Juneteenth Reading List 2025

Last year I created a reading list for the period between Juneteenth and Independence Day to educate myself on the history of slavery and racism and think about the value of freedom for everyone. I’ve continued that with a new list for 2025, posted early enough that you can adopt this if you’d like to join me.

Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston (1935)

This book is a collection of African American folklore and folk tales. Rather than include the stories independently from their recitation, Hurston places them within the setting of a community conversation. Readers get two levels of folklore — the telling of “old” tales and the interaction of Black people in the 1930s. The book includes an appendix of songs and music as well as recipes for Hoodoo.

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride (2013)

This imagined history places a young Black boy, nicknamed Onion, in the midst of John Brown and his followers in the years ahead of the Harper’s Ferry raid. McBride’s prose enveloped me, and I quickly raced through the pages to see what would happen to Onion and the erratic Brown. I purposely kept myself from looking up Harper’s Ferry until after I’d finished the novel, so it was enjoyable to read the facts and see how McBride had woven them in.

Yale and Slavery by David W. Blight (2024)

This history of Yale’s many connections to slavery from its founding through 1915 was prompted by the University’s initiative to shed light and truth on its past. Since I live in New Haven and work for Yale, I wanted to educate myself about the people that created this place. The book doesn’t flinch from pointing out the overt racism and complicity with slavery. I couldn’t help but see some parallels with current political forces and the choices we are all making about how we want to treat our fellow humans.