Published scholarship on black history in Texas is growing and we’d like to share with you some suggested readings, both current and past, from some of the preeminent history scholars in Texas and beyond. Each week, we will offer a featured selection. Check back regularly as our list grows. We welcome suggestions and reviews.

TIPHC List of Suggested Reading

  • The 1910 Slocum Massacre, An Act of Genocide In East Texas, by E.R. Bills, The History Press
  • A History of Fort Worth in Black & White, 165 Years of African-American Life, by Richard F. Selcer, University of North Texas Press
  • A Life on Paper, The Drawings and Lithographs of John Thomas Biggers, by Olive Jensen Theisen, University of North Texas Press
  • A Night of Violence, by Robert V. Haynes, LSU Press
  • Acting Up and Getting Down, Edited and with Introduction by Sandra Holt and Elvin Holt, University of Texas Press
  • Advancing Democracy — African Americans and the Struggle for Access and Equity in Higher Education in Texas, by Amilcar Shabazz, The University of North Carolina Press
  • African American Bryan, Texas: Celebrating the Past, by Oswell Person, PhD, The History Press
  • The African American Experience in Texas, An Anthology, Edited by Bruce A. Glasrud and James M. Smallwood, Texas Tech University Press
  • African Americans in Central Texas History, From Slavery to Civil Rights, edited by Bruce A. Glasrud and Deborah M. Liles, Texas A&M University Press.
  • African Americans In El Paso, by Maceo Crenshaw Dailey, Jr., Kathryn Smith-McGlynn, and Cecilia Gutierrez Venable, Arcadia Publishing
  • African Americans in South Texas History, edited by Bruce A. Glasrud, Texas A&M University Press
  • African Americans of Houston, by Ron Goodwin, Arcadia Publishing
  • The African Diaspora, Edited by Alusine Jalloh and Stephen E. Maizlish, Texas A&M University Press
  • The African Texans, by Alwyn Barr, Texas A&M University Press
  • Afro-Mexico, Dancing Between Myth and Reality, by Anita Gonzalez, University of Texas Press
  • The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch, by Chris Barton, Eerdman’s Books for Young Readers
  • American Negro in the World War, by Emmett J. Scott. Read here.
  • And Grace Will Lead Me Home, by Michelle M. Mears, Texas Tech University Press
  • Anti-Black Violence in Twentieth Century Texas, edited by Bruce A. Glasrud, Texas A&M University Press
  • As We Saw It, the Story of Integration at the University of Texas at Austin, Edited by Gregory J. Vincent, Virginia A. Cumberbatch, and Leslie A. Blair, University of Texas Press
  • A Southern Family In White and Black, by Doug Hales, Texas A&M University Press
  • Barbara Jordan, American Hero, by Mary Beth Rogers, Bantam Books
  • Barbecue Crossroads, by Robb Walsh, University of Texas Press
  • Before Brown — Heman Marion Sweatt, Thurgood Marshall, and the Long Road to Justice, by Gary M. Lavergne, University of Texas Press
  • Big Bubba, The Life of Charles “Bubba” Smith, by Rita Garrison
  • Black Churches, A Guide to Historic Congregations, by Clyde McQueen, Texas A&M University Press
  • Black Cinema Treasures, Lost and Found, by G. William Jones, University of North Texas Press
  • Black Cowboys of Texas, edited by Sara R. Massey, Texas A&M University Press
  • Black Dixie: Afro-Texan History and Culture in Houston, edited by Howard Beeth and Cary Wintz, Texas A&M University Press
  • Black Man in the Huddle, Stories from the Integration of Texas Football, by Robert Jacobus, Texas A&M University Press
  • Black Soldiers In Jim Crow Texas, 1899-1917, by Garna L. Christian, Texas A&M University Press
  • Black Texans, A History of Negroes In Texas, 1528-1971, by Alwyn Barr, Jenkins Publishing
  • Black Texas Women: 150 Years of Trial and Triumph, by Ruthe Winegarten, Janet G. Humphrey & Frieda Werden, consulting editors, University of Texas Press
  • Black Victory, The Rise and Fall of the White Primary in Texas, by Darlene Clark Hine, University of Missouri Press
