Celebrating Black History Month with 278 Leadership Books + a Powerful New Release

To celebrate Black History Month, we've updated our Leadership Book List by Black Authors to include 278 books. This list kicks off the fifth year CuriosityBased has researched and created lists of leadership books for each of the heritage and history months. We believe that to enrich how we lead, we need to expand who we read. We also need to expand how we define "leadership," which is why these lists include memoirs by leaders. 

On this year’s Black Authors list are first-time Seattle-area authors James Whitfield, whom I’ve personally known for over ten years, and his partner in work and life, Kristen Whitfield. Their book, Reimagine Equity: Leading Strategically to Fulfill the Promise of DEI, is coming out this month. Writing about diversity, equity, and inclusion feels especially bold right now, as DEI is under attack and funding for related programs and initiatives continues to be pulled back.

The book lives up to its promise. After reading it, I genuinely feel that “equity” has been reimagined for me. The authors offer remarkable clarity about what equity actually means. They start with the literal definition of equity, that is ownership in an asset or company, and apply this definition to the responsibility of creating a culture that fulfills the promise of DEI. In their framing, “equity is shared ownership.”

They also clarify that equity is not a “predetermined outcome.” Instead, it’s about “ensuring processes and practices” that define both “a shared definition of success,” and, “meaningful collaboration to overcome barriers to success as perceived by the different (diverse) people involved (inclusion) within a system.”

One of my biggest a-ha moments came when the Whitfields distinguished between building racial equity and fighting racism. Much of the work in the U.S. focuses on anti-racism, which they describe as dismantling the structures that perpetuate racism. While they acknowledge the importance of those efforts, they are clear that “racial equity is about what gets built instead.” As they write, it’s about “practical ways people can work together within specific systems to build toward a new and reimagined future where all races can thrive.”

While they focus on racial equity, I found myself imagining how this approach could apply to any group that feels marginalized at work. Reimagine Equity is full of easy-to-understand analogies and practical guidance, making complex ideas feel both accessible and actionable.

Check out this book and others on this month’s leadership book list. We know there are plenty of titles missing with our current book list. Please let us know if you have any recommendations of leadership books by Black American authors for us to include next year.

Check out the list

Since we work really hard to create these lists, we hope these authors will get the attention they deserve! If you think this list is valuable, please share it and spread the word. Here’s a sample text you can use when sending this booklist out to your network: “Want to read leadership narratives written by Black Americans? Check this out! (https://tinyurl.com/4wj9ybwy). #diverseleadershipauthors #blackleadershipauthors #blackhistorymonth #expandwhoweread #enrichhowwelead”

You can check out our other leadership book lists by those who identity as women, those who identify as having disabilities, Hispanic/Latino/Latinx, LGBTQ, Native American, and AAPI. We are always adding to these lists, so please send more recommendations our way. View all of our leadership book lists here.

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I’m Dr. Julie Pham and I founded CuriosityBased to help people practice curiosity in the world, starting in the workplace, because that is where we spend most of our waking hours. Follow CuriosityBased on LinkedIn and subscribe to the CuriosityBased YouTube channel and to our weekly newsletter for helpful communication and relationship-building tips.