Cultural Literature

Discover the reigns of twelve African queens and warriors from across the continent in this immersive and pioneering history. Njinga Mbande. Nana Yaa Asantewaa. Makobo Modjadji VI. Ranavalona the First. These queens and warriors ruled vast swathes of...

A celebration of the joyful power of African American quilts, featuring images of over 100 quilts, new research and essaysThe first publication dedicated to historical African American quilts in California, Routed West traces the flow and flourishing of...

In this controversial national bestseller, former NBA star and author of I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It Charles Barkley takes on the major issue of our time. Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man is a series of charged, in-your-face conversations about race...

*PREORDER FROM NOW UNTIL MAY 13TH AND GET A SIGNED COPY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST* In collaboration with the Malcolm X Estate, this powerful biography for young readers is a modern classic in the making, written by #1 New York Times-bestselling, National...

The astonishing little-known history of Harlem racketeer Madame Stephanie St. Clair, one of the only female crime bosses and a Black, self-made businesswoman in early twentieth-century New York. In her heyday, Stephanie St. Clair went by many names, but...

Black Surrealist. Poet. Collage artist. Jazz trumpeter. Painter. Member of the Beat Generation. Life-long wanderer. Pan-Africanist. Black Power agitator. Author of his own "poem-life." Ted Joans (1928-2003) was all of these things, and yet none of these...

Revealing a history that is deep, broad, and infuriating, The Black Tax casts a bold light on the racist practices long hidden in the shadows of America's tax regimes. American taxation is unfair, and it is most unfair to the very people who critically...

A vivid firsthand record of the stain of white supremacy and the outspoken resistance of Black and white Americans who envisioned a better, more just nation W.E.B. Du Bois famously identified "the problem of the color-line" as the defining issue in...

A revelatory first look at the painting practice of artist Lorna Simpson, whose work combines abstraction and figuration to highlight issues of identity and representation Though Lorna Simpson (b. 1960) is perhaps best known as a photographer, this...

By challenging the rules of enslavement and, later, pushing the boundaries of free citizenship in North Carolina, Lunsford Lane (1803-79) became a folk hero to many enslaved Southerners, as well as a generation of abolitionists. Author of a unique "slave...

From his early self-portraits to his site-specific installations, this volume underscores Rashid Johnson's fearless engagement with the central themes, questions and aesthetics of the contemporary eraCo-organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and...

This exploration of Black dandy fashion and its representation in art and literature highlights the vibrant, complicated legacy of a recognizable yet constantly shifting style, from its origins in Enlightenment Europe to the contemporary art and fashion...

The canonical work of cultural criticism by the "profoundly influential critic" (Artnet), in a beautiful thirtieth-anniversary edition, featuring a new foreword by esteemed visual artist Mickalene Thomas"Sharp and persuasive." --The New York Times Book...

"Darius has always been one of my favorite people to sing with and to call a friend in this industry and yet even knowing him well for as long as I have, there are so many incredible stories in Life's Too Short that I enjoyed learning for the first time...

Shonda Buchanan weaves a prism of language, sound and light around and through the life of concert pianist, singer and Civil Rights activist, the incomprehensible Nina Simone. With this book, Buchanan is declaring this The Century of the Black Woman,...

The astonishing debut monograph from contemporary abstract expressionist painter Genesis TramaineGimme Some Sugar is the much-anticipated first monograph from Genesis Tramaine, the renowned American artist whose star continues to rise in the...