My Self-Guided Afro-American Studies Reading List

I recently asked my Facebook friends to help me compile a list of books to read for further learning of Afro-American Studies.  Although I minored in it in college, there is still so much that I do not know.  For instance, although I know the names Marcus Garvey, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, etc., and have a rudimentary understanding of their importance in Afro-American history, I have never read any of their words.

So this list contains the words of black intellectuals, scholars, poets, and writers — some from today, others from yesterday. Some will be old favorites; many will be first-time reads.  I will attempt to cross them out and provide a post about them.  We will see how that goes.

If you would like to recommend anything, feel free to leave a comment!  And also feel free to join me!!  The books are currently listed alphabetically by the author’s last name.

1. Resurrecting Mingus by Jenoyne Adams
2. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3. I  Mix What I Like by Jared Bell
4. I Write What I Like by Steve Biko
5. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Conciousness and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins
6. Homemade Love by J. California Cooper
7. Critical Race Theory by Kimberle’ Crenshaw and Garry Peller
8. The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey by Marcus Garvey
9. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Critism by Henry Louis Gates
10. Black Power: The Politics of Liberation by Charles V. Hamilton and Kwame Toure
11. Young, Gifted, and Black by Lorraine Hansberry
12. The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes
13. The Angela Davis Reader edited by Joy James
14. Dutchman & The Slave: Two Plays by LeRoi Jones
15. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson
16. Passing by Nella Larsen
17. Quicksand by Nella Larsen
18. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
19. Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous? Essays by Haki R. Madhubuti
20. Daughters by Paule Marshall
21. The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride
22. Black Woman Redined: Dispelling Myths and Discovering Fulfillment in the Age of Michelle Obama by Sophia Nelson
23. Revolutionary Suicide by Huey Newton
24. Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
25. Young, Gifted and Black: Promoting High Achievement Among African-American Students by Theresa Perry, Claude Steele, and Asa Hilliard III
26. The Street by Ann Petry
27. Assata by Assata Shakur
28. The Covenant with Black America with Introduction by Tavis Smiley
29. The Blacker the Berry by Wallace Thurman
30. Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self by Rebecca Walker
31. Fences by August Wilson
32. The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson