Visit the Denver Public Library’s website to browse their collection and reserve books from this list.
Visual Arts: Anthologies
- African Art Now: 50 Pioneers Defining African Art for the Twenty-first Century by Osei Bonsu
- African Artists: From 1882 to Now edited by Joseph L. Underwood and Chick Okeke-Agulu
- Black Art: A Cultural History by Richard J. Powell
- A Black Gaze: Artists Changing How We See by Tina Campt
- Blk Art: The Audacious Legacy of Black Artists and Models in Western Art by Zaria Ware
- When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting by Koyo Kouoh
- Prime: Art’s Next Generation edited by Phaidon
- Reading the Contemporary: African Art from Theory to the Marketplace edited by Olu Oguibe and Okwui Enwezor
- Black Futures edited by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham
- Postures: Body Language in Art by Morris Desmond
- Figuring History: Robert Colescott, Kerry James Marshall, Mickalene Thomas edited by Catharina Manchanda
- African: A Photographic Essay on Black Women of Ghana & Nigeria by Joseph Franklin
- In/sight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present edited by Octavio Zaya, Okwui Enwezor, and Oliu Oguibe
Visual Arts: Monographs
- Art and Race Matters: The Career of Robert Colescott by Robert Colescott
- David Hammons: Body Prints, 1968-1979 by David Hammons
- Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic by Eugenie Tsai
- Kehinde Wiley at the National Gallery: The Prelude edited by Christine Riding
- Kerry James Marshall: Mastry by Kerry James Marshall
- Mickalene Thomas by Roxane Gay
- Mickalene Thomas: Femme Noires by Michalene Thomas
- Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngoyama = Hail the Dark Lioness by Zanele Muholi
- Painting Harlem Modern: The Art of Jacob Lawrence by Patricia Hills
- Basquiat by Julian Voloj
- Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure by Lisane Basquiat
- You Look Beautiful Like That: The Portrait Photographs of Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé by Michelle Lamunière
Fashion
- The African Lookbook: A Visual History of 100 Years of African Women by Catherine E. McKinley
- The Art of Ruth E. Carter: Costuming Black History and the Afrofuture, from Do the Right Thing to Black Panther by Ruth E. Carter
- Black Designers in American Fashion edited by Elizabeth Way
- The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir by Andre Leon Talley
- Culture to Catwalk: How World Cultures Influence Fashion by Kristin Knox
- Fashion Central Saint Martins by Hywel Davies and Cally Blackman
- Fashion Criticism: An Anthology edited by Francesca Granata
- Textures: The History and art of Black Hair by Kent State University
- A Visible Man: A Memoir by Edward Enninful
- What Artists Wear by Charlie Porter
Music
- Hip Hop Files: Photographs 1979-1984 by Martha Cooper
- Music is History by Questlove
- Decoded by Jay-Z
- Jay-Z: Made in America by Michael Eric Dyson
- Becoming Beyonce: The Untold Story by J. Randy Taraborrelli
- Through the Wire: The Words and Lyrics of Kanye West by Ye
- Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America by Tricia Rose
- Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A Hip-Hop History by Jeff Chang
- The Rap Yearbook: The Most Important Rap Song from Every Year Since 1979 Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed by Shea Serrano
- The Power of Black Music: Interpreting its History from Africa to the United States by Samuel A. Floyd Jr.
- A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib
- 808s & Otherworlds: Memories, Remixes, & Mythologies by Sean Avery Medlin
- The Motherlode: 100+ Women Who Made Hip-Hop by Clover Hope
- Her Word is Bond: Navigating Hip Hop and Relationships in a Culture of Misogyny by Psalm One
Literature: Collections
- Afropolitan Literature as World Literature edited by James Hodapp
- New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent edited by Margaret Busby
Literature: African Authors
- Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi
- Sleep Well, My Lady by Kwei Quartey
- What Napoleon Could Not Do by DK Nnuro
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
- Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
- Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson
- Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
- A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown
- A Psalm of Storms and Silence by Roseanne A. Brown
Literature: American Authors
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
- Kindred by Octavia Butler
- Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Damian Duffy
- Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Damian Duffy
Literature: Poetry
- Woman, Eat Me Whole: Poems by Ama Asantewa Diaka
- The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou by Maya Angelou
- The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes
Black Thought Leaders
- The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois
- Souls of Black Folk: A Graphic Interpretation by Paul Peart-Smith
- WEB Du Bois’s Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America edited by Whitney Battle-Baptiste and Britt
- Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon
- The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History by David Walker
- Freedom!: The Story of the Black Panther Party by Jetta Grace
- Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People by Kekla Magoon
- Black Power: A Record of Reactions in a Land of Pathos by Richard Wright
- All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks
- The Will to Change by bell hooks
- Conversations with Angela Davis
- The Selected Works of Audre Lorde by Audre Lorde
- The Color Pynk: Black Femme Art for Survival by Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley
- Rebel Speak: A Justice Movement Mixtape by Bryonn Bain
- Strong Men Keep Coming: The Book of African American Men by Tonya Bolden
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
- The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race edited by Jesmyn Ward
- To Describe a Life: Notes from the Intersection of Art and Race Terror by Darby English
Children’s Books
- Anansi and the Golden Pot by Taiye Selasi
- Black artists rock!: The Cool Kids’ Guide A-Z by Cara Reese
- An Earth Song by Langston Hughes
- The Spider Weaver: A Legend of Kente Cloth by Margaret Musgrove
- Jake Makes a World: Jacob Lawrence, a Young Artist in Harlem by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts
- Blue by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
- Shuri and T’Challa: Into the Heartlands by Roseanne A. Brown
- Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by Javaka Steptoe
Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks is presented in partnership between Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and the Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco. The exhibition is curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah.
The presentation of this exhibition at the Denver Art Museum is organized by Rory Padeken, Vicki and Kent Logan Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. It is funded by Vicki and Kent Logan, the Birnbaum Social Discourse Project, U.S. Bank, the donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign, and the residents who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Promotional support is provided by 5280 Magazine and CBS Colorado.