Cultural Literature

Originally published in 2000, Reflections in Black was the first single-volume work to collect the images of leading African American photographers--from the daguerreotype to the digital age. Through its sheer power and inherent beauty, Deborah Willis's...

The first ever collection of John Edgar Wideman's most influential essays and articles, five decades of cultural and literary criticism that paint a vivid portrait of America's changing landscape and chronicle the emergence and evolution of a major...

An absorbing investigation into a little-known historical tragedy--an insurrection which upended a resilient and wealthy Black community who found themselves in the clutches of an insurrection at the turn of the twentieth century in Laurinburg, North...

Drawing on deep passion and personal experience, former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith demystifies the art form that has too often been mischaracterized as "inaccessible," "irrelevant," or "intimidating." She argues that poetry is rooted in...

During a dramatic three-day period in March 1961, nine students from historically Black Tougaloo College staged sit-ins at the all-White Main Library in Jackson, Mississippi. The students conducted their protest and were arrested, held in jail overnight,...

In Inhabitants of the Deep, Jonathan Howard undertakes a black ecocritical study of the deep in African American literature. Howard contends that the deep--a geographic formation that includes oceans, rivers, lakes, and the notion of depth...

An incisive and insightful celebrity memoir by Jaleel White, one of the most beloved icons of nineties pop culture and TV history, renowned for his portrayal of Steven Urkel on the hit sitcom Family Matters. At the tender age of twelve, Jaleel White...

Economist Glenn C. Loury is one of the most prominent public intellectuals of our time: he's often radically opposed to the political mainstream, and delights in upending what's expected of a Black public figure. But more so than the arguments...

Historians and literary historians alike recognize David Walker's Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (1829-1830) as one of the most politically radical and consequential antislavery texts ever published, yet the pamphlet's significant impact on...

'Thorough, accessible, essential' Katy Hessel, author of The Story of Art without Men 'A sparkling debut. Bold, eloquent, personal and clear-eyed, Alayo Akinkugbe is a major new voice in writing about art, museums and culture. This book will shift your...

A two part book reimagining dark matter and the darkTranstraterrestrial is an experimental book that documents Sage Ni'Ja Whitson's groundbreaking performance pieces, blending African Diasporic practices with innovative methodologies to explore themes of...

From the celebrated writer J. Malcolm Garcia, a narrative nonfiction account of a forgotten Alabama neighborhood through intimate, tender, and gritty profiles of its people as they navigate immense loss and an unassailable determination to overcome their...