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For Black History Month, we reached out to members of Spokane’s Black community and asked them to share a couple of their favorite books or books they felt were important for others to read. This is an #OwnVoices list in more than one way, it is selected by #OwnVoices and the books themselves are written by #OwnVoices.

#OwnVoices is a term coined by the writer Corinne Duyvis, and refers to an author from a marginalized or under-represented group writing about their own experiences/from their own perspective, rather than someone from an outside perspective writing as a character from an underrepresented group.


Recommended by Kiantha Duncan, Spokane NAACP President

African Americans in Spokane by Jerrelene Williamson, Spokane Northwest Black Pioneers
Book
This is My America by Kim Johnson
Book


Recommended by Carl Richardson, Artist and SFCC Professor

Life Doesn’t Frighten Me: Poem by Maya Angelou, Paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat
Book 


Recommended by Inga Laurent, GU Professor and Inlander Writer

All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks
Book | eBook

The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticant
Book | Audiobook

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora
Book | Large Print | eBook

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
Book | Large Print | Audiobook (compact disc) | eBook


Recommended by Ginger Ewing, Executive Director, Terrain

Black Futures edited by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham
Book

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne and Tamara Payne
Book | eBook | Audiobook

On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope by Deray McKesson
Book 

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Book | Large Print | eBook | Audiobook(compact disc) | Audiobook(Libby)


Recommended by Shantell Jackson, Multidisciplinary Artist and Poet

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
Book

Stop Telling Women to Smile by Tatyana Fatzlalizadeh
On Order

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet
Book | eBook | Audiobook(compact disc) | Audiobook(Libby) |

Caste: The Origin of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Book | eBook | Audiobook(compact disc) | Audiobook(Libby) |

Black Futures edited by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham
Book

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick by Zora Neale Hurston
Book | eBook


Recommended by Bob Lloyd, Artist and Photographer; Retired Professor of Art, EWU

The Plot to Betray America: How Team Trump Embraced Our Enemies, Compromised Our Security, and How We Can Fix It by Malcolm W. Nance
Book

Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, from the AfroNet to Black Lives Matter by Charlton D. McIlwain
Audiobook