African American Booklists

2026 African American Booklist

If This World Were Mine: Romance and African American Writers

Maya Angelou once said, “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” We know that Black love is limitless, regardless of challenges or circumstances. And “romantic” love is often expressed in the search for those “happily ever after” stories that demonstrate perseverance and resilience. It is this richness that we find in the Black Romance genre, the highlight of our 2026 African American Booklist, If This World Were Mine: Romance and African American Writers.

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2025 African American Booklist

Voices Heard: African American Young Adult Authors

Our 2025 African American Booklist focuses on literature specifically for young people ages 12-18. These authors’ stories meet a critical need for many. Books that feature characters and stories about African Americans that young people relate to can be enlightening and sometimes life changing. We thank Dr. Pauletta Brown Bracy, Associate Professor in the School of Library and Information Science at North Carolina Central University, for this informative historical overview of the development of literature for African American teens. We also thank Ms. Deborah Taylor, former Young Adult Coordinator at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, who has provided the comprehensive milestone titles that are “must reads.”

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2024 African American Booklist

We Are Not Invisible: African Americans in the World of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy

Award-winning actor Whoopi Goldberg is a long-time fan of science fiction. She once observed that, in 1966, when Nichelle Nichols was cast as Lieutenant Uhura on the TV series Star Trek, “there were no Black people in any sci-fi, anywhere.” While this was true for film and television during that time, our 2024 African American Booklist, “We Are Not Invisible: African Americans in the World of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy,” provides a broader perspective. Our essayist, author Nisi Shawl, describes Black science fiction as a wide-ranging genre, with a history that can be traced back to the 19th century. We are pleased to feature this insightful essay that highlights the historical presence and visibility of African Americans in the world of science fiction, horror and fantasy.

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2023 African American Booklist

Beyond the Kitchen: The Culinary Legacy of African Americans

We generally think of a cookbook as a source for ingredients and directions for preparing something to eat. However, sometimes a cookbook can tell a greater story. It is with this thought in mind that we present our 2023 African American Booklist, “Beyond the Kitchen: The Culinary Legacy of African Americans.” We are honored to feature the work of Toni Tipton-Martin, a journalist and scholar, who is known for her comprehensive research and insightful writing about Black cooks and cookbooks.

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2022 African American Booklist

The Ties that Bind: African Writers and the Black Diaspora

This year’s theme, “The Ties That Bind: African Writers and the Black Diaspora,” was chosen because we wanted to share with our community the rich and expansive literary world of the Black Diaspora — from Jamaica, to France, to Brazil, to Canada and beyond. Thanks to Dr. Frieda Ekotto, Associate Chair of the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan, we have an informative essay that examines the connections, commonalities and differences of African writers and the writers of the Diaspora.

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2021 African American Booklist

AFRICAN AMERICAN THEATRE: An Historical Review

The 2021 African American Booklist spotlights African American Theatre. Dr. Anthony Hill wrote an essay chronicling the history of African American Theatre in the United States from the 1700s to the present, focusing on the areas of local and community theater, on and off-Broadway, and theater instruction at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Marilyn McCormick, former teacher and director of the Performing Arts Department at Cass Tech interviewed her former student, Dominique Morisseau. Ms. Morisseau has been nominated for two Tony Awards and was the recipient of the MacArthur "Genius Award."

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2020 African American Booklist

African Americans in U.S. Politics: 150 Years

2020 African American Booklist focuses in part on when and where African Americans entered the historical record as elected officials.

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2019 African American Booklist

Inventing Lives: Black Women Writing Our Story

We are pleased that Dr. Mary Helen Washington, professor at the University of Maryland, has written an insightful historical essay about the literary genius of African American women. She is no stranger to Detroit, having earned her PhD from the University of Detroit in 1976, which she followed by serving as director of Black Studies at the university from 1976-1980.

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2018 African American Booklist

Knowing and Teaching: African American Children Literature

Our 2018 Booklist reflects a great deal of passion for literature that focuses on African American children. The beautiful cover is an adaptation of the vibrant artwork of Javaka Steptoe’s Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean Michel Basquiat, winner of the 2017 Randolph Caldecott Medal and the 2017 Coretta Scott King Award for illustration.

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2017 African American Booklist

Detroit's 1967 Rebellion: The Fifty-Year Aftermath

Detroit Public Library partnered with the Detroit Historical Society and its project: “Detroit 67: Looking Back to Move Forward.” This is a community-wide engagement project that marks the 50th anniversary of the events of 1967. In addition to making this anniversary the theme of our 2017 African booklist, we will also host a series of book discussions at branches and Main Library about the project’s companion book, “Detroit 1967: Origins, Impacts, Legacies.”

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2016 African American Booklist

Writing the River: Black Life Stories

DPL is honored to feature in our 2016 African American Booklist a special biography, Crusader for Justice: Federal Judge Damon J. Keith, by Peter J. Hammer and Trevor W. Coleman. Judge Keith’s life story provides a rich context for the history of his times. His recollections of his childhood, his legal and judicial career, and his 53-year marriage to the love of his life, Dr. Rachel Boone Keith, are engagingly captured by Professor Hammer and Mr. Coleman.

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2015 African American Booklist

The Broadside Press legacy of Dudley Randal

One hundred years after DPL opened its doors in 1865, Detroiter Dudley Randall, a poet and a librarian, founded Broadside Press, an institution that has played a significant role in establishing a place for the African American poetic voice for fifty years. Mr. Randall launched Broadside Press by publishing poets that included Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Walker, Margaret Danner, Robert Hayden and Sterling Brown. His legacy was further enriched by presenting the works of Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Haki Madhubuti, Etheridge Knight, Audre Lorde and Keorapeste Kgositsile.

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