Barack Obama Shares His Recommended Reading For Black History Month

In honor of Black History Month, former President Barack Obama shared some suggestions for nonfiction reading on racism in America and the nation’s efforts to grapple with it.

The books, letters and articles Obama shared were meant to provide “some essential context about the challenges that many people of color face every day,” he wrote on Facebook.

“From modern memoirs to cornerstones of the American narrative, these works can help us better understand our country’s past and our evolving, persistent struggles with race,” Obama wrote. “And they can be fuel on our journey toward a more fair and just future for all of our sons and daughters. They certainly are for me.” 

James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time and Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy were included on the list, as well as Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”