🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Imani Perry
About Imani Perry Imani Perry is recognized for her wide-ranging expertise that crosses several fields including racial topics, law, literature, and the study of African-American culture. As an esteemed educator, she holds the position of Hughes-Rogers Professor teaching in African American Studies at the prestigious Princeton University. Additionally, her thoughts extend beyond the classroom as she contributes as a columnist for The Atlantic, sharing her insights with a broad audience. In 2022, Imani Perry’s exceptional writing skills were honored when she received the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Her book ‘South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation’ has been celebrated for its depth and powerful narrative.
All Book Series by Imani Perry
The Color of the Law
Series opener · book 1 of 60 · published 1999 Anthology · Gail Williams O'Brien
Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925-1945
Book 2 of 60 · published 2003 Anthology · Beth Tompkins Bates
Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta
Book 3 of 60 · published 2003 Anthology · Karen Ferguson
Root and Branch
Book 5 of 60 · published 2005 Anthology · Graham Russell Gao Hodges
The Black Arts Movement
Book 6 of 60 · published 2006 Anthology · James Smethurst
North Carolina Slave Narratives
Book 7 of 60 · published 2006 Anthology · William L. Andrews
A Little Taste of Freedom
Book 8 of 60 · published 2006 Anthology · Emilye Crosby
Battling the Plantation Mentality
Book 9 of 60 · published 2007 Anthology · Laurie B. Green
An African Republic
Book 10 of 60 · published 2007 Anthology · Marie Tyler-McGraw
A Faithful Account of the Race
Book 11 of 60 · published 2009 Anthology · Stephen G. Hall
Proudly We Can Be Africans
Book 13 of 60 · published 2009 Anthology · James H. Meriwether
A Movement Without Marches
Book 14 of 60 · published 2009 Anthology · Lisa Levenstein
Emancipation's Diaspora
Book 15 of 60 · published 2009 Anthology · Leslie A. Schwalm
African Cherokees in Indian Territory
Book 16 of 60 · published 2009 Anthology · Celia E. Naylor
Upbuilding Black Durham
Book 18 of 60 · published 2009 Anthology · Leslie Brown
All Bound Up Together
Book 20 of 60 · published 2009 Anthology · Martha S. Jones
First Fruits of Freedom
Book 21 of 60 · published 2010 Anthology · Janette Thomas Greenwood
David Ruggles
Book 22 of 60 · published 2010 Anthology · Graham Russell Gao Hodges
Torchbearers of Democracy
Book 24 of 60 · published 2010 Anthology · Chad L. Williams
Way Up North in Louisville
Book 26 of 60 · published 2010 Anthology · Luther Adams
North of the Color Line
Book 27 of 60 · published 2010 Anthology · Sarah-Jane Mathieu
The African American Roots of Modernism
Book 28 of 60 · published 2011 Anthology · James Smethurst
Left of the Color Line
Book 29 of 60 · published 2012 Anthology · Bill V. Mullen
War! What Is It Good For?
Book 30 of 60 · published 2012 Anthology · Kimberley Phillips Boehm
Grassroots Garveyism
Book 31 of 60 · published 2012 Anthology · Mary G. Rolinson
Death Blow to Jim Crow
Book 32 of 60 · published 2012 Anthology · Erik S. Gellman
Crossroads at Clarksdale
Book 33 of 60 · published 2012 Anthology · Francoise Nicole Hamlin
Help Me to Find My People
Book 34 of 60 · published 2012 Anthology · Heather Andrea Williams
American Africans in Ghana
Book 36 of 60 · published 2012 Anthology · Kevin K. Gaines
Cooking in Other Women’s Kitchens
Book 37 of 60 · published 2013 Anthology · Rebecca Sharpless
From the Bullet to the Ballot
Book 38 of 60 · published 2013 Anthology · Jakobi Williams
W. E. B. Du Bois and The Souls of Black Folk
Book 39 of 60 · published 2013 Anthology · Stephanie J. Shaw
Geographies of Liberation
Book 40 of 60 · published 2014 Anthology · Alex Lubin
Toward an Intellectual History of Black Women
Book 41 of 60 · published 2015 Anthology · Farah Jasmine Griffin,Mia E. Bay
Not Straight, Not White
Book 42 of 60 · published 2016 Anthology · Kevin J. Mumford
Colored Travelers
Book 44 of 60 · published 2016 Anthology · Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor
The Promise of Patriarchy
Book 48 of 60 · published 2017 Anthology · Ula Yvette Taylor
Black Litigants in the Antebellum American South
Book 49 of 60 · published 2018 Anthology · Kimberly M. Welch
Department Stores and the Black Freedom Movement: Workers, Consumers, and Civil Rights from the 1930s to the 1980s
Book 51 of 60 · published 2019 Anthology · Traci Parker
Radical Black Theatre in the New Deal
Book 52 of 60 · published 2020 Anthology · Kate Dossett
Blurring the Lines of Race and Freedom
Book 54 of 60 · published 2020 Anthology · A.B. Wilkinson
Slavery, Fatherhood, and Paternal Duty in African American Communities over the Long Nineteenth Century
Book 55 of 60 · published 2020 Anthology · Libra R. Hilde
The Colored Conventions Movement
Book 57 of 60 · published 2021 Anthology · P. Gabrielle Foreman
Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood
Book 59 of 60 · published 2021 Anthology · Crystal Lynn Webster
Arise Africa, Roar China
Latest in the series · book 60 of 60 · published 2021 Anthology · Yunxiang Gao
Dawoud Bey: Two American Projects
Latest in the series · book 2 of 2 · published 2020
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Imani Perry?
About Imani Perry Imani Perry is recognized for her wide-ranging expertise that crosses several fields including racial topics, law, literature, and the study of African-American culture. As an esteemed educator, she holds the position of Hughes-Rogers Professor teaching in African American Studies at the prestigious Princeton University. Additionally, her thoughts extend beyond the classroom as she contributes as a columnist for The Atlantic, sharing her insights with a broad audience.
Which Imani Perry series should I start with?
The best place to start is the John Hope Franklin series, the earliest of Imani Perry's multi-book series: it opens with The Color of the Law (1999) and runs to 60 books across 1999–2021, ending with Arise Africa, Roar China (2021).
How many books has Imani Perry written?
Imani Perry has 71 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1999 and 2025. 60 of them belong to 1 named series — the largest being the John Hope Franklin series with 60 books — and 11 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Imani Perry's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Imani Perry's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are John Hope Franklin (1999–2021, 60 books).
How are Imani Perry's books organised into series?
This guide splits Imani Perry's 71 books into 1 named series and 11 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: John Hope Franklin (60 books, 1999–2021).