10 Black Coffee Table Books Perfect For Gifting & Celebrating Black Culture

by Anitra Terrell

 

10 Black Coffee Table Books Perfect for Gifting and Celebrating Black Culture

10 Black Coffee Table Books Perfect for Gifting

Books are always a great gift idea and despite the amount of entertainment choices we have (from smart phones to streaming services) the popularity of books remains at an all time high. There's something about shutting everything off and tuning into a thrilling story or informative autobiography.

But there's something about coffee table books that make them extra special gifts. They combine history and story telling with visual eye candy in a way that provides inspiration, not to mention they really jazz up a coffee table. Coffee table books look beautiful stacked for instant dimension or placed on a bookshelf for added color.

We've curated a list of 10 Black Coffee Table Books Perfect for Gifting and Celebrating Black Culture. This list contains new releases from up and coming black authors as well as stunning imagery of black films, models, artists, musicians, dancers and more.

We consider this list a celebration because it showcases the brilliance, creativity, perseverance and joy that only black culture provides. And when you gift these books you'll be apart of that celebration while sharing black culture and black history.

I've got my eye on #7, 4 and 1. Which books will you be gifting this year? Let me know in the comments below!

10 Black Coffee Table Books Perfect for Gifting & Celebrating Black Culture

10. Ebony: Covering Black America 

Ebony covering black america book

We all have a family member who had Ebony magazines around the house now you can have a piece of that legacy in your home or office. 

EBONY magazine has chronicled and celebrated Black life for more than seven decades. EBONY: Covering Black America includes more than 600 covers and photographs featuring historic figures, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Congresswoman Barbara Jordan; political figures Barack and Michelle Obama; entertainers such and Prince; and notables in the world of sports, from the iconic Muhammad Ali to Olympic gold medalist, Simone Biles.

Curated by Lavaille Lavette, the book also features an array of articles divided by categories including Civil Rights & Social Justice, Love & Family, EBONY Men, EBONY Women, and EBONY Music. 

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Kwame Brathwaite black is beautiful coffee table book
Beginning in the early 1960s, Brathwaite photographed stories for black publications such as the New York Amsterdam News, City Sun, and Daily Challenge, helping set the stage for the Black Arts and Black Power movements. By the 1970s, Brathwaite was one of the era’s top concert photographers, shaping the images of such public figures as Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, James Brown, and Muhammad Ali. 
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This monograph―the first ever dedicated to Brathwaite’s remarkable career―tells the story of a key, but under-recognized, figure of the second Harlem Renaissance.
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The Rihanna Book

 

From her Barbados childhood to her worldwide tours, from iconic fashion moments to private time with friends and family, the book showcases intimate photographs of her life as an artist, performer, designer, and entrepreneur. Many of these images have never before been published.

Rihanna fans or fans of black girl magic will love this large-format book with 504 pages, over 1,000 color images on 3 paper stocks and 7 single- and double-page gatefolds, 9 bound-in booklets, and a double-sided, removable poster.

