High School Nonfiction
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We have curated titles from a collection of reliable review sources. We know our list can never be complete. If you have additional suggestions, please email studentsneedlibraries@gmail.com.
This page is only NONFICTION titles. Fiction and media resources can be found on the linked pages. There is an additional page for Upper High School books, mostly nonfiction and intended for advanced students. Formats noted: IN VERSE; SHORT STORIES; GRAPHIC; DOCUMENTARY NOVEL; FANTASY; SPECULATIVE FICTION; DYSTOPIAN FICTION; MYSTERY; SUPERNATURAL; POETRY; MEMOIR; ESSAYS; SATIRE; BIOG; COLLECTIVE BIOG 2019 and 2020 titles are noted in PURPLE. They are not yet as widely reviewed. Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem and Raymond Obstfeld. Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality beyond Black and White. Time/Liberty Street, 2016. “...this is a call to everyone in the U.S. to live better, richer, fuller lives, which is, after all, the real definition of the American Dream.” PERSONAL ESSAYS
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random, 1969. “...captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right.” CLASSIC; MEMOIR Baca, Jimmy Santiago. A Place to Stand: the Making of a Poet. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2002. “[The] harrowing, brilliant memoir of his life before, during, and immediately after the years he spent in a maximum-security prison garnered tremendous critical acclaim and went on to win the prestigious 2001 International Prize. … Baca was illiterate at the age of twenty-one and facing five to ten years behind bars for selling drugs. A Place to Stand is the remarkable tale of how he emerged after his years in the penitentiary -- much of it spent in isolation -- with the ability to read and a passion for writing poetry. … [A]n affirmation of one man's spirit in overcoming the most brutal adversity.” MEMOIR Baldwin, James. “A Letter to My Nephew.” (The Progressive Magazine, 1962). See also The Fire Next Time. “I have begun this letter five times and torn it up five times. I keep seeing your face, which is also the face of your father and my brother. I have known both of you all your lives and have carried your daddy in my arms and on my shoulders, kissed him and spanked him and watched him learn to walk. I don't know if you have known anybody from that far back, if you have loved anybody that long, first as an infant, then as a child, then as a man. You gain a strange perspective on time and human pain and effort.” PERSONAL ESSAY; SELF-IMAGE Barr, Mary. Friends Disappear: The Battle for Racial Equity in Evanston. Chicago Visions and Revisions, 2014. “...a poignant reminder of how far we have yet to travel when it comes to facing honestly the full complexity of the battles for civil rights and equality. Diving beneath the surface of what appeared to be a childhood filled with examples of racial progress, … [t]here is a detrimental myth of integration surrounding Evanston despite bountiful evidence of actual segregation, both in the archives and from the life stories of her subjects.” SEGREGATION; INTEGRATION Bennett, Juda and others. The Toni Morrison Book Club. U of Wisconsin, 2020. “[P]ersonal essays examining the brilliance and relevance of Toni Morrison’s classic works.This book is an intimate view into the audience Morrison wrote for, as well as the hopeful future she wrote towards.” PERSONAL ESSAYS; BLACK LIVES MATTER; COMMUNITY Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America, Fifth Edition. Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. “...documents how, beneath our contemporary conversation about race, there lies a full-blown arsenal of arguments, phrases, and stories that whites use to account for—and ultimately justify—racial inequalities….” RACISM Bray, Rosemary L. Unafraid of the Dark. Anchor, 1999. “Racism feels like this big scary monster which can make some of us feel like we don’t know where to begin in dismantling it and others feel it’s not relevant to them at all. Bray sets the record straight with these vignettes and anecdotes about what racism looks like in practice but also how police interventions can work to alleviate the pressures. RACISM Brown-Long, Cyntoia. Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System. Atria Books, 2019. “Everyone from Rihanna to Kim Kardashian was tweeting about Cyntoia Brown-Long, the young woman incarcerated for defending herself against her abuser and a sexual predator. Cyntoia’s story is one that many women share—and this book sheds light on how systems set up to protect us, fail us time and time again. BIOG; JUSTICE SYSTEM Butler, Paul. Let’s Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice. New Press, 2010. “This Harvard Law grad turned prosecutor went from high-powered attorney to wrongfully accused Black man in one day. What that experience taught him is cemented through this book and will tell you all you need to know about this rigged system.” MEMOIR; JUSTICE SYSTEM Carr, Gwen and Dave Smitherman. I. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018. “Carr provides an inside look at a life forever changed by police violence and sorrow turned into a force for social good.” BIOG; MEMOIR; URBAN VIOLENCE Carruthers, Charlene A. Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements. Beacon, 2018. “This short but powerful handbook to the contemporary black liberation movement, including Black Lives Matter, is an important addition to the social-injustice bookshelf.” IDENTITY; BLACK LIVES MATTER Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. Spiegel & Grau, 2015. “[In] the form of a letter to the author’s teenage son, the ... author comes to grips with what it means to be black in America today.” PERSONAL ESSAY; SELF-IMAGE Coates, Ta-Nehisi. We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy. Random, 2017. “Coates’ collection of his essays from the past decade examine the recurrence of certain themes in the black community, the need for uplift and self-reliance, the debate between liberals and conservatives about the right approach to racism, and the virulent reaction in some quarters to any signs of racial progress.” ESSAYS; OBAMA Cooper, D. Brittney. Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower. St. Martins, 2018. “Far too often, Black women’s anger has been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy. But Cooper shows us that there is more to the story than that. Black women’s eloquent rage is what makes Serena Williams such a powerful tennis player. It’s what makes Beyoncé’s girl power anthems resonate so hard. It’s what makes Michelle Obama an icon.” MEMOIR; WOMEN Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (Revisioning History, Book 3 of 5). Beacon, 2015. “The first history of the United States told from the perspective of indigenous peoples.” NATIVE AMERICANS; INDIGENOUS Edwards, Sue Bradford and Duchess Harris. Black Lives Matter (Special Reports). ABDO Essential Library, 2016. "Black Lives Matter covers the shootings that touched off passionate protests, the work of activists to bring about a more just legal system, and the tensions in US society that these events have brought to light." BLACK LIVES MATTER; ACTIVISM Ewing, Eve. 1919. Haymarket, 2019. A conversation in poetry around the 1919 [Chicago] race riot that began during a July heat wave, after Eugene Williams, a 17-year-old African American swimming in Lake Michigan, drowned when white men hurled stones at him, and the police failed to act. RACE RIOT Fitzgerald, Sheila. Police Brutality (Opposing Viewpoints series). Greenhaven, 2006. “Presents a collection of essays that cover varying opinions on police brutality.” ESSAYS Freedman, Russell. Because They Marched: The People's Campaign for Voting Rights that Changed America. Holiday House, 2014. “The struggle for voting rights was a pivotal event in the history of civil rights.“ VOTING RIGHTS; CIVIL RIGHTS Fulton, Sybrina and Tracy Martin. Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin. Random, 2016. “Given the unconscionable shooting deaths of young black men, many by police, that followed Trayvon’s, this galvanizing testimony from parents who channeled their sorrow into action offers a deeply humanizing perspective on the crisis propelling a national movement.” BIOG; MEMOIR; URBAN VIOLENCE Glaude, Eddie S. Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul. Crown, 2015. “...[E]quat[es] our racist history to a basic gap in values, the notion that black lives matter less in this country and always have.” RACISM; BLACK LIVES MATTER Goldstone, Lawrence. Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights. Scholastic Focus, 2020. “A thrilling and incisive examination of the post-Reconstruction era struggle for and suppression of African American voting rights in the United States.” VOTING RIGHTS; CIVIL RIGHTS Hanson-Harding, Alexandra. Are You Being Racially Profiled? Enslow, 2016. Explains what it is, why it takes place, and ways to prevent it. RACIAL PROFILING Harris, Duchess and Gail Radley. The Impact of Slavery in America. ABDO, 2019. “Though it opens with a Louisiana slave revolt in 1811, this volume primarily looks at the legacy of slavery in America since the Civil War: prejudiced assumptions, discriminatory practices, unjust laws, and violence against African Americans.” SLAVERY; POST CIVIL WAR Hogan, Wesley C. On the Freedom Side: How Five Decades of Youth Activists Have Remixed American History. UNC Press, 2019. “As Wesley C. Hogan sees it, the future of democracy belongs to young people. … Hogan documents and assesses young people's interventions in the American fight for democracy and its ideals.” ACTIVISM Houstman, Jacqueline, et al. Trouble Maker for Justice: The Story Behind Bayard Rustin, The man Behind the March on Washington. City Lights Books, 2019. “A biography about one of the most influential activists of our time, who was an early advocate for African Americans and for gay rights.” BIOG; 1960s; CIVIL RIGHTS Hughes, Akilah. Obviously, Stories from My Timeline. Razorbill, 2019. “Through intimate and hilarious essays, Akilah takes readers along on her journey from the small Kentucky town where she was born--and eventually became a spelling bee champ and 15-year-old high school graduate--to New York City, where she took careful steps to fulfill her dream of becoming a writer and performer. MEMOIR; ESSAYS Jerkins, Morgan. Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots. Harper, 2020. “Jerkins’ quest to connect with her ancestors will undoubtedly urge readers to research their own. A thrilling, emotional, and engaging ride that almost commands the reader to turn the page…As she travels south, she learns the complexity of her genetic heritage, dating back 300 years, and peels back the layers of myths in Black culture.” ANCESTRY; RACISM; FAMILY Jewell, Tiffany. This Book is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work. Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2020. ““I felt completely powerless when I was young. I was able to identify racism and injustice, but did not have the language to talk about it and definitely did not know how to stand-up, especially against racist adults,” [tHIS] book is designed to do just that: equip young people with the tools they need to be actively antiracist.” ANTI-RACISM; ACTIVISM Johnson, George M. All Boys Aren’t Blue. Farrar, 2020. “In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. … [T]his young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.” MEMOIR; IDENTITY Johnson, Maureen, ed. How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation. Wednesday Books, 2018. “ A collection of essays, songs, illustrations, and interviews about activism and hope…” ESSAYS; ACTIVISM Khan-Cullers, Patrisse and asha bandele. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir. St. Martin’s, 2017. “Khan-Cullors, a self-described “artist, organizer, freedom fighter” as well as a Fulbright scholar and recipient of the Sidney Peace Prize, recounts, with coauthor bandele, her personal experiences and those as a founder of the Black Lives Matter Movement.” MEMOIR; BLACK LIVES MATTER Katz, William Loren. Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage. Atheneum, 2012. “The first paths to freedom taken by runaway slaves led to Native American villages. There, black men and women found acceptance and friendship among our country's original inhabitants. Though they seldom appear in textbooks and movies, the children of Native- and African-American marriages helped shape the early days of the fur trade, added a new dimension to frontier diplomacy, and made a daring contribution to the fight for American liberty.” MEMOIR; NATIVE AMERICANS; INDIGENOUS Katznelson, Ira. When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America. Norton, 2006. “...recasts our understanding of twentieth-century American history and demonstrates that all the key programs passed during the New Deal and Fair Deal era of the 1930s and 1940s were created in a deeply discriminatory manner. …” RACISM Kendall, Mikki. Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women’s Fight for Their Rights, by Ten Speed Press, 2019. ACTIVISM; WOMEN; ABOLITION Kendi, Ibram X. How to Be an Antiracist. Oneworld, 2019. ““When we realize old words do not exactly and clearly convey what we are trying to describe, we should turn to new words,” in [t]his memoir-with-history about confronting personal racism and embracing antiracism.” ANTI-RACISM |
