One Book One BART: Black History Month Reading List

Marcus Books is a historic independent bookshop located in Oakland near MacArthur Station. Photo courtesy of Keep America Beautiful. 

One Book One BART will be returning with a new book selection and events later this year. In the meantime, we want to encourage reading all year long!

Starting this February with Black History Month, we'll be crafting reading lists to highlight books that illuminate and educate readers about various subjects, histories, and experiences tied to annual heritage recognition months. The titles will be either written by local authors, set in the Bay Area, or cover local subjects. We encourage you to check out the books from your local public library branch or to purchase them from an independent bookstore (find a list of BARTable bookstores here).

Our next reading list will be published in March for Women’s History Month. 

For more information about One Book One BART, visit bart.gov/onebookonebart and sign up for the mailing list (use the box at the top of the page). Questions or suggestions? Email [email protected].  

Dr. Maya Angelou alongside her autobiography. Photo courtesy of What Jas Wrote.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Dr. Maya Angelou 

Before Maya Angelou became one of the most beloved American writers of all time, she was the first Black woman to work as a streetcar conductor in San Francisco. In her 1969 autobiography, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Angelou describes what drew her to the profession: “Women had replaced men on the streetcars as conductors and motormen, and the thought of sailing up and down the hills of San Francisco in a dark-blue uniform, with a money changer at my belt, caught my fancy.” 

Author Ishmael Reed discusses his activism with the New Yorker. Photo courtesy of the New Yorker.

Blues City: A Walk in Oakland by Ishmael Reed 

Ishmael Reed is a poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, composer, playwright, editor and publisher living in Oakland. He also served as a judge for BART’s first writing contest, BART Lines, in 2022. In Blues City, Reed takes his readers on a tour of Oakland’s cultural, historical, and geographical landscapes, from its hills and waterfronts to Black Panther reunions and Gay Pride concerts. 

On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton 

On the Rooftop was the Fall 2023 One Book One BART selection. The novel tells the story of three sisters growing up in the rapidly gentrifying Fillmore District of the 1950s as they navigate triumph and tragedy, love and loss. Sexton has been riding BART since she moved to the Bay Area from New Orleans in 2006. In November, she spoke at BART Headquarters in Oakland with author Vanessa Hua about the book, BART, and the Bay Area. Read more about the talk and the book club here. 

What You Don't Know Will Make a Whole New World by Dorothy Lazard 

Beloved local librarian and historian Dorothy Lazard writes about her upbringing in the Bay Area of the 1960s and 1970s in this stunning memoir, published by Berkeley-based indie publisher Heyday. Lazard describes her journey to becoming “the queen of my own nerdy domain” as well as her memories of the Summer of Love, the Black Arts Movement, and the redevelopment of Oakland. 

Heaven is All Goodbyes by Tongo Eisen-Marten 

San Francisco Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Marten was awarded the 2018 American Book Award 2018 PEN Oakland Award for this brilliant collection of poetry. Publisher City Lights describes the work as “a vortex of images, observations, inspired leaps and free associations spills forth from a choir living in oppression and transience.”  

How are you celebrating Black History Month?

Tell us about it on social media at SFBARTable and #SFBARTable! Keep up with us on Facebook and Instagram to see all of the best BARTable events, places to eat and where to have fun around the Bay.