NEWS

Multiple PRH Titles on Essence’s 50 Most Impactful Black Books of the Last 50 Years

Essence magazine, celebrating its 50^th year in 2020, has chosen the 50 most impactful Black books of the last 50 years. Joi-Marie McKenzie writes, “A good book ensures that one’s story is never erased … these titles have captivated and moved us, searing themselves into memory with their fierce truth-telling and leaving us so much richer than before. From first-person narratives that tell a singular story to inspirational picture books for your little ones, these 50 books celebrate the full humanity of Blackness.”

Here are the books on the Essence list published by Penguin Random House imprints:

• AND STILL I RISE by Maya Angelou (Random House)
• FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF by Ntozake Shange (Bantam)
• THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot (Crown)
• BLACK MACHO AND THE MYTH OF THE SUPERWOMAN by Michele Wallace (The Dial Press)
• BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME by Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World)
• WHITE TEETH by Zadie Smith (Random House)
• DREAMS FROM MY FATHER by Barack Obama (Crown)
• BECOMING by Michelle Obama (Crown)
• SONG OF SOLOMON by Toni Morrison (Vintage)
• ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY by Mildred D. Taylor (Puffin)
• WAITING TO EXHALE by Terry McMillan (Berkley)
• BELOVED by Toni Morrison (Knopf)
• SISTER, SISTER by Eric Jerome Dickey (Dutton)
• HOMEGOING by Yaa Gyasi (Knopf/Vintage)
• BROWN GIRL DREAMING by Jacqueline Woodson (Nancy Paulsen Books)
• THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday/Anchor)
• HAIR LOVE by Matthew A. Cherry and illustrated by Vashti Harrison (Kokila)
• TAR BEACH by Faith Ringgold  (Alfred A. Knopf BFYR)
• THE PEOPLE COULD FLY: AMERICAN BLACK FOLKTALES by Virginia Hamilton (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
• IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK by James Baldwin (Vintage)
• THE COLOR PURPLE by Alice Walker (Penguin Books)

To view Essence’s complete 50 Most Impactful Black Books of the Last 50 Years list, click here.