General History

A vivid firsthand record of the stain of white supremacy and the outspoken resistance of Black and white Americans who envisioned a better, more just nation W.E.B. Du Bois famously identified "the problem of the color-line" as the defining issue in...

How Black Protestants in Chicago created Ethiopianism, a transnational religious movement against Western imperialism City of Black Souls uncovers the history of how, from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, Black Protestants in Chicago...

A kaleidoscopic narrative history of 1963, the pivotal moment in America's long civil rights movement--the year of the March on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and the assassinations of Medgar Evers and John F. Kennedy...

A clear, critical, accessible, and ultimately hopeful discovery voyage through the seas of Du Bois's language and ideas.Offering a vision both hopeful and thoughtful, Reading Du Bois is an Afrocentric reexamination of the work of one of the most...

The groundbreaking story of the BBC's first Black woman broadcaster--finally brought to light.Una Marson was unstoppable--a poet whose words lit up hearts, a broadcaster who made history in 1941 as the first Black woman on the BBC, and an activist who...

Taking an important step toward a more inclusive and truthful understanding of Cape Cod's past, this book uncovers and reflects upon Cape Cod's role in the institution of slavery. Through this work of historical, creative nonfiction that also includes a...

A mysterious name initiates a journey to discover one family's past, and reveals more than was expected It began with a name. Sancho. Gleaned from the memory of his oldest living relative, that name set author Keith Rushing on a quest to recover his...

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...

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...

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...

Dream Merchant of the Perfect Game: The Life and Legacy of Frank "Doc" Sykes is the story of a dedicated medical professional, an extraordinary athlete, and a courageous human rights advocate.Taking the stand in the Scottsboro Boys trials, Sykes's...

In three global conflicts and countless colonial campaigns, tens of thousands of black West Indian soldiers fought and died for Britain, first as slaves and then as volunteers. These all but forgotten regiments were unique because they were part of the...