Books like 'Just as I Am'
Readers who enjoyed Just as I Am by Cicely Tyson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical social-commentary poc-mc family black-mc
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Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsI couldn't play on the same playground as the white kids.I couldn't go to their schools.I couldn't drink from their water fountains.There were so many things I couldn't do. In 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, thousands of African American children volunteered to march for their civil rights after hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak...Categorized as:
social-commentary poc-mc family black-mc historical-fiction children-books historical fiction -
![The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes]()
The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOne of his best-known works, Hughes wrote The Ways of White Folks while living in Carmel, California. In it, he shares acrid and poignant stories of blacks colliding--sometimes humorously, but often tragically--with whites throughout the 1920s and 1930s... -
![In Search of Satisfaction by J. California Cooper]()
In Search of Satisfaction by J. California Cooper
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe folk flavor of her storytelling has earned her constant comparison to Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, but through four collections of short stories and two novels, J. California Cooper has proven that hers is a wholly original talent --one that embraces readers in an ever-widening circle from one book to the next... -
![Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles]()
Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTwo boys—one black, one white—are best friends in the segregated 1960s South in this picture book about friends sticking together through thick and thin.John Henry swims better than anyone I know. He crawls like a catfish, blows bubbles like a swamp monster, but he doesn’t swim in the town pool with me. He’s not allowed. Joe and John Henry are a lot alike... -
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![The Attic Child by Lola Jaye]()
The Attic Child by Lola Jaye
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA hauntingly powerful and emotionally charged novel about family secrets, love and loss, identity and belonging.Two children trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a shared secret. Early 1900s Taken from his homeland, twelve-year-old Celestine spends most of the time locked away in the attic of a large house by the sea...Categorized as:
poc-mc family social-commentary black-mc historical-fiction fiction historical mystery -
![Born a Colored Girl by Michael Edwin Q.]()
Born a Colored Girl by Michael Edwin Q.
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom the author of Pappy Moses' Peanut Plantation and A Slave's Song - Two slaves, a mother and daughter, separated during the Civil War never to see each other again. From her mother's diary, Etta Jean will learn to love the mother she never knew. And from the same diary, a mother will finally give of herself... -
![New Shoes by Susan Lynn Meyer]()
New Shoes by Susan Lynn Meyer
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsElla Mae is used to wearing her cousin's hand-me-down shoes—but when her latest pair is already too tight, she's thrilled at the chance to get new shoes.But at the shoe store, Ella Mae and her mother have to wait until there are no white customers to serve first...Categorized as:
social-commentary poc-mc family black-mc historical-fiction historical children-books fiction -
![Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan by Ashley Bryan]()
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan by Ashley Bryan
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNewbery Honor Book Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book Using original slave auction and plantation estate documents, Ashley Bryan offers a moving and powerful picture book that contrasts the monetary value of a person with the priceless value of life experiences and dreams that a slave owner could never take away...Categorized as:
black-mc family poc-mc social-commentary book children children-books cultural-identity -
![The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride]()
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe new novel from the bestselling, National Book Award-winning, Oprah Book Club-picked, Barack Obama favourite James McBride.In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well... -
![The Vanishing Woman by Doug Peterson]()
The Vanishing Woman by Doug Peterson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn 1848, Ellen Craft became invisible. Ellen, a slave from Macon, Georgia, took trains and steamboats north, but the people all around couldn t see her. They saw only a white man. Ellen Craft s mother was a slave, but her father was her master, and she had skin as white as his. So she posed as a white man, while her husband William posed as her slave... -
![Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter]()
Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIllus. in full color. "Winter's story begins with a peg-leg sailor who aids slaves on their escape on the Underground Railroad. While working for plantation owners, Peg Leg Joe teaches the slaves a song about the drinking gourd (the Big Dipper). A couple, their son, and two others make their escape by following the song's directions...Categorized as:
black-mc family poc-mc social-commentary action-adventure book children children-books -
![The Time of Our Singing by Richard Powers]()
The Time of Our Singing by Richard Powers
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Overstory, an enthralling, wrenching novel about the lives and choices of one family, caught on the cusp of identities.Jonah, Ruth and Joseph are the children of mixed-race parents determined to raise them beyond time, beyond identity, steeped in song. Yet they cannot be protected from the world forever... -
![The Upper Room by Mary Monroe]()
The Upper Room by Mary Monroe
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMama Ruby's known for taking things that aren't rightfully hers, like her best friend's stillborn infant, who she brought back to life and christened Maureen. She's also rumored to have done away with her husband. Some fear her, others try their best to avoid her. But Mama Ruby doesn't pay them any mind. Not when she's got the one gift God gave her--her precious baby girl... -
![Homecoming by Beverly Jenkins]()
Homecoming by Beverly Jenkins
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA historical holiday story of homecoming and second-chance romance by NAACP Image Award Nominee, Beverly Jenkins. In 1883, Lydia Cooper is happily traveling back home to celebrate the simple joys of the holidays when an unexpected complication appears in the all-too-distracting form of Gray Dane, the man she loved as a girl; the man she left behind... -
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![Tame the Savage Heart by Michael Edwin Q.]()
Tame the Savage Heart by Michael Edwin Q.
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the best selling author of BUT HAVE NOT LOVE and BORN A COLORED GIRL comes a love story like no other. She was a young slave girl. He was an African warrior purchased at a slave auction with the intent he would father a new breed of stronger slave. Despite all odds, a language barrier and the disapproval of her family and friends, the two fight for a life together... -
![The Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper]()
The Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA dramatic and thought-provoking novel of one family's triumph in the face of the hardships and challenges of the post-Civil War South.The Wake of the Wind , J. California Cooper's third novel, is her most penetrating look yet at the challenges that generations of African Americans have had to overcome in order to carve out a home for themselves and their families... -
![Overground Railroad by Lesa Cline-Ransome]()
Overground Railroad by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA window into a child's experience of the Great Migration from the award-winning creators of Before She Was Harriet and Finding Langston . Climbing aboard the New York bound Silver Meteor train, Ruth Ellen embarks upon a journey toward a new life up North-- one she can't begin to imagine...Categorized as:
family poc-mc black-mc historical-fiction children-books historical fiction children -
![A Sweet Smell of Roses by Angela Johnson]()
A Sweet Smell of Roses by Angela Johnson
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTwo young girls not only witness but help to change history in this inspiring and urgent Civil Rights-era picture book by three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Angela Johnson.There's a sweet, sweet smell in the air as two young girls sneak out of their house, down the street, and across town to where men and women are gathered, ready to march for freedom and justice...Categorized as:
social-commentary poc-mc family black-mc historical-fiction children-books historical fiction -
![This Is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration by Jacqueline Woodson, James E. Ransome]()
This Is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration by Jacqueline Woodson, James E. Ransome
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsJacqueline Woodson--New York TimesBestselling, National Book Award andNewbery Honor winning author--writes arich story of a family adapting to change as they hold on to the past and embrace the future. WithCoretta Scott King Award winning illustrator James Ransome.During the time of the Great Migration, millions of African American families relocated from the South, seeking better opportunities... -
![Rhythms by Donna Hill]()
Rhythms by Donna Hill
