Mama Dip's Kitchen

Mildred Council

For nearly twenty-five years, Mildred Council--better known by her nickname, Mama Dip--has nourished thousands of hungry folks in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Her restaurant, Mama Dip's Kitchen, is a much-loved community institution that has gained loyal fans and customers from all walks of life, from New York Times food writer Craig Claiborne to former Tar Heel basketball player Michael Jordan.

The Chinaberry Tree: A Novel of American Life

Jessie Redmon Fauset  

The Chinaberry Tree (1931), Fauset's third novel, is a tale of the lives and loves of two generations of African-American women. Its seemingly quiet small-town setting is the backdrop for such bold and explosive issues as adultery, incest, miscegenation, lust, envy, and deception. The story focuses on two women: Laurentine Strange, the beautiful daughter of a common-law interracial union, tormented by the idea that life has passed her by because of her "bad blood"; and her cousin Melissa Paul, a self-confident teenager to whom even darker secrets are revealed.

The African Presence in Early Asia 

Ivan Van Sertima (Editor)

The story of the African presence in early Asia is as fascinating as it is obscure. It covers a period of more than 500,000 years beginning with the first Homo erectus migrations out of Africa. Both Peking and Java Man were only regional varieties of these early Africoid hominids. The story continues with the first modern human populations (Homo sapiens sapiens), Diminutive Blacks, who traveled and so-journed from one corner of Asia to the other, beginning perhaps 90,000 years ago. The Diminutive Blacks were followed by others of slightly larger bodily proportions and further distinguished by straight to wavy hair textures. Variously called Austrics, Austro-Asiatics, Mons, Mundas, Kolarians, and Veddas, these people were probably at their zenith 25,000 years ago, and are still prevalent in large numbers throughout Asia. Blacks were also the first in the development of Asia's early civilizations. The hard factual evidence has borne this out in case after case. Although the story of the black presence in early Asia is obscure, its documentation is by no means new, and the works of Drusilla D. Houston, Joel A. Rogers, and most recently, John G. Jackson, can be singled out for broadening our awareness of the subject and providing a solid foundation from which we can move forward. 
- Runoko Rashidi

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow Is Enuf: A Choreopoem

Ntozake Shange

From its inception in California in 1974 to its highly acclaimed critical success at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and on Broadway, the Obie Award-winning for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has excited, inspired, and transformed audiences all over the country. Passionate and fearless, Shange's words reveal what it is to be of color and female in the twentieth century. Here is the complete text, with stage directions, of a groundbreaking dramatic prose poem written in vivid and powerful language that resonates with unusual beauty in its fierce message to the world.

The Seventh Octave: The Early Writings of Saul Stacey Williams

Saul Stacey Williams

Saul Williams is the all time best selling author on AALBC.com.  His books of poetry Seventh Octave and She are AALBC.com favorites!   

She

Saul Stacey Williams

AALBC top 10 bestseller every 11 out of 12 months in 2000!  She is a fascinating and unique collection of interconnected poems by this multi-talented star -- and marks the beginning of an incredible and totally original artistic career.

Cane River (Oprah Edition)

Lalita Tademy

"Oprah Edition" You already know what that means; an instant bestseller.  In the case of Lalita Tademy's Cane River the sales figures are substantiated by an excellent book  Listen to an Interview with Ms. Tademy and QBR's Talking Books from June 2001.  

The Words Don't Fit In My Mouth 

Jessica Care Moore

One of the all time favorite AALBC.com books.  This book of poetry is by, 5 time Showtime at the Apollo winner, Jessica Care Moore. 

Babe

Delores Thornton

Shake Loose My Skin 

Sonia Sanchez

Shake Loose My Skin covers over thirty years of work and is a testament to her literary, sensual, and political powers. Sanchez combines an ear for the rhythms of street speech with a sophisticated formal repertoire. She shifts with ease from a blues-inspired love poem to a political call to arms. She is a master of haiku, tanka, and even villanelle, but constantly reconstructs these and other forms with her unique poetic vision. Her world is one of hardship, violence, and oppression, but it is also one of passion, fortitude, and tenderness.