*The Autobiography of Malcolm X
1964 classic. One of Time's ten most important non-fiction books of the twentieth century.
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
Maxine Hong Kingston's innovative autobiographical portrayal of multiple intersecting identities – immigrant, female, Chinese, American. Originally published in 1976.
*Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
Coming-of-age "biomythography" by the "Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet" Audre Lorde. Originally published in 1982.
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Brother, I'm Dying
Award-winning family memoir from 2007 by Haitian American writer Edwidge Danticat.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Award-winning memoir by Ishmael Beah telling of the author's experiences as a boy soldier in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. Published in 2007.
Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir
Book originally published in 2012 by Deborah A. Miranda that is part tribal history, and part family memoir.
Men We Reaped: A Memoir
By African American writer Jesmyn Ward. 2013 memoir about the deaths of five Black men in the author's life.
*Between the World and Me
Bestselling book from 2015 by Ta-Nehisi Coates combining personal narrative with reimagined history. Between the World and Me is written in the form of a letter by the author to his son about what it means to grow up as a Black male in the United States.
*The Home Place
2016 family memoir by ecology professor J. Drew Lanham about race and the American landscape. E-book.
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body
2017 memoir by bestselling author Roxane Gay about food, bodies, and trauma.
Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir of Transracial Adoption
Award-winning memoir first published in 2018. Susan Devan Harness relates her experiences of being a Native child brought up by a White couple in the American West.
Heart Berries: A Memoir
Terese Marie Mailhot's 2018 memoir about growing up on an Indian reservation in Canada, and her family's trauma. E-book.
Heavy: An American Memoir
Award-winning memoir by Kiese Laymon examining racism and oppression in North America. Published in 2018.
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
Memoir from 2018 by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele about the founding of Black Lives Matter.
In the Dream House: A Memoir
Memoir about domestic abuse within a Queer relationship by Carmen Maria Machado. Published in 2019.
Native Country of the Heart: A Memoir
Mother-daughter memoir by Queer Chicana writer and activist Cherríe Moraga. Published in 2019.
*The Truths We Hold
New York Times bestseller by Vice President Kamala Harris. Published in 2019.
The Yellow House
Award-winning family memoir by Sarah Broom set in New Orleans. Published in 2019.
A History of My Brief Body
Autobiographical essay collection by Queer Indigenous writer Billy-Ray Belcourt. From 2020. E-book.
*Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
2020 work by Cathy Park Hong that is both memoir and cultural criticism, and which examines Asian American consciousness. Please be aware that part of this book discusses a rape case, and may cause some distress. E-book.
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