LSBU Library: Black History Month: Reading

Looking for some reading around Black History Month?

Here's a taster of some of the books on our BHM Reading List

All these books are available in the library catalogue. They span a broad range of topics relating to black British history and we've included several fiction books from a variety of black authors and a wide range of subjects. Enjoy!

>> Explore the full list on our BHM Reading List Online here <<

100 Great Black Britons by Patrick Vernon; Angelina Osborne
Call Number: 941.00496 VER
ISBN: 9781472144300
Publication Date: 2021-10-19
A long-overdue book honouring the remarkable achievements of key Black British individuals over many centuries, in collaboration with the 100 Great Black Britons campaign founded and run by Patrick Vernon OBE.
Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala
Call Number: 305.800941 AKA
ISBN: 9781473661233
Publication Date: 21 Mar. 2019
Part memoir, the book provides race and class analysis of a variety of historical eras, in addition to contemporary British society.
The Dancing Face by Mike Phillips
Call Number: 823.914 PHI
ISBN: 9780241482674
Publication Date: 2021
Gus Dixon is campaigning for the payment of reparations to Africa by European governments. He enlists the aid of Dr Akinye Okigbo - but Okigbo sees Gus as the perfect tool to further his political ends - by stealing the Dancing Face, an African artefact of huge talsimanic significance.
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Call Number: 823.92 CAR
ISBN: 9781409180074
Publication Date: 2020
Queenie Jenkins can't cut a break. Well, apart from one from her long term boyfriend, Tom. That's definitely just a break though. Definitely not a break up. Stuck between a boss who doesn't seem to see her, a family who don't seem to listen (if it's not Jesus or water rates, they're not interested), and trying to fit in two worlds that don't really understand her, it's no wonder she's struggling.She was named to be queen of everything. So why is she finding it so hard to rule her own life?
It's Not about the Burqa by Mariam Khan
Call Number: 305.48697 ITS
ISBN: 9781509886425
Publication Date: 2021-01-01
When was the last time you heard a Muslim woman speak for herself without a filter? Taking one of the most politicized and misused words associated with Muslim women and Islamophobia, It's Not About the Burqa has something to say: twenty Muslim women speaking up for themselves.
Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsch
Call Number: 305.800941 HIR
ISBN: 9781784705039
Publication Date: 2019-01-01
You're British. Your parents are British. Your partner, your children and most of your friends are British. So why do people keep asking where you're from? We are a nation in denial about our imperial past and the racism that plagues our present. Brit(ish) is Afua Hirsch's personal and provocative exploration of how this came to be - and an urgent call for change.
Black British History by Hakim Adi (Editor)
ISBN: 9781786994264
Publication Date: 2019-10-15
For over 1500 years before the Empire Windrush docked on British shores, people of African descent have played a significant and far-ranging role in the country's history, from the African soldiers on Hadrian's Wall to the Black British intellectuals who made London a hub of radical, Pan-African ideas.
Empire, Race and the Politics of Anti-Caste by Caroline Bressey
ISBN: 9781780935799
Publication Date: 2013-12-19
Race and the Politics of Anti-Caste provides the first comprehensive biography of Catherine Impey and her radical political magazine,
Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez
Call Number: 823.92 MEN
ISBN: 9780349700595
Publication Date: 2020
An essential and revelatory coming-of-age narrative from a thrilling new voice, Rainbow Milk follows nineteen-year-old Jesse McCarthy as he grapples with his racial and sexual identities against the backdrop of his Jehovah's Witness upbringing.

Once you've worked your way through those, there's more here!

: Black British History: Concepts and Debates

See our poster display of reading list recommendations.

Southwark Campus Library in the LSBU Hub - level 02.

BL Social Welfare portal

Breaking free:
Black History Month Britain:
from crisis to liberating action

This collection of articles explores the significance and development of Black History Month. The articles were written during the trans-millennial decades 1990s to 2015 and promote the creative renewal of Black culture in society.

Read more on the BL Social Welfare portal

BL Archives

Black Britain: archives and manuscripts

They have significant literary archives and manuscript s relating to Black writing in the UK in the 20th and 21st centuries. Collections include:

James Berry Archive
Andrea Levy Archive
Andrew Salkey Archive
Wasafiri Magazine Archive
Modern Playscripts Collection - including unpublished plays by Black writers from 1968 to date
E R Braithwaite’s revised typescript of To Sir With Love
revised typescript of C L R James' play The Black Jacobins
Benjamin Zephaniah’s manuscript poem ‘What Stephen Lawrence Has Taught Us’.

Read more at the British Library Black Britain: archives and manuscripts website

Black History Month: Reading