We’re back with our latest edition of Stories That Move, our monthly cultural roundup celebrating truth, justice, and storytelling that transforms.
This month, we’re featuring our 2025 March On! Festival Reading List. A booklist we carefully curated with our partner Mahogany Books, a Black-owned, family-run independent bookstore committed to promoting reading, writing, and cultural awareness as tools to build self-esteem, self-love, and stronger communities.
In keeping with this year’s festival theme, The Right to Be Well, the booklist highlights books that explore health and wellness. It also includes works by our festival speakers and long-time supporters whose voices continue to inspire and shape the March On! community.
Together, we present twenty-six essential books that honor Black wisdom, wellness, and resilience. From reclaiming rest and reimagining leadership to confronting systemic inequities, each title offers a path toward more profound understanding and healing. The complete list is below and can be found and ordered on the Mahogany Books website.
The Empowered Hysterectomy
By Kameelah Phillips, M.D.
A compassionate and practical guide that helps women understand their options, advocate for themselves, and make informed choices about hysterectomy and reproductive health.
A Dream Deferred: Jesse Jackson and the Fight for Black Political Power
By Abby Phillip
A revelatory look at Jesse Jackson’s historic presidential campaigns and how they redefined Black political power and the possibilities for coalition building in America.
Baldwin: A Love Story
By Nicholas Boggs
An intimate portrait of James Baldwin that captures his relationships, passions, and the love that fueled his life’s work and enduring influence on art and activism.
Bibb Country: Unearthing My Family Secrets of Land, Legacy, and Lettuce
By Lonnae O’Neal
A journalist’s journey into her family’s Southern roots, exploring the intersections of land ownership, legacy, and racial history in America.
Black Girls Breathing: Heal from Trauma, Combat Chronic Stress, and Find Your Freedom
By Jasmine Marie
A groundbreaking wellness guide using breathwork and mindfulness to help Black women heal from generational trauma and reclaim joy, rest, and self-love.
Building Beloved Communities: The Life and Work of Rev. Dr. Paul Smith
By Hildi Hendrickson
A deeply inspiring biography chronicling the ministry and activism of Rev. Dr. Paul Smith, who dedicated his life to building inclusive, justice-driven communities.
Erased: What American Patriarchy Has Hidden from Us
By Anna Malaika Tubbs
An urgent call to recognize and recover the voices of women silenced by history—and to expose the systems of power that sustain inequality.
Grown Woman Talk
By Sharon Malone, M.D.
An essential guide empowering women, especially Black women, to take charge of their health. Dr. Malone draws from years of medical experience to address barriers to care, self-advocacy, and strategies for thriving through every life stage.
Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance
By A’Lelia Bundles
A dazzling biography of A’Lelia Walker, daughter of Madam C.J. Walker, whose salons and social circles helped define the creativity and brilliance of the Harlem Renaissance.
Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine
By Uché Blackstock, M.D.
A powerful blend of memoir and manifesto exposing racism in healthcare and charting a path toward justice, representation, and reform in medicine.
Living in Wisdom: A Path to Embodying Your Authentic Self, Embracing Grief, and Developing Self-Mastery
By Devi Brown
A spiritual and emotional guide to embracing authenticity, navigating loss, and cultivating self-mastery for a more peaceful, purposeful life.
Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church
By Kevin Sack
An extraordinary chronicle of Charleston’s Mother Emanuel Church—its resilience, its tragedies, and its profound role in America’s struggle for racial justice.
New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement
By Juan Williams
A timely exploration of how a new generation is carrying forward the fight for civil rights, demanding justice, and reshaping the movement for equality.
On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker
By A’Lelia Bundles
The definitive biography of America’s first self-made woman millionaire, tracing her rise from poverty to power and her enduring impact on business and Black women’s empowerment.
The Battle for the Black Mind
By Karida L. Brown
A powerful history revealing how the centuries-long struggle to control Black education continues to shape today’s battles over truth, democracy, and who gets to define knowledge and power.
The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic
By Lindsey Stewart
A sweeping celebration of Black women’s healing traditions, spirituality, and resilience across four centuries of American history.
The Idea of America: Reflections on Inequality, Democracy, and the Values We Share
By Darren Walker
A compelling collection of 97 essays that challenge Americans to bridge divides and rekindle our shared commitment to equality, justice, and the common good through courageous, values-driven leadership.
The Miracle of the Black Leg: Notes on Race, Human Bodies, and the Spirit of the Law
By Patricia J. Williams
Brilliant and provocative essays connecting race, law, medicine, and the body—inviting readers to reflect on justice, ethics, and humanity.
The Nap Ministry’s Rest Deck: 50 Practices to Resist Grind Culture
By Tricia Hersey
A beautifully designed deck of reflections and rituals reminding readers that rest is not laziness—it’s liberation.
To Be a Problem: A Black Woman’s Survival in the Racist Disability Rights Movement
By Dara Baldwin
A candid, courageous memoir revealing racism within the disability rights movement and reclaiming the power of intersectional advocacy.
Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship
By Dana A. Williams
An illuminating exploration of Toni Morrison’s groundbreaking work as an editor, championing voices that redefined American literature.
We Will Rest!: The Art of Escape
By Tricia Hersey
A visionary guide to radical rest and creative renewal—an invitation to imagine freedom through rest, resistance, and joy.
Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights
By Keisha N. Blain
A vital history of the Black women who shaped global human rights movements through courage, intellect, and visionary leadership.
Yet Here I Am: Lessons from a Black Man’s Search for Home
By Jonathan Capehart
An honest and moving memoir about identity, belonging, and resilience, tracing one man’s journey toward peace and purpose.
Our Unfinished March: The Violent Past and Imperiled Future of the Vote-A History, a Crisis, a Plan
By Eric H. Holder
A passionate defense of democracy, examining the history of voting rights and outlining a plan to protect the future of free and fair elections.
Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto
By Tricia Hersey
A transformative call to slow down, listen to your body, and reclaim rest as a spiritual and political act of resistance.
You can order your copies here.
Join the Movement: Help Us Keep These Stories Alive
We need your help to grow a vibrant community dedicated to uncovering and sharing stories that matter. Do you know of a powerful upcoming book or film on racial or social justice? Send your recommendations to leadership@marchonfest.org. You can also help by forwarding Stories That Move to friends and colleagues or sharing them on social media.
Together, we can preserve history, deepen our understanding, and inspire lasting change.
March On!
Kim Callinan
Executive Director
