Commemorating Juneteenth 2024 with books
![James Percival Everett, The Chiffon "Trenches: A Memoir" by André Leon Talley, "King: A Life" by Jonathan Eig, "Be Free or Die" by Cate Lineberry, and "CROWNED" by Kahran Bethencourt, Regis Bethencourt.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/d1ysvut1l4lkly.cloudfront.net/B0D7H3T4CX/9/image-0-0.jpg)
Juneteenth commemorates the day—June 19, 1865—that Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to let the last of the enslaved US citizens know that they were now free. It took a long time for it to be made a federal holiday, though it was celebrated by Black Americans for decades. Dr. Henry Louis Gates (The Black Church, Stony the Road) has said, “Our people have been hungry for holidays, hungry for tradition, hungry for stories about our past…[because]…without a past, you have no future.” This Juneteenth, we hope you will consider the books below, which explore the past while celebrating the possibilities of the present and the future.
With the same fiery wit, snap, and energy of his previous work, Percival Everett’s James—the Amazon Editors’ pick for Best Book of 2024 So Far—brings to life a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as told from the perspective of Jim. When he is threatened to be sold off and separated from his wife and daughter, Jim decides to run away to buy time while he hatches a plan. Everett brilliantly unwinds this adventure, revealing with glee savvy code-switching Jim and his penchant for philosophy, literature, and justice. Based on a classic, Everett has made an entirely new classic, one that is rip-roaringly American, funny, and hard-hitting. —Al Woodworth, Amazon editor
Reading (or listening to) The Chiffon Trenches feels like the late André Leon Talley is sitting beside you, telling stories from his life while you hang on his every word. Talley doesn't hold back—he tells you who said what, who did what, and to whom. It's a delicious insider look at the fashion industry, at the heyday of the Studio 54 years and beyond, and at his very personal and unique experience as a young black man from the South who became a style icon. —Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor
I read Paul Kix’s You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live in a day and two days later, I read Jonathan Eig’s King: A Life. I couldn’t put either of these Martin Luther King Jr. books down and I highly, highly recommend reading these books together. Eig’s biography is a monumental and exceptional work of writing and research, which reveals the gutting hardships and heroics of a man who changed the world. Incorporating never-before-released FBI documents, interviews, and primary sources, Eig divulges the man behind the legend and the nefarious activities of the FBI that tried to bring the civil rights leader down. It’s not very often that a 700-plus page book can be read in two days and be genuinely called “unputdownable,” but I’m here to tell you: Eig has done exactly that. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
The story of Robert Smalls, an illiterate slave, who, with his wife and two children alongside him, commandeered a Confederate steamer in Charleston, successfully steered it through a locked down harbor to Union forces nearby, and handed it—and its cargo of guns—off to astonished Union officers, is one of those stories that makes you wonder why this courageous man is not more revered and celebrated. Because that wasn’t all he accomplished. Smalls went on to become a five-term member of the House of Representatives, and was so successful that he eventually bought the home in which he and his mother had once worked as slaves. His is a story that deserves to be read by a much wider audience. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor
While Agostini grew up celebrating Juneteenth, she also knew that its historical significance was not yet widely recognized. With her bright, lovely, picture book, The Juneteenth Story, Agostini aims to change that. She starts with the familiar story of America becoming free from British rule, but adds to this the important caveat that while America was free, the slaves who built it were not, and wouldn’t be for another 89 years. Agostini follows a timeline that includes the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Jim Crow laws, and the Texas Juneteenth festivals that got bigger every year, spreading the joy and awareness, culminating in the events of the last two years that led to the national recognition of Juneteenth. —Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor
Ages 6 to 9
Ages 6 to 9
Opal Lee is a native Texan, and growing up she learned about Juneteenth from her grandfather. But what she heard about freedom and equality, didn’t match up to the racial violence that was still occurring in her town, to her family, and to Black people across the country. Lee became an activist and a leader, fighting to bring Juneteenth to the national stage so that all Americans would know its history, and come together in service to its promise of not just freedom, but of equality. Bobo’s illustrations are the perfect complement to this children’s book biography of a tireless trailblazer who deserves to be recognized for her vital contribution. —Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor
Ages 4 to 8
Ages 4 to 8
Kahran and Regis Bethencourt, the husband-and-wife duo behind CreativeSoul Photography, created GLORY: Magical Visions of Black Beauty —a gorgeous coffee table book—to “shatter the conventional standards of beauty” for young Black children. In the introduction they write, “With our pictures we wanted to tell the story of a people who for centuries were artists and artisans, strategists and intellectuals, warlords and warriors, kings and queens.” The follow up, CROWNED: Magical Folk and Fairy Tales from the Diaspora, consists of stunning photos, accompanied by inspiring text, and the result is another book that celebrates the beauty of Black children. Childhood fairytales (The Little Mermaid) and folktales (The Poisoned Apple) are reimagined so that Black children can see themselves in their favorite stories. Give these beautiful books to every child you know. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor
This gorgeous book celebrates Black joy, as inspired by W.E.B. Du Bois’ original Brownies’ Book magazine (notable for many reasons, but especially for first publishing Langston Hughes). This updated version is packed with stunning art, essays, photography, and poetry—and perfect to read with your entire family. “I hope this book becomes a fixture in the homes of every Black family—on your coffee tables, and on your bookshelves,” writes Charly Palmer in the love letter that opens the book. The luminous words and images will resonate long after you’ve closed the book’s last page, making this an endearing keepsake to read again and again. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
Thomas Smallwood is one of the most important figures in American history who you have probably never heard of. Ten years before abolitionist Harriet Tubman earned renown, Smallwood—formerly enslaved for 30 years, a father and husband, a self-taught scholar—first launched a “breathtakingly audacious” enterprise to shuttle enslaved people to freedom. Smallwood was a “clever David triumphing again and again over the Goliath of the slave power.” During these breathtakingly daring ventures where he risked his life again and again, Smallwood also publicly mocked and taunted slave owners and human traffickers, even by naming his route the “Underground Railroad.” Scott Shane’s narrative account is visceral, a stunning feat of historical storytelling as you’re transported into the terrifying life of an enslaved person in 1800s Baltimore. But Smallwood is brilliant and brave, and his bold, live-saving actions will deeply impact—and inspire—you, which is why I can’t stop thinking about this book. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
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