Black History Month

Four Hundred Souls

A Community History of African America, 1619-2019

By: Ibram X. Kendi & Keisha N. Blain
Narrated by: Various
Length: 14 hours 1 minute

“An absolutely stunning history of African America for people who do not normally read history. Compiled of short stories, essays, and poems, it is perfect for someone who is intimidated by lists of names and dates. Each individual voice stands on its own but together they truly make a 'choir' that flows together beautifully. This is a... Read more

Vanguard

How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All

By: Martha S. Jones
Narrated by: Mela Lee
Length: 10 hours 42 minutes

The epic history of African American women's pursuit of political power -- and how it transformed America.
In the standard story, the suffrage crusade began in Seneca Falls in 1848 and ended with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. But this overwhelmingly white women's movement did not win the vote for most black women. Securing... Read more

Ida B. the Queen

By: Michelle Duster
Narrated by: Michelle Duster
Length: 3 hours 43 minutes

Journalist. Suffragist. Antilynching crusader. In 1862, Ida B. Wells was born enslaved in Holly Springs, Mississippi. In 2020, she won a Pulitzer Prize.

Ida B. Wells committed herself to the needs of those who did not have power. In the eyes of the FBI, this made her a “dangerous negro agitator.” In the annals of history, it makes her an icon.

... Read more

Wandering in Strange Lands

A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots

By: Morgan Jerkins
Narrated by: Morgan Jerkins
Length: 8 hours 3 minutes

“In Wandering in Strange Lands, Morgan Jerkins brings us along on her journey to learn about her ancestors and herself. This fascinating ethnography leads Jerkins down paths she anticipated and, perhaps most interestingly, down unexpected ones. As she learns more about where and whom she came from, she confronts her image of herself and grapples... Read more

Just as I Am

A Memoir

By: Cicely Tyson
Narrated by: Cicely Tyson, Viola Davis & Robin Miles
Length: 16 hours 8 minutes

“In her long and extraordinary career, Cicely Tyson has not only exceeded as an actor, she has shaped the course of history.” –President Barack Obama, 2016 Presidential Medal of Honor ceremony"Just As I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside. Here, I am indeed Cicely, the actress who has been... Read more

The Awakening of Malcolm X

A Novel

By: Ilyasah Shabazz & Tiffany D. Jackson
Narrated by: Landon Woodson
Length: 7 hours 54 minutes

“Although this was written for young readers, I found it to be an engaging and informative look at the life and incarceration that helped mold Malcolm X into the leaders that he was. The narrating was wonderfully done, and I would recommend this for readers of all ages. Read more

A Promised Land

By: Barack Obama
Narrated by: Barack Obama
Length: 29 hours 9 minutes

“No one really needs my blurb to help sell this book, but I wanted to give it anyway, especially for the audiobook, narrated by Barack Obama himself. If you want to know his incredible knowledge and wisdom that guided him through major decisions, and also hear him drop a few F-bombs, you need to listen to this fantastically written book. Read more

We're Better Than This

My Fight for the Future of Our Democracy

By: Elijah Cummings & James Dale
Narrated by: Nancy Pelosi, Laurence Fishburne & Maya Rockeymoore Cummings
Length: 10 hours 34 minutes

The audiobook contains beautiful memories of Representative Elijah Cummings narrated by Laurence Fishburne and Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, with a foreword written and read by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Included are the eulogies from his funeral delivered by Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Speaker Nancy Pelosi,... Read more

Our Time Is Now

Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America

By: Stacey Abrams
Narrated by: Stacey Abrams
Length: 9 hours 20 minutes

"This is a narrative that describes the urgency that compels me and millions more to push for a different American story than the one being told today. It's a story that is one part danger, one part action, and all true. It's a story about how and why we fight for our democracy and win."

This program is read by the author

Celebrated national... Read more

Wilmington's Lie

The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy

By: David Zucchino
Narrated by: Victor Bevine
Length: 11 hours 26 minutes

From Pulitzer Prize winner David Zucchino comes a searing account of the Wilmington riot and coup of 1898, an extraordinary event unknown to most Americans By the 1890s, Wilmington was North Carolina’s largest city and a shining example of a mixed-race community. It was a bustling port city with a burgeoning African American middle class and a... Read more

A Shot in the Moonlight

How a Freed Slave and a Confederate Soldier Fought for Justice in the Jim Crow South

By: Ben Montgomery
Narrated by: Zeno Robinson & Ben Montgomery
Length: 7 hours 24 minutes

The sensational true story of George Dinning, a freed slave, who in 1899 joined forces with a Confederate war hero in search of justice in the Jim Crow south. “Taut and tense. Inspiring and terrifying in its timelessness.”(Colson Whitehead, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad )
 
After moonrise on the cold night of January... Read more

The Warmth of Other Suns

The Epic Story of America's Great Migration

By: Isabel Wilkerson
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 22 hours 40 minutes

“I'm sorry I hadn't gotten to this sooner. Wilkerson pulls together so much of what I already knew about the US but not necessarily why... a great audiobook, too. Read more

Black Futures

By: Kimberly Drew & Jenna Wortham
Narrated by: Kimberly Drew, Kevin R. Free, Dominic Hoffman, Robin Miles, Adenrele Ojo, Bahni Turpin & Jenna Wortham
Length: 11 hours 10 minutes

An archive of collective memory and exuberant testimony
A luminous map to navigate an opaque and disorienting present
An infinite geography of possible futures

What does it mean to be Black and alive right now?

Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham have brought together this collection of work—essays, memes, dialogues, recipes, tweets, poetry, and more—to... Read more