What are LitBits?Given today’s heated conversation about race relations in America, audiences (young and old) are clamoring for speakers who can provide insight into the incredible advancements of civil rights pioneers, what it means to be black in America today, how it’s impacting who we are as a nation, and what we can expect in the coming years.
In preparation for what will certainly be an emotionally charged African-American History Month (February 2017), consider these important author/speaker contributors to the black history conversation:
Dana Johnson
Elsewhere, California
Avery Arlington is an African American aspiring artist married to a rich, white lawyer and living in Los Angeles — a life that contrasts sharply with her poor inner-city upbringing. Elsewhere, California is the debut novel about a woman in identity crisis told in interweaving segments from her 1960-70s childhood and adult lives. It’s a story that highlights how culture and prejudices in youth and adulthood help form — or deteriorate — a person’s sense of self.
Andrew Maraniss
Strong Inside
The untold biography of Perry Wallace, the first African-American college basketball player in the Eastern Conference, Strong Inside (NYT bestseller and winner of multiple awards) recounts the life and challenges of a civil rights pioneer in college sports in the mid-60s.
Natashia Deón
Grace
Having grown up on a plantation that breeds and sells slaves like cattle, 15-year-old Naomi escapes a life of violence and rape on the plantation but struggles to elude her past. Grace describes, in vivid detail, the lives of black southern women in the years preceding the Civil War. It’s a poignant reminder of a tragic part of American history and the strides we’ve made to overcome it.
John Lewis
March Book Three
The acclaimed graphic novel trilogy MARCH by Georgia Congressman, John Lewis, recounts the civil rights movement of the 1960s in a spectacular visual format — perfect for readers of all ages. In fact, New York City schools will soon begin using the MARCH series to educate middle-schoolers.
Yona Zeldis McDonough
What Was the Underground Railroad?
Designed specifically for use in classrooms and libraries,What Was the Underground Railroad? includes real stories, a 16-page photo insert, and 80 black and white illustrations to help young readers contextualize the harrowing journeys and sacrifices made in the pursuit of freedom.
Leonard Pitts
Grant Park
A suspenseful story of a seasoned journalist who, infuriated by the death of another unarmed black man at the hands of police, writes a scathing article condemning racism and white apathy before being abducted by white supremacist terrorists, Grant Park is a novel that takes an unfiltered and unforgiving look at contemporary race relations in the US.
Related Books and Authors
 Hillary Jordan  Mudbound |  Marja Mills  The Mockingbird Next Door |  Ellen Urbani  Landfall |  Kathleen Grissom  Glory Over Everything |
 Khalil Gibran Muhammad  The Condemnation of Blackness |
