History

African Americans have been part of the Vallejo mosaic since 1850, the year of the North Bay city's birth. John Grider, a Tennessee native and former slave who arrived in Vallejo in 1850, was one of the city's earliest residents and a veteran of the...

The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas and their fifty-year sisterhood, a legacy erased from history--until now. At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Lydia Abarca was a Black prima ballerina with a major international...

Black Firsts in Los Angeles shines a spotlight on more than 200 extraordinary achievements by Black Angelenos.Black Firsts highlights the oft unheralded accomplishments of Black Angelenos which-despite their importance-are generally not included in...

Black Firsts in Los Angeles shines a spotlight on more than 200 extraordinary achievements by Black Angelenos.Black Firsts highlights the oft unheralded accomplishments of Black Angelenos which-despite their importance-are generally not included in...

The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas and their fifty-year sisterhood, a legacy erased from history--until now. At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Lydia Abarca was a Black prima ballerina with a major international...

The definitive illustrated volume on the work and life of Ann Lowe, a consummate couturier who designed lavish evening and bridal gowns for members of America's social registry, a Black woman working hard behind the scenes whose important legacy has...

A "gripping and important" (The Guardian) account of nine tumultuous days, as the assassination of Nelson Mandela's protégé by a white supremacist threatens to derail South Africa's democratic transition and plunge the nation into civil war...

A writer in search of his roots discovers stories of African American struggle, sacrifice, and achievement.In The Garretts of Columbia, author David Nicholson tells a multigenerational story of Black hope and resilience. Carefully researched and...

Histories of gay and lesbian urban life typically focus on major metropolitan areas like San Francisco and New York, opportunity-filled destinations for LGBTQ migrants from across the country. Yet there are many other queer communities in economically...

The powerful life story and photography of an esteemed Black photojournalist Cecil Williams is one of the few Southern Black photojournalists of the civil rights movement. Born and raised in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Williams worked at the center of...

In grocery store aisles and kitchens across the country, smiling images of "Aunt Jemima" and other historical and fictional black cooks can be found on various food products and in advertising. Although these images are sanitized and romanticized in...

"This untidy, honest, fascinating account compels the reader to reflect on profound questions of loyalty and race . . . All of us want to see our parents as heroes. It is to Ms. Seletsky's great credit that she explores the depths of her father's story...

A beautiful commemorative edition of Dr. Martin Luther King's speech "Our God Is Marching On," part of Dr. King's archives published exclusively by HarperCollins.At the end of the march from Selma to Montgomery on March 25, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King...