20 Bestselling Nonfiction Books

Period: September/October - 2021

AALBC Bestseller Seal

Celebrating books written by or about Black people, the African American Literature Book Club’s Bestsellers List has been published continuously since 1998. In 2026, we began publishing our list quarterly, focusing on The BLK Bestsellers.

Fiction: Number one in fiction is Voices of the Harlem Renaissance: Originally Published as The New Negro an Interpretation, was edited by Alain Locke and featuring a new introduction by AALBC’s Founder, Troy Johnson. This classic title was republished in hardcover by Konecky & Konecky, in March of 2020, and has made our bestsellers list seven times. In 1999, QBR: The Black Book Review included the book on their list of “100 Essential Black Books.”

Nonfiction: Topping our nonfiction category is Chasing Me to My Grave which tells the hearth wrenching, yet inspiring, story of Winfred Rembert who was arrested after fleeing a demonstration, survived a near-lynching at the hands of law enforcement, and spent seven years on chain gangs. Years later, at the age of fifty-one, he started drawing and painting scenes from his youth using leather tooling skills he learned in prison.

Children’s Books: Our #1 bestselling children’s book is Gabrielle Union’s 2020 picture book, Welcome to the Party made our bestsellers list for the second time this year. Union has really made her mark on the literary scene, as she has also penned her 2nd memoir this year, You Got Anything Stronger?

Poetry: Two titles, Vice: New and Selected Poems by Ai Ogawa and Second Line Home: New Orleans Poems by Mona Lisa Saloy, were popular with readers this period. Discover more excellent poetry books.

1
Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South

Chasing Me to My Grave

by Winfred Rembert with Erin I. Kelly
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2
Sacred Nile

Sacred Nile

by Chester Higgins, et al.
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3
Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature

Read Until You Understand

by Farah Jasmine Griffin
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4
The Matter of Black Lives: Writing from the New Yorker

The Matter of Black Lives

by William Jelani Cobb and David Remnick
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5
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

Caste

by Isabel Wilkerson
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6
Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography

Dorothy Dandridge

by Donald Bogle
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8
PowerNomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America

PowerNomics

by Claud Anderson
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10
Make Good the Promises: Reclaiming Reconstruction and Its Legacies

Make Good the Promises

by Kinshasha Holman Conwill and Paul Gardullo
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11
Social Action, Advocacy and Agents of Change

Social Action, Advocacy and Agents of Change

by Ruby M. Gourdine and Annie W. Brown
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14
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

The 1619 Project

by Nikole Hannah-Jones
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15
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

The Sum of Us

by Heather McGhee
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17
Algorithms Of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism

Algorithms Of Oppression

by Safiya Umoja Noble
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19
Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist

Bad Fat Black Girl

by Sesali Bowen
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