100 Essential Adult Nonfiction Books by Black Writers

Discover 100 essential memoirs, biographies, essays, histories, and works of social commentary by African American and Black diaspora writers, thinkers, and scholars. Selected by AALBC based on literary awards, critical recognition, historical significance, and lasting cultural impact.

Adult Fiction Adult Nonfiction Children & YA Fiction Children & YA Nonfiction

Between The World And Me

#1 Selection

Between The World And Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates Honored Title

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

#2 Selection

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

by Isabel Wilkerson Honored Title

The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke

#3 Selection

The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke

by Jeffrey C. Stewart Honored Title

Becoming

#4 Selection

Becoming

by Michelle Obama Honored Title

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

#5 Selection

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

by Trevor Noah Honored Title

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

#6 Selection

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

by Bryan Stevenson Honored Title

The Warmth of Other Suns (Paperback): The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration

#7 Selection

The Warmth of Other Suns (Paperback): The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration

by Isabel Wilkerson Honored Title

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates

#8 Selection

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates

by Wes Moore Honored Title

The Fire Next Time

#9 Selection

The Fire Next Time

by James Baldwin Honored Title

Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America

#10 Selection

Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America

by Joy-Ann Reid Honored Title

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

#11 Selection

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

by Nikole Hannah-Jones Honored Title

Black Boy

#12 Selection

Black Boy

by Richard Wright Honored Title

The Moor’s Account

#13 Selection

The Moor’s Account

by Laila Lalami Honored Title

Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina

#14 Selection

Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina

by Misty Copeland Honored Title

Malcolm X: A Life Of Reinvention

#15 Selection

Malcolm X: A Life Of Reinvention

by Manning Marable Honored Title

A Long Way Gone

#16 Selection

A Long Way Gone

by Ishmael Beah Honored Title

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

#17 Selection

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

by Maya Angelou Honored Title

Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State

#18 Selection

Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State

by Caleb Gayle Honored Title

Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest

#19 Selection

Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest

by Fawn Weaver Honored Title

Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me

#20 Selection

Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me

by Whoopi Goldberg Honored Title

There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension

#21 Selection

There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension

by Hanif Abdurraqib Honored Title

Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

#22 Selection

Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

by Michael Harriot Honored Title

The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times

#23 Selection

The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times

by Michelle Obama Honored Title

His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

#24 Selection

His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa Honored Title

Finding Me: A Memoir

#25 Selection

Finding Me: A Memoir

by Viola Davis Honored Title

All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake

#26 Selection

All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake

by Tiya Miles Honored Title

Just As I Am

#27 Selection

Just As I Am

by Cicely Tyson Honored Title

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

#28 Selection

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

by Michelle Alexander Honored Title

The Yellow House: A Memoir

#29 Selection

The Yellow House: A Memoir

by Sarah M. Broom Honored Title

Hidden Figures

#30 Selection

Hidden Figures

by Margot Lee Shetterly Honored Title

The Light Of The World: A Memoir

#31 Selection

The Light Of The World: A Memoir

by Elizabeth Alexander Honored Title

Breath, Eyes, Memory

#32 Selection

Breath, Eyes, Memory

by Edwidge Danticat Honored Title

Mayor For Life: The Incredible Story of Marion Barry Jr.

#33 Selection

Mayor For Life: The Incredible Story of Marion Barry Jr.

by Marion Barry Jr. and Omar Tyree Honored Title

Who’s Afraid Of Post-Blackness?: What It Means To Be Black Now

#34 Selection

Who’s Afraid Of Post-Blackness?: What It Means To Be Black Now

by Touré Honored Title

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present

#35 Selection

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present

by Harriet A. Washington Honored Title

Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore

#36 Selection

Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore

by Char Adams Honored Title

Baldwin: A Love Story

#37 Selection

Baldwin: A Love Story

by Nicholas Boggs Honored Title

Matriarch: A Memoir

#38 Selection

Matriarch: A Memoir

by Tina Knowles Honored Title

Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores

#39 Selection

Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores

by Katie Mitchell Honored Title

Firstborn Girls: A Memoir

#40 Selection

Firstborn Girls: A Memoir

by Bernice L. McFadden Honored Title

Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People

#41 Selection

Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People

by Imani Perry Honored Title

Afrocentric Style: A Celebration of Blackness & Identity in Pop Culture

#42 Selection

Afrocentric Style: A Celebration of Blackness & Identity in Pop Culture

by Shirley Neal Honored Title

The Message

#43 Selection

The Message

by Ta-Nehisi Coates Honored Title

Lovely One: A Memoir

#44 Selection

Lovely One: A Memoir

by Ketanji Brown Jackson Honored Title

Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde

#45 Selection

Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde

by Alexis Pauline Gumbs Honored Title

How to Say Babylon: A Memoir

#46 Selection

How to Say Babylon: A Memoir

by Safiya Sinclair Honored Title

Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine

#47 Selection

Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine

by Uche Blackstock Honored Title

Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization

#48 Selection

Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization

by Neil deGrasse Tyson Honored Title

Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation

#49 Selection

Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation

by Linda Villarosa Honored Title

Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature

#50 Selection

Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature

by Farah Jasmine Griffin Honored Title

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America

#51 Selection

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America

by Ijeoma Oluo Honored Title

A Promised Land

#52 Selection

A Promised Land

by Barack Obama Honored Title

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X

#53 Selection

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X

by Les Payne and Tamara Payne Honored Title

Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own

#54 Selection

Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own

by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. Honored Title

The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations

#55 Selection

The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations

by Toni Morrison Honored Title

Black Fortunes: The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires

#56 Selection

Black Fortunes: The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires

by Shomari Wills Honored Title

Heavy: An American Memoir

#57 Selection

Heavy: An American Memoir

by Kiese Laymon Honored Title

Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”

