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In celebration of Black History Month we are highlighting literature that showcases the lives and experiences of Black Canadians. 

The books chosen are from writers from all walks of life including activists, artists, athletes, scientists and leaders. They write from diverse narratives and we encourage everyone to reflect on our varying experiences and what it means to be Canadian, no matter your background. 

It’s important to consider that Black people in history have often been underrepresented in published literature, and therefore their voices have often been silenced. 

The stories from our booklist are told through historical accounts, memoirs and literature. By reading more about race and history in Canada we can better understand racial inequality and the power structures present in our society. Black History Month is also about reading and celebrating the achievements and experiences of Black Canadians who came before us. 

Find the titles from our selection online or visit our display on the main floor of the library. 

• African Canadians in Union blue: enlisting for the cause in the Civil War by Richard M Reid
• Black women who dared by Naomi M Moyer‎
• Blackness and modernity: the colour of humanity and the quest for freedom by Cecil Foster
• Blues and bliss: the poetry of George Elliott Clarke by George Elliott Clarke‎, Jon Paul Fiorentino‎
• Desire change: contemporary feminist art in Canada by Heather M Davis (Heather Margaret),‎
• Directions home: approaches to African-Canadian literature by George Elliott Clarke‎

• Earth magic: poems by Dionne Brand and Eugenie Fernandes
• Eyeing the north star: directions in African-Canadian literature by George Elliott Clarke‎
• Fierce departures: the poetry of Dionne Brand by Dionne Brand, Leslie Catherine Sanders
• George & Rue by George Elliott Clarke‎
• Go do some great thing: the Black pioneers of British Columbia by Crawford Kilian
• Halifax champion: black power in gloves by Robert Ashe‎

• Illuminated verses by George Elliott Clarke‎, Ricardo Scipio
• In the black: my life by B Denham Jolly‎
• Journey to Justice by National Film Board of Canada.‎
• Leading the way: Black women in Canada by Rosemary Sadlier‎
• Meet Viola Desmond by Elizabeth MacLeod‎, Mike Deas
• Odysseys home: mapping African-Canadian literature by George Elliott Clarke‎

• Ossuaries by Dionne Brand
• Portia White: a portrait in words by George Elliott Clarke‎, Lara Martina
• Running risks by Angella Issajenko‎, Martin O’Malley‎, Karen O’Reilly
• Shadow running: Ray Lewis, Canadian railway porter & Olympic athlete by Ray Lewis‎, John Cooper
• Sisters or strangers?: immigrant, ethnic and racialized women in Canadian history by Franca Iacovetta‎, Marlene Epp
• The black battalion: 1916-1920 : Canada’s best kept military secret by Calvin W Ruck (Calvin Woodrow)

• The black Prairie archives: an anthology by Karina Vernon
• The blue clerk: ars poetica in 59 versos by Dionne Brand
• The hanging of Angélique: the untold story of Canadian slavery and the burning of old Montréal by Afua Cooper‎
• The promised land: history and historiography of the Black experience in Chatham-Kent’s settlements and beyond
• The Right Candidate for Rosedale by National Film Board of Canada.‎
• The skin we’re in: a year of black resistance and power by Desmond Cole

• Trailblazers: the Black pioneers who have shaped Canada by Tiyahna Ridley-Padmore‎, Merryl-Royce Ndema-Moussa‎
• Uncle Tom’s Journey from Maryland to Canada: the Life of Josiah Henson by Edna M Troiano‎
• Viola Desmond : her life and times by Graham Reynolds‎, Wanda Robson,‎
• We’re rooted here and they can’t pull us up: Essays in African Canadian Women’s History by Linda Carty‎, Afua Cooper‎, Sylvia Hamilton‎, Adrienne Shadd‎, Peggy Bristow‎
• What we all long for: a novel by Dionne Brand