Curated by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books)
Though we read books by Black authors all year long, in honor of Black History Month, I'm going to share historical works by Black authors that we’ve reviewed on the blog. And, of course, I'm going to recommend that you check out our January Book Club episode, where we discussed Percival Everett's James. Click on the titles to see the full reviews. Click on the Bookshop and Libro links to purchase the books using our affiliate links.
(Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the review: "In 1973, Civil Townsend is a Black nurse who has just graduated from nursing school. Her first job is with the local family planning clinic, where one of her duties is to administer new Depo-Provera shots to women and girls in her community.
"Two of her first patients are Erica and India Williams, who are 11 and 13. They live with their grandmother and father in a filthy, one-room sharecroppers' cabin. Neither attends school or has been around a boy. While Civil is convinced of the general righteousness of the family planning clinic's mission, she is not sure how that mission applies to these girls."
Randi Pink's ANGEL OF GREENWOOD - The Greenwood Massacre of 1921 from the Perspective of Teens (Ashley's Review):
(Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the review: "Randi Pink's Angel of Greenwood was my first full book of 2021, and what a great way to start the year! I was thrilled to see this book, and as soon as I saw that it was historical fiction and covered the Greenwood Massacre that took place in Tulsa, OK, in 1921, I knew I wanted to read it. That event is something I personally knew very little about until well into my adult life, and I was excited to see this important and tragic US event being addressed in a young adult book.
"Right away, I loved the main characters, Angel and Isaiah. In many ways, this is a classic story of coming of age and of young love. The story is much more focused on Angel's and Isaiah's lives as teens in the booming Black metropolis of Greenwood than it is on the massacre itself, which doesn't come about until the end of the book—but there is an omnipresent sense of dread for the reader as the chapters count down to the event itself and as the community members sense a storm coming."
Kaitlyn Greenidge's Libertie - Historical Fiction that Resonates (Jen's review):
(Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the review: "I jumped on the chance to read an early copy of Kaitlyn Greenidge’s Libertie. I read her first book, We Love You, Charlie Freeman, for the 2016 Tournament of Books, and I thought it was a phenomenal work with a core of historical fiction: it’s thoughtful and thought-provoking, with an edge of the truly strange.
"Libertie has some of those same roots. The title character and protagonist, Libertie Sampson, was born free, in a Black community just outside Brooklyn at the beginning of the Civil War. She lives with her mother, a doctor, and has known since early childhood that her mother dreamed that Libertie would one day also be a doctor."
Brit Bennett's THE VANISHING HALF - A Multi-Generational Story of Searching for Identity (Jen's review):
(Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the review:
"Brit Bennett’s debut novel The Mothers was one of my favorite reads of 2017, so I was thrilled when I saw that she had written a new novel . . . but also nervous. Could The Vanishing Half possibly live up to Bennett’s amazing first novel? I’m happy to share that it absolutely does.
"Desiree and Stella Vignes are twins growing up in the tiny town of Mallard, Louisiana, an all-black town whose citizens are 'colorstruck.' Founded by Alphonse Decuir in 1848, Mallard’s residents marry and procreate in hopes of subsequently whiter generations. Desiree and Stella are born into this hierarchy, prime examples of the success of the town’s goals. The family’s lightness, however, does not prevent tragedy, and the girls experience firsthand the ugliness of racism in a horrific event that changes the course of their lives."
(A note to our readers: click on the hashtags above to see our other blog posts with the same hashtag.)
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