30 Black Biographies To Read During Black History Month

I'm #365Black by all accounts. Still, I consider Black History Month a great opportunity to double down on blackness by celebrating and spreading the good news of all things melanated. And what better way to do that than to read up on the lives of some interesting and inspiring black folks?

Going into Black History Month, I reached out via social media to ask my friends, followers and lurkers what their favorite black biographies and autobiographies are. Here are 30 of their recommendations:

  1. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings – By Maya Angelou
  2. The Autobiography of Malcolm X – As told to Alex Haley
  3. Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography—By Zora Neale Hurston
  4. Revolutionary Suicide -- Huey P. Newton
  5. I, Tina – By Tina Turner
  6. Black Titan: A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire-- Carol Jenkins
  7. Assata—By Assata Shakur
  8. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier – By Ishmael Beah
  9. God Grew Tired of Us – By John Dau
  10. The Big Sea – By Langston Hughes
  11. The Ice Opinion – By Ice T
  12. Vernon Can Read!: A Memoir – By Vernon Jordan
  13. Miles: The Autobiography – By Miles Davis
  14. Fire Next Time – By James Baldwin
  15. Angela Davis: An Autobiography – By Angela Y. Davis
  16. Soul On Ice – By Eldridge Cleaver
  17. Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood-- By bell hooks
  18. The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother – By James McBride
  19. Nigger – By Dick Gregory.
  20. Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America -- By Nathan McCall
  21. A Choice of Weapons – By Gordon Parks
  22. Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) – By Stokely Carmichael
  23. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name – By Audre Lorde
  24. Autobiography of an Ex - Colored Man – By James Weldon Johnson.
  25. Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun – By Reginald Lewis
  26. Black Boy – By Richard Wright,
  27. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass – By Frederick Douglass
  28. Dreams From My Father -- By Barack Obama
  29. Adam By Adam -- By Adam Clayton Powell III
  30. Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention -- By Manning Marable

Did your favorite make the cut? Let me know in the comments and be sure to share this list during the month of February and beyond.

Donovan X. Ramsey