African American Studies

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...

From hip-hop moguls and political candidates to talk radio and critically acclaimed films, society communicates that Black girls don't matter and their girlhood is not safe. Alarming statistics on physical and sexual abuse, for instance, reveal the harm...

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...

Juxtaposing the world-building of afrofuturism and the world-negating of afropessimism to show how both movements have offered us critical resources of hope. Science fiction imagines aliens and global crises as world-unifying events, both a threat and...

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 world without prisons? Ridiculous. Schools that foster the genius of every child? Impossible. Work that doesn't strangle the life out of people? Naive. A society where everyone has food, shelter, love? In your dreams. Exactly. Ruha Benjamin, Princeton...

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...

From celebrated scholar Dr. Yolanda Pierce comes this indelible meditation on Black faith, suffering, hope, and the healing possibilities of justice, written in the venerable tradition of James Cone and Kelly Brown Douglas. What do we do with wounds--our...

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...

A surprising and beautiful meditation on the color blue--and its fascinating role in Black history and culture--from National Book Award winner Imani Perry Throughout history, the concept of Blackness has been remarkably intertwined with another color:...

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...

Pass down the powerful teachings of African oral tradition by adding this luxe illustrated volume of over 50 cultural folktales to your home library. In this captivating collection of folklore from African culture, discover the stories that have been...

One of The New York Times's 100 Notable Books of 2024One of the Washington Post's 50 Best Nonfiction Books of 2024 Longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography Named a best book of 2024 by The New Yorker Vulture Foreign Affairs ...