Cultural Literature

Selected by Emma Watson as the Our Shared Shelf Book Club Pick for January/February 2018Sunday Times BestsellerWinner of the British Book Awards Non-Fiction Narrative Book of the YearWinner of the Jhalak Prize This is a book that was begging to be...

Profiles and portraits of 50 artists and art entrepreneurs challenging the status quo in the art world Confidently curated by Jasmin Hernandez, the dynamic founder of Gallery Gurls, We Are Here presents the bold and nuanced work of Black and Brown...

The day Walter White was buried in 1955 the New York Times called him "the nearest approach to a national leader of American Negroes since Booker T. Washington." For more than two decades, White, as secretary of the NAACP, was perhaps the nation's most...

From the authors of Nation Conscious Rap comes a powerfully raw, intimate history of gang life in South Central L.A. In detailed interviews, gang members of the Crips and Bloods open up on a wide range of issues, including the bonds of the gang...

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An urgent primer on race and racism, from the host of the viral hit video series"Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man""You cannot fix a problem you do not know you have." So begins Emmanuel Acho in his essential...

This "smart, confident, and necessary" (Shea Serrano, New York Times bestselling author) first cultural biography of rap superstar and "master of storytelling" (The New Yorker) Kendrick Lamar explores his meteoric rise to fame and his profound impact on...

The Beginning of the End of Racism in America: Black and White is a progressive and pragmatic book that is the antidote to the disease of ignorance and poison of racism. It reflects intimately the causes of these maladies, the results of these maladies,...

With a basis in environmental history, this groundbreaking study challenges the idea that a meaningful attachment to nature and the outdoors is contrary to the black experience. The discussion shows that contemporary African American culture is usually...

This fully illustrated guide to the Smithsonian's newest museum takes visitors on a journey through the richness and diversity of African American culture and the history of a people whose struggles, aspirations, and achievements have shaped the nation...

A vibrant celebration of President Obama, this perfect commemorative book provides a valuable record of his historical presidency. In January 2017, Barack Obama concluded two terms of his historic presidency. Through stunning images by White House...

An acclaimed expert illuminates the distinctive role that white women play in perpetuating racism, and how they can work to fight it In a nation deeply divided by race, the "Karens" of the world are easy to villainize. But in Nice White Ladies, Jessie...

One of the greatest works of American autobiography, in a definitive Library of America text: Published seven years after his escape from slavery, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845) is a powerful account of the cruelty...

New York Times BestsellerWhat J. D. Vance did for Appalachia with Hillbilly Elegy, CNN analyst and one of the youngest state representatives in South Carolina history Bakari Sellers does for the rural South, in this important book that illuminates the...

Mules and Men is a treasury of black America's folklore as collected by a famous storyteller and anthropologist who grew up hearing the songs and sermons, sayings and tall tales that have formed an oral history of the South since the time of slavery...

Speeches from the last year and a half of Malcolm X's life tracing the evolution of his views on racism, capitalism, socialism, political action, and more.

Hear the riveting stories of Black artists who drew--mostly covertly behind the scenes--superhero, horror, and romance comics in the early years of the industry. The life stories of each man's personal struggles and triumphs are represented as they broke...