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the african look book
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The African Lookbook captures the dignity, playfulness, austerity, grandeur, and fantasy-making of African women across centuries. It's an unprecedented visual history of African women told in striking and subversive historical photographs.
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Curator Catherine E. McKinley draws on her extensive collection of historical and contemporary photos to present a visual history spanning a hundred-year arc (1870–1970) of what is among the earliest photography on the continent. These images tell a different story of African women: how deeply cosmopolitan and modern they are in their style; how they were able to reclaim the tools of the colonial oppression that threatened their selfhood and livelihoods.
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dandy lion mens fashion coffee table book
This is one of my favorite books to gift male friends and family members.
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Suits that pop with loud colors and dazzling patterns, complete with a nearly ubiquitous bowtie, define the style of the new “dandy.” Described as “high-styled rebels” by author Shantrelle P. Lewis, black men with a penchant for color and refined fashion, both new and vintage, have gained popular attention in recent years, influencing mainstream fashion.
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Dandy Lion presents and celebrates individual dandy personalities, designers and tailors, movements and events that define contemporary dandyism. Throughout the book, self-expression is communicated through personal style, clothing, shoes, hats, and swagger. Lewis’s carefully curated selection of contemporary photographs surveys the movement across the globe in spectacular form, with all of the vibrant patterns, electrifying colors, and fanciful poses of this brilliant style subculture.
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I Can Make You Feel Good: Tyler Mitchell
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I Can Make You Feel Good, is a 206-page celebration of photographer and filmmaker Tyler Mitchell's distinctive vision of a Black utopia. The book unifies and expands upon Mitchell's body of photography and film from his first US solo exhibition at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York.
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Each page of I Can Make You Feel Good is full bleed and bathed in Mitchell's signature candy-colored palette. With no white space visible, the book's design mirrors the photographer's all-encompassing vision which is characterized by a use of glowing natural light and rich color to portray the young Black men and women he photographs with intimacy and optimism.
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Jean-Michel Basquiat. 40th Ed
One of the most prolific black artists of a generation, Jean-Michel Basquiat's work is as strong as ever and this coffee table book would make a great addition to any art lovers collection.
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Synonymous with 1980s New York, the artist first appeared in the late 1970s under the tag SAMO, spraying caustic comments and fragmented poems on the walls of the city. He appeared as part of a thriving underground scene of visual arts and graffiti, hip hop, post-punk, and DIY filmmaking, which met in a booming art world. As a painter with a strong personal voice, Basquiat soon broke into the main stream, exhibiting in galleries around the world.
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supreme models: black women who revolutionized fashion book
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To date, there has never been an art book devoted exclusively to black models. Supreme Models fills that void, paying tribute to black models past and present: from the first to be featured in catalogs and on magazine covers, like Iman, Beverly Johnson, and Donyale Luna, to the supermodels who reigned in the nineties--Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell.
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The book also observes the newest generation of models--Adwoa Aboah, Jourdan Dunn, and Joan Smalls--who are shaking up the fashion industry by speaking out about racial prejudice and becoming social media sensations. 
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Written by celebrity stylist and journalist Marcellas Reynolds, Supreme Models features more than 70 women from the last 75 years. The book is filled with gorgeous photographs of the women, and details their most memorable covers, campaigns, runway shows, and editorials. Black models have been influencing fashion and pop culture for decades, reshaping the standards and boundaries of beauty. Supreme Models is a celebration of their monumental impact.
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Dance Theatre of Harlem: A History, A Movement, A Celebration

 

From its modest beginnings in the 1960s in a Harlem church basement, to its meteoric rise to international fame, the Dance Theatre of Harlem ignited the world with one simple, still-revolutionary statement: All can do ballet. 

With exclusive backstage stories from its legendary dancers and staff, and unprecedented access to its archives, Dance Theatre of Harlem is a striking chronicle of the company's amazing history, its fascinating daily workings, and the visionaries who made its legacy.

Here you’ll discover how the company’s founders—African-American maestro Arthur Mitchell of George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet, and Nordic-American Karel Shook of The Dutch National Ballet--created timeless works that challenged Eurocentric mainstream ballet head-on—and used new techniques to examine ongoing issues of power, beauty, myth, and the ever-changing definition of art itself.

 

1. Spike - Spike Lee

spike lee new coffee table book

Spike Lee is a world-renowned, Academy Award-winning filmmaker, cultural icon, and one of the most prominent voices on race and racism for more than three decades. His prolific career has included over 35 films, including his directorial debut She's Gotta Have It (1986), his seminal masterpiece Do the Right Thing (1989), and more recently, his Oscar-winning film BlacKkKlansman (2018).

This career-spanning monograph titled SPIKE is a visual celebration of his life and career to date. As soon as you open the book you'll be transported to the world and work of Spike Lee's films. The behind the scenes photography is stunning and a trip down memory lane. 

This is book is a must-have collector's item and ideal gift for any cinephile and fan of one of the most prominent and influential filmmakers in history

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I hope you enjoyed our round up of 10 Black Coffee Table Books Perfect for Gifting and Celebrating Black Culture. 

Anyone of these books would make a thoughtful gift, even if you're treating yourself. If you have suggestions for other black books that should make the list please share in the comments.

We love cultural gifts sets around here! Here's some items from the shop that will pair nicely with your coffee table book: Coffee mugs, coasters and baskets.

Check out our entire collection of African decor and accessories at www.reflektiondesign.com

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