  • Black Women In Texas History, edited by Bruce Glasrud and Merline Pitre, Texas A&M University Press (Note: Winner 2008 Liz Carpenter Award for the best book on Texas Women’s History)
  • Blacks In East Texas History, Edited by Bruce A. Glasrud & Archie P. McDonald, Texas A&M University Press
  • Blood On German Snow, by Emiel W. Owens, Texas A&M University Press
  • The Blues Come to Texas: Paul Oliver and Mack McCormick’s Unfinished Book, by Paul Oliver and Mack McCormick, Texas A&M University Press
  • Born to Serve, A History of Texas Southern University, by Merline Pitre, University of Oklahoma Press
  • The Brackenridge Colored School: A Legacy of Empowerment through Agency and Cultural Capital Inside an African American Community, by Jerelyne Castleberry Williams, AuthorHouse
  • Brave Black Women, From Slavery to the Space Shuttle, by Ruthe Winegarten and Sharon Kahn, University of Texas Press
  • Bricks Without Straw, A Comprehensive History of African Americans in Texas, Written and Edited by David A. Williams, Eakin Press
  • Brothers In Arms, by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anthony Walton, PenguinRandomHouse
  • The Brownsville Texas Incident of 1906: The True and Tragic Story of a Black Battalion’s Wrongful Disgrace and Ultimate Redemption,” by William Baker, Lt.Col. (Ret.), Red Engine Press
  • The Brownsville Raid, by John D. Weaver, Texas A&M University Press
  • The Buffalo Soldier Tragedy of 1877, by Paul H. Carlson, Texas A&M University Press
  • Buffalo Soldiers in the West, A Black Soldiers Anthology, Edited by Bruce A. Glasrud and Michael N. Searles, Texas A&M University Press
  • Calvin Littlejohn, Portrait of a Community in Black and White, by Bob Ray Sanders, Texas Christian University Press
  • Carl Gardner: Yakety Yak I Fought Back, My Life With the Coasters, by Veta Gardner, AuthorHouse
  • Civil Rights in the Texas Borderlands, by Will Guzman, University of Illinois Press
  • The Colored Cadet at West Point: Autobiography of Lieutenant Henry Ossian Flipper, by Henry Ossian Flipper, Bison Books
  • Cougars of Any Color, by Katherine Lopez, McFarland Publishing
  • Crossing the Continent, 1527-1540, The Story of the First African-American Explorer of the American South (Esteban), by Robert Goodwin, HarperCollins
  • Cutting Along the Color Line, Black Barbers and Barber Shops In America, by Quincy T. Mills, University of Pennsylvania Press
  • The Dance of Freedom, Texas African Americans during Reconstruction, by Barry A. Crouch, University of Texas Press
  • Desegregating Texas Schools, Eisenhower, Shivers, and the Crisis at Mansfield High, by Robyn Duff Ladino, University of Texas Press
  • Destiny of Democracy: The Civil Rights Summit at the LBJ Presidential Library, by Mark Updegrove, The LBJ Presidential Library and the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin
  • Dethroning the Deceitful Port Chop, Rethinking African American Foodways, From Slavery to Obama, Edited by Jennifer Jensen Wallach, University of Arkansas Press
  • Disney’s Most Notorious Film — Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Song of the South, by Jason Sperb, University of Texas Press
  • Dog Ghosts, The Word on the Brazos, by J. Mason Brewer, University of Texas Press
  • Doris Miller, Pearl Harbor, and the Birth of the Civil Rights Movement, by Thomas W. Cutrer and T. Michael Parrish, Texas A&M University Press
  • down in Houston, Bayou City Blues, by Roger Wood, University of Texas Press
  • Earl Campbell, Yards After Contact, by Asher Price, University of Texas Press
  • Early Texas Schools, A Photographic History, text by Mary S. Black, photographs by Bruce F. Jordan, University of Texas Press
  • Eli Reed: A Long Walk Home, by Eli Reed, University of Texas Press
  • Emily D. West and the “Yellow Rose of Texas” Myth, by Phillip Thomas Tucker, McFarland Publishing
  • Equal Opportunity Hero: T. J. Patterson’s Service to West Texas, by Phil Price, Texas Tech University Press