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt all began in 1927, in the small town of Rudell, Mississippi, after the sudden and tragic death of Cora Harvey's parents. She has nothing left except her burning desire to become a singer. But her dream will never come true in Rudell, especially if she marries the man she adores, Dr. David Mackey... -
![Daughters of the Dust A Novel by Julie Dash]()
Daughters of the Dust A Novel by Julie Dash
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsInspired by her Sundance Festival award-winning film "Daughters of the Dust," Julie Dash has put her cinematic vision on the page, penning a rich, magical new novel which extends her story of a family of complex, independent African-American women... -
![The Other Side of Goodness by Vanessa Davis Griggs]()
The Other Side of Goodness by Vanessa Davis Griggs
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHow far will faith and love go when an ambitious man finds himself in the fight of his life--with a woman who knows the other side of goodness all too well. . .Fifty-year-old Alabama congressman Lawrence Rudolph Simmons will do whatever it takes to get re-elected--even switch parties from Democrat to Republican... -
![Best Kept Secrets by Rochelle Alers]()
Best Kept Secrets by Rochelle Alers
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWith the tumult of the Great War finally at an end, ambitious Samuel Cole returns from Europe determined to forge his own destiny as a wealthy entrepreneur. The lush lands of the Caribbean will provide the means to wealth, but they offer private bounty as well--"a bride. Marguerite-Josefina Diaz is the toast of Havana, the convent-educated daughter of a wealthy cigar manufacturer... -
![Build a House by Rhiannon Giddens]()
Build a House by Rhiannon Giddens
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsGrammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens celebrates Black history and culture in her unflinching, uplifting, and gorgeously illustrated picture book debut. I learned your words and wrote my song. I put my story down... -
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![Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson]()
Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLindy and her doll Sally are best friends - wherever Lindy goes, Sally stays right by her side. They eat together, sleep together, and even pick cotton together. So, on the night Lindy and her mama run away in search of freedom, Sally goes too. This young girl's rag doll vividly narrates her enslaved family's courageous escape through the Underground Railroad...Categorized as:
black-mc family poc-mc social-commentary action-adventure book children children-books -
![Blues Dancing by Diane McKinney-Whetstone]()
Blues Dancing by Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsVerdi and Rowe have been living a comfortable existence for the past twenty years... -
![Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold]()
Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIllus. in full color. Cassie, who flew above New York in Tar Beach, soars into the sky once more. This time, she and her brother Be Be meet a train full of people, and Be Be joins them. But the train departs before Cassie can climb aboard...Categorized as:
black-mc family poc-mc social-commentary action-adventure book children children-books -
![That Is My Dream! by Langston Hughes]()
That Is My Dream! by Langston Hughes
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"Dream Variation," one of Langston Hughes's poems about the dream of a world free of discrimination and racial prejudice is now a picture book.To fling my arms wideIn some place of the sun, To whirl and to danceTill the white day is done.... Follow one African-American boy through the course of his day as the harsh reality of segregation and racial prejudice comes into vivid focus...Categorized as:
social-commentary poc-mc family black-mc children-books historical-fiction fiction historical -
![Big Papa and the Time Machine by Daniel Bernstrom]()
Big Papa and the Time Machine by Daniel Bernstrom
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDiscover the true meaning of being brave in this tender and whimsical picture book from Daniel Bernstrom (One Day in the Eucalytus, Eucalyptus Tree) and Shane Evans (Chocolate Me!) that follows a grandfather and grandson who travel through time in a beloved 1952 Ford.A little boy who lives with his grandpa isn’t reprimanded for being afraid to go to school one day...Categorized as:
black-mc family poc-mc social-commentary action-adventure book children children-books -
![Love In the Jim Crow South: BWWM Romance Novel for Adults by Kendra Queen]()
Love In the Jim Crow South: BWWM Romance Novel for Adults by Kendra Queen
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWould you sleep with the enemy? In 1920’s Louisiana, love is a dangerous game.Even talking to a white man could get Eva LaLaurie killed. But Renard, the richest man in town, has always been a rebel. And he has his eye on her. He wants to dominate her...claim her...possess her. She’s going to risk it all for love- and he better do the same. But in Klan Country nothing’s ever just black and white. -
