Indieland celebrates Black voices all year long, but Black History Month gives us a chance to spotlight a trio of recent favorite titles about African American lives. One work chronicles the achievements of influential Black women who shaped the course of American history; a collection of photographs shows the toppling of a racist legacy one statue at a time; and a book of portraits beautifully depicts the maternal bond and is a “tribute to the common spirit of all mothers.”
Trailblazers: Black Women Who Helped Make America Great by Gabrielle David is the first of a must-have six-volume series about influential Black women. Our reviewer notes, “Backed by impressive endnotes and references, each chapter is encyclopedic in breadth while offering fresh analytical insights into Black women who are well covered in the existing literature, like Rosa Parks.” This 700-page compendium catalogs Black women’s accomplishments in activism, dance, and sports and includes entries on Clara Day, Josephine Baker, Simone Biles, and many more. Dozens of powerful black-and-white photographs and portraits accompany the text.
In Unsay Their Names, author/photographer Derek Kannemeyer provides a visual record of protests in his home city of Richmond, Virginia. One striking, colorful image shows the facade of the Robert E. Lee monument “covered in inspirational art and messages that offer celebrations of Black Lives Matter and criticisms of policing.” Our reviewer calls Kannemeyer’s starred book “a stirring record of anti-racism in a Southern city.
Through My Mother’s Eyes by Melba T. Johnson and photographer Moses Mitchell blends photographs and commentary from dozens of sons and daughters to honor mothers, especially Black mothers. “These short entries appear with visually arresting, tender portraits of…matriarchs and their children; close-ups become landscapes of cheekbones and eyelashes and coruscating skin and irises.” Our reviewer says, “Johnson and Mitchell have created an ideal and affecting coffee-table book.”
Karen Schechner is the vice president of Kirkus Indie.
