Cultural Literature

A heartfelt, and riveting biography of the short life of a talented young African-American man who escapes the slums of Newark for Yale University only to succumb to the dangers of the streets--and of one's own nature--when he returns home.  When...

Strait-laced, pre-civil rights America wasn't ready for Eartha Kitt. Waiting for others to be ready was never her style. in America's Mistress John L. Williams captures the person behind the myth in this engaging biography but also race relations in...

"Higginbotham provides a thoughtful and perceptive discussion on the role of race in America today. His keen legal analysis and compelling narrative has resulted in a fascinating examination of how far we have come as a nation, but more importantly, of...

A decade in the making, Emily Raboteau's" Searching for Zion" takes readers around the world on an unexpected adventure of faith. Both one woman's quest for a place to call "home" and an investigation into a people's search for the Promised Land, this...

Today, black-owned barber shops play a central role in African American public life. The intimacy of commercial grooming encourages both confidentiality and camaraderie, which make the barber shop an important gathering place for African American men to...

A punch-drunk memoir in which everyone's favorite Questlove, member of The Roots and the "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" band leader, tells his own story while tackling some of the lates, the greats, the fakes, the philosophers, the heavyweights, and the...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A moving memoir about the legendary author's relationship with her own mother. Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf Book Club Pick!The story of Maya Angelou's extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple bestselling...

"Freedom Summer" presents finely rendered portraits of the courageous black citizens--and Northern volunteers--who refused to be intimidated in their struggle for justice, and the white Mississippians who would kill to protect a dying way of life.A...

Newark's volatile past is infamous. The city has become synonymous with the Black Power movement and urban crisis. Its history reveals a vibrant and contentious political culture punctuated by traditional civic pride and an understudied tradition of...

This psychologist is frustrated. In the final stretch of his doctoral internship, Dr. Jonathan Mathias Lassiter had just one more milestone to complete--the diversity project--where candidates insert themselves into a situation in which they'd...

Delve into foodways of the United States, including testimonies from more than 30 Black chefs, restaurateurs, historians and luminaries, as well as 40 historically-rooted recipes. Equal parts historical exploration and cookbook, this rich narrative...

A vibrant, deeply researched biography of A'Lelia Walker--daughter of Madam C.J. Walker and herself a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance--written by her great-granddaughter.   Dubbed the "joy goddess of Harlem's 1920s" by poet Langston...