From the list below, the reader will gain a comprehensive understanding of why communism, and, consequently, the late Fidel Castro, was so appealing to black people throughout the world. This list is not meant to be exhaustive, yet offers an introduction to the topic for readers interested in learning more. Please feel free to add suggestions of pertinent readings in the comments section.

• Adi, Hakim. Pan-Africanism and Communism: The Communist International, Africa and the Diaspora, 1919-1939.
• Amis, B.D. African American Radical: A Short Anthology of Writings and Speeches.
• Andrews, Gregg. Thyra J. Edwards: Black Activist in the Global Freedom Struggle.
• Davies, Carole Boyce. Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones.
• De los Reyes Castillo Bueno, Maria. Reyita: The Life of a Black Cuban Woman in the Twentieth Century.
• Duberman, Martin Bauml. Paul Robeson.
• Gore, Dayo. Radicalism at the Crossroads: African American Women Activists in the Cold War.
• Haywood, Harry. Black Bolshevik: Autobiography of an Afro-American Communist.
• Hughes, Langston. I Wonder as I Wander: An Autobiographical Journey.
• Hutchinson, Earl. Blacks and Reds: Race and Class in Conflict, 1919-1990.
• Horne, Gerald. Black Liberation/Red Scare: Ben Davis and the Communist Party.
• Horne, Gerald. Paul Robeson: The Artist as Revolutionary.
• Horne, Gerald. Black Revolutionary: William Patterson and the Globalization of the African American Freedom Struggle.
• Kelley, Robin D.G. Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination.
• Kelley, Robin D.G. Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression.
• Lieberman, Robbie and Clarence Lang. Anticommunism and the African American Freedom Movement: “Another Side of the Story”
• Lumumba, Patrice and Sankar Srinivasan. May our People Triumph: Poem, Speeches & Interviews.
• Makalani, Minkah. In the Cause of Freedom: Radical Black Internationalism from Harlem to London, 1917-1939.
• McDuffie, Erik S. Sojourning for Freedom: Black Women, American Communism, and the Making of Black Left Feminism.
• Morrison, Karen Y. Cuba’s Racial Crucible: The Sexual Economy of Social Identities, 1750-2000.
• Naison, Mark. Communists in Harlem during the Great Depression.
• Painter, Nell Irvin. The Narrative of Hosea Hudson: His Life as a Negro Communist in the South.
• Robinson, Cedric J. Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition.
• Robinson, Robert. Black on Red: My 44 Years Inside the Soviet Union.
• Smith, Homer. Black Man In Red Russia: A Memoir.
• Solomon, Mark. The Cry Was Unity: Communists and African Americans, 1917-1936.

originally posted here