Hawaiʻi State
Public Library System

Posted on: June 16, 2025 | Category: News

The Hawaii State Public Library System (HSPLS) commemorates and celebrates Juneteenth, an important day in American history. Juneteenth is the observance of June 19, 1865, the day when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas learned that they were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.  Juneteenth, a combination of the words “June” and “nineteenth,” was established as an official federal holiday in 2021.

Our public libraries are all about learning, building, understanding, and growing. HSPLS has a collection of physical and digital books that focus on the important topic of racial injustice from a historical and personal perspective.

Please join us on a journey of learning through books on the history of Juneteenth, slavery in the U.S., and significant figures in the abolition movement.

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Wilkerson, Isabel. The warmth of other suns: The epic story of America’s great migration. 2010. Chronicles the long migration of African Americans who fled the South after emancipation. Wilkerson interviewed more than a thousand individuals and accessed new data and records to write this account of how these journeys unfolded. (Also in eBook, eAudio, and CD)

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Berry, Daina Ramey. A Black women’s history of the United States.  2020. Celebrates Black women and their important contributions to our country. Features diverse stories and experiences from the times of slavery to present day. (Also in eBook)

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Dyson, Michael Eric. Long time coming: Reckoning with race in America. 2020. Dyson calls on America to combat racial injustice while remembering the victims of racial violence including Breonna Taylor, Emmett Till and others.

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Hurston, Zora Neale. Barracoon: the story of the last “black cargo.”  2018. In 1927, Hurston interviewed Cudjo Lewis, who was one of the last survivors of the Atlantic slave trade.  Chronicles Lewis’ life from his childhood in Africa to the horrors of slavery and to his life after emancipation. This amazing and tragic account remained unpublished until 2018. (Also in eAudio)

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Raines Ben. The last slave ship: the true story of how Clotilda was found, her descendants, and an extraordinary reckoning. 2022.  Tells the story of the last ship in history to bring enslaved Africans to the United States, in addition to showing the amazing strength and resilience of the people who arrived on the ship and their descendants. (Also in eBook)

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Smith, Clint. How the word is passed: a reckoning with the history of slavery across America. 2021. Smith leads the reader through a tour of U.S. monuments and landmarks and offers an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation’s collective history and ourselves. (Also in eBook and eAudio)

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Dunbar, Erica Armstrong. She came to slay: the life and times of Harriet Tubman. 2019. Dunbar presents a fresh take on this American icon blending biography, illustrations, photos, and engaging sidebars that illuminate the life of Tubman.

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Gordon-Reed, Annette. On Juneteenth. 2021. Recounts the origins of Juneteenth and its importance to the history of the United States, as told by an award-winning historian and best-selling author. (Also eBook, eAudio)

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Taylor, Nicole A. Watermelon & red birds: A cookbook for Juneteenth and Black celebrations. 2022. Celebrate Juneteenth with delicious recipes for salads, barbeque, desserts and more. Learn how to make yummy dishes that combine traditional African American cuisine with twenty-first century flavors. (Also in eBook)

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Hannah-Jones, Nikole. The 1619 Project: A new origin story.  2021.  Expanded version of the New York Times article that explored the consequences of slavery in American history. Compiles new perspectives from prominent African American writers, historians and poets. (Also in eBook and eAudio)

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Kendi, Ibram X. Four hundred souls: A community history of African America, 1619-2019.  2021.  Kendi brings together 90 black writers who each contribute chapters about periods of time between the arrival of the first African slaves in America to modern times. Explores the diversity and nuances of African American experiences and history. (Also in eBook and eAudio)

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Blight, David W. Frederick Douglass: prophet of freedom.  2018.  Douglass was a former slave who rose to be one of the most significant figures in the abolition movement. This authoritative and detailed book is based in part on recently discovered papers. (Also in eBook and eAudio)

For more information or if you need assistance in obtaining any of these titles, contact your local library.