The theme for this year's Black History Month is "A Century of Black History Commemorations" as 2026 marks 100 years since the first Negro History Week was celebrated in 1926. As stated by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, "the founders of Black History Month urge us to explore the impact and meaning of Black history and life commemorations in transforming the status of Black peoples in the modern world." In response to this prompt, our librarians have curated a reading list featuring sweeping stories of Black families that highlight the resilience, sacrifice, knowledge, love, and hope passed down from generation to generation. These stories span decades and by unearthing the connections that bind each generation to the next, they illustrate how history informs and impacts the world around us today.
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
"An intimate yet sweeping novel with all the luminescence and force of Homegoing; Sing, Unburied, Sing; and The Water Dancer—that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our own tumultuous era."
We Are a Haunting by Tyriek White
"A poignant debut for readers of Jesmyn Ward and Jamel Brinkley, We Are a Haunting follows three generations of a working class family and their inherited ghosts: a story of hope and transformation."
"Eve Mann arrives in Ideal, Georgia, in 1972, looking for answers about the mother who died giving her life. Eve's questions and longing launch a multigenerational story that sprawls back to the turn of the twentieth century, settles into the soil of the South, the blood and souls of Black folk making love and life, and fleeing into a Great Migration into the savage embrace of the North."
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
"Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of unforgettable voices that move back and forth in time, Memphis paints an indelible portrait of inheritance, celebrating the full complexity of what we pass down, in a family and as a country: brutality and justice, faith and forgiveness, sacrifice and love."
I Am Ayah: The Way Home by Donna Hill
"Set amid Sag Harbor’s vibrant African American history, bestselling author Donna Hill weaves a stunningly rich story about finding the way home…no matter how long the journey takes."
All summaries provided by the publishers.