African American Studies

In her debut poetry collection, What Had Happened Was, Ther? Alyce Pickens investigates the complex structures of Black storytelling. Addressing topics ranging from Black life, popular culture, and history to individual encounters with emotion, love, and...

A searing tribute of sisterhood and family, profound love and loss from the acclaimed author of The World According to Fannie Davis.In Love, Rita Bridgett M. Davis tells the story of her beloved older sister Rita, who knew Bridgett before she knew...

For fans of Kerry Washington and Bassey Ikpi, a gripping memoir about overcoming addiction and trauma--a powerful journey of healing and redemption. At age 30, Maya Golden was living a charmed life. She was an award-winning sports reporter, a loyal wife,...

In 1959, Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel wrote and performed "Ne me quitte pas" (Don't leave me), a visceral and haunting plea for his lover to come back. As a teenager, Maya Angela Smith was so captivated by Nina Simone's powerful 1965 cover of...

A Black feminist take on exploitation and care in America's favorite game. Big-time college football promises prestige, drama, media attention, and money. Yet most athletes in this unpaid, amateur system encounter a different reality, facing dangerous...

Winner of the 2023 Horowitz Prize by the Bard Graduate CenterShortlisted for the 2024 Charles C. Eldredge Prize by the Smithsonian American Art MuseumA meditation on suffering, resilience, creativity, and graceIn 1942 Missouri Pettway, newly suffering...

Illuminating two hundred years of lost Black History through the lens of an iconic abolitionist settlementIn the Light of Dawn shares the compelling story of how the iconic Dawn Settlement--now largely within the boundaries of Dresden, Ontario-- shaped...

From the celebrated author of Freedom Dreams, a thought-provoking look at how the multicolored urban working class are the solution--not the problem--to the ills of American cities A limited Beacon Classics edition, with a gorgeous spot gloss cover and...

A blazingly honest essay collection from a refreshing new voice exploring the in-between moments for Black women and girls, and what it means to simply exist "At thirty-seven years old I can say Shenequa is a big name and I'm a big, bold woman." Shenequa...

A timely, vulnerable, and cutting-edge exploration of the pressures and pitfalls of writing while Black in America in this urgently needed addition to the national conversation of race, money, and art. In the summer of 2020, when the nation was erupting...

Offers Bioethics a bold approach to redress its failing of Black women Black people, and especially Black women, suffer and die from diseases at much higher rates than their white counterparts. The vast majority of these health disparities are not...

How psychedelics can heal historical, intergenerational, and racialized trauma--an Afrofuturistic take on Black psychedelia toward joy and liberation The mainstream has long viewed psychedelic medicine as the purview of people with privilege: money to...