Cultural Literature

The origins and influence of Jim, Mark Twain's beloved yet polarizing literary figure Mark Twain's Jim, introduced in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), is a shrewd, self-aware, and enormously admirable enslaved man, one of the first fully drawn...

"It's an invaluable insider account of a pressing social issue." - Publishers Weekly Joining the ranks of Evicted and The New Jim Crow, a former caseworker's searing, clear-eyed investigation of the child welfare system--from foster care to...

Traces the rise and fall of the historic Black business community in Detroit The Great Migration saw more than six million African Americans leave the US South between 1910 and 1970. Though the experiences of migrant laborers are well-known, countless...

The US racial wealth gap is large, and it's compounding. It's time to close it. Minding the Wealth Gap shines a light on people doing this important work and explores how you can get involved too. Generations of public and private practices have left...

"Inspiring, thoughtful, and beautiful." --BRYAN STEVENSON "A tender reminder and spacious invitation." -- FATHER GREGORY BOYLE "Liz Walker accomplishes a difficult literary and theological balance with stunning clarity." --OTIS MOSS III An...

In this raw and unapologetic memoir, the author takes readers on a journey through the turbulent streets of 1980s America, the harsh realities of systemic oppression, and the resilience of Black identity. From his earliest days as a child born in Germany...

Reel Freedom intimately captures the relationship between Black film culture and space in New York City. Alyssa Lopez argues that Black film culture, from its origins in the early twentieth century to its firm establishment in the 1930s, was necessarily...

The first biography to rescue the true story of Josiah Henson, restoring to history his role in the Underground RailroadJosiah Henson led a fascinating life--from the plantation fields of Maryland to the Georgetown Market to the plantations of Kentucky...

Beyond The Panels: The History and Impact of Black Comic Book Characters offers an in-depth exploration of the groundbreaking evolution of Black superheroes, from their humble beginnings to their transformative impact on both the comic book industry and...

The first critical analysis of how Whiteness drove the opioid crisis. In the past two decades, media images of the surprisingly white "new face" of the US opioid crisis abounded. But why was the crisis so white? Some argued that skyrocketing overdoses...

Late in 1862, amid the horrors of the U.S. Civil War, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, with President Lincoln's approval, authorized the recruitment of Black soldiers for the Union cause. In January of 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was...