Recent Books of Interest to African American Scholars

May 13, 2026

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view. The opinions expressed in these books do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board of JBHE. Click on any of the titles for more information or to purchase through Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, JBHE will earn a fraction of revenue from qualifying purchases.

Backtalker: An American Memoir by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw (Simon & Schuster)	Black Muslim Freedom Dreams: Islamic Education, Pan-Africanism, and Collective Care by Samiha Rahman (New York University Press)	Fragmented Forms in African American Women’s Memoir: Poetics, Praxis, and Politics by Yolanda M. Manora (Routledge)

Freedom in the Age of Slavery: A History of Free People of Color in Virginia by Warren Eugene Milteer Jr. (University of Virginia Press)	The Image and the Fire: The Subversive Anthology in the Twentieth Century by Whit Frazier Peterson (University of Massachusetts Press)	The Instigators: How Black Women Have Been Essential to American Democracy by Atima Omara (Harper)

Jefferson’s Wolf: A Founding Father’s Troubling Answer to the Problem of Slavery by Christa Diweksheide and Nicholas Guyatt (Harvard University Press)	Love, Me: A Letter to Black Women in a Toxic Country, Career, and Relationship by Tiffany D. Cross (Legacy Lit)	The Other Life of Abraham Lincoln’s Barber by William G. Herbert (BookBaby)

A Proxy Africa: Guyana, African Americans, and the Radical 1970s by Russell Rickford (University of North Carolina Press)	Segregating Cities by Arnold R. Hirsch (University of Chicago Press)	Slave Rebellions and the Making of the Modern Prison by Sean Butorac (University of Pennsylvania Press)

Systemic Oppression and Depression in Black Women: A Path Forward Through Pastoral and Spiritual Care by Rochelle Johnson (Seabury Books)	A Terrible Strength: The Hidden Crisis of the Black Womb and Your Survival Guide to Healing by Kemi Doll (Harmony Books)	Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King Jr. by Lerone Martin (Amistad)