Cultural Literature

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...

The extraordinary story of an unjustly forgotten group of Black men in Pittsburgh who became the first paramedics in America, saving lives and changing the course of emergency medicine around the world. Until the 1970s, if you suffered a medical crisis,...

**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...

A trusted grief expert shares advice on how to navigate the loss of a loved one in this incisive and compassionate guide: "calm, lucid prose... humanizing exploration of coping with the life-changing tides of loss" (Kirkus Reviews).In Grief is Love,...

From acclaimed columnist and political commentator Michael Harriot, a searingly smart and bitingly hilarious retelling of American history that corrects the record and showcases the perspectives and experiences of Black Americans.America's backstory is a...

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...

The American mental health system is in crisis, and those affected by its shortcomings are drowning without the tools and resources they deserve and need to thrive. In Born Into Crisis, author Kenneth Nixon shares his story of growing up with a mother...

"The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." These were the prescient words of W. E. B. Du Bois's influential 1903 book The Souls of Black Folk. The preeminent Black intellectual of his generation, Du Bois wrote about the...