An Afrikan centered Book List to Help Make Black Lives Matter

Hotep (An Afrikan word for peace)!!!

Take notes!!!!!!!!!

"Follow in the footsteps of your ancestors, for the mind is trained through knowledge. Behold, their words endure in books. Open and read them and follow their wise counsel. For one who is taught becomes skilled."

-Selections From The Husia: Sacred Wisdom of Ancient Egypt (Selected and Retranslated by Dr. Maulana Karenga page 50)

In order for Black people to wrestle away from the vestiges of centuries of White supremacy and the systematic institutionalization of racism that have created Black oppression and Black self-hatred in America and in the world, a list of books must be developed based upon a thorough knowledge of ourselves to help us established a proper political and cultural analysis of Afrika, Black people, Black men, Black women, and Black liberation struggles. If you cannot purchase these book in a Black owned bookstore, you can order them on this online website called, (abebooks.com). This Is my recommended book list on Afrikan (Black) history and culture as pathway to Afrikan centered Black consciousness and for the world to piece together the missing pages of history in the new millennium. I pray to the Creator and our Ancestors, this book list will lead to study groups in homes, in the many communities throughout America, and in the world to challenge humanity to learn about Black people, our history, and our culture:

1) Afrocentricity by Dr. Molefe Kete Asante

2) Notes for An African World Revolution: Africans at the Crossroads by Dr. John Henrik Clarke

3) Who Betrayed the African World Revolution and Other Speeches by Dr. John Henrik Clarke

4) Christopher Columbus and the Afrikan Holocaust: Slavery and the Rise of European Capitalism by Dr. John Henrik Clarke

5) Blackman of the Nile and His Family by Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan

6) Africa: the Mother of Western Civilizations by Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannan

7) The African Origins of Western Religions by Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannan

8)Introduction to Black Studies by Dr. Maulana Karenga

9) The Husia: Sacred Wisdom of Ancient Egypt by Dr. Maulana Karenga

10) Kawaida by Dr. Maulana Karenga

11) Civilizations or Barbarism by Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop

12) The African Origins of Civilization by Cheikh Anta Diop

13) The Destruction of Black Civilizations by Dr. Chancellor Williams

14) Before the Mayflower by Dr. Lerone Bennet, Jr.

15) African Glory by Dr. J. C. deGraft Johnson

16) Chains and Images of Psychological Slavery by Dr. Naim Akbar

17) Visions for Black men by Dr. Na’im Akbar

18) The Falsification and Fabrication of Ancient Egypt 3400 BCE TO 500 BCE: A Survey of the Literature by Professor Stanford Lewis

19) Christian Theology and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr by Professor Stanford Lewis

20) Black Athena by Dr Martin Bernal

21) Slavery in the Arab World by Murray Gordon

22) The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States by Martin Delany

23) The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass by Fredrick Douglass

24) The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Hailey As Told By Malcolm X

25) Seize the Time by Bobby Seale

26) The Cointelpro Papers by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall

27) Racial Matters
by Kenneth O’Reilly

28) introduction to African Civilizations by John G. Jackson

29) Christianity Before Christ by John G. Jackson

30) From Civil Right to Black Liberation: Malcolm X and the Organization of Afro-America Unity by Dr. William Sales

31) The Kerner Commision by President Lyndon B. Johnson

32) Stolen Legacy by Dr. Gorge G. M. James

33) The Miseducation of the Negro by Dr. Carter G. Woodson

34) Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

35) How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney

36) Black Reconstruction by W. E. B. DuBois

37) The Isis Papers by Dr Frances Cress Welsing

38) Yurugu: An Afrikan Centered Critique of European Behavior and Culture by Dr Marimba Ani

39) They Came Before Columbus by Dr. Ivan Van Sertima

40) Medu Neter by Ra Un Nefer Amen

41) Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous? : Afrikan American Families in Transition : Essays in Discovery, Solution, and Hope by Haki Mahabuti

42) 1,001 African Names by Julia Stewart

43) What’s In Name? Unaitwaje: A Swahili Book of Names by Sharifa M. Zawawi

44) Names from Africa by Ogonna Chuks-Orgi

45) Stiil Black, Still Strong by Dhoruba Bin Wahad, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Assata Shakur

46) Message to the Blackman by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad

47) Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World by Gerald Massey

48) SBA: The Reawakening of the African Mind by Dr. Asa Hilliard

49) The Maroon Within Us: Selected Essays on African American Community Socialization by Dr. Asa Hilliard

50) Europeans Scholars on the African Origins of the Africans of Antiquity Edited and Compiled by Dr. Mwalimu Mwadilifu

51) New Dimensions in African History: The London Lectures of Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan and Dr. John Henrik Clarke

52) Capitalism and Slavery by Eric Williams

53) Blueprint for Black Power: A Moral, Political, and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-first Century by Dr. Amos Wilson

In conclusion, this book list is not a complete list. There are so many other texts to purchase, read, and study. However, this is just a book list to get us started. I am 52 years old. The books that I listed cultivated my blackness over 31 years ago. You don’t need to read all 52 books at one time. I encourage you to focus on one book, then move on to next book. Becoming woke takes one step at a time. We cannot develop our blackness to rescue, reclaim, and restore our humanity to ourselves and the world surfing the internet all day looking at YouTube videos. Sorry that ain’t going to cut it folks. It is going to take a serious effort to read and study our history and culture to truly understand Black humanity. Reading books will give us the weapons needed to fight against White supremacy, systematic racism, the emasculation of Black women and Black man, and Black self-hatred.

Hotep!!!

Asante sana (Kiswahili for thank you very much) for reading my commentary.

O Dabo (Yoruba for go with God until we meet again)!!!

-Bashir Muhammad Akinyele is a History Teacher, Black Studies Teacher, Community Activist, Chairperson of Weequahic High School's Black History Month Committee in Newark, NJ, commentary writer, and Co-Producer and Co-Host of the All Politics Are Local, the number #1 political Hip Hip radio show in America.

Note: Spelling Afrika with a k is not a typo. Using the k in Afrika is the Kiswahili way of writing Africa. Kiswahili is a Pan -Afrikan language. It is spoken in many countries in Afrika. Kiswahili is the language used in Kwanzaa. The holiday of Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26 to January 1.

#Hotep
#afrocentricity
#nationofislam
#kemet
#blacktheology
#kwanzaa
#blackstudies