Biography

For the first time, legendary singer and songwriter and Grammy Hall-of-Famer Aaron Neville tells his personal story of overcoming poverty, racism, addiction, and loss through faith, family, and music. Aaron Neville's first #1 hit, "Tell It Like it Is,"...

A thrilling account of life with Sun Ra's Arkestra and New York's avant-garde jazz scenes of the 1970s-90sIn this memoir, Harlem-born trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah recounts decades of national and international touring with the Sun Ra Arkestra and charts the...

'A scrupulous biography' - Publishers Weekly'Fresh, incisive, and uplifting' - Kirkus Bill V. Mullen celebrates the life of the great African-American writer who created some of his most important literary works, including the novels Go Tell it on the...

A powerful and inspiring biography of Merze Tate, a trailblazing Black woman scholar and intrepid world traveler Born in rural Michigan during the Jim Crow era, the bold and irrepressible Merze Tate (1905-1996) refused to limit her intellectual...

A wrenching, redemptive, and "brilliant coming-of-age story" (New York Times) about the difficulty of growing up in a hazardous home and the glory of finding salvation in geek culture, now in paperback. Stranded within an ever-shifting family's...

Does racial discrimination harm Black children's sense of self? The Doll Test illuminated its devastating toll. Dr. Kenneth Clark visited rundown and under-resourced segregated schools across America, presenting Black children with two dolls: a white one...

Kendrick "Perk" Perkins is known for his blunt commentary on ESPN's most popular shows. As a fourteen year NBA player, Perk earned a reputation as a fierce defender and great teammate. In this powerful memoir, he goes beyond basketball to discuss the...

The compelling, little-known story of golfer Charlie Sifford and attorney Stanley Mosk who together made history by taking on the PGA and their Caucasians Only by-law. It began with a chance meeting at a Los Angeles country club in 1959. That was the day...

A film legend recalls his remarkable life of nearly eight decades--a heralded actor who's played the roles he wanted, from Brian's Song to Lando in the Star Wars universe--unchecked by the racism and typecasting so rife in the mostly all-white industry...

"This book is brutal and brutally honest, but still perversely addictive because Brontez Purnell is a performer in the truest sense. Reading Ten Bridges I've Burnt, I felt tucked-in with him, along for the intimate ride, and paused only once to write...

A revelatory look at the tumultuous life of a jazz legend and American cultural icon. In the first biography of Billie Holiday in more than two decades, Paul Alexander--author of heralded lives of Sylvia Plath and J.D. Salinger--gives us an...