Cultural Literature

A moving and humane portrait of the abolitionist revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who led Haiti's fight for independence from French colonial rule "My name has become a horror to all those who want slavery," declared Jean-Jacques Dessalines as he...

After the Civil War, Black landownership in Fairfax County increased by leaps and bounds. By the 1870s, retired Union officers were purchasing land that they sold to African Americans like Joshua Ball, Joshua Pearson, Robert Bradley and John Coates...

Explore the remarkable life and heartfelt verse of the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr., the first Black senior minister at Riverside Church in New York City, one of the largest multicultural congregations in the US. As the first Black senior minister at...

A sweeping history of one of the nation's most important African American churches and a profound story of courage and grace amid the fight for racial justice--from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Kevin Sack   Few people beyond South Carolina's...

In this controversial national bestseller, former NBA star and author of I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It Charles Barkley takes on the major issue of our time. Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man is a series of charged, in-your-face conversations about race...

By challenging the rules of enslavement and, later, pushing the boundaries of free citizenship in North Carolina, Lunsford Lane (1803-79) became a folk hero to many enslaved Southerners, as well as a generation of abolitionists. Author of a unique "slave...

Shonda Buchanan weaves a prism of language, sound and light around and through the life of concert pianist, singer and Civil Rights activist, the incomprehensible Nina Simone. With this book, Buchanan is declaring this The Century of the Black Woman,...

"Karine Jean-Pierre illuminates her path to insider status so others can follow in her footsteps." --Essence "Jean-Pierre inspires us to get involved in politics--every single one of us, no matter where we are from or who we are." --The Atlantic ...

A queer Black feminist debunks the myth of rainbow solidarity, repositioning Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ people at the forefront of queer pasts, presents, and futures Your favorite Black queer studies professor Kaila Adia Story says the rainbow ain't never...

A new edition of a major work of literary and cultural criticism restores C. L. R. James's reflections about Moby Dick and political persecution. Political theorist and cultural critic, novelist, and cricket enthusiast, C. L. R. James (1901-89) was a...

In this rich, transparent, and witty memoir, the Co-Founder of WangaWoman LLC, current President & CEO of Essence Ventures, and ambassador of authenticity navigates the lifelong battle between her intuition and inner saboteur delivering "instigational"...

The first full retrospective of Whitten's dazzling and trenchant abstraction from the 1960s-2010s, which transformed the relationship between art, race and societyJack Whitten offered the world a new way to see. Over nearly six decades, he dared to...