Lewis, Barbara A. Kids Guide to Social Action How to Solve the Laymon, Kiese. Heavy: An American Memoir. Scribner, 2018. “Laymon invites us to consider the consequences of growing up in a nation wholly obsessed with progress yet wholly disinterested in the messy work of reckoning with where we’ve been.” MEMOIR; CIVIL RIGHTS
Lee, Ericka. The Making of Asian America. Simon & Schuster, 2015. “The definitive history of Asian Americans by one of the nation’s preeminent scholars on the subject.” ASIAN AMERICANS Social Problems You Choose & Turn Creative Thinking Into Positive Action. Free Spirit, 1998. “Inspire kids to choose the social causes they care about and take action themselves. ACTIVISM Lewis, John with Andrew Aydin. March: Book One (2013); March: Book Two (2015); March: Book Three (2016). Top Shelf Productions. Graphic novel format. A biography of “American icon Congressman John Lewis (GA-5), one of the key figures of the civil rights movement [whose] commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper's farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African-American president.” MEMOIR; GRAPHIC; CIVIL RIGHTS Loewen, James. Lies My Teacher Told Me. The New Press, 1995. “brings history alive in all its complexity and ambiguity. Beginning with pre-Columbian history and ranging over characters and events as diverse as Reconstruction, Helen Keller, the first Thanksgiving, the My Lai massacre, 9/11, and the Iraq War, Loewen offers … a wonderful retelling of American history as it should—and could—be taught to American students.” American Book Award and the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship. AMERICAN HISTORY Long, Michael and Chris Hedges. We the Resistance. City Lights Books, 2019. “...gives unfiltered access to the hearts and minds ... of their activist predecessors. Beginning with the pre-Revolutionary era and continuing through the present day, readers will directly encounter the voices of protesters sharing instructive stories about their methods (from sit-ins to tree-sitting) and opponents (from Puritans to Wall Street bankers), as well as inspirational stories about their failures (from slave petitions to the fight for the ERA) and successes (from enfranchisement for women to today's reform of police practices). HISTORY OF ACTIVISM Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider. Crossing Press, 2007. “Presenting the essential writings of black lesbian poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider celebrates an influential voice in twentieth-century literature.” ESSAYS; IDENTITY Mock, Janet. Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More. Atria, 2014. a resounding and inspirational voice for the transgender community—and anyone fighting to define themselves on their own terms. IDENTITY Morris, Monique. Pushout. New Press, 2016. “Black girls and women are often left out of the conversation when it comes to criminal justice reform but Morris reiterates exactly how Black girls are oversexualized, more likely to be described as aggressive, and more frequently suspended or expelled, leading to this school-to-prison pipeline we hear so much about. JUSTICE SYSTEM; WOMEN & GIRLS Myers, Walter Dean. Malcom X: By Any Means Necessary. Scholastic, 1999. “portrays Malcolm X as prophet, dealer, convict, troublemaker, revolutionary, and voice of black militancy.” A Coretta Scott King Honor Book and an ALA Notable Children's Book. BIOG Nettles, Arionne. “The Blackivists on Documenting Movements.” Chicago Reader, 16 June 2020. “A group of Black archivists is helping communities create their own narratives, filling in what history books have left out.” ARTICLE Noah, Trevor. Born A Crime. “Noah’s book reads like an episode of his late night show which is to say it’s informative, compelling, and well researched. This is a must read for those looking to understand race and class.” BIOG; COMEDY Oluo, Ijeoma. So You Want to Talk About Race. Seal Press, 2018. “In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to "model minorities" in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.” RACISM Ortiz, Paul. An African American and Latinx History of the United States (Revisioning History, Book 4 of 5). Beacon, 2018. “An intersectional history of the shared struggle for African American and Latinx civil rights.” HISTORY Payne, Charles M. I’ve Got the Light of Freedom. UCalifornia Press, 