Juneteenth Library Reading Guide

Juneteenth is an annual holiday commemorating the day the last enslaved people were emancipated in the United States—June 19, 1865. The day has been celebrated by African Americans since the late 1800s, and has grown in recent years as a time to commemorate and celebrate Black history and culture. 

The following titles from the Penguin Random House Juneteenth Reading List are available through Bryn Mawr’s Edith Hamilton Library. Each title is by an African American author who continues to shape our culture and acknowledges the ongoing work towards equity. You can search the library catalog here.

1. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

 

2. How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi

 

3. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

 

4. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

 

5. Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

 

6. Dear Martin by Nic Stone

 

7. Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison

 

8. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

 

9. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

 

10.  The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

 

11.  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

 

12.  The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

 

13.  The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

 

14.  Beloved by Toni Morrison