![Blackberries, Blackberries by Crystal Wilkinson, Nikky Finney]()
Blackberries, Blackberries by Crystal Wilkinson, Nikky Finney
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAs the title implies, this beautifully written collection bursts with stories reminiscent of blackberries-–-small, succulent morsels that are inviting and sweet, yet sometimes bitter...Categorized as:
poc-mc social-commentary family black-mc fiction literary-fiction poc-author realistic -
![Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom by Shane W. Evans]()
Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom by Shane W. Evans
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA family silently crawls along the ground. They run barefoot through unlit woods, sleep beneath bushes, take shelter in a kind stranger's home. Where are they heading? They are heading for Freedom by way of the Underground Railroad."A stellar introduction to the Underground Railroad, narrated by a group of slaves...Categorized as:
social-commentary poc-mc family black-mc historical-fiction children-books historical fiction -
![The Filling Station by Vanessa Miller]()
The Filling Station by Vanessa Miller
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTwo sisters. One unassuming haven. Endless opportunities for grace.During Jim Crow America, there was only one place Black Americans could safely refuel their vehicles along what would eventually become iconic Route 66. But more than just a place to refuel, it was a place to fill up the soul, build community, and find strength...Categorized as:
poc-mc family social-commentary black-mc historical-fiction audiobook christian fiction -
![Thicker Than Water by Michael Edwin Q.]()
Thicker Than Water by Michael Edwin Q.
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen her aunt who raised her dies, sixteen-year-old Alana goes to live with her uncle on another plantation, the plantation her deceased parents lived on. After months of inquiries, she questions if they're really dead. She sets off to discover the past...her past... -
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![Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris]()
Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe old South lives on at the MacGregor Plantation--in the breeze, in the cotton fields...and in the crack of the whip. It's an antebellum fever-dream, where fear and desire entwine in the looming shadow of the Master's House... -
![Zeal by Morgan Jerkins]()
Zeal by Morgan Jerkins
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing and Caul Baby returns with an epic, multi-generational novel that illuminates the legacy of slavery and the power of romantic love.Harlem, 2019. Ardelia and Oliver are hosting their engagement party. As the guests get ready to leave, he hands her a love letter on a yellowing, crumbling piece of paper . . .Natchez, 1865...Categorized as:
poc-mc family black-mc romance historical-fiction fiction historical literary-fiction -
![Magic City by Jewell Parker Rhodes]()
Magic City by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTulsa, Oklahoma, 1921. A white woman and a black man are alone in an elevator. Suddenly, the woman screams, the man runs out, and the chase to capture and lynch him begins.When Joe, a young man trying to be the next Houdini, is accused of rape, he must perform his greatest escape by eluding a bloodthirsty lynch mob... -
![Nobody's Family Is Going To Change by Louise Fitzhugh]()
Nobody's Family Is Going To Change by Louise Fitzhugh
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhat can you do if your parents simply refuse to listen to, let alone accept, your hopes and aspirations? Fat, intelligent Emma and her talented brother, Willie, brave parental disapproval to try to achieve their dreams and maintain their integrity. Emma is determined to become a lawyer like her father, while Willie thinks of nothing but dancing... -
![Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster]()
Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen the discovery of a schoolmate's lynched body puts her own life in jeopardy, Alena is sent by her parents from her beloved Mississippi home. With thousands of other African-Americans, Alena begins making her way north to the Promised Land of turn-of-the-century Chicago... -
![Jazz Moon by Joe Okonkwo]()
Jazz Moon by Joe Okonkwo
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn a lyrical, captivating debut set against the backdrop of the Harlem Renaissance and glittering Jazz Age Paris, Joe Okonkwo creates an evocative story of emotional and artistic awakening.On a sweltering summer night in 1925, beauties in beaded dresses mingle with hepcats in dapper suits on the streets of Harlem. The air is thick with reefer smoke, and jazz pours out of speakeasy doorways... -
![But Have Not Love by Michael Edwin Q.]()
But Have Not Love by Michael Edwin Q.
