18 books like Up from Slavery

What to read after Up from Slavery — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

The Souls of Black Folk W. E. B. Du Bois · 1903 · ★ 4.3 · 232p · ≈ 7h · Challenging Du Bois' 1903 collection of essays is a thoughtful, articulate exploration of the moral and intellectual issues surrounding the perception of blacks within American society. Shares: Afro-Americans, Sociology, African Americans, United States

What It Was George Pelecanos · 2012 In this hard-boiled noir, former police officer turned private investigator Derek Strange's search for a lost ring leads him down a twisted path of crime and corruption—and on the chase for a dangerous killer. Washington, DC, 1972. Derek Strange has left the police department and set up shop as a private investigator. His former partner, Frank "Hound Dog" Vaughn, is still on the force. When a… Shares: Washington, African Americans

Right as Rain George Pelecanos · 2001 In this thrilling noir, ex-cop Derek Strange is hired by the mother of a slain police officer to investigate the killing, and quickly stumbles across a cop filled with guilt after being involved in the incident. Derek Strange is a black ex-cop in Washington DC who now makes a living running his own private detective agency. He is hired to investigate the killing of an off-duty black policeman… Shares: Washington, African Americans

River, Cross My Heart Breena Clarke · 1999 · ★ 3.5 · 256p · ≈ 8h · Moderate The impact of a child's drowning on a black family in 1925 Washington, especially on the 12-year-old sister who was baby-sitting the girl. Told against the background of the lot of African Americans at the time. Shares: Afro-Americans, Washington, African Americans

Autobiography and Black identity politics Kenneth Mostern · 1999 · 287p · ≈ 9h · Moderate "Why has autobiography been central to African-American political speech throughout the twentieth century? What is it about the racialization process that persistently places African-Americans in the position of speaking from personal experience? In Autobiography and Black Identity Politics: Racialization in Twentieth-Century America Kenneth Mostern illustrates the relationship between narrative… Shares: Afro-Americans, African Americans, United States, Biography & Memoir

Life and times of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass · 1881 · 629p · ≈ 20h · Demanding Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is Frederick Douglass' third autobiography, published in 1881, revised in 1892. The emancipation of American Slaves during and following the Civil War allowed Douglass to go into greater specifics of both his life as as slave and his escape from slavery in this volume than he could in his two previous autobiographies (which would have put both himself and… Shares: Afro-Americans, Slaves, African Americans, Biography & Memoir

Roots Alex Haley · 1861 · ★ 4.4 · 476p · ≈ 15h · Challenging Roots is a novel written by Alex Haley and published in 1976. It portrays the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent and sold into slavery in the United States, and follows his life and the lives of his alleged descendants in the U.S. down to Haley. The release of the novel, combined with its hugely popular television adaptation, Roots (1977), led to a cultural… Shares: Afro-Americans, African Americans, Biography & Memoir, History

Going to Meet the Man James Baldwin · 1965 · ★ 4.4 · 226p · ≈ 7h · Moderate African-American fiction Shares: Afro-Americans, African Americans, United States

Presidents for Kids Presidents For Kids · 2025 TIME For Kids presents a complete overview of our nation's chief executives from George Washington to the newly elected 45th president!Did you know that James Monroe was the first president to appear without a wig in public? Or that George W. Bush appointed the first African-American secretary of state? Presidents of the United States invites the reader inside the White House to discover… Shares: United States, Biography & Memoir

The fire next time James Baldwin · 1962 · ★ 4.5 · 120p · ≈ 4h · Moderate From Amazon.com: A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation and gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement. At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin's early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document. It consists of two… Shares: Afro-Americans, African Americans, United States, History

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Harriet A. Jacobs · 1861 · ★ 4.2 · 152p · ≈ 5h · Challenging The true story of an individual's struggle for self-identity, self-preservation, and freedom, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl remains among the few extant slave narratives written by a woman. This autobiographical account chronicles the remarkable odyssey of Harriet Jacobs (1813–1897) whose dauntless spirit and faith carried her from a life of servitude and degradation in North Carolina to… Shares: Slaves, United States, Biography & Memoir, History

Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass · 1845 · ★ 4.1 This book is an autobiographical account by runaway slave Frederick Douglass that chronicles his experiences with his owners and overseers and discusses how slavery affected both slaves and slaveholders. Shares: Slaves, African Americans, Biography & Memoir, History

The life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African Olaudah Equiano · 1789 · ★ 4.2 · 132p · ≈ 4h · Demanding The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, written in 1789, details its writer's life in slavery, his time spent serving on galleys, the eventual attainment of his own freedom and later success in business. Including a look at how slavery stood in West Africa, the book received favorable reviews and was one of the first slave narratives to be read widely. Shares: Slaves, United States, Biography & Memoir, History

The Tenth Justice Brad Meltzer · 1997 · ★ 4.0 · 389p · ≈ 12h · Moderate A conscientious supreme court clerk. The professionals who share his house. A minor slip-up.Ben Addison, fresh from Yale Law, is a new clerk for one of the Supreme Court's most respected justices. But when he accidentally reveals the secret outcome of an upcoming decision, a blackmailer makes millions and Ben starts to sweat. Big time. He turns to his co-clerk, Lisa, and his housemates, Nathan,… Shares: Washington, United States

Twelve years a slave Solomon Northup · 1853 · ★ 4.2 · 192p · ≈ 6h · Challenging Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing memoir about one of the darkest periods in American history. It recounts how Solomon Northup, born a free man in New York, was lured to Washington, D.C., in 1841 with the promise of fast money, then drugged and beaten and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation. Shares: Slaves, African Americans, Biography & Memoir, History

Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe · 1850 · ★ 3.9 · 461p · ≈ 15h · Challenging This unforgettable novel tells the story of Tom, a devoutly Christian slave who chooses not to escape bondage for fear of embarrassing his master. However, he is soon sold to a slave trader and sent down the Mississippi, where he must endure brutal treatment. This is a powerful tale of the extreme cruelties of slavery, as well as the price of loyalty and morality. When first published, it helped… Shares: Slaves, African Americans, History

Giovanni's Room James Baldwin · 1956 · ★ 4.3 · 185p · ≈ 6h · Moderate Considered an 'audacious' second novel, GIOVANNI'S ROOM is set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence. This now-classic story of a fated love triangle explores, with uncompromising clarity, the conflicts between desire, conventional morality and sexual identity. Shares: Afro-Americans, African Americans

A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberry · 1958 · ★ 3.9 · 146p · ≈ 4h · Moderate This groundbreaking play starred Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeill, Ruby Dee and Diana Sands in the Broadway production which opened in 1959. Set on Chicago's South Side, the plot revolves around the divergent dreams and conflicts within three generations of the Younger family: son Walter Lee, his wife Ruth, his sister Beneatha, his son Travis and matriarch Lena, called Mama. When her deceased… Shares: Afro-Americans, African Americans, History

About the book Up from Slavery →