The Nonfiction Files 6: Black August

A quick history lesson and 31 books to read during Black August.

In 1979, a group of Black men incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison in California started Black August as a commemoration of Black freedom fighters and their struggle for liberation. The month is a call to study, train, fast, and fight. In that spirit I have created a 31 book reading list for anyone wanting to learn more about Black revolutionaries, the systems we must dismantle, and the endless possibilities of liberation.

As Black August calls us to action, please consider making a donation to Freedom Reads, a nonprofit that is committed to bringing beautiful libraries to every cell block in every prison across the United States.

Before we dive into my list, here is your friendly reminder that the 2025 Nonfiction Reading Guide will only be available until September 22nd. If you want a ton of nonfiction book recommendations that I have vetted for you, this is the place.

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What is Black August?

Black August is a month dedicated to commemorating and honoring Black Freedom Fighters, especially those who have been and/remain incarcerated. We are indebted to the men of San Quentin State Prison, who in 1979 began Black August as a way to “honor the lives and deaths of Black political prisoners killed by the state, bring awareness to prison conditions, and to honor the radical tradition of Black resistance against anti-Black state violence systemic oppression.”¹

The first Black August was a way to honor the former founder and leader of the Black Guerilla Family, George Jackson, who was murdered in August 1971. His killing was part of long line of injustices befallen Black radical activists in the criminal legal system. And helped to spark a movement against the powers that be².

In addition to the murder of George Jackson (and one year before his brother Johnathan Jackson), the month of August is full of monumental events in Black History — the start of the Haitian Revolution, the birth of Fred Hampton, Nat Turner’s rebellion, the murder of Emmett Till, the March on Washington to name just a few.

Originally, Black August was used as time to reflect on, and honor the lives of incarcerated Black activists. Practitioners would celebrate during the month by studying revolutionary texts, fasting, exercising, and abstaining from drugs, alcohol, and mainstream media. Over time, the celebration has expanded to not only studying and bringing awareness to works by revolutionary authors, but to also engage in activism on behalf of incarcerated Black political prisoners and oppressed Black people around the world.³

My Black August reading list is a mix of books that capture the spirit and history of Black August. This list is in no way exhaustive. Not even close. I cut myself off at 31 books, because there are 31 days in August and I had to stop somewhere. Many of these books I have read and loved, others have been highly recommended to me by trusted sources, and a few more I discovered as I researched this piece. I did my best to not repeat any authors⁴, though many on this list could appear multiple times. I also left a handful of annotations to help you figure out where to start.

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Black August Reading List

Autobiographies, Biographies, & Memoirs

• Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur
  One of the best autobiographies I’ve ever read.

• The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
  I picked this one, but have read and loved many other books on Malcolm X, so if you prefer a biography to an autobiography you could try this or this (or both).

• Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision by Barbara Ransby

• I Write What I Like: Selected Writings by Steve Biko
  This list is mostly American history, and that is because of the gaps in my own reading, but I wanted to include Steve Biko because his story profoundly impacted me and the more I read about him the more I want other folks to do the same.

• Live from Death Row by Mumia Abu-Jamal

• Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P. Newton

• Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson by George Jackson
  This (or Jackson’s other book) feels like a must read since Black August was started in large part as a commemoration to his life.

• Solitary by Albert Woodfox
  If you want to know what 40 years of solitary confinement feels like, read this incredible book.

• Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism by Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)

• The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. by Penile Joseph
  More Malcolm, but this time, with Martin.

• A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story by Elaine Brown

• Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin by Bayard Rustin

• Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America by Keisha N. Blain

History

• America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s by Elizabeth Hinton

• Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin
  The history of the Black Panther Party has to be on any Black August list.

• The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by C.L.R. James

• Fire This Time: The Watts Uprising and the 1960s by Gerald Horne

• No Mercy Here: Gender, Punishment, and the Making of Jim Crow Modernity by Sarah Haley

• On a Move: Philadelphia's Notorious Bombing and a Native Son's Lifelong Battle for Justice by Mike Africa Jr.
  The Philadelphia Police bombed their own city in 1985 and I’ll never get over that.

• Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing

• The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America by Carol Anderson
  Guns and Black folks have a really interesting history in the USA it is worth reading and understanding.

Prisons, Abolition, & Beyond

• Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation by Ruth Wilson Gilmore

• Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination by Robin D. G. Kelley

• Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California by Ruth Wilson Gilmore
  Ruth Wilson Gilmore is the only author on this list more than once, I couldn’t not include this book and her newest one sounds amazing. Here I am asking forgiveness and not permission.

• Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration by Reuben Jonathan Miller

• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
  This book is a classic of nonfiction for a reason, if you’ve been putting it, take this as your sign to read it.

• Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families--And How Abolition Can Build a Safer World by Dorothy Roberts

• We Do This Til We Free UsL Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba

• We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance by Kellie Carter Jackson

• Women, Race & Class by Angela Davis
  No Black August list is complete without some Angela Davis, and there were a lot of ways I could’ve gone, but this is where I ended up. Fight me in the comments, I guess.

• The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

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Now I want to hear from you:

• Which of these books have you read? What did you think of them?

• Which book on the list grabbed you? Where are you starting?

• What book (or five) would you add to my list?

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1. The Center for Constitutional Rights

2. One month and two days after Jackson’s murder the Attica Prison Uprisings began.

3. Joseph Edelin, National Equity Project

4. I had one repeat. I couldn’t help myself.