It’s nearing the end of Black History Month, so while our blog post topics may broaden, we’d like to leave you with some books by Black Americans that have made an impact on the Durham Tech community to read beyond just February because Black history is American history all year long.
Keep reading for Durham Tech’s favorite reads by Black American authors–fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, environmental justice, social justice, criminal justice, economics, fantasy, and finance–, and for a documentary exploring if Black History Month accomplishes what it sets out to do.
![salvage the bones by jesmyn ward](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/salvage-the-bones-by-jessmyn-ward.jpg?resize=682%2C1024&ssl=1)
![Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Sing-Unburied-Sing.jpg?resize=668%2C1024&ssl=1)
![Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Such-a-Fun-Age-by-Kiley-Reid.jpg?resize=331%2C500&ssl=1)
![Kindred by Octavia Butler](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/kindred.jpg?resize=691%2C1024&ssl=1)
![legendborn by tracy deonn](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/legendborn-by-tracy-deonn.jpg?resize=672%2C1024&ssl=1)
![The Talented Ribkins by Ladee Hubbard](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/The-Talented-Ribkins-by-Ladee-Hubbard.jpg?resize=681%2C1024&ssl=1)
![Every Day is for the Thief by Teju Cole](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Every-Day-is-for-the-Thief-by-Teju-Cole.jpg?resize=638%2C1000&ssl=1)
![The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Nickel-Boys.jpg?resize=678%2C1024&ssl=1)
![the vanishing half by brit bennett](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/the-vanishing-half-by-brit-bennett.jpg?resize=678%2C1024&ssl=1)
![if beale street could talk by james baldwin](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/if-beale-street-could-talk-by-james-baldwin.jpg?resize=664%2C1024&ssl=1)
![giovanni's room by james baldwin](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/giovannis-room-by-james-baldwin.jpg?resize=320%2C500&ssl=1)
![i know why the caged bird sings by maya angelou](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings-by-maya-angelou.jpg?resize=620%2C1024&ssl=1)
![Hitting a straight lick with a crooked stick: stories from the Harlem Renaissance by Zora Neale Hurston](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Hitting-a-straight-lick-with-a-crooked-stick-stories-from-the-Harlem-Renaissance-by-Zora-Neale-Hurston.jpg?resize=664%2C1000&ssl=1)
![The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/The-Collected-Poems-of-Lucille-Clifton-1965-2010.jpg?resize=338%2C500&ssl=1)
![how to be drawn by terrance hayes](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/how-to-be-drawn-by-terrance-hayes.jpg?resize=333%2C499&ssl=1)
![The Heart of the Question: Writings and Paintings of Howardena Pindell by Howardena Pindell and Lowery Stokes Sims](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Heart-of-the-Question-Writings-and-Paintings-of-Howardena-Pindell-by-Howardena-Pindell-and-Lowery-Stokes-Sims.jpg?resize=657%2C1000&ssl=1)
![the ugly cry: a memoir by danielle henderson](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/the-ugly-cry-a-memoir-by-danielle-henderson.jpg?resize=662%2C1000&ssl=1)
![Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Between-the-World-and-Me-by-Ta-Nehisi-Coates.jpg?resize=305%2C499&ssl=1)
![Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Narrative-of-the-Life-of-Frederick-Douglass.jpg?resize=314%2C499&ssl=1)
![just mercy: a story of justice and redemption by bryan stevenson](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/just-mercy-a-story-of-justice-and-redemption-by-bryan-stevenson.jpg?resize=641%2C1024&ssl=1)
![The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/The-New-Jim-Crow-Mass-Incarceration-in-the-Age-of-Colorblindness-by-Michelle-Alexander.jpg?resize=673%2C1024&ssl=1)
![the sum of us: what racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together by heather mcghee](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/the-sum-of-us-what-racism-costs-everyone-and-how-we-can-prosper-together-by-heather-mcghee.jpg?resize=674%2C1024&ssl=1)
![The Black Tax: The Cost of being Black in America by Shawn Rochester](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/The-Black-Tax-The-Cost-of-being-Black-in-America-by-Shawn-Rochester.jpg?resize=625%2C1000&ssl=1)
![All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/All-we-can-save.jpeg?resize=296%2C450&ssl=1)
We would like to acknowledge there is frequent debate about the value of heritage months and if it harms through othering more than helps through highlighting underrecognized groups in the historical narrative.
![more than a month documentary, directed and produced by shukree hassan tilghman](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/more-than-a-month-directed-and-produced-by-shukree-hassan-tilghman.jpg?resize=520%2C252&ssl=1)
To explore this topic a little more deeply as it relates to Black History Month, check out documentarian Shukree Hassan Tilghman’s More Than a Month (2012), which “explores what history months tell us about race and equality in the US” through a cross-country campaign to end Black History Month.
Tilghman reflects on his documentary ten years later along with others in NPR’s article “Why Does Black History Month Matter?” (2022)