1994. “[A] groundbreaking history of the early civil rights movement in the South. Us[es] wide-ranging archival work and extensive interviews with movement participants...” HISTORY OF ACTIVISM Perry, Imani. Breathe: A Letter to My Sons. Beacon, 2019. “...a letter to her two sons, and to all Black boys, encouraging them to stand back up in the face of stumbling. Voiced the way an African American mom might say it when whites are not around, and told against the backdrop of police killings of Black men…” PERSONAL ESSAY; SELF-IMAGE Prater, Loretta. Excessive Use of Force: One Mother’s Struggle against Police Brutality and Misconduct. Roman & Littlefield, 2018. “On January 2, 2004, several Chattanooga police officers forced Leslie Prater, who was unarmed, to the ground, handcuffed him, beat him, and held him in a hogtie position, pressing down on him until he suffocated and died. Leslie was the first son of author Prater, who here tells the story of her fight for justice against the police department’s cover-up of the circumstances of her son’s death.” MEMOIR; URBAN VIOLENCE Proudfoot, Ben. “Meet the First Woman Officially Drafted by the N.B.A.” New York Times Opinion video featuring Lusia Harris, 29 June 2021. “As a child growing up [in the 1970s] in rural Mississippi, Lusia “Lucy” Harris often stayed up past her bedtime watching her favorite N.B.A. players, dreaming of one day playing on the same courts. Reaching 6 feet 3 inches by the time she was in high school, Harris was often called “long and tall and that’s all” by her classmates — but she knew her height would be an asset on the court. And she wasn’t just tall enough to play the game. She was a rare talent who would go on to be a three-time national college champion and an Olympic silver medalist, making her a national sensation by the time she finished her college career.” SPORTS Race in America 5-book series: Race and Economics; Race and Policing; Race in the Criminal Justice System; Roots of Racism; What are Race and Racism; White Privilege. ABDO, all 2018. RACISM Rankine, Claudia. Citizen: An American Lyric. Graywolf, 2014. “In prose poems and poetic essays as sharp and stinging as a surprise slap to the face, Rankine matter-of-factly chronicles ordinary encounters poisoned by racism.” ESSAYS; RACISM Reynolds, Jason and Ibram X. Kendi. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You. Little Brown, 2020. “An adaptation of Kendi’s Stamped From the Beginning targeted at young adults, this collaboration between the original author and celebrated children’s writer Jason Reynolds seeks to explain why young people are growing up in a world of racism, and what they can do about it.” ANTI-RACISM Rich, Kaelyn. Girls Resist!: A Guide to Activism, Leadership, and Starting a Revolution. Quirk, 2018. “Take on the world and make some serious change with this handbook to everything activism, social justice, and resistance.” WOMEN & GIRLS Saad, Layla F. Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor. Sourcebooks, 2020. “this small but intense book which provokes readers to take personal ownership of the effort to dismantle systemic racism.” RACISM; ANTI-RACISM; ACTIVISM Schragge, Eric. Activism & Social Change Lessons For Community Organizing, Second Edition. UToronto Press, 2013. “Drawing on over thirty years of experience in community development practice, Eric Shragge offers a unique historical perspective on activism, linking various forms of local organizing to the broader goal of fundamental social change.” HISTORY OF ACTIVISM Sensoy and DiAngelo. Is Everyone Really Equal? An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education, Second Edition. Teachers College Press, 2017. “…addresses the most common stumbling blocks to understanding social justice. This comprehensive resource includes new features such as a chapter on intersectionality and classism; discussion of contemporary activism (Black Lives Matter, Occupy, and Idle No More); material on White Settler societies and colonialism; pedagogical supports related to “common social patterns” and “vocabulary to practice using”; and extensive updates throughout.” High school and older. ANTI-RACISM Sewing, Joy. “'Red Book' Offers Window into Past of Houston's Black Middle Class More Than 100 Years Ago.” Houston Chronicle, 20 Aug 2021. “The Red Book: A Compendium of Social, Professional, Religious, Educational and Industrial Interests of Houston’s Colored Population,” which offers a rare look at the city’s Black community during 