Cultural Literature

Discover the contributions notable Black South Carolinians gave to bring encouragement and inspiration to their communities.Did you know that eighty-eight years before Rosa Parks's historic protest, a courageous black woman in Charleston kept her seat on...

First published in 1990, Michele Wallace's Invisibility Blues is widely regarded as a landmark in the history of black feminism. Wallace's considerations of the black experience in America include recollections of her early life in Harlem; a look at the...

Blues was once described as the devil's music. It eventually became some of the most beloved American music that was embraced by a global audience. Originating in African American communities in the South in the late 1800s, it was inspired by gospel and...

A vividly told tale of a forgotten American hero--an impassioned newsman who fought for the right to speak out against slavery. The history of the fight for free press has never been more vital in our own time, when journalists are targeted as "enemies...

A "moving...dramatic" (David Ebershoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Danish Girl), and urgent call to action for immigration justice by a Nigerian asylee and global gay rights and immigration activist Edafe Okporo. On the eve of Edafe...

A compelling reckoning with the birth of women's health that illuminates the sacrifices of a young woman who changed the world only to be forgotten by it--until now For more than a century, Dr. J. Marion Sims was hailed as the "father of modern...

Poem of Stone and Bone: The Iconography of James W. Washington Jr. in Fourteen Stanzas and Thirty-One Days documents four site-specific installations Carletta Carrington Wilson created in 2011 on the Seattle property of noted African American sculptor...

From one of Africa's most influential and eloquent essayists, a posthumous collection that highlights his biting satire and subversive wisdom on topics from travel to cultural identity to sexuality "Africa is the only continent you can love--take...

Why do people pass? Fifteen writers reveal their experiences with passing. For some, "passing" means opportunity, access, or safety. Others don't willingly pass but are "passed" in specific situations by someone else. We Wear the Mask, edited by Brando...

Part revisionist history, part treasure hunt, this is the forgotten story of Ethiopia's 'Elgin Marbles' and a young prince taken out of Africa to live in Victorian Britain 'Extraordinary and thrilling ... This story should be known to every man, woman...

A fascinating history of Suffolk's heroic African-American community. A must-have for African-American and Virginia history enthusiasts.After the Civil War, African-Americans throughout Suffolk and Nansemond County fought against injustice by demanding...

A master chronicler of the African-American experience, Richard Wright brilliantly expanded his literary horizons with Pagan Spain, originally published in 1957. An amalgam of expert travel reportage, dramatic monologue, and arresting sociological...

The moving story of the life of the woman behind A Raisin in the Sun, the most widely anthologized, read, and performed play of the American stage, by the New York Times bestselling author of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper LeeWritten when she was just...

Chibụike Ụzọma (b. 1992, Port Harcourt, Nigeria), is a multidisciplinary artist working with painting, photography, drawing, text, and video, living and working in New Haven, Connecticut.Documented here are sixteen of the artist's large...