African American Studies

Originally published as William Styrons's Nat Turner. These essays address the misrepresentation of Turner's life and activities by white writers. The contributers include Lerone Bennett Jr., John O. Killens, Alvin Poussaint, and John A. Williams.

In the manner of Calvino's "Invisible Cities," Wendy S. Walters's essays deftly explore the psyches of cities such as Chicago, Detroit, New York, Portsmouth, and Washington, D.C. In "Cleveland," she interviews an African-American playwright who draws...

In "Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles," professor and author Bert Ashe delivers a witty, fascinating, and unprecedented account of black male identity as seen through our culture's perceptions of hair. It is a deeply personal story that weaves together...

During the early 1800s, about two dozen men of African descent lived in Hawai i. The most noteworthy was Anthony D. Allen, a businessman who had traveled around the world before making Hawai i his home and starting a family there in 1810. The 25th Black...

From colonial newspapers to the Internet age, America's racial divisions have played a central role in the creation of the country's media system, just as the media has contributed to--and every so often, combated--racial oppression. This acclaimed...

In this "inspiring memoir about the real power of courage and hope" (Kirkus Reviews), lifelong activist Shirley Sherrod explains why she was fired from the USDA under false charges and how she stood up against the politics of fear. Sherrod was a lifelong...

The first systematic examination of the image of Malcolm X, a uniquely conspicuous cultural figure who has been framed as both villain and hero, cast by mainstream media during his lifetime as "the most feared man in American history," and elevated at...

Publisher Comments: In Hands on the Freedom Plow fifty-two women--northern and southern, young and old, urban and rural, black, white, and Latina--share their courageous personal stories of working for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee...

Publisher Comments: An unprecedented and timely collection of Dr. King’s speeches on labor rights and economic justice People forget that Dr. King was every bit as committed to economic justice as he was to ending racial segregation. He fought...

Four great migrations defined the history of black people in America. Berlin's magisterial new account of these passages evokes both the terrible price and the moving triumphs of a people forcibly and then willingly migrating to America over four...

From Josephine Baker to Shonda Rhimes, from Arthur Ashe to President Barack Obama, this completely revised and updated volume explores and celebrates African-American accomplishment in a variety of fields.

The fatherless black family is a problem that grows to bigger proportions every year as generations of black children grow up without an adult male in their homes. As this dire pattern grows worse, what can men do who hope to break it, when there are so...