Biography

A vibrant, deeply researched biography of A'Lelia Walker--daughter of Madam C.J. Walker and herself a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance--written by her great-granddaughter.   Dubbed the "joy goddess of Harlem's 1920s" by poet Langston...

Pulitzer Prize winning writer, editor and TV host Jonathan Capehart recounts powerful stories from his life about embracing identity, picking battles, seizing opportunity and finding his voice to speak up for others--and himself.   MSNBC anchor...

Teacher By Teacher traces the remarkable journey of the 10th U.S. Secretary of Education and is a deeply personal love letter to all the teachers in our lives. ​The story of John B. King Jr.'s inspiring path to President Obama's Cabinet begins the...

The remarkable life story of Ella Jenkins, "The First Lady of Children's Music." Ella Jenkins was one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century. Her songs "You'll Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song" and "Who Fed the Chickens?" are...

How Black Stories Shaped My OwnAward-winning author Marita Golden explores her writing career and how the igniting power of storytelling is still inspiring generations of Black authors today.A lifetime of stories to tell. Growing up, Marita would listen...

An incisive and insightful memoir by one of the most beloved icons of nineties television Jaleel White, the actor who portrayed Steve Urkel on the hit sitcom Family Matters. At the tender age of twelve, Jaleel White auditioned for the role of Steve...

From bestselling author of The Book of Delights and award-winning poet, a book of lyrical mini-essays celebrating the everyday that will inspire readers to rediscover the joys in the world around us. The author of the New York Times bestselling The Book...

Now in its first American edition, Dionne Brand's groundbreaking A Map to the Door of No Return has emerged as a modern classic, a highly influential exploration of "being" in the Black Diaspora.Since its first publication in 2001, Dionne Brand's...

Alice Randall, award-winning professor, songwriter, and author with a "lively, engaging, and often wise" (The New York Times Book Review) voice, offers a lyrical, introspective, and unforgettable account of her past and her search for the first family of...

A dazzling hybrid of personal memoir and criticism, considering the work of Black visual artists as a means to explore loss, legacy, and the reclamation of life through art.At the age of twenty-one, Erica Cardwell finds herself in New York City, reeling...

From international drag superstar and pop culture icon RuPaul, comes his most revealing and personal work to date--a brutally honest, surprisingly poignant, and deeply intimate memoir of growing up Black, poor, and queer in a broken home to discovering...