Here at Onyx Oasis Bookstore, every month is a month to be Black and proud. Proud of our roots, culture, and resilience. We celebrate this through the books we showcase in our store and the community we're building both online and in Maricopa, Arizona. Here's a shortlist of books to read during Black History Month and beyond. These books illustrate the Black love they try to tell us doesn't' exist, the Black arts they try to erase, the Black history and the connection we have to a past that they try to tell us wasn't that bad and so much more. Above all, these books are an act of resistance in a country that has wanted our labor but never our humanity. All books are available either on our website, at Libro.fm for audiobooks, or Bookshop.org. See the books and our owner's thoughts below.
Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray
This book taught me that I actually didn’t know a lot about the Harlem Renaissance. The book was full of scandal but also tells a story about what it was like to live in Harlem during one of the most influential periods for Black arts and literature. Not only that, but it introduces readers to Jessie Redmon Fauset. She’s arguably one of the most influential people in Black literature during that time that many people have never heard of.
What if your sole purpose was to hold on to the memories of your ancestors? What if those ancestors were the pregnant women kidnapped from Africa who jumped off slave ships? The pain you would be forced to hold onto so that no one else had to. This book reminded me of the trauma that can be passed down through generations of Black people.
“A book about reclaiming your identities and the memories of the past in order to survive and become who you’ve been called to be.”
When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
I will always recommend this book to thriller lovers. Alyssa Cole knows how to write a book! Not only is it an interesting thriller about gentrification, but I also learned a lot about the history of redlining and its impact on Black communities.
Loved By You by Alexandrea Lechelle
Because I was so young when Hurricane Katrina hit, I knew that it was bad but I didn’t understand the sheer devastation that it caused for Black communities. While that’s a subplot of this book, Loved By You also tells a beautiful story about love, redemption, grief, and mental health. I recommend this book for all romance lovers.
Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson
This historical fiction book is on my TBR for the month.
“Toggling between the lives of three individuals, Keeper of Lost Children explores how one woman’s vision will change the course of countless lives, and demonstrates that love in its myriad of forms—familial, parental, and forbidden, even love of self—can be transcendent.”
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