“Don’t trust the sanitized versions of history…We’ve got to get to the roots,” writes rapper Chuck D of the hip-hop group Public Enemy in the foreword to The Transatlantic Slave Trade, a new title from SelectBooks highlighted in this feature. That viewpoint seems to be the guiding compass behind new Black history books on many publishers’ lists for spring 2025.

Many of the titles highlighted here boast in-depth research into history that’s been hidden in the shadows until now. “We have been striving to acquire books that reclaim narratives, untold stories, undiscovered histories, and more family and personal memoirs with a historic backdrop,” says Julie Hernandez, executive director of library marketing at Hachette Book Group. “There are a lot of different stories with backstories that we’ve never heard. And I think reclaiming the narrative about being Black in America is one of them.”

Titles that publishers shared in this feature include until-now obscure stories of important Black business leaders, political activists, writers, artists, and athletes. These books expose the racism in advertising that was commonplace as recently as the 1970s; delve into a little-known campaign fundraising party in 1972 for Shirley Chisholm every bit as iconic as Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball; uncover a hidden world of unhoused Black people living below ground in 18th century London; and examine the very origins of racism itself.

Read on for a host of impactful new titles to build your Black history collection.

Kensington Publishing Corp.

New York-based Kensington Publishing launched its Dafina Books imprint in 2000 to focus on commercial fiction written by and about people of African descent. This mission—unique at that time—continues to be a priority for the publisher. “We will always be on the lookout for new voices and readers, so that Kensington can continue its David-versus-Goliath battle in a family-owned publishing company versus the billion-dollar conglomerates,” says Steven Zacharius, president and CEO.

Now approaching its 25th anniversary, Dafina publishes 25 new titles a year and continues to be an essential source for books that center race and cultural identity but appeal to a diverse audience. The imprint’s 2025 list honors this legacy and reflects its evolution and increased scope from romance, mystery and street lit, to historical fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, horror, reissued classics, and more.

Longtime Dafina author Rochelle Alers is back with a historical novel that spans 80 years, Home and Away, January 2025, ISBN 9781496742742. When a young journalist is refused a newspaper sportswriter position, she sets out to tell her great-grandfather’s turbulent story in the Negro Baseball Leagues—and rewrite her own.

Dafina published Mary Monroe’s debut in 2000 and will publish her 34th novel, Bent but Not Broken, ISBN 9781496743183, in April 2025. In this drama set in Depression-era Alabama, a mistreated wife finds the love she’s longed for with another man only to be lost through a series of deceits and betrayals.

The Blackbirds of St. Giles, the debut novel by Lila Cain, June 2025, ISBN 9781496755629, is historical fiction set in 18th century London. After a young brother and sister escape slavery on a Jamaican plantation, they end up homeless, living with the more than 20,000 free Black people in the maze of passageways beneath the crypts of St. Giles church.

Another 2025 debut, Blood Slaves by Markus Redmond, August 2025, ISBN 9781496753168, is an alternate history-horror mashup, reimagining the vampire origin story. Set in the early days of American slavery, the last surviving member of an ancient African vampire tribe leads an army of enslaved people in a battle for freedom and revenge.

Dafina’s robust spring nonfiction offerings include I Will Scream to the World, January 2025, ISBN 9781496748461, by Gambian American female genital mutilation activist/survivor Jaha Marie Dukureh. This memoir chronicles Dukureh’s journey from survivor to global activist, UN ambassador, one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. “Her activism has brought awareness to how widespread female genital mutilation still is,” says Vida Engstrand, director of communications.

I Felt the Cheers, March 2025, ISBN 9781496750518, is a memoir of disability visibility by Curtis Pride, deaf baseball legend and MLB ambassador. Though Pride’s parents supported his dream to play in the major leagues, he faced skepticism from coaches and teammates. After playing 420 MLB games, Pride went on to coach baseball at Gallaudet University and for an amputee league. “It’s for baseball fans. It’s for anyone who’s ever been told they can’t, anyone interested in disability rights or deaf culture,” says Engstrand.

Low Road: The Life and Legacy of Donald Goines by Eddie B. Allen Jr., April 2025, ISBN 9781496755308, is the riveting biography of one of the most authentic Black voices in American literature. Kensington published Goines’s genre-pioneering street lit novels in the 1970s, so his biography—exploring his raw world and remarkable 50-year legacy—is a natural fit. Dafina is now in the process of repackaging and reissuing Goines’s backlist.

Another must-read nonfiction title is Being Black in America’s Schools by Brian Rashad Fuller, August 2025, ISBN 9781496746610. An education and equity strategist, Fuller turns the spotlight on America’s public schools, the miseducation of students of color, and the actions required to make real changes to a failing and racialized school system.

SelectBooks

Founded in 2001, SelectBooks is a family-run independent publishing house based in New York City whose half dozen new titles a year focus primarily on nonfiction. “A key philosophy behind our publishing program is to offer many different voices an opportunity to be heard,” says Kenichi Sugihara, marketing director.

This year, one of those voices belongs to Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., PhD, whose civil rights activism began at the age of 14 as the youth coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. After being falsely convicted and incarcerated as one of the Wilmington 10 for nearly a decade, Dr. Chavis went on to become the national executive director and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the national president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), and a professor of environmental justice at Duke University.

