Black History Month is a life-giving banquet of Black history, culture, literature, art, film, music, and theology. For Black people in the U.S., it’s a time of joy, pride, lament, and reflection. It’s an imperative pause to honor the work, stories, and excellence of Black people. Naturally, there’s a surge in lists and resources highlighting the contributions of African American people in the U.S. each February.
Black History Month is also a great time for White Christians to check their historical bias and expand their lens. However, the abundance of easy-to-access think-pieces and listicles during February is not an excuse for March-to-January apathy. White Christians have year-round work to do!
Regardless of one’s race, our Black sisters are teachers to learn from—and not only about their experience as an African American in the U.S. Black authors excel in theology, history, art, and much more! If you are ready to learn from our Black sisters and brothers, here are eleven books that you can pick up during or after Black History Month.
Note that all resources featured here and in CBE Bookstore have been vetted by CBE staff or our team of reviewers. However, clicking on additional recommendations which may appear at the bottom of each book listing will lead to our host site; such resources may not have been vetted or reviewed by us.
Mentor for Life: Finding Purpose Through Intentional Discipleship
By Natasha Sistrunk Robinson
In Mentor for Life, Natasha Sistrunk Robinson lays a solid foundation for mentoring that is based on God’s kingdom vision, challenges women to consider the cost of discipleship, and the high calling they have received in Christ. It shows how to develop mentoring relationships that function communally in existing small groups that are diverse and inclusive. It also presents a mentoring framework of knowing and loving God, understanding our identity in Christ, and loving our neighbor, which encourages theological reflection and cultivates a basic Christian worldview.
Beyond the Stained Glass Ceiling
By Christine A. Smith
The reality of a stained glass ceiling is familiar to most women called to the pastorate. Pastor Chris Smith explores how to overcome the challenges in breaking through the stained glass ceiling and she goes a step further. She shares the lessons learned and best practices of the success stories those women who are currently serving in solo or senior pastorates.
Leading Well: A Black Woman’s Guide to Wholistic, Barrier-Breaking Leadership
By Jeanne Porter King
Black women in leadership positions often experience resistance, both from external forces and from within. If you are a leader in your profession, community, or church, you may have been made to feel like an outsider–someone who must prove herself again and again to be worthy of following. Drawing from the biblical account of the Samaritan woman at the well, Jeanne Porter King shows how this outsider and outcast has been reduced to a stereotype by the same racist and sexist forces that attempt to reduce you to a stereotype and hinder your God-given call to leadership. She then shows how God uniquely positioned and equipped her to lead her people to the truth despite attempts to keep her silent and small.
Made to Lead: Empowering Women for Ministry
By Nicole Massie Martin
Made to Lead empowers you to live out your calling boldly and confidently, draw closer to God with relevant biblical examples and heart-felt prayers, to break down stereotypes of women in leadership, and to create your own successful reality in which you are a key part of God’s holy community.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent
By Isabel Wilkerson
Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their outcasting of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.
Shalom Sistas: Living Wholeheartedly in a Brokenhearted World
By Osheta Moore
Shalom’ / sista: A woman who loves people, follows the Prince of Peace, and never gives up her sass. Shalom, the Hebrew word often translated as “peace,” was a far cry from blogger and podcaster Osheta Moore’s crazy life.
In Shalom Sistas, Moore shares what she learned when she challenged herself to study peace in the Bible for forty days. Taking readers through the twelve points of the Shalom Sistas’ Manifesto, Moore experiments with practices of everyday peacemaking and invites readers to do the same.
An Introduction to Womanist Biblical Interpretation
By Nyasha Junior
An Introduction to Womanist Biblical Interpretation provides a much-needed introduction to womanist approaches to biblical interpretation. It argues that womanist biblical interpretation is not simply a byproduct of feminist biblical interpretation but part of a distinctive tradition of African American women’s engagement with biblical texts. While womanist biblical interpretation is relatively new in the development of academic biblical studies, African American women are not newcomers to biblical interpretation.
Destiny Denied: The Veiling of Women in The Traditional Church
By Barbara Boone Wooten
Sexism is denounced in the workplace, so why hasn’t it been in the church? Barbara Wooten tackles that tough question in her new book Destiny Denied. Destiny Denied discusses the full ramifications of subordination and its impact on women but is not a condemnation of men or women who have a traditionalist belief system. Wooten does, however, provide scriptural answers for those who believe that a woman should not be restricted to a limited role within the church and home.
A Credible Witness: Reflections on Power, Evangelism and Race
By Brenda Salter McNeil
As a meditation on the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John, A Credible Witness pairs Jesus’ meeting there (with the Samaritan woman) with the current American minority paradigm. The Samaritan woman’s ethnicity, gender and social status parallel many people in America, and seeing the 2000-year-old meeting through this lens can facilitate a modern understanding of its implications.
Brenda Salter McNeil clarifies what, in her opinion, evangelism should address for it to be relevant in today’s largely post-modern world. She argues that, unless the Gospel (as presented to sinners) addresses socially pertinent issues and cultural topics, it will not have the desired effect.
When Momma Speaks: The Bible and Motherhood from a Womanist Perspective
By Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder
After providing a brief history of womanist biblical interpretation, Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder shows how the stories of several biblical mothers—Hagar, Rizpah, Bathsheba, Mary, the Canaanite woman, and Zebedee’s wife—can be powerful sources for critical reflection, identification, and empowerment. Crowder also explores historical understandings of motherhood in the African American community and how these help to inform present-day perspectives. She includes questions for discussion with each chapter.
7 Deadly Sins of Women in Leadership: Overcome Self-Defeating Behavior in Work and Ministry
By Kate Coleman
Women are making their way into strategic positions of influence and leadership within the church, public, corporate, charity and voluntary sectors, in unprecedented numbers. Women are called by God to flourish in these arenas. However, there are significant external and internal issues that hinder women in leadership in unique ways. While women’s entry onto the leadership arena may have been the catalyst to uncover deep-seated issues in leadership culture, the challenges addressed here are not unique to women in leadership alone. Written for every leader from any sector, this proven and practical book will enable you to identify and overcome self-defeating patterns of behavior, in ways that will radically transform your leadership.