Cultural Literature

Innovation does not have to be a zero-sum game. A high tide of new ideas and ingenuity raises all ships. For thousands of years, innovators from diverse communities have changed the world for the better--you will hear some of their stories here. Yet,...

Jay Ellis, star of HBO's Insecure, tells the story of growing up with an imaginary best friend you will never forget--part Dwayne Wayne from A Different World, part Will Smith from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air--in this hilarious, vulnerable memoir. "So...

In 1968, civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer called for Americans to "wake up" if they wanted to "make democracy a reality." Today, as Black communities continue to face challenges built on centuries of discrimination, her plea is increasingly urgent...

Featuring more than 100 artists, this landmark book charts the intricate connections between photography and the Black Arts Movement The Black Arts Movement brought together writers, filmmakers, and visual artists who were exploring ways of using art to...

The first volume in a major new series which offers a compelling glimpse into the transformative and revolutionary world of HBCUs, to uncover the complex stories that their collections tell us.This book, featuring objects from the museums and archives at...

A deeply personal account of a young Black woman who set out to shake up her life by moving abroad but got a lot more than she bargained for. Surviving Paris is not Emily in Paris. It's not a story of moving to the City of Light, meeting a dashing...

A sweeping narrative of the unique beauty and trials of Black matriarchy in America that weaves a sharp, tender examination of three single Black mothers--the author's grandmother, mother, and the author herself--with stories of influential Black women...

Winner of The 2024 X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize, selected by Diane Seuss Fenestration excavates public and private history. The poems here bristle with striking clarity and immediacy while compellingly confronting subjects such as the transatlantic slave...

Winner of the Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Forest History Society Book AwardThe Black Woods chronicles the history of Black pioneers in New York's northern wilderness. From the late 1840s to the 1860s, they migrated to the Adirondacks to build the farms that...

In her memoir, Anna Maria Gehnyei, better known as singer, rapper, and producer Karima 2G, reveals the challenges she faced as the child of Liberian immigrants, born and raised in Rome but perpetually viewed by her fellow Italians as a foreigner. The...

A moving, politically-charged memoir of surviving trauma and embracing the power of activism from MSNBC legal analyst and former New York City Mayoral candidate Maya Wiley--"a book that offers hope and inspiration in a moment of division and political...

"Dr. Lester has gifted us this book for this moment and for our posterity. He shares searing personal stories of tragedy and hardship that moves the crisis in our educational system beyond statistics and into the realm of human impact. . . . He adds...