#OnTheGo
For our bookworms! In celebration of Black History Month, Google Play dropped their list of must-hear audiobooks. From current influential figures to ones who made their marks over a century ago, these literacy titles are sure to leave you empowered and inspired to take on the world! If they can do it, so can we!
Top Picks
Google Play listed 40 titles, we mentioned seven of our favorites:
1. “A Promised Land” by Barack Obama
In his first volume, Barack Obama gives us insight into his journey to becoming the President of the United States. And his time spent in the White House, which was marked with struggle and transformation. He celebrates the idea that democracy is built on common understanding between all Americans. Plus, you get to listen to Obama’s voice for 29 hours and who wouldn’t love that?
2. “Becoming” by Michelle Obama
This is the story of Michelle Obama’s inspirational journey to becoming the First Lady of the United States. Michelle Obama writes of the experiences that have shaped her from her childhood spent in the South Side of Chicago to her role as a mom and an executive to the First Lady. Mrs. Obama has challenged societal conventions and created her mark in history. She inspires us to do the same!
3. “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey” by Kamala Harris
A powerful memoir penned by Vice President Kamala Harris. In her memoir, Harris shares her experience being the daughter of immigrants and becoming California’s 32nd attorney general and senator. And the road that will lead her to become our country’s woman of color vice president. Harris uses her life story to give an inspiring take on what drives division in this country, and how we can work together to find unity.
4. “An American Marriage” by Tayari Jones
This is the story of a newly-married couple, Celestial and Roy. The couple is ripped apart when Roy is convicted of a crime he did not commit. With her husband in jail, Celestial must wrestle with her own loneliness, loss, and insecurities, until his conviction is suddenly turned over. Jones does a beautiful job sharing the intimacies of Black life and marriage in this haunting story.
5. “Sing, Unburied, Sing” by Jesmyn Ward
This novel takes readers on a road trip through Mississippi. It follows a teenage boy and his family on their way to the prison where his father is being released. Ward portrays ugly truths about racial terror that are still present in rural southern America.
6. “The Souls of Black Folk” by W.E.B. DuBois
In this collection of 14 essays, DuBois writes of the pride and resiliency of Black America, the horrors of racism, and the concept of “double-consciousness in African American life.” Du Bois explores the correlation between the Reconstruction Era and the experiences of African Americans in the early 20th century. Debois was simply “reacting to the reality of his times,” NPR wrote. The literature’s message is arguably one that still resonates today.
7. “The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke” by Jefferey C. Stewart
A biography that explores the professional and personal life of Alain Locke, the father of the Harlem Renaissance. Stewart’s biography about Locke shows how he became a new Negro through his promotion of the cultural heritage of Black people.
For a full list of audiobooks on Google Play for Black History Month, click here.