Dr. Chavis has co-authored The Transatlantic Slave Trade: Overcoming the 500-year Legacy, October 2024, ISBN 9781590795699, with journalist Stacy M. Brown. The book started as a series of articles on the transatlantic slave trade published through the NNPA. The articles were so well received that a book was a natural next step.

“Our book starts in the 1500s,” Dr. Chavis says. “Because we realized that by the time enslaved Africans were brought to the Americas in 1619, the transatlantic slave trade had already been going on for over 100 years between Europe, Africa, the Caribbean islands, and South America.” The book also outlines the pivotal roles both the Portuguese and the Catholic Church played in establishing the transatlantic slave trade.

“The book is not only historical, but also contemporarily relevant,” Dr. Chavis says. It details everything from the economic motivations and theological justifications for the enslavement of African people to the present-day repercussions of its legacy in the form of mass incarceration, crime, the wealth gap, redlining, gentrification, environmental racism—the list goes on.

“It’s not just a book for academics. It’s more for people who want their children, their grandchildren, their community, their organization to really know something about this period of human history,” says Dr. Chavis.

Hachette Book Group

Annie Mazes, associate director of library marketing, says Hachette Book Group prioritizes publishing diverse stories across all ten of its imprints. And about five years ago, Hachette launched Legacy Lit, an imprint devoted exclusively to books that give voice to issues, authors, and communities that have been underrepresented, underserved, and overlooked.

A More Perfect Party by MSNBC political analyst Juanita Tolliver, January 2025, ISBN 9781538770221, is the untold story of the fundraising party actress Diahann Carroll hosted at her Beverly Hills home for Shirley Chisholm’s 1972 presidential campaign. “This was the most iconic fundraising party you can imagine,” Hernandez says. Huey P. Newton, Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, Berry Gordy, David Frost, Flip Wilson, and Goldie Hawn were all there. Each chapter focuses on one party attendee—pioneering individuals all, who supported and were inspired by Chisholm opening doors for Black women to make their mark in American politics.

Another nonfiction title, Afro Sheen by George E. Johnson with Hilary Beard, February 2025, ISBN 9780316577342, tells Johnson’s story of founding the Johnson Products Company at age 27 to make the hair products Afro Sheen and Ultra Sheen. JPC went on to become the first Black-owned company to be traded on Wall Street. Since he couldn’t place ads featuring Black models in mainstream white media in the 1970s, Johnson audaciously bought the popular TV show Soul Train to run his “Black is beautiful” ads. “This is more than a business memoir,” Hernandez says. “This is about reclaiming some of that space that Black entrepreneurs and innovators have been a part of.”

A Season of Light by Julie Iromuanya, February 2025, ISBN 9781643755519, is a novel about a Nigerian family living in Florida when 276 girls were abducted from their Nigerian school in 2014. For the father—a former POW in the Nigerian Civil War—the news triggers memories and guilt about his missing younger sister, as well as fear for his teenage daughter. He copes with these emotions by irrationally locking his daughter in her bedroom, derailing his whole family. This multilayered novel deals with personal trauma, generational trauma, and the trauma of contemporary events like the Trayvon Martin shooting, which happened shortly before the story’s time.

Mango Publishing

Celebrating 10 years in business, Mango Publishing is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The indie house publishes 120 new titles a year, 95 percent of which are nonfiction. “We have a very distinct mission, which is to publish books that make a positive difference in people’s lives and also speak to diversity,” says Brenda Knight, publisher.

How to Become a Black Writer, February 2025, ISBN 9781684817153, is author Marita Golden’s sixth book. Mentored by Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, and bell hooks, Golden wrote this book about how she became a writer to offer young people tips and advice about how they can become one too. “She was interacting, learning from, and in dialogue with many other great Black writers, male and female,” says Knight. “This book is to inspire other Black voices to shine forth. It’s as instructive as it is inspirational.” The book’s backmatter includes an extensive resources section for retreats, lists of essential books, and other resources especially for Black writers.

A hate crime survivor and anti-racist educator, Ernest Crim wrote How Black History Can Save Your Life, March 2025, ISBN 9781684817320, to share what he learned when he was targeted with racial slurs, which he captured on a video that went viral. Crim reclaims Black history, delving into stories of resistance and perseverance to equip Black communities with the tools they need to combat racism in everyday life. He includes strategies to de-escalate interpersonal racism, like setting up a community support system before it’s needed. “The book is half biographical and half instructive of what Black people need to do to live in a world where racism is not only, sadly, normalized but also used as a cudgel in politics,” says Knight.

Ralph Remington is the director of cultural affairs at the San Francisco Arts Commission, a producer, director, playwright, screenwriter, actor, and essayist. His collection of essays, Penetrating Whiteness, June 2025, ISBN 9781684817818, offers insight into topics like the origins and current realities of racism, sexism, homophobia, and otherism, and the damaging legacy of Donald Trump's divisive presidency. One of America’s leading Black multi-sector voices on identity and social justice, Remington’s essays boldly confront the uncomfortable truths about the persisting toxicity of white supremacy and systemic discrimination.

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