Obama Recommends Black History Month Reading List The nonfiction list includes classic books and some important works you could finish reading during lunch.

Former President Barack Obama has shared an eclectic Black History Month nonfiction reading list to help Americans "better understand our country's past and our evolving, persistent struggles with race."

"I wanted to share a nonfiction reading list that can help to provide some essential context about the challenges that many people of color face every day," Obama wrote in a Facebook post. "From modern memoirs to cornerstones of the American narrative, these works can help us better understand our country's past and our evolving, persistent struggles with race -- and they can be fuel on our journey toward a more fair and just future for all of our sons and daughters."

Related: 10 of the Most Influential African-American Inventors

The reading list includes:

• The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
• Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
• Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
• A Stone of Hope: A Memoir by Jim St. Germain with Jon Sternfeld
• The Upshot from The New York Times: Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys
• The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
• The Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight