African American Historical Fiction

This beautifully illustrated story is a fictionalized version of the life story of Phillis Wheatley who was captured from the Senegambia area of West Africa. Although sold into slavery, she very quickly learnt to read and write. She became the first African-American to publish a book of poetry. This story about her life introduces her to young readers by highlighting some of her struggles as well as major accomplishments.

"Mother Mac's Boarding House is an exquisite read..." D. Donovan, Midwest Book Review In a segregated town overshadowed by the aftermath of WWII, Marty ‘Mother Mac’ MacKenzie—a strong-willed and determined woman— runs a "Colored Only" boarding house that becomes a sanctuary for those in need. Seeking a fresh start away from the painful memories of Alabama. Armed with nothing but her wits, a single prayer from Reverend White, and a heart full of hope, she navigates the challenges of a segregated society, determined to carve out a life for herself. When Marty lands a job at the local ...

April 7, 1994 to July 15, 1994 proved to be a veritable nightmare for 100 harrowing days in Rwanda, so this book precedes the anniversary of a momentous time. Deep-seated enmity between Tutsis and Hutus boiled over, starting from the downing of President Juvénal Habyarimana's plane, and culminating in a vicious slaughter of Tutsis, their sympathizers, and in turn, Hutu perpetrators at the hands of vindictive Tutsis.

Macklin, Mississippi has been rocked to its core by the death of David Moss, the son of one of the town’s most influential man. Some believe that David’s fate was sealed after many of the desperate choices he made. Can his family heal after such a devastating loss? After Linda decides to leave town again, Annie has to figure out how to live with the burden of raising the children her sister left behind.

Por toda a América as plantações de tabaco floresceram e trouxeram riqueza aos senhores de terra durante o século XIX. Quando a bonança começa seu declínio, Howell Walker já vislumbra o próprio fim e sabe que precisará de um substituto para administrar os últimos dias de Lockless, sua propriedade no coração da Virgínia, Estados Unidos. Logo fica claro que seu único herdeiro, Maynard, não tem a menor aptidão para a missão. E mesmo o jovem Hiram, com sua resiliência e memória infalíveis, não poderia fazê-lo―além de filho ilegítimo de Walker, ele é um escravo.

Britain has just declared war against Nazi Germany. In Southampton, the world’s most luxurious airliner, the Pan American Clipper, takes off on its final flight to neutral New York – a haven for those fleeing the conflict.

The Kindred sisters - Ezra and Cinthy - grew up with an abundance of love. Love from their parents, who let them believe that the stories they tell on stars can come true. Love from their neighbours, the Junketts, the only other Black family in town. And love for their adopted hometown of Salt Point, a beautiful New England village perched high up on coastal bluffs. But as the girls hit adolescence, their white neighbours, including Ezra's best friend, Ruby, start to see their maturing bodies and minds in a different way.

In 1937, a young trumpet player called Doc leaves Harlem with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to fight in the Spanish Civil War. Eight hundred miles away, a little girl named Pearl is fighting a child's war against poverty and paternal abuse in a Chicago tenement. Spain's defeat leads directly to World War II. For the honor of Spain and self, Doc heads off to fight another war. Meanwhile, Pearl discovers the power of her voice and begins her own odyssey. By 1946, the war's over. Doc returns to find peace in the music, but everything changes when the band's new singer walks into the club.

Despite being a straight-A student and voracious reader, eight-year old Sandrine Miller is treated as little more than a servant by her mother, who forces Sandrine to clean house, do chores and take care of her younger half-sister, Yolanda. On top of the despair of her life at home, Sandrine must confront growing up against the harshness of life in 1970s-era New Orleans, where men in cars follow her home from school and she is ostracized because she is a light-skinned black girl.

In 1850s Ohio, a free territory before the Civil War, Tawawa House is an idyllic retreat for Southern white men who vacation there every summer with their enslaved black mistresses. It's their open secret. Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet are regulars at the resort, building strong friendships over the years. But when they are joined by Mawu, as fearless as she is assured, the seeds of an escape are planted.

Three women are tied together by blood, love and family secrets. Potent, poetic, powerful, told with deep love, and spanning from the Great Migration through the civil unrest of the ‘60s to the cultural shift of the early 2000s, Denene Millner’s beautifully wrought novel is a hymn to Black motherhood, exploring three women’s intimate struggle with generational trauma and healing.

From West Africa to Windsor Castle, The Other Princess is a vivid imagining of the life of Queen Victoria's Black goddaughter, shining a light on a woman searching for home, love and identity.

The audiobook, The Arctic Jungles of Vietnam, is the life story of a Black soldier from the Deep South during the Vietnam war era. The story begins with a description of his family and how they survived with the bare minimum of necessities for a life in the South. His experiences in grade school and high school including the Superintendent of Autauga County School System’s commencement message are an integral part of the story. Further, we learn why and how this young man decided to go into the military.

Primi anni Sessanta, Florida. Il movimento per i diritti civili sta prendendo piede anche a Frenchtown, il quartiere afro-americano della capitale, ed Elwood Curtis, un ragazzino cresciuto dalla nonna, si forma sugli insegnamenti di Martin Luther King. Il suo grande sogno è frequentare il college e iniziare la sua nuova vita, ma proprio il primo giorno di scuola accetta un passaggio su un'auto rubata.

Henry Cebolla Shackleton es un pícaro niño esclavo en cuyo camino se cruza el legendario abolicionista John Brown, «el más americano de todos nosotros», en palabras de Henry David Thoreau; «el hijop--a asesino más infame y retorcío que jamás hayáis visto», a ojos del Cebolla. Comienza así la hilarante autobiografía de Henry, envuelto contra su voluntad en la cruzada antiesclavista del ejército de John Brown y obligado a hacerse pasar por una niña para sobrevivir.

This story takes place in 1912, with the narrator being a young girl named Heattie. Her memories take her to the times when the Sisterhood, one who is her grandmother, would sit on the front porch and tell stories, past and present. Even though the stories are being told on the front porch, Heattie's life gets caught between the stories and the mysteries of real life. In the midst of the stories and the mysteries, Heattie and her best friend, Luceen, have several adventures while trying to solve certain mysteries of lost identities.

Leo Love, and his only son, Michael, navigate their way through the cultural limitations and divisions that afflict American life. Starting from the 1950s and into the new millennium, their lives at times, cross with the lives of some of history's greatest icons. Joining their intellects and talent together, they become beacons for the doomsday clock. As champions for human rights, they wage war on ignorance through love and wisdom.

If you loved Detroit and the Motown sound, you will love Graylin Brown! A heartwarming and triumphant story of an African American soul singer who was cut down in his prime by a debilitating disease. The fictional story spans from 1965 Detroit, Michigan to Hollywood, California in the early 90s. After the onset of the disease in 1965, he went into a nine-year remission. He did the best he could as he struggled with the possibility of a relapse

Teenager Kath Ella Sebolt wants desperately to escape the town that she equates with deprivation and lack of opportunity. Months after her boyfriend is killed during a clash between young people in the village and Halifax constables, she moves with her infant son to Montreal. After attending college as a single mother and ultimately marrying a white man, she discovers that as much as she tries, severing ties to her former village is not easy.

Danielle Evans is widely acclaimed for her blisteringly smart voice and X-ray insights into complex human relationships. With The Office of Historical Corrections, Evans zooms in on particular moments and relationships in her characters’ lives in a way that allows them to speak to larger issues of race, culture and history. We meet Black and multi-racial characters who are experiencing the universal confusions of lust and love, and getting walloped by grief - all while exploring how history haunts us, personally and collectively.