Black Graphic Novels:
Fire!! The Zora Neale Hurston Story by Peter Bagge
The comic book's main character Hurston is an African American woman living in the early 20th century who plays by her own rules. During the Harlem Renaissance Hurston becomes an author who is known for writing controversial books, which may lead her into some trouble.
Big Black: Stand at Attica by Frank Big Black Smith and Jared Reinmuth
Frank “Big Black” Smith is a prisoner at the Attica State Prison in New York during the year 1971. Seeing how corrupted and racist the prison system is, Smith finds himself to be the center of an uprising and confrontation against the prison system. This book is an autobiography from one of the authors Frank “Big Black” Smith and tells his life from childhood all the way till after the Attica State Prison uprising.
March Book One, March Book Two, & March Book Three by John Lewis
Now, Georgia Congressmen, John Lewis wrote an autobiography about his life from childhood all the way to his role in the civil rights movement. Book one tells about the beginning of Lewis' role in the movement whereas books two and three talk about the major events.
Black History in Its Own Words by Ron Wimberly
Ron Wimberly is an illustrator who decided to talk about a collection of his illustration and publish them as a book in February. These illustrations are of black figures, activists, musicians, etc., and a quote from them.
Love In Vain: Robert Johnson 1911-1938, The Graphic Novel by J.M. Dupont
In this book, author J.M. Dupont writes the biography and Mezzo draws the illustration on the life of musician Robert Johnson. Dupont captures Johnson’s life from when he was a young poor boy in Mississippi to his dark adulthood as a guitarist.
The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art by Frances Gateward and John Jennings
The author's goal when it came to this comic book was to create more black characters in the comic book world as it is very little with no importance. This comic book was able to showcase a diverse range of black characters in comics, as well as show a multitude of ways that black artists, writers, and publishers have made a mark on the industry.
Josephine Baker by José-Louis Bocquet
Author, Bocquet, along with illustrator Muller captures the life of American-born dancer Josephine Baker. Josephine became one of Paris’ darlings during the Roaring Twenties, as she would later aid the French Resistance during World War II and become an advocate for racial harmony as she would adopt 12 kids with different racial backgrounds.
King by Ho Che Anderson
Ho Che Anderson is an illustrator who details Martin Luther King Jr.'s life through a comic biography. Anderson depicts King's childhood life as well as his important role during the Civil Rights Movement.
Black Women
The Josephine Baker Story by Ean Wood
Author, Wood, writes a biography on black dancer Josephine Baker. Ean tells Josephine’s full story from her early life in America to her move to France in the 1920s.
Negotiations by Destiny O. Birdsong
Destiny Birdsong is a black poet who made her debut with a collection of her poems. The poems mainly tell the hardships as well as the constant adjustments black women have to make in order to survive in America.
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf
A choreopoem by Ntozake Shange
Poet Ntozake Shange expresses what it is like to be a woman of color during the 20th century.
Own It by Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey put together a collection of her most memorable interviews and speeches. This collection provides readers with a look at Oprah’s wisdom and thought process which lead to her success.
In the Next Galaxy by Ruth Stone
Poet Ruth Stone writes a collection of poetry about a woman in her 80s fully inhabiting body and mind. These poems tell tales of a woman that is a bold feminist that does not stand for injustice.
Voyage of the Sable Venus by Robin Coste Lewis
Robin Coste Lewis’s electrifying collection is a triptych that begins and ends with lyric poems considering the roles desire and race play in the construction of the self. The central panel is the title poem, “Voyage of the Sable Venus,” a riveting narrative made up entirely of titles of artworks from ancient times to the present.
Facts on File Encyclopedia of Black Women in America: Literature edited by Darlene Clark Hine
Darlene Clark Hine makes a second edit of the book to expand on the historical achievements of Black women. These women have contributed to fields such as; business, music, education, literature, sports, science, law, and medicine.
Octavia E. Butler by Gerry Canavan
Gerry Canavan wrote a biography on the career of Octavia E. Butler, a black female author. Canavan believes Octavia is one the best science fiction writers and delves in to find her false starts, abandoned drafts, tireless rewrites, unpublished drafts, as well as notes to herself that fed Butler's frustrations and launched her triumphs.
Secrecy, Magic, and the One-Act Plays of Harlem Renaissance Women Writers by Taylor Hagood
Author Taylor Hagood writes exclusively about 8 black females play writers; Marita Bonner, Mary P. Burrill, Thelma Duncan, Shirley Graham, Zora Neale Hurston, Georgia Douglas Johnson, May Miller, and Eulalie Spence, to save them from obscurity. This book is also one of the first to extensively discuss secrecy’s roles in literary representation and social interaction.
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America by Melissa V. Harris-Perry
Within America, black women are hit with negative stereotypes that shame and shape their experiences as citizens. Melissa V. Harris-Perry not only discusses these stereotypes but also uses various methods to understand black women’s political and emotional responses to these negative images toward them.
Heat Wave: The Life and Career of Ethel Waters by Donald Bogle
This biography tells the life of one of America’s brightest African American actresses and singer Ethel Water. Thus, following Waters' legacy as well as her relationship with other performers.
Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia E. Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy
Octavia E. Butler’s book Kindred, tells of a young black woman named Dana who is able to time travel between her 1970s California life and pre-Civil War South. As Dana time travels to the pre-Civil War South, she gets entangled with a white slaveholder named Rufus. Illustrator Damian Duffy takes Butler’s book and adapts it into a graphic novel.
Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era by Lean'tin L. Bracks and Jessie Carney Smith
During the Harlem Renaissance Era, black women sought out for change as individuals rejected the stereotypes of African Americans and confronted the racist, social, political, and economic ideas that denied them citizenship and access to the American Dream. These women brought positive change and representation into fields such as activism, the arts, entrepreneurship, education, politics, and more. Lean'tin L. Bracks and Jessie Carney Smith wrote this book to acknowledge the important roles these black women played during the Harlem Renaissance.
African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song, edited by Kevin Young
Poet editor Kevin Young released a book with collections of black poetry that date back 250 years from today. From 1770 to 2020, hundreds of poems express the struggle African Americans face each year.
Conversations with Toni Morrison, edited by Danille Taylor-Guthrie
Toni Morris is a female African American author whose work lead to her being a recipient of a Nobel Prize. This book consists of interviews Morrison did where she addresses her life, career, and ambition capturing the vast imagination of black people.
Sisterfire: Black Womanist Fiction and Poetry, edited by Charlotte Watson Sherman
These collections of stories and poems express the concerns of African American women from some of today's most notable Black female writers. Some of the writers in this collection include; Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Gloria Naylor, and Ntozake Shange.
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deeshaw Philyaw
This book is a collection of nine short stories following black women and girls. These nine stories show how they face the standards of the church as well as their own desires in order to lead a free life.
Billie Holiday by Carlos Sampayo and Jose Muñoz
This graphic novel is a biography of legendary African American jazz singer Billie Holiday. Sampayo and Muñoz's goal is to showcase the good and the bad when it came to holidays and life during the course of her career.
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens by Alice Walker
Writer Alice Walker’s goal is to educate readers about the hardship black women face when trying to express themselves through the arts. Walker also researches sociological and psychological concepts that have affected black women throughout human history.
