I have a friend who's an older black woman and who I talk to about politics and the state of the world sometimes, she trusts my take on stuff and I want to suggest anything other than Michelle Obamas autobiography which she currently has.
She's a teacher, so bonus points for BIPOC educator authors
Jesmyn Ward is a great novelist. Honoree Fanonne Jeffers’s debut novel was very good, and seems like the kind of thing an older person would especially enjoy. (Multigenerational story, lots of local history and genealogy and such.)
For non-fiction, in addition to the folks others have mentioned, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Ruth Wilson Gilmore.