decorative graphic with text that reads "Black History Month Faculty-Curated Reading List
Academics

Reading Black History: Faculty Perspectives Across Disciplines

Published February 04, 2026

5 Minute Read

 

Universities serve to examine ideas freely, thoroughly, and without preset conclusions. The exploration of Black history, culture, science, art, and intellect is rooted in scholarship across many disciplines. Black History Month has traditionally been a time for reflection, academic inquiry, and critical discussion of the histories, cultures, and ideas that have influenced the United States and beyond.

Faculty across disciplines at UW curated this list as part of their roles to teach, research, create, and serve, guided by the standards of their fields. The titles included here draw on primary sources, peer-reviewed scholarship, creative practice, and historical analysis. Together, they illustrate how knowledge is created, questioned, and improved through evidence, expertise, and critical inquiry.

The highlighted works span centuries, geographic regions, and methodologies. They cover literature, history, science, medicine, environmental knowledge, philosophy, public life, and the arts. Each contributes to a deeper understanding of the past and present and to preparing students to think carefully, communicate clearly, and engage responsibly in a complex world.

Contributing Departments & Units

This reading list was curated by faculty and staff from the following departments and units: English; American & Cultural Studies; History; Philosophy & Religious Studies; Visual Arts; Theatre & Dance; Social Work; Sociology; Human Development & Family Science; Modern & Classical Languages (Classics); Botany; Zoology & Physiology; Veterinary Sciences; Civil Engineering; College of Business; School of Politics, Public Affairs & International Studies; UW Libraries; Academic Affairs; UW Science Communication Initiative (WySCI); Public Humanities; Agricultural Extension; Research & Economic Development

Selected Titles from the Collection

Literature, Poetry, & Creative Writing

  • β€” Dionne Brand
  • β€” Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
  • β€” Terry McMillan
  • β€” Terry McMillan
  • β€” Ralph Ellison
  • β€” HonorΓ©e Fanonne Jeffers
  • β€” HonorΓ©e Fanonne Jeffers
  • β€” Saeed Jones
  • β€” edited by Kwame Alexander
  • β€” Saeed Jones (creator), Maggie Smith (author)
  • β€” Brandon Taylor
  • β€” Sharon Dodua Otoo
  • β€” Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
  • β€” Marie Benedict
  • β€” Faith Ringgold
  • β€” James Baldwin
  • β€” Terry McMillan
  •   β€” Melina Mangal 

History & Historical Perspectives

  • β€” Sarah Haley
  • β€” Tiya Miles 
  • β€” Henry O. Flipper
  • β€” George Jackson
  • β€” Catherine Morris (editor)
  • β€” John Lewis and Andrew Aydin 
  • β€” Tracey Owens Patton
  • β€” Esteban Montejo; Edited by Miguel Barnet 
  • β€”  May Ayim, Katharina Oguntoye, and Dagmar Schultz (editors)
  • (eBook) β€” W.E.B. Du Bois
  • β€” James Baldwin
  • β€” Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross
  • β€” Laurent Dubois 
  • β€” Mary Prince
  • β€” Andrew Sluyter
  • β€” David Austin
  • (eBook) β€” Orisanmi Burton

Critical Theory

  • β€” Patricia Hill Collins
  • β€” Charles W. Mills 
  • β€” Stefano Harney & Fred Moten
  • β€” Margo Natalie Crawford & C. Riley Snorton (editors)
  • β€” George Yancy
  • β€” E. Patrick Johnson

Politics, Law, & Public Life

  • β€” Michelle Alexander
  • β€” CR10 Publications Collective.
  • β€” Angela Y. Davis
  • β€” Angela Y. Davis
  • β€” Nikhil Pal Singh
  • β€” Keeanga-Ymahtta Taylor
  • β€” Sara Lennox (editor)
  • β€” bell hooks
  • β€” Tressie McMillan and William Darity (editors)
  • β€” CherrΓ­e Moraga and Gloria AnzaldΓΊa

Philosophy, Religion, & Ethical Thought

  • β€” Carol W. White
  • β€” James P. Hanigan
  • β€” Howard Thurman
  • β€” bell hooks

CuLTURAL Studies

  • β€” bell hooks
  • β€” Krista Thompson
  • β€” Brenda Dixon Gottschild
  • (Journal) β€” Thomas F. DeFrantz, Tara Aisha Willis
  • (eBook) β€” Marcus Moore
  • β€” Michael K. Johnson
  • β€” Katherine McKittrick
  • β€” Samantha Dawn Schalk
  • β€” Saidiya Hartman

PERFORMANCE & VIsual Art

  • β€” Faith Ringgold
  • β€” Anne Monahan
  • β€” dele jegede
  • β€” Bridget R. Cooks
  • β€” Carrie Mae Weems (artist), Sarah Elizabeth Lews and Adrienne Edwards (writers of added text)
  • β€” Charles Gaines
  • β€” Trenton Doyl Hancock (artist), Denise Markonish (editor/curator)
  • β€” Nick Cave (artist), Andrew Bolton, Elivra Dyangani Ose and Nato Thompson (contributors)
  • β€” Adrian Piper (artist), Begum Yasar (editor)
  • β€” Adrian Piper
  • β€” Betye Saar (author/artist), Sara Cochran (curator/interviewer)
  • β€” Mickalene Thomas
  • β€” Kehinde Wiley, Thelma Golden
  • β€” Rashid Johnson, Kate Fowle
  • β€” Wangechi Mutu (artist/interviewee), Trevor Schoonmaker (editor/interviewer)
  • β€” Alan Nadel
  • β€” August Wilson
  • β€” August Wilson
  • (eBook) β€” Thomas DeFrantz
  • β€” Senga Nengudi

Film

Architecture & the Built Environment

  • (Journal) β€” Matthew Jordan-Miller Kenyatta
  • (eBook) β€” Marcus Anthony Hunter
  • β€” Rashad, Shabazz
  • β€” John Michael Vlach
  • β€” John Michael Vlach
  • (eBook) β€” Irene Cheng, Charles L. Davis, Mabel Wilson (editors)

Science, Medicine, & Environmental Knowledge

  • β€” Rebecca Skloot
  • (contributor note: specifically the chapter on Rebecca Lee Crumpler) β€” Susan Wells 
  • β€” Damon Tweedy
  • β€” Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
  • β€” Stephon Alexander
  • β€” Wini Warren
  • β€” Margot Lee Shetterly
  • β€” Dava Sobel
  • β€” Roda Ahmed
  • β€” Julia Finley Mosca
  • (eBook) - Nicole Joseph (editor)
  • (Audiobook) β€” Camille Dungy
  • β€” Camille Dungy
  • (Digital Magazine Article) β€” Michael Scott van Wagenen
  • β€” Stephen Jay Gould
  • β€” Carolyn Finney

Family, Childhood, and Community Life

  • β€”  Yvette R. Harris, James A. Graham
  • β€” Kori A. Graves
  • β€” Marian Wright Edelman, Achebe Toldson

Classics and Early Texts

  • (Terence) (eBook) 
  • β€” Thomas Heffernan
  • β€”  Terence