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom the author of BORN A COLORED GIRL and PAPPY MOSES’ PEANUT PLANTATION – By a twist of fate, a runaway slave girl and a wounded Confederate officer are thrown together, and must rely on each other to survive... -
![All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson]()
All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsExperience the joy of Juneteenth in this celebration of freedom from the award-winning team of Angela Johnson and E.B. Lewis.Through the eyes of one little girl, All Different Now tells the story of the first Juneteenth, the day freedom finally came to the last of the slaves in the South...Categorized as:
family poc-mc social-commentary black-mc historical-fiction children-books historical fiction -
![Big Girl by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan]()
Big Girl by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn her highly anticipated debut novel, Mecca Jamilah Sullivan explores the perils―and undeniable beauty―of insatiable longing.Growing up in a rapidly changing Harlem, eight-year-old Malaya hates when her mother drags her to Weight Watchers meetings; she’d rather paint alone in her bedroom or enjoy forbidden street foods with her father...Categorized as:
poc-mc family social-commentary black-mc fiction historical-fiction literary-fiction lgbtq -
![Flame Tree Road by Shona Patel]()
Flame Tree Road by Shona Patel
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom the acclaimed author of Teatime for the Firefly comes the story of a man with dreams of changing the world, who finds himself changed by love 1870s India. In a tiny village where society is ruled by a caste system and women are defined solely by marriage, young Biren Roy dreams of forging a new destiny... -
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![This Other Eden by Paul Harding]()
This Other Eden by Paul Harding
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA novel inspired by the true story of the once racially integrated Malaga Island off the coast of Maine, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Tinkers.In 1792, formerly enslaved Benjamin Honey and his Irish wife, Patience, discovered an island where they could make a life together... -
![Unforgivable Love by Sophfronia Scott]()
Unforgivable Love by Sophfronia Scott
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn this vivid re-imagining of the French classic Les Liaisons Dangereuses, it’s the summer when Jackie Robinson breaks Major League Baseball’s color barrier and a sweltering stretch has Harlem’s elite fleeing the city for Westchester County’s breezier climes. But there two predators stalking amidst the manicured gardens and fine old homes...Categorized as:
social-commentary black-mc poc-mc romance historical-fiction fiction retellings historical -
![The Unknown Errors of Our Lives by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni]()
The Unknown Errors of Our Lives by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA collection of moving stories about family, culture, and the seduction of memory. The tales of journeys and returns, of error, of loss and recovery, all resound with Divakaruni's unique understanding of the human spirit.From acclaimed and beloved author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni comes a new collection of moving stories about family, culture, and the seduction of memory... -
![Taking Liberty: The Story of Oney Judge, George Washington's Runaway Slave by Ann Rinaldi]()
Taking Liberty: The Story of Oney Judge, George Washington's Runaway Slave by Ann Rinaldi
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Story of Oney Judge, George Washington's Runaway...Categorized as:
family black-mc poc-mc historical-fiction young-adult historical fiction middle-grade -
![Every Woman's Dream (Lonely Heart, Deadly Heart) by Mary Monroe]()
Every Woman's Dream (Lonely Heart, Deadly Heart) by Mary Monroe
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author Mary Monroe comes a seductive, shocking tale of two unhappy women fulfilling their every erotic dream--and finding a desire that kills… He's successful, kind, and sensitive--the type of man every woman wants. And truck driver Calvin Ramsey just loves women--especially the lonely, unappreciated ones he meets online, like Lola Poole... -
![The Two Lives of Sara by Catherine Adel West]()
The Two Lives of Sara by Catherine Adel West
Rated: 3.81 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA young mother finds refuge and friendship at a boardinghouse in 1960s Memphis, Tennessee, where family encompasses more than just blood and hidden truths can bury you or set you free.Sara King has nothing, save for her secrets and the baby in her belly, as she boards the bus to Memphis, hoping to outrun her past in Chicago...Categorized as:
poc-mc family social-commentary black-mc romance historical-fiction fiction audiobook
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