#58 Selection

Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”

by Zora Neale Hurston and Deborah G. Plant Honored Title

all about love: New Visions

#59 Selection

all about love: New Visions

by bell hooks Honored Title

Across That Bridge

#60 Selection

Across That Bridge

by John Lewis Honored Title

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

#61 Selection

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

by Ibram X. Kendi Honored Title

The Mis-Education of the Negro

#62 Selection

The Mis-Education of the Negro

by Carter G. Woodson Honored Title

Spectacle: The Astonishing Life Of Ota Benga

#63 Selection

Spectacle: The Astonishing Life Of Ota Benga

by Pamela Newkirk Honored Title

Fire Shut Up In My Bones

#64 Selection

Fire Shut Up In My Bones

by Charles M. Blow Honored Title

Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities

#65 Selection

Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities

by Craig Steven Wilder Honored Title

10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse

#66 Selection

10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse

by J.J. Smith Honored Title

Men We Reaped

#67 Selection

Men We Reaped

by Jesmyn Ward Honored Title

Mom & Me & Mom

#68 Selection

Mom & Me & Mom

by Maya Angelou Honored Title

Where Did Our Love Go: Love and Relationships in the African-American Community

#69 Selection

Where Did Our Love Go: Love and Relationships in the African-American Community

by Gil Robertson Honored Title

Things I Should Have Told My Daughter

#70 Selection

Things I Should Have Told My Daughter

by Pearl Cleage Honored Title

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man

#71 Selection

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man

by Steve Harvey and Denene Millner Honored Title

Outliers: The Story of Success

#72 Selection

Outliers: The Story of Success

by Malcolm Gladwell Honored Title

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

#73 Selection

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

by Rebecca Skloot Honored Title

Brainwashed

#74 Selection

Brainwashed

by Tom Burrell Honored Title

Letter to My Daughter

#75 Selection

Letter to My Daughter

by Maya Angelou Honored Title

The Hemingses Of Monticello: An American Family

#76 Selection

The Hemingses Of Monticello: An American Family

by Annette Gordon-Reed Honored Title

Sister Outsider: Essays And Speeches

#77 Selection

Sister Outsider: Essays And Speeches

by Audre Lorde Honored Title

Ralph Ellison: A Biography

#78 Selection

Ralph Ellison: A Biography

by Arnold Rampersad Honored Title

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

#79 Selection

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

by Barack Obama Honored Title

The ISIS Papers: The Keys to the Colors

#80 Selection

The ISIS Papers: The Keys to the Colors

by Frances Cress Welsing Honored Title

Dreams From My Father

#81 Selection

Dreams From My Father

by Barack Obama Honored Title

On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker

#82 Selection

On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker

by A’Lelia Bundles Honored Title

Assata: An Autobiography

#83 Selection

Assata: An Autobiography

by Assata Shakur Honored Title

W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century 1919-1963

#84 Selection

W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century 1919-1963

by David Levering Lewis Honored Title

The Souls of Black Folk: Includes “The Talented Tenth” and ”The Souls of White Folk”

#85 Selection

The Souls of Black Folk: Includes “The Talented Tenth” and ”The Souls of White Folk”

by W.E.B. Du Bois Honored Title

The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley

#86 Selection

The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley

by Malcolm X, Alex Haley and Attallah Shabazz Honored Title

Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope: A Tragic Vision of the Civil Rights Movement

#87 Selection

Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope: A Tragic Vision of the Civil Rights Movement

by Brandon M. Terry Honored Title

Misunderstood: A Memoir

#88 Selection

Misunderstood: A Memoir

by Allen Iverson Honored Title

How to Be Free: A Proven Guide to Escaping Life’s Hidden Prisons

#89 Selection

How to Be Free: A Proven Guide to Escaping Life’s Hidden Prisons

by Shaka Senghor Honored Title

107 Days

#90 Selection

107 Days

by Kamala Harris Honored Title

A Thousand Ways to Die: The True Cost of Violence on Black Life in America

#91 Selection

A Thousand Ways to Die: The True Cost of Violence on Black Life in America

by Trymaine Lee Honored Title

Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler

#92 Selection

Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler

by Susana M. Morris Honored Title

The Broken King

#93 Selection

The Broken King

by Michael Thomas Honored Title

The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic

#94 Selection

The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic

by Lindsey Stewart Honored Title

No One Left Alone: A Story of How Community Helps Us Heal

#95 Selection

No One Left Alone: A Story of How Community Helps Us Heal

by Liz Walker Honored Title

Who Better Than You?: The Art of Healthy Arrogance & Dreaming Big

#96 Selection

Who Better Than You?: The Art of Healthy Arrogance & Dreaming Big

by Will Packer Honored Title

I Am Nobody’s Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free

#97 Selection

I Am Nobody’s Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free

by Lee Hawkins Honored Title

An African History of Africa

#98 Selection

An African History of Africa

by Zeinab Badawi Honored Title

New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement

#99 Selection

New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement

by Juan Williams Honored Title

Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative

#100 Selection

Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative

by Keke Palmer Honored Title

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