A Juneteenth Reading List

Juneteenth commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States on June 19, 1865, and has been celebrated as a “second independence day” since its first anniversary. For generations, the legacy of Juneteenth has inspired authors across a variety of genres, so we invite you to find a new or known voice with this Juneteenth reading list. Celebrate by memorizing a poem, learning a new fact, crafting a new cocktail or recipe, or being inspired by art and life stories.

Fiction

• Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
• Stories, novels, & essays by Charles Chesnutt
• Juneteenth: A Novel by Ralph Ellison
• Spunk: The Selected Stories by Zora Neale Hurston
• Passing by Nella Larsen
• Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver
• The Living is Easy by Dorothy West
• Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

Culture

• Black Food: Stories, Art & Recipes from across the African Diaspora edited & curated by Bryant Terry
• Black Futures edited by Kimberly Drew & Jenna Wortham
• The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
• Ebony: Covering Black America by Lavaille Lavette
• Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice: Cocktails from Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin
• Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin
• Manifest: Thirteen Colonies by Wendel A. White
• The National Museum of African American History & Culture: A Souvenir Book
• New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent edited by Margaret Busby
• Picturing Black History: Photographs and Stories That Changed the World
• The Selected Works of Audre Lorde

History

• 100 Amazing Facts about the Negro by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
• Black Archives: A Photographic Celebration of Black Life by Renata Cherlise
• Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain
• How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith
• On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
• Souls of Black Folk: A Graphic Interpretation by W.E.B. Du Bois

Biography and Autobiography

• Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth by Richard Wright
• Constructing a Nervous System: A Memoir by Margo Jefferson
• Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography by Zora Neale Hurston
• A Man called White: The Autobiography of Walter White
• The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor
• The Strange Career of William Ellis: The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire by Karl Jacoby
• Millionaire by Karl Jacoby

Children’s Books

• The ABCs of Black History by Rio Cortez (illustrated by Lauren Semmer)
• Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford and R. Gregory Christie
• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper
• Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer by Quantez Harris (illustrated by Gordon C. James)
• What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan by Chris Barton and Ekua Holmes
• What is Juneteenth? By Kristi Jewel
• All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
• Jimmy’s Rhythm and Blues: The Extraordinary Life of James Baldwin by Michelle Meadows (illustrated by Jamiel Law)
• Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson
• No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Book of the life and work of Lewis Michaud, Harlem Bookseller by Yaunda Micheaux Nelson (illustrated by Gregory Christie)
• Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell (illustrated by Christian Robinson)
• The Unboxing of a Black Girl by Angela Shante͑
• Now or Never! 54th Massachusetts Infantry’s War to End Slavery by Ray Anthony Shepard
• Clayton Byrd Goes Underground by Rita Willians-Garcia
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson