Read-alikes and related books

Books like The Upstart

If you loved The Upstart by William Jerome Johnson, this shelf of 24 books shares the same pull — rooted in Cultural, Ethnic & Regional, African American & Black, and Biography & Autobiography.

Cultural, Ethnic & Regional African American & Black Biography & Autobiography

Top related books to The Upstart

Strong read-alikes chosen for how closely they echo the themes and feel of The Upstart.

We Go High How 30 Women of Colour Achieved Greatness against all Odds — Nicole Ellis

We Go High How 30 Women of Colour Achieved Greatness against all Odds

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

American Negra A Memoir — Natasha S. Alford

American Negra A Memoir

Natasha S. Alford

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

Grant Me Vision A Journey of Family, Faith, and Forgiveness — Sabrina Greenlee

Grant Me Vision A Journey of Family, Faith, and Forgiveness

Sabrina Greenlee

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

This Changes Everything A Surprisingly Funny Story about Race, Cancer, Faith, and Other Things We Don’t Talk About — Tyler Merritt

This Changes Everything A Surprisingly Funny Story about Race, Cancer, Faith, and Other Things We Don’t Talk About

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave — Frederick Douglass

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

Frederick Douglass

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

Oprah Winfrey The Real Story — George Mair

Oprah Winfrey The Real Story

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, Virginia — Nat Turner

The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, Virginia

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

The New Negro The Life of Alain Locke — Jeffrey C. Stewart

The New Negro The Life of Alain Locke

Jeffrey C. Stewart

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

The Same River Twice Honoring the Difficult — Alice Walker

The Same River Twice Honoring the Difficult

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

A Call to Courage — M. K. Eddleman

A Call to Courage

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

The Spencer Haywood Rule Battles, Basketball, and the Making of an American Iconoclast — Marc J. Spears

The Spencer Haywood Rule Battles, Basketball, and the Making of an American Iconoclast

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

Little Leaders Bold Women in Black History — Vashti Harrison

Little Leaders Bold Women in Black History

Vashti Harrison

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

Everything and Nothing at Once A Black Man’s Reimagined Soundtrack for the Future — Joel L. Daniels

Everything and Nothing at Once A Black Man’s Reimagined Soundtrack for the Future

Joel L. Daniels

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

Portraits of African-American Heroes — Tonya Bolden

Portraits of African-American Heroes

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

The Swans of Harlem Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History — Karen Valby

The Swans of Harlem Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

Black Lives, American Love Essays on Race & Resilience — D. B. Maroon

Black Lives, American Love Essays on Race & Resilience

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown — Theodore Taylor

The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown

Theodore Taylor

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

The Real Hoosiers Crispus Attucks High School, Oscar Robertson, and the Hidden History of Hoops — Jack McCallum

The Real Hoosiers Crispus Attucks High School, Oscar Robertson, and the Hidden History of Hoops

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

Capitol Games The Inside Story of Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill, and a Supreme Court Nomination — Timothy M. Phelps

Capitol Games The Inside Story of Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill, and a Supreme Court Nomination

Timothy M. Phelps

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

Self-Portrait in Black and White Unlearning Race — Thomas Chatterton Williams

Self-Portrait in Black and White Unlearning Race

Thomas Chatterton Williams

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

Lady Sings the Blues — Billie Holiday

Lady Sings the Blues

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

In the Blink of an Eye An Autobiography — Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

In the Blink of an Eye An Autobiography

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

Michelle A Biography — Liza Mundy

Michelle A Biography

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl — Harriet Jacobs

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Themes: Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography

Fans of The Upstart by William Jerome Johnson will find 24 titles here, all united by Cultural, Ethnic & Regional, African American & Black, Biography & Autobiography. Authors represented include Nicole Ellis, Natasha S. Alford, Sabrina Greenlee, Tyler Merritt, and others.

Explore more

More by William Jerome Johnson More books tagged Cultural, Ethnic & Regional Explore African American & Black

An informational database of English-language books