By Kirsten Kasai Fiction. African & African American Studies. THE HOUSE OF ERZULIE tells the eerily intertwined stories of an ill-fated young couple in the 1850s and the troubled historian who discovers their writings in the present day. Emilie St. Ange, the daughter of a Creole slaveowning family in Louisiana, rebels against her parents’ values…
By Lawrence Jackson The Indignant Generation is the first narrative history of the neglected but essential period of African American literature between the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights era. The years between these two indispensable epochs saw the communal rise of Richard Wright, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ralph Ellison, Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin, and many other influential…
By Lawrence Jackson Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work Finalist for the PEN America/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography The definitive biography of the groundbreaking African American author who had an extraordinary legacy on black writers globally. Chester B. Himes has been called “one of the towering figures of the black literary…
By Lawrence Jackson In 2016, Lawrence Jackson accepted a new job in Baltimore, searched for schools for his sons, and bought a house. It would all be unremarkable but for the fact that he had grown up in West Baltimore and now found himself teaching at Johns Hopkins, whose vexed relationship to its neighborhood, to…
By Marilyn Nelson In The Fields of Praise, Marilyn Nelson claims as subjects the life of the spirit, the vicissitudes of love, and the African American experience since slavery and arranges them as pebbles marking our common journey toward a “monstrous love that wants to make the world right.” Nelson is a poet of stunning power,…
By Marilyn Nelson Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist Soaring images, rhythmic language, and wry humor come together in these three narrative poems that explore travel from an African American historical and social perspective. A cab ride turns into an amazing encounter with the driver, an amateur physicist whose ideas about space and…
By Michelle Gadsden-Williams A game-changing guide for women who want to transform the way they work and create their own success―from an award-winning global diversity expert.Ambition alone will only take you but so far. Without a plan, however, you’re left with blind ambition and that won’t necessarily take you where you want to go.In this…
By Michelle Gadsden-Williams Gadsden-Williams is an award-winning global diversity expert who launched Ceiling Breakers LLC to help women and professionals of color to reach their potential. In her book, she talks about her journey as a woman of color who’s had top senior-level positions in corporate America while managing a chronic illness. She also provides…
By Kiyah Wright and Shirley Neal You know you have the talent to make it in the beauty industry, but figuring out where to begin can feel like a mystery—and cosmetology schools often don’t prepare students for the business end of these jobs . . . which can make or break your career. Consider this book your…
By Dick Gregory First published in 1974 and even more relevant today, a natural and whole foods guide the voice of black consciousness, cultural icon Dick Gregory, the incomparable satirist, human rights and environmental activist, health advocate, social justice champion, and author of the NAACP Image Award–winning Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies and…