  • Fair Ways, How Six Black Golfers Won Civil Rights in Beaumont, Texas, by Robert J. Robertson, Texas A&M University Press
  • The First Black United States Marines, The Men of Montford Point, 1942–1946, by Ronald K. Culp, McFarland Publishing
  • Five Generations Hence, The Life and Writing of Lillian Jones Horace,” edited by Karen Kossie-Chernyshev, Texas A&M University Press
  • Football at Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Texas, by Rob Fink, Texas A&M University Press
  • Frankie and Johnny: Race, Gender, and the Work of African American Folklore in 1930s America, by Stacy I. Morgan, University of Texas Press
  • Free Blacks in Antebellum Texas, edited by Bruce A. Glasrud and Milton S. Jordan, University of North Texas Press
  • The Freedman’s Bureau and Black Texans, by Barry A. Crouch, University of Texas Press
  • Freedom Colonies, Independent Black Texans During the Time of Jim Crow, by Thad Sitton and James H. Conrad, University of Texas Press
  • From Slave to Statesman, The Legacy of Joshua Houston, Servant to Sam Houston, by Patricia Smith Prather & Jane Clements Monday, UNT Press
  • The Garden of Eden, The Story of a Freedmen’s Community in Texas, by Drew Sanders, TCU Press
  • Glory Road, by Don Haskins with Dan Wetzel, Hatchette Book Group
  • Go Down, Old Hannah, by Naomi Mitchell Carrier, University of Texas Press
  • The Ground on Which I Stand, Tamina, a Freedmen’s Town, by Marti Corn, Texas A&M University Press
  • Guts: Lengendary Black Rodeo Cowboy Bill Pickett, by Cecil Johnson, The Summit Group
  • Henry Ossian Flipper, West Point’s First Black Graduate, by Jane Eppinga, Wild Horse Media Group LLC
  • Hope’s Gift, by Kelly Starling Lyons, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
  • Houston Bound, Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City, by Tyina Steptoe, University of California Press
  • Houston Cougars In the 1960’s — Death Threats, the Veer Offense, and the Game of the Century, by Robert D. Jacobus, Texas A&M University Press
  • If Not Me, Who?, by Wendell H. Baker, Sr., edited by Bruce A. Glasrud and Milton S. Jordan, Stephen F. Austin University Press
  • In Search of the Blues, by Bill Minutaglio, University of Texas Press
  • In Struggle against Jim Crow, Lulu B. White and the NAACP, 1900-1957, by Merline Pitre, Texas A&M University Press
  • Invisible Houston, The Black Experience In Boom and Bust, By Robert D. Bullard, Texas A&M University Press
  • Invisible Texans, Women and Minorities in Texas History, edited by Donald Willett and Stephen Curley, McGraw-Hill
  • Island of Color: Where Juneteenth Started, by Izola Ethel Fedford Collins, AuthorHouse
  • I’ve Been Out There, by Grady Gaines, Texas A&M University Press
  • J. Mason Brewer, Folklorist and Scholar: His Texas Writings, edited by Bruce A. Glasrud and Milton S. Jordan, Stephen F. Austin University Press.
  • Jack Johnson vs. James Jeffries, The Prize Fight of the Century, by Robert Greenwood, Jack Bacon & Company
  • Jazz Mavericks of the Lone Star State, by Dave Oliphant, University of Texas Press
  • The Jemima Code, Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks, by Toni Tipton-Martin, University of Texas Press
  • Joe, the Slave Who Became An Alamo Hero, by Ron J. Jackson, Lee Spencer White, University of Oklahoma Press
  • Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African-American Cooking: A Cookbook, by Toni Tipton-Martin, Penguin Random House
  • Juneteenth Texas, edited by Francis Edward Abernethy, Alan Govenar, and Patrick B. Mullen, University of North Texas Press
  • The Kids Got It Right, by Jim Dent, Thomas Dunne Books
  • King of Ragtime, Scott Joplin and His Era, by Edward A. Berlin, Oxford University Press
  • The Last Battle of the Civil War, Palmetto Ranch, by Jeffrey Wm Hunt, University of Texas Press
  • The Laws of Slavery In Texas, edited by Randolph B. Campbell, compiled by William S. Pugsley and Marilyn P. Duncan, UT Press.
