Cultural Literature

Certainly no singer has been more mythologized and more misunderstood than Billie Holiday, who helped to create much of the mystique herself with her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues. Now, finally, we have a definitive biography, said Booklist of...

Poignant....important and illuminating.--The New York Times Book Review Groundbreaking.--Bryan Stevenson, New York Times bestselling author of Just Mercy From one of the world's leading experts on unconscious racial bias come stories, science, and...

Sixteen innovators, creatives, and thought leaders--Austin Channing Brown, Sue Monk Kidd, and Luvvie Ajayi Jones, among others--share intimate stories of uncovering beauty and potential through moments of fear, loss, heartbreak, and uncertainty. Over the...

In 1796 Trinidad, young Rosa Rendón quietly but purposefully rebels against the life others expect her to lead. Bright, competitive, and opinionated, Rosa sees no reason she should learn to cook and keep house, for it is obvious her talents lie in...

"For ten glorious years, I had the best seat in the house." -Bruce W. Talamon Talamon saw it all during the golden age of soul, R&B, and funk. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, this young African American photographer from Los Angeles found...

A masterful storyteller, Ford interweaves his personal story with the backdrop of the social movements unfolding at that time, providing a revealing insider's view of the tech industry. . . simultaneously informative and entertaining. . . A powerful,...

In Rock My Soul, world-renowned scholar and visionary bell hooks takes an in-depth look at one of the most critical issues facing African Americans: a collective wounded self-esteem that has prevailed from slavery to the present day.Why do so many...

Winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-FictionLong-listed for the National Book AwardFinalist, Current Interest Category, Los Angeles Times Book PrizesOne of The New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of 2017Short-listed for the Inaugural...

"Denmark Vesey's Garden reveals that the long struggle over how Americans remember slavery has been inseparable from the long struggle for racial justice."--Ibram X. Kendi "Kytle and Roberts's meticulous research, compelling writing, and thoughtful...

The dazzling memoir from the U.S. Poet Laureate and author of Wade in the Water and Life on Mars. Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Denver Post In Ordinary Light, Pulitzer...

Started in the wake of George Zimmerman's 2013 acquittal in the death of Trayvon Martin, the #BlackLivesMatter movement has become a powerful and uncompromising campaign demanding redress for the brutal and unjustified treatment of black bodies by law...

Everyone knows that Washington, D.C. is a city of secrets. There are secrets in the White House, the Capitol, and the Supreme Court. There are secret files in the Pentagon, the FBI, CIA, NSA, and a veritable alphabet soup of federal agencies. Yet the...

In lecture/essay format, Dr. Ben identifies and corrects myths about the inferiority and primitiveness of the indigenous African peoples and their descendants. Order Africa Mother of Western Civilization here.

2016 NAACP Image Award Winner An award-winning journalist reveals a little-known and shameful episode in American history, when an African man was used as a human zoo exhibit a shocking story of racial prejudice, science, and tragedy in the early years...

From the mind of brilliant historian Robin Kelley comes the first full biography of legendary jazz musician Thelonious Monk, including full access to the family's archives, dozens of interviews, and an afterword for Monk's 2017 centennial. Thelonious...

A comprehensive, all-new collection bringing together the most thoughtful, inspiring, and wisest voices from the Black diaspora across history. Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations paints a rich canvas of Black history through time. Five thousand quotes...