Cultural Literature

Being the child of a global superstar is never easy. Being the daughter of the Godfather of Soul--that's a category unto itself. Like every little girl, Yamma Brown wanted her father's attention, but fame, drugs, jail, and the complicated women in James...

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Coffee--it's the thing that gets us through, and over, and around. The thing--the beverage, the break, the ritual--we choose to slow ourselves down...

Inner-city black America is often stereotyped as a place of random violence, but in fact, violence in the inner city is regulated through an informal but well-known code of the street. This unwritten set of rules--based largely on an individual's ability...

A conversation with filmmaker and artist John Akomfrah, exploring how his work with montage can be understood to articulate contemporaneity in sensuous ways. Taking the form of a conversation with filmmaker and artist John Akomfrah, this book sets out to...

Climbing Jacob's Ladder traces the history of the black family from its roots in Africa, through slavery, Reconstruction, the Depression, and the civil rights movement, to the present, arguing that black families cannot be measured against white norms...

Featuring over 200 striking photographs from the 1920s through 1980, Black America: Cleveland, Ohio celebrates the rich history of this great city's African-American community. Its neighborhoods, churches, civil, religious, business and cultural leaders,...

Clementine Hunter (1887--1988) painted every day from the 1930s until several days before her death at age 101. As a cook and domestic servant at Louisiana's Melrose Plantation, she painted on hundreds of objects available around her -- glass snuff...

"Cooper paints a meticulous and absorbing portrait of McKay's restless artistic, intellectual, and political odyssey... The definitive biography on McKay."--Choice Although recognized today as one of the genuine pioneers of black literature in this...

The legendary Jim Santella takes you on a wild, decades-long radio rollercoaster ride. From rock 'n roll to R&B, from country to the blues, Santella played it all. Get behind the mic to meet the man, and head backstage with him to meet many of the greats...

Reclaiming their time. Sharing their lives. Speaking their truth.Millennials, the young people who entered adulthood during the first 18 years of the 21st century, have come of age during one of the most dramatic periods in modern human history. The...

Vivian Carroll Jones is an Arkansas native born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Cortez and Victoria Carroll, the seventh of ten children. She grew up in the south when people of color were treated as second-class citizens. At a very early age Ms. Jones and...

Since its very beginnings, St. Louis has been at the forefront of America's struggle for equality. Many people have contributed to the fight for justice both in and outside of the courtroom by challenging the country to live up to the ideals outlined in...

In the early 1960s, as members of Milwaukee's growing African American population looked beyond their segregated community for better jobs and housing, they faced bitter opposition from the real estate industry and union leadership. In an era marked by...

Students will learn that small actions can make a big difference! This nonfiction book explains why civic duties are important and how to fulfill them. The book includes a glossary and a short fiction piece related to the topic. With examples of heroes...

A sweeping history of American cities and towns, and the utopian aspirations that shaped them, by one of America's leading urban planners and scholars. The first European settlers saw America as a paradise regained. The continent seemed to offer a...