  • Lay Bare the Heart, An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement, by James Farmer, Texas Christian University Press
  • Leavin’ A Testimony, Portraits from Rural Texas, By Patsy Cravens, University of Texas Press
  • Let’s Play Two — The Legend of Mr. Cub, the Life of Ernie Banks, by Ron Rapoport, Hachette Books
  • The Life and Adventures of Nat Love, by Nat Love, University of Nebraska Press
  • Life Is So Good, by George Dawson, Penguin Random House
  • Lone Star Splash, The History of Competitive Swimming in Black High Schools of texas, 1955-1967, by Thurman W. Robins, Ed.D., AuthorHouse
  • Lynching to Belong, Claiming Whiteness through Racial Violence, by Cynthia Skove Nevels, Texs A&M University Press
  • Make Haste Slowly: Moderates, Conservatives, and School Desegregation in Houston, by William Henry Kellar, Texas A&M University Press
  • Michael Ray Charles, A Retrospective, by Cherise Smith, University of Texas Press
  • The Moor’s Account, by Laila Lalami, Pantheon
  • Muskoga, Black Seminole Indians of Mexico and Texas, by Doug Sivad
  • My Life & Battles, by Jack Johnson, Praeger
  • My Life In the Ring & Out, by Jack Johnson, Dover Publications
  • My Master, The Inside Story of Sam Houston and His Times, by Jeff Hamilton, with Lenoie Hunt, Texas A&M University Press
  • My Remembers, A Black Sharecropper’s Recollections of the Depression, by Eddie Stimpson, Jr., University of North Texas Press
  • Native Speakers, by María Eugenia Cotera, University of Texas Press
  • The Negro and His Folklore in Nineteenth-Century Periodicals, edited by Bruce Jackson, University of Texas Press
  • No Color Is My Kind, The Life of Eldrewey Stearns and the Integration of Houston, by Thomas R. Cole, University of Texas Press
  • No Way but to Fight, George Foreman and the Business of Boxing, by Andrew R. M. Smith, University of Texas Press
  • The Other Great Migration: The Migration of Rural Blacks to Houston, 1900-1941, by Bernadette Pruitt, Texas A&M University Press (Note: Winner of the 2014 Ottis Lock Award for the best book on East Texas History)
  • Otis Taylor — The Need To Win, by Otis Taylor with Mark Stallard, Sports Publishing LLC
  • Our Land Before We Die, by Jeff Guinn, PenguinRandomHouse
  • Out of the Mouths of Slaves, African American Language and Educational Malpractice, by John Baugh, University of Texas Press
  • Playing in Shadows: Texas and Negro League Baseball, by Rob Fink, Texas Tech University Press
  • Poet, The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton, by Don Tate, Peachtree Publishers
  • Portraits of Community: African American Photography In Texas, by Alan Govenar, Texas State Historical Assn. Press
  • Prairie View, A Study In Public Conscience, 1878-1946, by George Ruble Woolfolk, Pageant Press
  • The Price for Their Pound of Flesh, by Daina Ramey Berry, Beacon Press
  • Prince Hall Freemasonry in the Lone Star State, by Robert L. Uzzel, Eakin Press.
