10 New(ish) Books for Black History Month

This monumental anthology, edited by the director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, who is also the poetry editor at the New Yorker, brings together an enormous chorus of poetic voices. From the enslaved poet Phillis Wheatley to contemporary authors such as former Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey, the collection features powerful and inspiring works about freedom and power, culture and history, love and family. A treasure.

Gates, a prolific author and Harvard University professor as well as the host of PBS's Finding Your Roots, sketches the rich and intertwined histories of Black Americans and the Christian churches that would serve as a sanctuary for so many. It's a tale of individual faith and hope, but also (and importantly) one of community strength and activism in the long struggle for freedom and equality.

As multimedia as a book can get, Black Futures brings together poems, essays, tweets, memes and photographs to tell a communal story of what it means and feels like to be Black today. Like a mixtape, these individual bits and pieces speak to and bounce off each other, providing a kind of kaleidoscopic view of the Black present – in other words, tomorrow's history lessons.

Where does racism come from? How does it work? What can we learn from studying the inequalities of cultures outside of our own? A lot, it turns out. Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize winner for The Warmth of Other Suns, examines the ways our individual lives are always shaped by the histories that have gone before us – and even though it describes an ugly history, the book is grounded in human stories, told with love and tenderness.

History is often contested ground; people argue over whose stories matter, and how they are communicated. In this personal, thoughtful book, Smith visits the landmarks and museums that attempt to tell Americans the story of slavery. Along the way, he talks to all kinds of people, encountering moments of anger and denial as well as sparks of hope, humanity and grace.

Ida B. Wells was a pioneering journalist – she was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 2020 – whose brave and often dangerous reporting helped expose the horrors of lynching. In this graphic biography, Duster, her great-granddaughter, paints a vivid, utterly compelling portrait of her ancestor, a heroine who deserves to be remembered and recognized today.

Blending powerful drawings with simple, commanding words, March — which tells the story of the late Congressman John Lewis from childhood through his actions during the Civil Rights Movement and beyond — is appropriate for readers of all ages. An inspiring true story of how faith and commitment can overcome injustice.

A Black daughter of Alabama, Perry seeks to unpack and untangle the history, myths, and stereotypes of the American South. Beautifully written and filled with Perry's eloquent, elegant prose, this National Book Award winner will help readers reconsider a region that has often been misunderstood.

History is too often taught as a series of actions undertaken by men. In this group biography, the author argues that we understand the importance of three extraordinary mothers in shaping the Civil Rights movement. Without the strength and vision of these three African American mothers, the book asks, would we even have known the leadership of King, the vision of Malcolm, or the clarity of James Baldwin's words?

The Black mother of two Black sons, now young adults, Alexander weaves together her skills as a poet and scholar to ponder her children's generation. What vision of America they've inherited – and what they will make of that inheritance – are the questions at the heart of this probing, brilliant, and cautiously hopeful book.