1915, just 50 years after June 19, 1865, or Juneteenth, when former enslaved African Americans in Texas learned of their freedom.” HOUSTON Shenkin, Steve. The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights. Square Fish, 2012. “...a fascinating story of the prejudice and injustice that faced black men and women in America's armed forces during World War II, and a nuanced look at those who gave their lives in service of a country where they lacked the most basic rights.” A National Book Award Finalist; A YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist RACISM; RACE RIOT Shetterly, Margot Lee. Hidden Figures. HarperCollins, 2016. “The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space.” Also available as a Young Readers Edition and a major motion picture. COLLECTIVE BIOG; NASA Simien, Justin. Dear White People: A Guide to Interracial Harmony in “Post-Racial America. 37 Ink, 2014. Inspired by the movie of the same title. “Based on the eponymous, award-winning film, which has been lauded as “a smart, hilarious satire,” this tongue-in-cheek guide is a must-have that anybody who is in semi-regular contact with black people can’t afford to miss!” ANTI-RACISM Stevenson, Bryan. Just Mercy. Delacorte, 2018. You’ve likely heard the story of someone who served decades in prison for a crime they didn’t commit. How does that happen and how do we ensure people don’t disappear behind the bars and into bureaucratic systems that value process more than justice? Also available in Young Reader edition. MEMOIR; RACISM; PRISON; JUSTICE SYSTEM Sue, Derald Wing. Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation. Wiley, 2010. “...thought-provoking analysis of the existence of subtle, often unintentional biases, and their profound impact on members of traditionally disadvantaged groups.” MICROAGRESSIONS; IDENTITY Tatum, Dr. Beverly. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: and Other Conversations about Race. Basic Books, 2003, 5th Anniversary Revised ed. “Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy?” RACISM; SEGREGATION Treuer, Anton. Everything You Wanted To Know About Indians But Were Afraid To Ask. Borealis Books, 2012. NATIVE AMERICANS; INDIGENOUS Trethewey, Natasha. Monument: Poems, New and Selected. HMH, 2018. “illuminates the lives of African Americans, especially women [in] breathtaking persona poems ...dovetailing the personal and the communal, the impressionistic and the factual,... [by] a two-term U.S. Poet Laureate and winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Heinz Award…” POETRY; WOMEN Ward, Jesmyn. Men We Reaped. Bloomsbury, 2013. “America often equates Black to mean urban America when more of us live in “middle America” and the deep South than anywhere else. Ward is a literary artist who spins the stories of Black men in Mississippi with so much love and a deep desire to protect those she loves.” MEMOIR; MEN; DEEP SOUTH; 20th century Warren, Mark R. & David Goodman. Lift Us Up Don’t Push Us Out: Voices from the Front Lines of the Educational Justice Movement. Beacon, 2018. “Parents, young people, community organizers, and educators describe how they are fighting systemic racism in schools. RACISM; EDUCATION Wilkerson, Isabel. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. Random, 2010. “...offers a broad and penetrating look at the Great Migration. … Wilkerson intersperses historical detail of the broader movement and the sparks that set off the civil rights era; challenging racial restrictions in the North and South; and the changing dynamics of race, class, geography, politics, and economics.” GREAT MIGRATION; CIVIL RIGHTS Yamahtta-Taylor, Keeanga. How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective. “Listen to Black women!” Want to learn what Black women from movements past have to say about justice and freedom? Look no further than this foundational manifesto. WOMEN & GIRLS; HISTORY OF ACTIVISM Yancy, George and others, ed. Our Black Sons Matter: Mothers Talk about Fears, Sorrows, and Hopes. Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. “This collection offers powerful and thoughtful reflections on the impact of racism on black males and the women who witness and offer as much love and protection as they can.” ESSAYS; RACISM Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. 1980. “...the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of—and in the words of—America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers.“ AMERICAN HISTORY |