  • Queen Bess, Daredevil Aviator, by Doris L. Rich, Smithsonian Institution Press
  • Race and the Houston Police Department, 1930-1990, by Dwight Watson, Texas A&M University Press
  • Racial Borders, Black Soldiers Along the Rio Grande, by James N. Leiker, Texas A&M University Press
  • Reaping a Greater Harvest, African Americans, the Extension Service, and Rural Reform in Jim Crow Texas, by Debra A. Reid, Texas A&M University Press
  • Recovering Five Generations Hence, The Life and Writing of Lillian Jones Horace, Edited by Karen Kossie-Chernyshev, Texas A&M University Press
  • Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America, by Cameron McWhirter, Macmillan Publishers
  • Reflections, Dickinson’s Black History, by Peggy Peterson Farmer
  • Remembering the Days of Sorrow, the WPA and the Texas Slave Narratives, by Ronald E. Goodwin, State House/McWhiney Foundation Press
  • Requiem For A Classic, the Thanksgiving Turkey Day Classic (Jack Yates-Phillis Wheatley football game), by Thurman W. Robins, Ed.D., AuthorHouse
  • Scott’s Official History of the Negro in the World War, by Emmett J. Scott, Homewood Press
  • Silent Gesture, The Autobiography of Tommie Smith, by Tommie Smith with David Steele, Temple University Press
  • Sista Speak! Black Women Kinfolk Talk About Language and Literacy, by Sonja Lanehart, University of Texas Press
  • Slam Dunk to Glory, by David Lattin, White Stone Books
  • The Slave Narratives of Texas, edited by Ron C. Tyler and Lawrence R. Murphy, Texas A&M University Press
  • Soul of the Man: Bobby “Blue” Bland, by Charles Farley, University Press of Mississippi
  • Southern Black Women in the Civil Rights Movement, edited by Bruce Glasrud and Merline Pitre, Texas A&M University Press (Note: Winner of the 2014 Liz Carpenter Award for the best book on Texas Women’s History)
  • Stages of Struggle and Celebration, A Production History of Black Theatre in Texas, by Sandra Mayo and Elvin Holt, University of Texas Press
  • Stormy Monday, The T-Bone Walker Story, by Helen Oakley Dance, LSU Press
  • The Strange Career of William Ellis, The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire, by Karl Jacoby, W.W. Norton & Co.
  • Styling Jim Crow, African American Beauty Training During Segregation, by Julia Kirk Blackwelder, Texas A&M University Press
  • Take-Off: American All-Girl Bands During World War II, by Tonya Bolden, Knopf Books for Young Readers
  • Texas Through Women’s Eyes, The Twentieth-Century Experience, by Judith N. McArthur and Harold L. Smith, University of Texas Press
  • There All the Honor Lies, by Harriet M. Murphy, University of Texas Press
  • They Cleared the Lane, by Ron Thomas, University of Nebraska Press
  • Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares: Black Leadership in Texas, 1870-1890, by Merline Pitre, Eakin Press
  • Thursday Night Lights, The Story of Black High School Football in Texas (2017), by Michael Hurd, UT Press
  • Till Freedom Cried Out, edited by T. Lindsay Baker and Julie P. Baker, Texas A&M University Press
  • Tomlinson Hill: The Remarkable Story of Two Families who Share the Tomlinson Name — One White, One Black, by Chris Tomlinson, Thomas Dunne Books.
  • A Treasury of African-American Christmas Stories, compiled and Edited by Bettye Collier-Thomas, Henry Holt Company
  • Two Texas Race Riots, by Fred L. McGhee, Fidelitas Publishing
  • Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, by Geoffrey C. Ward, Vintage Books
  • The Upshaws of County Line, An American Family, by Richard Orton, University of North Texas Press
  • Victory Courts: The Story of Coach Robert Hughes and the PVIL I.M. Terrell Panthers, by Robin L. Hughes, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
  • Waiting in Line at the Drugstore and Other Writings of James Thomas Jackson, by James Thomas Jackson, University of North Texas Press
  • Walls That Speak, by Olive Jensen Theisen, University of North Texas Press
  • We Could Not Fail, by Richard Paul and Steven Ross, University of Texas Press
  • Weeping Mary, by O. Rufus Lovett, University of Texas Press
  • What Do You Do with A Voice Like That?, by Chris Barton, illustrated by Ekua Holmes, Simon & Schuster
  • When the Saints Go Hobbling In: Emmett Jay Scott and the Booker T. Washington Movement, by Maceo C. Dailey, Jr., Sweet Earth Flying Press, LLC
  • Wheresoever My People Chance to Dwell, edited by Maceo C. Dailey, Jr., and Kristine Navarro, Black Classic Press
  • White Metropolis – Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Dallas, 1841-2001, by Michael Phillips, University of Texas Press.
  • With a Black Platoon in Combat, A Year in Korea, by Lyle Rishell, Texas A&M University Press