Cultural Literature

"Phenomenal.... A memoir that opens into the world, with brilliance, courage, and elegant prose.... This is a book to read, read again, and remember."--Imani Perry, New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award winner South to America Poet...

A lyrical culinary journey that explores the hidden legacy of Black Appalachians, through powerful storytelling alongside nearly forty comforting recipes, from the former poet laureate of Kentucky.People are always surprised that Black people reside in...

In January 1785, a young African American woman named Elizabeth (Liss) was put on board the Lucretia in New York Harbor, bound for Charleston, where she would be sold to her fifth enslaver in just twenty-two years. Leaving behind a small child she had...

**LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 PEN/JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH AWARD FOR NONFICTION****LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDALS FOR EXCELLENCE****WINNER OF THE 2022 POZ AWARD FOR BEST IN LITERATURE** "An irresistibly readable and humane exploration of the...

The definitive, deluxe art book from costume design legend Ruth E. Carter.   Ruth E. Carter is a living legend of costume design. For three decades, she has shaped the story of the Black experience on screen--from the '80s streetwear of Do the...

An engrossing social history of the unsinkable Mollie Moon, the stylish founder of the National Urban League Guild and fundraiser extraordinaire who reigned over the glittering "Beaux Arts Ball," the social event of New York and Harlem society for fifty...

An award-winning scholar exposes the foundational racism of the child welfare system and offers a "a brilliant and impassioned call for abolition" (Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow) Many believe the child welfare system protects children...

In theory, someone like me was never supposed to get the opportunity to be in my position.   I spent the early years of my life sleeping on floors and couches, running the streets as my mother dealt with the challenges of a drug addiction. Now I...

Making their statements on the walls of the world's major cities, these emerging artists are also making their way to the forefront of an increasingly crowded genre. As street artists move from the fringe to the mainstream, it's hard to know who is a...

Challenges narrow perceptions of Blackness as both an identity and lived reality to understand the diversity of what it means to be Black in the US and around the world What exactly is Blackness and what does it mean to be Black?Is Blackness a matter of...

An inspiring, indelible memoir from the daughter of sharecroppers in East Texas who became the first Black president of an Ivy League university--an uplifting story of girlhood and the power of family, community, and the classroom to transform one young...

"American Whitelash is indispensable. Really. It is." -- Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an AntiracistPulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wesley Lowery confronts the sickness at the heart of American society: the cyclical pattern of violence that has...

This enlarged edition of the most significant and celebrated slave narrative completes the Jacobs family saga, surely one of the most memorable in all of American history. John S. Jacobs's short slave narrative, A True Tale of Slavery, published in...

"King is a major achievement. With eloquence, compassion, and grace, Jonathan Eig offers a stirringly contemporary and complex portrait of a fully human--and humane--King . . . A resounding triumph." --Peniel E. Joseph, author of The Sword and the Shield...

Explores how American youth are indoctrinated with Zionist mythology and how to intervene in that process by teaching about Palestine. It argues that as the relationship between Zionist education and the Israel lobby continues to be strong, it is...

In an autobiography marked by staggering vulnerability, former NBA star Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf-whose given name was Chris Jackson before converting to Islam and changing it in 1991-recounts the twists, turns, trials, and triumphs of his life. He is perhaps...