Black History, Black Excellence, Black Joy

Big Girl Blitz

Curve: Book #3

By: Danielle Allen
Narrated by: Wesleigh Siobhan
Length: TBA

"Nothing is hotter and more fun than Danielle Allen’s writing."-- Ali Hazelwood

Because life’s too short, and mean girls ain’t sh…
Jazmyn Payne fled her hometown—and the fatphobes who made her life hell– the minute she graduated high school. Growing up, her haven was her Aunt Addison, and when her health takes a drastic turn, she insists that Jazz... Read more about Big Girl Blitz

The Secret Summer Promise

By: Keah Brown
Narrated by: Tamika Katon-Donegal
Length: 7 hours 28 minutes

Andrea Williams has got this. The Best Summer Ever. Last summer, she spent all her time in bed, recovering from the latest surgery for her cerebral palsy. She’s waited too long for adventure and thrills to enter her life. Together with her crew
of ride-or-die friends, and the best parents anyone could ask for (just don’t tell them that), she’s... Read more about The Secret Summer Promise

This Thing of Ours

By: Frederick Joseph
Narrated by: Ruffin Prentiss
Length: 11 hours 49 minutes

An instant New York Times bestseller! The powerful and timely YA novel debut from two-time New York Times best-selling author Frederick Joseph is a deeply heartfelt story—and a rallying cry against book banning. In an instant, Ossie Brown’s entire future is in jeopardy when a torn ACL ends his promising basketball... Read more about This Thing of Ours

We Deserve Monuments

By: Jas Hammonds
Narrated by: Tamika Katon-Donegal
Length: 10 hours 22 minutes

What's more important: knowing the truth or keeping the peace?
When her family moves to Bardell, Georgia, on the cusp of her senior year, Avery
Anderson is uprooted from DC and thrust into the hostile home of her terminally
ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty
makes for a frosty arrival and reveals a... Read more about We Deserve Monuments

The Boy in the Black Suit

By: Jason Reynolds
Narrated by: Corey Allen
Length: 7 hours 48 minutes

A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book Just when seventeen-year-old Matt thinks he can’t handle one more piece of terrible news, he meets a girl who’s dealt with a lot more—and who just might be able to clue him in on how to rise up when life keeps knocking him down—in this “vivid, satisfying, and ultimately upbeat tale of grief,... Read more about The Boy in the Black Suit

Madness

Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum

By: Antonia Hylton
Narrated by: Antonia Hylton
Length: 11 hours 2 minutes

In the tradition of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, this New York Times bestseller is a page-turning account of one of the nation’s last segregated asylums..."a book that left me breathless" (Clint Smith).

For centuries, Black patients have been absent from our history books. Madness transports readers through the ninety-three-year history... Read more about Madness

Black in Blues

How a Color Tells the Story of My People

By: Imani Perry
Narrated by: Imani Perry
Length: 9 hours 4 minutes

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK BY: Time, USA Today, People, AARP, Today.com, BookRiot, Bustle, LitHub, BookPage, Our Culture, and VultureA surprising and beautiful meditation on the color blue—and its fascinating role in Black history and culture—from National Book Award winner Imani PerryThroughout history, the concept of Blackness has been... Read more about Black in Blues

There's Always This Year

On Basketball and Ascension

By: Hanif Abdurraqib
Narrated by: Hanif Abdurraqib
Length: 8 hours 40 minutes

“Hanif has truly one of the most beautiful minds of any writer. This reflection on community, family (found and for-real), the places we are from and what it means to be of them, and being someone who leaves and returns will stick with you forever. Using LeBron James and the conceit of basketball, it charts departures and returns as a form of... Read more

Skate It Till You Make It

A Novel

By: Rufaro Faith Mazarura
Narrated by: Lillie-Pearl Wildman
Length: 11 hours 13 minutes

“The perfect lighthearted romance to read during the Winter Olympics! It’s sweet, fun, and just the right amount of steamy. Read more

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

By: Ross Gay
Narrated by: Ross Gay
Length: 1 hour 36 minutes

“a poetry collection drenched in fruit juice and love, narrated by the author himself. Read more

A Fortune For Your Disaster

Poems

By: Hanif Abdurraqib
Narrated by: Hanif Abdurraqib
Length: 1 hour 36 minutes

“Hanif Abdurraquib’s powerful collection of poems explores the unending heartbreak of being black in America and how to find strength and self-actualization. Landscaped by graves, mirrors, and music these poems take the personal grief of being barked at by dogs and frames and re-frames those aggression into explorations on how our nation’s... Read more

Hair Like Obama's, Hands Like Lebron's

A Picture Book

By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Narrated by: Ruffin Prentiss
Length: 13 minutes

IS YOUR HAIR LIKE MINE?

Inspired by the famous White House photograph of five-year-old Jacob Philadelphia touching then President Barack Obama’s hair, Carole Boston Weatherford’s powerful text is an ode to all the things that make Black and Brown kids beautiful, strong, resilient, and powerful. From jazz great John Coltrane to astronaut and... Read more about Hair Like Obama's, Hands Like Lebron's

A Hug Like Michelle's, a Voice Like Beyoncé's

A Picture Book

By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Narrated by: Channie Waites
Length: 13 minutes

From Misty Copeland to Rosa Parks to Nina Simone, this companion to Hair Like Obama’s, Hands Like Lebron’s is a celebration of Black history and excellence from powerhouse author Carole Boston Weatherford With a voice as bold as Beyoncé’s, my vocals strike a chord.With vision as clear as Oprah’s, success is my reward.With arms as... Read more about A Hug Like Michelle's, a Voice Like Beyoncé's

South to America

A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

By: Imani Perry
Narrated by: Imani Perry
Length: 16 hours 32 minutes

“The spirit and essence of “America” are things quintessentially, essentially elusive. In South to America, Imani Perry—native Black Southerner, award-winning author, Princeton professor—submits a gorgeously written, eminently worthy entry in the search. Crafting a compelling balance between recorded history, current events, and personal... Read more

If We Are Brave

Essays from Black Americana

By: Theodore Johnson
Narrated by: Theodore Johnson
Length: 4 hours 16 minutes

The popular Washington Post contributing opinion columnist challenges readers to have uncomfortable conversations about race, drawing on the first-person perspectives of the author and Americans from diverse viewpoints and walks of life.“The United States claims to be a nation founded on an idea,” writes Theodore R. Johnson, “but Americans—even... Read more about If We Are Brave

A Little Devil in America

Notes in Praise of Black Performance

By: Hanif Abdurraqib
Narrated by: JD Jackson
Length: 9 hours 38 minutes

“Hanif Abdurraqib's exploration of Black performance in America is a cultural keystone that is chillingly relevant. Whether discussing the fact that a knowing look or advice on a route from a cashier is a form of a living Green Book that still exists because there are places Black people are not safe, to the origin of the card game spades or the... Read more

Rooted

The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership

By: Brea Baker
Narrated by: Brea Baker
Length: 8 hours 21 minutes

Why is less than 1% of rural land in the U.S. owned by Black people? An acclaimed writer and activist explores the impact of land theft and violent displacement on racial wealth gaps, arguing that justice stems from the literal roots of the earth.

“With heartfelt prose and unyielding honesty, Baker explores the depths of her roots and invites... Read more about Rooted

Original Sins

The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of AmericanRacism

By: Eve L. Ewing
Narrated by: Robin Miles & Eve L. Ewing
Length: 12 hours 15 minutes

“I think everyone who grew up in the American school system should read this book. Both a look at the history of (mis)education to marginalized people to the continuing disenfranchisement of many students in America, I learned a lot from reading this. I will never look at schools or the United States in the same way. An excellent and... Read more

In Open Contempt

Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space

By: Irvin Weathersby Jr.
Narrated by: Irvin Weathersby Jr.
Length: 6 hours 36 minutes

Longlisted for the 2026 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction

“An awe-striking masterpiece of love.”
—Jason Reynolds, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“The sentences alone in In Open Contempt make it one of the most memorable books of the decade. But it’s the unexpected lingering and genius crafting of consequential action that makes... Read more about In Open Contempt

A Black Queer History of the United States

ReVisioning History

By: C. Riley Snorton & Darius Bost
Narrated by: C. Riley Snorton
Length: 8 hours 4 minutes

The first-ever Black history to center queer voices, this landmark study traces the lives of LGBTQ+ Black Americans from slavery to present day

Gender and sexual expression have always been part of the Black freedom struggle

In this latest book in Beacon’s award-winning ReVisioning History series, Professors C. Riley Snorton and Darius Bost... Read more about A Black Queer History of the United States