Start with high-confidence african american studies books, then narrow by subgenre or adjacent topics.
Can't Stop Won't Stop
Jeff Chang, D.J. Kool Herc
How the Word Is Passed
Clint Smith
Nothing Personal
James Baldwin, Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Everybody's Protest Novel
James Baldwin
Broadcasting Freedom
Barbara Dianne Savage
The Delectable Negro
Vincent Woodard, E. Patrick Johnson - foreword
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace
Jeff Hobbs
Sleep Deprivation Chamber
Adam Kennedy, Adrienne Kennedy
Venus
Suzan-Lori Parks
The Mis-education of the Negro
Carter Godwin Woodson, Carter G. Woodson
The Souls of Black Folk
W.E.B. Du Bois
The Afterlife of Malcolm X
Mark Whitaker, David Sadzin
Negro Orators and Their Orations
Carter G. Woodson
Carter G. Woodson, Booker T. Washington