Happy Juneteenth!

Elisabeth Scott

Reference and Social Media Librarian

Americans have been celebrating Juneteenth since 1865; we rang in a new era when it became an official federal holiday in 2021. MLC's 2022 Stacks and Stories podcast episode celebrating the occasion touches on the history of Juneteenth National Independence Day, Mississippi's homegrown Freedom Day (the Eighth of May), and events in Mississippi for Juneteenth. But that was last year. This year we're focusing on Juneteenth as an opportunity to learn and to educate. We've put together a list of books that focus on Black history (including Juneteenth, of course) and the Black experience, many of them from a uniquely Mississippi angle. Get your TBR ready for a slew of great reads!

• Mississippi Zion: The Struggle for Liberation in Attala County, 1865-1915
  Evan Howard Ashford
• Lakewood
  Amanda Giddings
  
• On Juneteenth
  (BARD: DB103364)
  Annette Gordon-Reed
  
• Man on a Mission: James Meredith and the Battle of Ole Miss
  Aram Goudsouzian, author, and Bill Murray, illustrator
  
• Long Division
  Kiese Laymon
• Wash Day Diaries
  Jamila Rowser, author, and Robyn Smith, illustrator
  
• Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother's Wisdom
  Alysia Burton Steele
• The Color Purple
  (BARD: DB058842)
  Alice Walker
  
• Sing, Unburied, Sing
  (BARD: DB089552)
  Jesmyn Ward
  
• Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement
  Monica M. White
  

• The Undefeated
  Kwame Alexander, author, and Kadir Nelson, illustrator
• Soul Food Sunday
  (BARD: DB106702)
  Winsome Bingham, author, and C.G. Esperanza, illustrator
  
• Juneteenth for Mazie
  (BARD: DB105650)
  Floyd Cooper, author and illustrator
• Liberty's Civil Rights Road Trip
  Michael W. Waters, author, and Nicole Tadgell, illustrator
  
• The  Talk
  (BARD: DB111925)
  Alicia Williams, author, and Briana Mukodiri Uchendu, illustrator
  
• Your Legacy: A Bold Reclaiming of Our Enslaved History
  (BARD: DB107069)
  Schele Williams, author, and Tonya Engel, illustrator
  

• A Child's Introduction to African-American History: The Experience, People, and Events that Shaped Our Country
  Jabari Asim, author, and Lynn Gaines, illustrator
• Swim Team
  Johnnie Christmas, author and illustrator
  
• Lifting As We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box
  (BARD: DB099588)
  Evette Dionne
  
• The Lucky Ones
  Linda Williams Jackson
  
• Black Heroes of the Wild West
  James Otis Smith, author and illustrator
• Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy
  Angie Thomas
  

• Black Was the Ink
  Michelle Coles, author, and Justin Johnson, illustrator
  
• Strange Fruit: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History, volumes one and two
  Joel Christian Gill, author and illustrator
• Run
  John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, authors, and L. Fury and Nate Powell, illustrators
  
• Revolution in Our Times: The Black Panther Party's Promise to the People
  (BARD: DB106013)
  Kekla Magoon
  
• Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America
  (BARD: DB094320)
  Ibi Zoboi, editor
  
• Punching the Air
  (BARD: DB102501)
  Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam
  

You can check out every single one of these books from MLC's location in Jackson; please remember that MLC's collection is intended for use by those 18 and older. Many are also available at your local public library and, if not physically there, through their interlibrary loan service. Check statewide availability here. Don't forget: this list is just the tip of the iceberg. There are innumerable, outstanding books on these topics, so don't hesitate to explore the shelves at your hometown library. You can also check out what's available on hoopla digital and other audiobook and eBook services available to you through your library. Happy reading!