black life

The Souls of Black Folk

By: W. E. B. Du Bois
Narrated by: Mark Bowen
Length: 8 hours 38 minutes

The Souls of Black Folk is a 1903 work of American literature by W. E. B. Du Bois. It is a seminal work in the history of sociology and a cornerstone of African-American literature. The book contains several essays on race, some of which the magazine Atlantic Monthly had previously published. To develop this work, Du Bois drew from his own... Read more

Black Earth Wisdom

Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists

By: Leah Penniman
Narrated by: Karen Chilton, Janina Edwards, Bill Andrew Quinn & Landon Woodson
Length: 11 hours 53 minutes

A soulful collection of illuminating essays and interviews that explore Black people’s spiritual and scientific connection to the land, waters, and climate, curated by the acclaimed author of Farming While BlackAuthor of Farming While Black and co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, Leah Penniman reminds us that ecological humility is an intrinsic part... Read more

An Amerikan Family

The Shakurs and the Nation They Created

By: Santi Elijah Holley
Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White
Length: 11 hours 47 minutes

A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' PICKAn NPR Best Book of the Year • Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the YearLonglisted for the 2024 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence""Magnificent…. A uniquely intimate history of Black liberation."" – Los Angeles TimesThe long overdue story of the Shakurs, persistent fighters in the U.S. struggle for racial justice, and... Read more

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

By: Maya Angelou
Narrated by: Maya Angelou
Length: 10 hours 10 minutes

“A lot can be said about this autobiography - it is one of the best I have ever read. The stories are personal and well accounted for, and the reader has no choice but to regard her life and strength through hardship so inspiring. Before reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I had a good idea of Angelou through her poetry and lectures. Her... Read more

Black AF History

The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

By: Michael Harriot
Narrated by: Michael Harriot
Length: 15 hours 42 minutes

“Prepare for a history book unlike any other! Michael Harriot's Black AF is truly one of the best I've encountered in a long time. Don't let the humor and captivating storytelling fool you – this isn't just a dry recitation of dates and events. Instead, Harriot masterfully blends memoir, history, and sharp analysis of race, economics, and... Read more

The Black Joy Project

By: Kleaver Cruz
Narrated by: Pascale Armand
Length: 5 hours 16 minutes

A breathtaking and necessary love letter to a force that fuels Black life all around the globe, The Black Joy Project is Humans of New York meets The Black Book""A patchwork quilt of ... moments of triumph, antidotes to trauma narratives and rich, ebullient emotional and verbal spice for the soul."" – Michael W. Twitty, culinary and cultural... 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... Read more

The Black Period

On Personhood, Race, and Origin

By: Hafizah Augustus Geter
Narrated by: Hafizah Augustus Geter
Length: 10 hours 45 minutes

An acclaimed poet reclaims her origin story as the queer daughter of a Muslim Nigerian immigrant and a Black American visual artist in this groundbreaking memoir, combining lyrical prose, biting criticism, and haunting visuals.

“Hafizah Augustus Geter is a genuine artist, not bound by genre or form. Her only loyalty is the harrowing beauty of the... Read more

You Get What You Pay For

Essays

By: Morgan Parker
Narrated by: Morgan Parker
Length: 5 hours 40 minutes

“A strong, impressive essay collection filled with smart observations Parker has an incredible way of words that is both witty and insightful. No essay is too long, and I found the ones criticizing pop culture especially intriguing. The audiobook is read by the author, and each essay was read like a performance. I found myself re-listening to... Read more

Freedom Dreams

The Black Radical Imagination

By: Robin D.G. Kelley
Narrated by: JD Jackson
Length: 10 hours 47 minutes

The 20th-anniversary edition of Kelley’s influential history of 20th-century Black radicalism, with new reflections on current movements and their impact on the author, and a foreword by poet Aja Monet

First published in 2002, Freedom Dreams is a staple in the study of the Black radical tradition. Unearthing the thrilling history of grassroots... Read more

Ordinary Notes

By: Christina Sharpe
Narrated by: Christina Sharpe
Length: 7 hours 8 minutes

This program is read by the author.

The critically acclaimed author of In the Wake, "Christina Sharpe is a brilliant thinker who attends unflinchingly to the brutality of our current arrangements . . . and yet always finds a way to beauty and possibility" (Saidiya Hartman).

A singular achievement, Ordinary Notes explores profound questions about... 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

Notes of a Native Son

By: James Baldwin
Narrated by: Ron Butler
Length: 5 hours 3 minutes

At last, a new audio edition of the book many have called James Baldwin's most influential work!Written during the 1940s and early 1950s, when Baldwin was only in his twenties, the essays collected in Notes of a Native Son capture a view of black life and black thought at the dawn of the civil rights movement and as the movement slowly gained... Read more

The Disordered Cosmos

A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred

By: Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Length: 10 hours 55 minutes

“If this was the science I learned growing up, I would have been way more invested. This is an intersectional look at physics, detailing the dazzling wonder and the stifling social conditions of physics. Read more

Ride or Die

A Feminist Manifesto for the Well-Being of Black Women

By: Shanita Hubbard
Narrated by: Tovah Ott
Length: 3 hours 49 minutes

Cultural criticism and pop culture history intertwine in this important book, which dissects how hip hop has sidelined Black women's identity and emotional well-being.
  Do you have a “ride or die chick” in your life? A “ride or die chick” is a Black woman who holds down her family and community. She’s that friend or family member that you can... Read more

Imagination

A Manifesto

By: Ruha Benjamin
Narrated by: Janina Edwards
Length: 4 hours 16 minutes

A world without prisons? Ridiculous. Schools that foster the genius of every child? Impossible. Work that doesn't strangle the life out of people? Naive. A society where everyone has food, shelter, love? In your dreams. Exactly.



We have the power to use our imaginations to create a world in which everyone can thrive. But obstacles abound. We have... Read more

Soil

The Story of a Black Mother's Garden

By: Camille T Dungy
Narrated by: Camille T Dungy
Length: 10 hours 16 minutes

“'History is perennial', Dungy writes as she muses on her decision to withhold the death of a beloved garden bunny from her young daughter while choosing to discuss another police murder of an unarmed Black person. Part nature writing, part exploration of the African diaspora and Black identity, part memoir, Dungy puts herself in conversation... Read more

Black Women Writers at Work

By: Claudia Tate
Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
Length: 9 hours 31 minutes

Long out of print, Black Women Writers at Work is a vital contribution to Black literature in the twentieth century.



Through candid interviews with Maya Angelou, Toni Cade Bambara, Gwendolyn Brooks, Alexis De Veaux, Nikki Giovanni, Kristin Hunter, Gayl Jones, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Sonia Sanchez, Ntozake Shange, Alice Walker, Margret Walker,... Read more

Black Girl IRL

Life Between the Mess and the Magic

By: Gail Hamilton Azodo
Narrated by: Gail Hamilton Azodo
Length: 5 hours 35 minutes

Whatever happened to the regular Black girl?
The one who works a 9 to 5 or maybe owns her own business or is completing her master's. Or how about the
one who is figuring out how to be a good mom or wife or daughter? Or the one that's doing all of the above?
Hi, that's a lot of us. Black women are doing it all, and it's not just the Oprahs and... Read more