Black History Lewisham 365 reading recommendations
Black History Lewisham 365 honours the culture, legacies and achievements of Black African and Caribbean people in the borough and beyond all year round. As the weather gets chillier, there are few better things than curling up with a great book.
If you are looking for something new to read, there are plenty of fantastic books out there by Black authors. We asked some Lewisham councillors to recommend their favourites and hope one or two will make it onto your reading list!
Cllr Brenda Dacres, Deputy Mayor, recommends:
Zenzele: A Letter For My Daughter by J. Nozipo Maraire
Written as an extended letter from a black Zimbabwean mother to her daughter leaving for university in America, this poignant novel uses the lyrical African tradition of dialogue through storytelling to reveal life in Africa today. Zenzele paints a portrait of the inner struggles of a women through Zimbabwe’s fight for independence and defining herself as a woman and mother.
In this updated edition of his acclaimed study of the Black presence in Britain during the First World War, Stephen Bourne helps bring to light the fascinating stories of Black servicemen of African heritage. Bourne draws on personal wartime correspondence of the Jamaican siblings Vera, Norman and Douglas Manley and charts the Black community’s experience from the outbreak of war in 1914 to the aftermath in 1919 where they were faced with anti-Black ‘race riots’ despite their dedicated services to their country at home and abroad.
Michelle Obama: Quotes to Live By by Carlton Books
A life-affirming collection of inspiring quotes from one of the world's best-loved public figures and most inspirational Black women. As First Lady of the United States, she used her platform to disseminate her strongly held beliefs and this book serves to cement her place as one of the strongest voices on the global stage today.
Cllr Kim Powell recommends:
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Considered the finest novel written about life in Nigeria at the end of the nineteenth century, Things Fall Apart is the world’s most widely-read African novel about the African experience. It is the first of three novels in Achebe’s African Trilogy, a classic narrative about Africa’s cataclysmic encounter with Europe and is told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a fearless Igbo warrior as he and his community struggle against and capitulate to the colonial presence on the continent.
Miguel Street by V. S Naipaul
Miguel Street is set in a derelict corner of Port of Spain, Trinidad, during World War Two. Our narrator is an unnamed neighbourhood boy who observes a colourful collection of characters, the lives and legends who make up Miguel Street. It is a living theatre and a world in microcosm seen through the eyes of one fatherless boy. Miguel Street is beautifully written and is a powerful novel about hope, despair, poverty and laughter that is based on the author’s own childhood home.
Cllr Juliet Campbell recommends:
The Book of Harlan by Bernice L. McFadden
An incredible read that explores the lesser known aspects of the African-American experience, The Book of Harlan follows the experiences of two African American musicians who are captured by the Nazis in Paris during World War Two. Harlan, a Harlem-based musician, and his best friend Lizard Robbins head to Paris to perform at a popular cabaret in Montmartre when the city falls under Nazi occupation and the two are thrown into Buchenwald concentration camp.
Cllr Chris Barnham recommends:
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Pullitzer Prize-winning alternate history novel, in which two slaves in the 19th century Southern USA make a bid for freedom by following the Underground Railroad, which in this story is an actual secret rail transport system. Enthralling and moving.
Cllr Jon Paschoud recommends:
Now a major motion picture film, Hidden Figures tells the true story of NASA’s African-American female mathematicians who played a crucial role in America’s space programme against the backdrop of the Jim Crow South and civil rights movement. Their contributions have only recently received the recognition they truly deserve, making this book an inspiring read.