U.S., from abolitionist days to the present, that demonstrates how it has always been hampered by the racist and classist biases of its leaders.

Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks
Examining the impact of sexism on Black women during slavery, the devaluation of Black womanhood, Black male sexism, racism among feminists, and the Black woman's involvement with feminism, hooks attempts to move us beyond racist and sexist assumptions.

Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver
Letters and essays from Folsom State Prison during the early 1960's lay bare Cleaver's ideas about himself as a Black man and the society which has nurtured him.
(currently unavailable electronically, but worth waiting until our print collections are back in circulation)