Cultural Literature

"This singular memoir stunned me. With a poet's precision, Rachel Eliza Griffiths renders two interwoven tragedies few others could have lived through, much less written about with such clear-eyed candor."--Mary Karr, New York Times bestselling author of...

The untold story of the Black patriots--from soldiers in combat to peace protesters--who ended the Vietnam War and defended the soul of American democracy, from a pre-eminent civil rights historian and the award-winning author of Half American As the...

"I loved this book.... I looked forward to [it] more than any other in a long time, and Howard Bryant exceeded my great expectations. Kings and Pawns is brilliantly conceived and powerfully written." -- David Maraniss, author of Path Lit by LightningA...

For readers of Annette Gordon-Reed and Nikole Hannah-Jones, the shocking untold story of the British royal family's centuries-long investment in slavery and continued profiting off its legacy--from Elizabeth I to the present--and the monarchy's...

A Monument to Blacknessoffers an in-depth look at Black murals across the United States, from interior murals in the South to street murals predominantly in the North and West. It shows us how Black murals were--and remain--an integral but commonly...

The promise of Reconstruction sparked a transformative era in American history as free and newly emancipated Black Americans sought to redefine their place in a nation still grappling with the legacy of slavery. Often remembered as a period of failed...

An extraordinary chronicle of youth that evokes the paradoxes of modern Africa--complex, contradictory, and full of conflict, tragedy, and joy. Patrice Nganang, the acclaimed author of Dog Days, Mount Pleasant, and, most recently, A Trail of Crab Tracks,...

In 1787, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones left the predominantly white St. George Methodist Episcopal Church to protest the racism and discrimination they faced. A few years later, both men would create their own African American Christian denominations...

The poultry processing industry in El Dorado, Arkansas, was an economic powerhouse in the latter half of the twentieth century. It was the largest employer in the interconnected region of South Arkansas and North Louisiana surrounding El Dorado, and the...

We must speak the word ancestor. We must call their names. We must see them at work. The hand of ancestors in our affairs is undeniable. They exist all around us, motivating individuals and cultures. And yet, the United States is a nation that does not...

An essay on Black-Jewish relations, primarily in the United States, by a professor of African American History who became embroiled in controversy over his classroom use of a book detailing the well- documented Jewish role in the Atlantic slave trade. ...

The Journey of the Songhai People attempts to piece together the tapestry of world culture that was deliberately unraveled by the Europeans. As a result of their destroying the black threads of world culture, it has caused all people, including...