Essay Collections for Black History Month
Read these essay collections for Black History Month (and all year long).
Every February, people in the United States honor the achievements and contributions of African Americans to the country’s culture and history. To celebrate, add these essay collections to your to-be-read lists.
Essay Collections for Black History Month
We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates reflects on race, Barack Obama’s eight-year presidency and its aftermath, including the election of Donald Trump. This collection features essays first published in The Atlantic, including “Fear of a Black President,” “The Case for Reparations,” and “The Black Family the Age of Mass Incarceration.”
Feel Free by Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith is known for novels like White Teeth, Swing Time and On Beauty. Her essay collection is divided into five parts: In the World; In the Audience; In the Gallery; On the Bookshelf; and Feel Free. It fields subjects from climate change to Facebook to why we love libraries. If you love Smith’s books, you’ll find the same deep insights in her essays.
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
Ross Gay’s collection has 102 chapters, with some entries ringing in at a single paragraph and others as long as five pages. The book is described as being about our connection to the natural world and each other.
Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
James Baldwin is one of the most acclaimed writers of the 20th century. Also a civil rights activist, this collection of essays was originally published in 1955, but remains as relevant as ever. Read Notes of a Native Son for Baldwin’s insight into his life in Harlem, the protest novel, movies and African Americans abroad.
Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottom
A writer and professor based in Richmond, Virginia, Tressie McMillian Cottom’s first collection of essays covers a range of topics, giving insight on blackness, body image, beauty, Obama and even pumpkin spice lattes.
Who Will Pay Reparations On My Soul? by Jesse McCarthy
Jesse McCarthy’s often experimental essays field a range of subjects, from art to music to literature and politics. It even investigates Ta-Nehisi Coates’s—mentioned earlier—case for reparations. Zadie Smith calls McCarthy’s collection “a very smart and soulful book.”
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