Cultural Literature

The preeminent sociologist and National Book Award-winning author of Freedom in the Making of Western Culture grapples with the paradox of his homeland: its remarkable achievements amid continuing struggles since independence. There are few...

Kindness isn't merely about getting along with people and being nice. It's a game changer in business, the door opener to fulfillment, and the key to authenticity and confidence. It's also a superpower that can be honed through developing a daily...

By the time Chloé Hilliard was 12, she wore a size 12--both shoe and dress--and stood over six feet tall. Fitting in was never an option. That didn't stop her from trying. Cursed with a "slow metabolism," "baby weight," and "big bones,"--the fat...

An NPR 2018 Great Read Celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the acclaimed and influential debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill with this eye-opening and moving exploration of Lauryn Hill and her remarkable artistic legacy. Released in...

Mary should have been in the kitchen with Martha, but she sat at the feet of Jesus. When Naomi commanded her daughters-in-law to go back home, Ruth vowed to stay with her and thus played a central role in God’s plan to bring Jesus into...

Never Stop is the wrenching memoir of Simba Sana, the cofounder and former leader of Karibu Books, a major indie-bookselling phenomenon and perhaps the most successful black-owned company in the history of the book industry. In this memoir, Sana...

"I'm really concerned about the state of the world. It feels like things are falling apart." "I'm worried about my family's future." "How can I stand firm in my faith in today's culture?"  Our times are turbulent ones, and questions and...

With his no-holds-barred delivery and unique worldview, Paul Mooney continues to stir anger, generate laughter, and provoke thought while attempting to tear down racial and social barriers through his juicy memoir about his years writing comedy with the...

In "South Side Girls" Marcia Chatelain recasts Chicago's Great Migration through the lens of black girls. Focusing on the years between 1910 and 1940, when Chicago's black population quintupled, Chatelain describes how Chicago's black social scientists,...

Mary McLeod Bethune was often called the "First Lady of Negro America," but she made significant contributions to the political climate of Florida as well. From the founding of the Daytona Literary and Industrial School for Training Negro Girls in 1904, B

A heartfelt, and riveting biography of the short life of a talented young African-American man who escapes the slums of Newark for Yale University only to succumb to the dangers of the streets--and of one's own nature--when he returns home.  When...

Strait-laced, pre-civil rights America wasn't ready for Eartha Kitt. Waiting for others to be ready was never her style. in America's Mistress John L. Williams captures the person behind the myth in this engaging biography but also race relations in...

"Higginbotham provides a thoughtful and perceptive discussion on the role of race in America today. His keen legal analysis and compelling narrative has resulted in a fascinating examination of how far we have come as a nation, but more importantly, of...

A decade in the making, Emily Raboteau's" Searching for Zion" takes readers around the world on an unexpected adventure of faith. Both one woman's quest for a place to call "home" and an investigation into a people's search for the Promised Land, this...

Kidnapped into slavery in 1841, Solomon Northup spent 12 years in captivity. This autobiographical memoir represents an exceptionally detailed and accurate description of slave life and plantation society.The story that inspired the major motion picture,...

Today, black-owned barber shops play a central role in African American public life. The intimacy of commercial grooming encourages both confidentiality and camaraderie, which make the barber shop an important gathering place for African American men to...