History Through Our Eyes
They wrote it down so no one could erase it.
From Frederic Douglass to Malcolm X, from the middle passage to mass incarceration, these books refuse to sugarcoat the pain or silence the power of that Black experience in America. This is not a santized history. It's lived history. First-person, and impossible to ignore.
One of the most influential memoirs in American history, Douglass’s autobiography chronicles his life from enslavement to freedom. With clarity and power, he dismantles the lies of slavery’s “benevolence” and reveals the intellectual and spiritual toll of oppression. It remains essential reading for anyone who values freedom and truth.
Why it was banned:
Some school districts have challenged it for its depictions of violence, legal injustice, and institutional racism—despite (or perhaps because of) its basis in fact.
Recommended for:
Teens, aspiring law students, educators, and justice-minded readers looking to engage with real-life civil rights work.
March: Book One By John Lewis, Andrew Aydin & Nate Powell
The first volume of John Lewis's graphic memoir takes readers inside the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. From Lewis's childhood in rural Alabama to his first meetings with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. March:Book One captures the courage and hope that fueled a generation to demand justice.
March: Book Two By John Lewis, Andrew Aydin & Nate Powell
As the movement grows, Lewis and his fellow activists face brutal violence, relentless opposition, and the weight of hisory. March: Book two chronicles sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and the fight to dismantle segregation - a vivid, often harrowing look at the sacrifices made for equality.
March: Book Three By John Lewis, Andrew Aydin & Nate Powell
The final volume delivers a powerfulo account of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches and the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Winner of the National Book Award, March:Book Three cements the triology as a defining record of the struggle for freedom - and a roadmap for resistance today.
W.E.B. Du Bois
One of the most important books of the 20th century, The Souls of Black Folk captures the heartache and hope of the post-slavery Black experience. With lyrical essays and sociological insight, Du Bois introduces the world to “double consciousness” and gives voice to generations navigating life between two worlds
Why Banned
Criticized or challenged in districts for being “unpatriotic” or “overly political.”
Recommended For:
High school seniors, college readers, history buffs, and educators teaching American history through a critical lens
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An essential classic, Before the Mayflower offers a comprehensive history of Black America from its African roots to the civil rights era. Bennett’s writing is accessible, informative, and unapologetically Black-centered.
Why it was banned:
Often overlooked or excluded for presenting a version of American history that centers Black agency and contradicts mainstream narratives.
Recommended for:
Students, historians, community leaders, and those reclaiming African American history.
The Fire Next Time
By James Baldwin
In this timeless pair of essays, Baldwin writes a letter to his nephew and delivers a searing critique of racial injustice in America. Part memoir, part manifesto, The Fire Next Time exposes the moral rot of white supremacy while calling for love, truth, and liberation.Challenged for its candid language and critiques of religion, racism, and American hypocrisy
In White Rage, historian Carol Anderson dismantles the myth of Black progress as a smooth and uninterrupted climb. She reveals how every significant stride in Black civil rights has been met with fierce backlash — from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement to the election of Barack Obama. Anderson reframes American history through the lens of systemic resistance to Black advancement..
This collection of speeches, interviews, and essays connects Black liberation struggles in the U.S. with global resistance movements, including Palestine and South Africa. Angela Y. Davis draws powerful connections between state violence, incarceration, and capitalist oppression.
The New Jim Crow
By Michelle Alexander
A groundbreaking exposé of the U.S. criminal justice system, The New Jim Crow argues that mass incarceration has created a racial caste system that devastates Black communities. Michelle Alexander challenges readers to reckon with the roots of systemic inequality.
Assata: An Autobiography – Assata Shakur
In this revolutionary memoir, Assata Shakur details her journey from a young Black activist in the 1970s to political exile. Wrongfully convicted of crimes she insists she didn’t commit, Shakur exposes the surveillance, criminalization, and brutality Black revolutionaries faced. Her story is one of political awakening, resilience, and radical truth.
Written in the final days before his death in San Quentin, George Jackson’s Blood in My Eye is a bold call to revolution. It blends political theory with personal anguish and unrelenting critique of racism, capitalism, and the prison-industrial complex.