7 History Books by BIPOC Authors

U.S. history as a field has traditionally treated Indigenous people as a side note. In this National Book Award-winning account, Blackhawk rewrites them into the country’s story, showing how they influenced major historical events at every turn. Five centuries of history leading up to the start of the U.S. as we know it today are examined, showing, among other things, how Native nations influenced European colonizers’ actions, just as colonizers influence theirs.

This one has been sitting on my shelf for ages, and I think it’s finally time to get into it for this task. It comes from an award-winning graphic designer and artist, and celebrates the many contributions of Black Americans to fields like politics, literature, music, science, and more. It gets into the big hitters, like Nina Simone, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and others, but also talks about the lesser-known figures, like Dr. Eliza Ann Grier, a woman born into slavery who became the first Black woman to practice medicine in the U.S., and Claudette Colvin, who refused to give up her bus seat nine months before Rosa Parks. Each mini biography features original, expressive art that adds to the stories of the ancestors.