High School and Adult Books Celebrating African Americans    return to black history page   The Black Americans: A History in Their Own Words, 1619-1983 edited by Milton Melter (Thomas Y. Crowell)   A history of black people in the United States, as told through letters, speeches, articles, eyewitness accounts, and other documents.   The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X Malcolm X, the Black Muslim leader, firebrand, and anti-integrationist, tells his life story to veteran writer and journalist Alex Haley.   Passing by Nella Larson. Presents two novels written by Harlem Renaissance author Nella Larsen in which she documents the realities of life in Harlem during the 1920s.   The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes edited by Arnold Rampersad.  A complete collection of Hughes's poetry spanning five decades, from the 1920s through the 1960s.   Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. In the course of his wanderings from a Southern Negro college to New York's Harlem, an African-American man becomes involved in a series of adventures.   I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Adaptation of the autobiography of Angelou, telling of her troubled life in depression-era Arkansas.   Jazmin’s Notebook by Nikki Grimes.  Jazmin, an African-American teenager who lives with her older sister in a small Harlem apartment in the 1960s, finds strength in writing poetry and keeping a record of the events in her sometimes difficult life.   Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63 by Taylor Branch. Chronicles the civil rights struggle from the twilight of the Eisenhower years through the assassination of President Kennedy.   For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange.  This choreopoem illuminates the story and struggle of black women in America.   Native Son by Richard Wright. Trapped in the poverty-stricken ghetto of Chicago's South Side, a young black man finds release only in acts of violence.   Now is Your Time!:  The African-American Struggle for Freedom by Walter Dean Myers. A history of the African-American struggle for freedom and equality, beginning with the capture of Africans in 1619, continuing through the American Revolution, the Civil War, and into contemporary times.   Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin. The author, a white man, recounts his experiences when he darkened his skin and traveled through the South as an African-American man.   Beloved by Toni Morrison. When Sethe, an escaped slave living in post-Civil War Ohio, takes in a strange girl named Beloved, she finds that she must face her unthinkable past in order to own her present and future.   Dream Makers, Dream Breakers: The World of Justice, Thurgood Marshall By Carl Rowan.  A fascinating account of his 40 year friendship with the first black Supreme Court Justice.   Fences by August Wilson. Troy Maxson, a strong, hard man who has learned how to be Black and proud in the 1950s, finds the changing spirit of the 1960s hard to deal with.   Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. A Black woman searches for a fulfilling relationship through two loveless marriages and finally finds it in the person of Tea Cake, an itinerant laborer and gambler.   The Color Purple by Alice Walker. The story of Celie, a poor black woman from the south, whose friendship with two women helps her overcome the brutality of her father and husband.   A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansbury. Story about a black family's struggle to buy a house in a white neighborhood, after the father dies. An insurance check can allow the youngsters to escape their frustrating life in a crowded Chicago apartment, but escape means different things to each family member. It deals with their attempt to maintain dignity, self-respect, and a sense of humanity.   Go Tell it On the Mountain by James Baldwin. Describes a day in the life of several members of a Harlem fundamentalist church. The saga of three generations of people is related through flashbacks.   Roots by Alex Haley. A black American traces his family's origins back to the African who was brought to America as a slave in 1767.   The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride  An African-American male tells of his mother, a white woman, who refused to admit her true identity.   Caucasia by Danzy Senna. Two sisters, one light-skinned like their mother, the other dark like their father, are separated after their parents divorce and go on to lead very different lives while hoping for a reunion with each other.   Middle Passage by Charles Johnson. In 1830, Rutherford Calhoun, a newly freed slave leading a dissolute life in New Orleans, finds himself forced into marriage.   Colored People: A Memoir by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The author recounts his early life in the black community of a small West Virginia town in the Allegheny Mountains where the major social event was the annual mill picnic.   Thomas and Beulah by Rita Dove. A collection of poems, written by this winner of the 1987 Pulitzer prize for poetry, tells two sides of a story and is meant to be read in sequence.   A Wreath For Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson.  This illustrated poetry collection eulogizes Emmett Till, an African American man who was killed in a brutal, racially motivated lynching in 1955.