Black Classic Books

As many of you know, the reading journey for me is a rather new, but there are so many books I haven’t read…including many that are considered Black Classics (books every African American should read). So here is where you will find my list of the books I have or intend to read (in no particular order). The ones in pink are the ones I’ve read so far (with a loooooooooong way to go lol). If you have any suggestions, please send them my way! Enjoy!!

Black Classics

  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
  • Roots by Alex Haley
  • Their Eyes Are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  • Sula by Toni Morrison
  • Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
  • Tar Baby by Toni Morrison
  • Beloved by Toni Morrison
  • Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  • Native Son by Richard Wright
  • Black Boy by Richard Wright
  • The Souls of Black Folks by W.E.B Du Bois
  • The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  • Go Tell It To The Mountain by James Baldwin
  • A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
  • I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
  • Kindred by Octavia Butler
  • Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs
  • Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
  • Women, Race & Class by Angela Davis
  • Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
  • Assata by Assata Shakur
  • Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah 
  • Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes
  • The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
  • The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabelle Wilkerson
  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

New Age Black Classics

  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
  • We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union
  • The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae
  • Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan
  • Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward
  • Mother of Black Hollywood By Jenifer Lewis
  • Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
  • Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper
  • You Can’t Touch My Hair by Phoebe Robinson
  • The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  • Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
  • We Should All Be Feminist by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • Hunger by Roxane Gay
  • Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
  • Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
  • Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward
  • Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
  • The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Inspiration for these lists came from the following: