My list of 30 Books by Black Women Academics in 2017 consisted of academic books published by Black women in the fields of history, sociology, literature, and many others. The list got shared widely. Some academic libraries even used the book as a resource to stock their shelves.
For the 2018 edition of this list, I hope to do the same work I did last year of growing the list through crowdsourcing on social media. Reach out on Twitter @Blackfeminisms or Facebook if you know of an academic book written by or about Black women and published in 2018. These academic books can be written by Black women of from all backgrounds and disciplines, and from settings outside of mainstream academia as well. Please be advised that if the publication date is not in 2018, the book won’t be included on this list.
Be sure to check back periodically, share the list widely, and of course, read and purchase these women’s work!
- Ezili’s Mirrors – Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley
- Erotic Islands: Art and Activism in the Queer Caribbean – Lyndon K. Gill
- Black. Queer. Southern. Women.: An Oral History – E. Patrick Johnson
- Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism – Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley
- Envisioning Black Feminist Voodoo Aesthetics: African Spirituality in American Cinema (Black Diasporic Worlds: Origins and Evolutions – Kameelah L. Martin
- Narratives of African American Women’s Literary Pragmatism and Creative Democracy – Gregory Phipps
- Training School for Negro Girls – Camille Acker
- Jezebel Unhinged: Loosing the Black Female Body in Religion and Culture – Tamura Lomax
- Intimate Justice: The Black Female Body and the Body Politic – Shatema Threadcraft
- Race Women Internationalists Activist-Intellectuals and Global Freedom Struggles – Imaobong Umoren
- Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom – Keisha N. Blain
- Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century – Barbara Ransby
- Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry – Imani Perry
- Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower – Brittney Cooper
- Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America – Martha S. Jones
- Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage – Pauli Murray
- May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem – Imani Perry
- Sexuality and Slavery: Reclaiming Intimate Histories in the Americas – Daina Berry, Leslie M. Harris
- Dispossessed Lives: Enslaved Women, Violence, and the Archive – Marisa J. Fuentes
- A Girl Stands at the Door: The Generation of Young Women Who Desegregated America’s Schools – Rachel Devlin
- She Begat This: 20 Years of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – Joan Morgan
- Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side – Eve L. Ewing
- Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation – Imani Perry
- New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition – Keisha N. Blain, Christopher Cameron, Ashley D. Farmer
- We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85: New Perspectives – Catherine Morris and Rujeko Hockley
- A Political Education: Black Politics and Education Reform in Chicago since the 1960s – Elizabeth Todd-Breland
- Understanding Critical Race Research Methods and Methodologies: Lessons from the Field – Jessica T. DeCuir-Gunby and Thandeka K. Chapman
- Black Women Filmmakers and Black Love on Screen – Brandale N. Mills
- Envisioning Black Feminist Voodoo Aesthetics: African Spirituality in American Cinema – Kameelah L. Martin
- Narratives of African American Women’s Literary Pragmatism and Creative Democracy – Greggory Phipps
- Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves – Glory Edim
- Remembering Lucile: A Virginia Family’s Rise from Slavery and a Legacy Forged a Mile – Polly E. Bugros McLean
- When the Light Is Fire: Maasai Schoolgirls in Contemporary Kenya – Heather D. Switzer
- Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Trump – Duchess Harris
- Afrokultur: »der raum zwischen gestern und morgen« (German Edition) – Natasha A. Kelly
- African Womanhood and Incontinent Bodies: Kenyan Women with Vaginal Fistulas – Kathomi Gatwiri
- How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy, and the Racial Divide – Crystal Marie Fleming
- African Philosophy and the Epistemic Marginalization of Women – Jonathan O. Chimakonam and Louise du Toit
- In Search of Our Warrior Mothers: Women Dramatists of the Black Arts Movement – La Donna Forsgren
- Counternarratives from Women of Color Academics – Manya Whitaker and Eric Anthony Grollman
- The Pursuit of Happiness: Black Women, Diasporic Dreams, and the Politics of Emotional Transnationalism –
Bianca C. Williams - The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America – Sharon D. Wright
- Reimagining the Middle Passage: Black Resistance in Literature, Television, and Song – Tara T. Green
- Postracial Resistance: Black Women, Media, and the Uses of Strategic Ambiguity – Ralina L. Joseph
- Bodyminds Reimagined: (Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction – Sami Schalk
- The Grind: Black Women and Survival in the Inner City – Alexis McCurn
- Black French Women and the Struggle for Equality, 1848-2016 – Félix Germain and Silyane Larcher
- Black Women, Work, and Welfare in the Age of Globalization – Sherrow O. Pinder
- The Chosen Ones: Black Men and the Politics of Redemption – Nikki Jones
- Black Women in Politics: Demanding Citizenship, Challenging Power, and Seeking Justice – Julia S. Jordan-Zackery and Nicol G. Alexander-Floyd
- Double Negative: The Black Image in Popular Culture – Racquel J. Gates
