Must-Read Books
in Recognition of
Black History Month
Note: Links in our lists will open in a new window and go to Overdrive, a collection of e-books and audiobooks made available to the CMU community and Mesa County Public Libraries cardholders. Find a title you're interested in? Use the free Libby app to read or listen. (Not sure how? See the information below!)
Want a PDF version of the book lists below? Here you go!
Want more? See lots more Black History Month reading suggestions you can access for free through Overdrive! (Link will open in a new window.)
- A Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry & Kali Nicole Gross
- Nature Swagger: Stories & Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors by Rue Mapp
- Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain (also on audiobook)
- An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States by Kyle T. Mays
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (also on audiobook)
- Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance by Alvin Hall
- Respect Yourself: The Story of Stax Records and the Soul Explosion by Robert Gordon
- All About Love by bell hooks
- The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee (also on audiobook)
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (also on audiobook)
- Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall
- Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal by Bettina L. Love
- Quilt of Souls by Phyllis Biffle Elmore
- Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston (also on audiobook)
- The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food by Marcus Samuelsson
- Becoming Richard Pryor by Scott Saul
- Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz
- The Wind at My Back by Misty Copeland (also on audiobook)
- The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison
- My Song by Harry Belafonte
- Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay (also on audiobook)
- In Love & Trouble by Alice Walker
- The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes
- All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson (also on audiobook)
- Heavy by Kiese Laymon (also on audiobook)
- Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South by Winfred Rembert
- The Talk by Darrin Bell
- Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (also on audiobook)
- Dear Martin by Nic Stone (also on audiobook)
- The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb (also on audiobook)
- Kindred by Octavia Butler (also on audiobook and available as a graphic novel)
- Now streaming on Hulu!
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (also on audiobook)
- The Underground Railroad by Coleson Whitehead (also on audiobook)
- Family Meal by Bryan Washington
- On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
- The Davenports by Krystal Marquis (audiobook only)
- You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen (also on audiobook)
- Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (also on audiobook)
If you want to read any of these titles as ebooks, or listen to them as audio books, follow these steps to use your MavCard:
2. "Do you have a library card?" --> Yes!
3. "Search for library" by zipcode
4. "Marmot Library Network"
5. "Sign in with my card"
6. "Colorado Mesa University"
7. Use your MavZone login.
8. Enjoy!
Don't have a CMU MavCard to access Libby?
- You can use Libby with your Mesa County Public Libraries card, too!
- Don't have one? Get the process started today!
Want to access the book in print?
- Chat with Librarians at CMU--or Librarians at MCPLD--for help getting access to titles of interest in the format you prefer!