147 Books Published by Black Classic Press on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

Return of the Kings continues Mataka’s unapologetic elevation of Black people’s lives and struggles, using her powerful command of language and keen cultural observations as weapons. The poems in this collection acknowledge the challenges Black people face while also offering hope for a brighter future.

The title poem, "Return of Kings," declares the reemergence of the Black man as the only music worth listening to and the only reason to dance. Similarly, the opening poem, "She Who Would Be King," is an homage to the film Woman King and Viola Davis. Mataka writes, "She who would be king, blew up bridges between us and gave us the blueprint for a sacred space where Afrikan women could love their reflections without trying to reroute nature."

Mataka’s mission in writing is to give a voice to the souls of Black people and celebrate them. She is a devout transcriber for spirits known and unknown, a recorder of freedom cries and freedom denied, Black history’s mouthpiece, and rebellion’s archivist.

Acclaimed poet and publisher Haki Madhubti described Mataka’s previous work as a complete repertory of one woman’s travels through Black America. Return of the Kings marks the next leg of her journey.

Laini Mataka is a Washington, DC-based writer, teacher, and community leader. She has received many awards for her service, including induction into the University of Chicago’s International Library Hall of Fame for Writers of Afrikan Descent.

Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall’s expos of America’s political police force, the FBI, reveals the steel fist undergirding “compassionate conservatism’s” velvet glove. Using original FBI memos, the authors provide an extensive analysis of the agency’s treatment of the left, from the Communist Party in the 1950s to the Central America solidarity movement in the 1980s. The authors’ new introduction posits likely trajectories for domestic repression.

For those wondering how Bill Clinton could pardon white-collar fugitive Marc Rich but not Native American leader Leonard Peltier, important clues can be found in this classic study of the FBI’s COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program). Agents of Repression includes an incisive historical account of the FBI siege of Wounded Knee, and reveals the viciousness of COINTELPRO campaigns targeting the Black Liberation movement. The authors’ new introduction examines the legacies of the Panthers and AIM, and shows how the FBI still presents a threat to those committed to fundamental social change.

Marcus Garvey was many things race leader, journalist, orator, and ideologist. He was also a poet, and his poetical works are collected here for the first time. From a purely literary standpoint, he inspired better poetry than he himself produced. However, he could still justify the attempt, for he saw verse as an important supplementary vehicle for propagating his ideas. And these are the ideas upon which the world’s greatest Pan-African movement was built. —From the PREFACE

A great many people have been surprised and pleased at discovering that the Honorable Marcus Garvey, President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, is a poet of high order: that is, that he possesses in large measure the divine power of expressing himself in the language of poetry, which a distinguished authority has declared to be the sublimest expression of the human soul after perfection. Only those who have suffered greatly or felt the ecstasies of joy in its highest and purest form, are capable of reaching the depths in poetic expression which affect and move great masses of people. —T. Thomas Fortune, NEGRO WOULD (1927)

An essay on Black-Jewish relations, primarily in the United States, by a professor of African American History who became embroiled in controversy over his classroom use of a book detailing the well- documented Jewish role in the Atlantic slave trade. The Jewish Onslaught discusses, among other things, the increasing attacks of Jewish organizations on Black leaders and scholars, the alleged halcyon period of a Black-Jewish alliance, the Jewish role in the slave trade and the Jewish attack on Afrocentrism.

Case studies of the Garvey Movement in South Africa, Trinidad, Jamaica and elsewhere. Essays on C.L.R. James, Frantz Fanon, George Padmore, Evangelical Pan-Africanism, the Pan-African Conference of 1900 and other topics.

“No study of the Garrison school of reformers, Liberty party abolitionism, the technique of anti-slavery agitation or the role of the Negro in the Civil War and Reconstruction is complete without constant reference to the career of Frederick Douglass. The most prominent American Negro of the nineteenth century, he was identified with most of the reformist movements of his day.”

Frederick Douglass, written by Benjamin Quarles, was first published in 1948 by The Associated Publishers.

Florence Tate’s collected memoir is a moving portrait of a brave unsung Black woman fighting for Civil Rights, Black liberation, and sanity.

Sometimes Farmgirls Become Revolutionaries is the story of Florence Louise Tate (1931-2014), an unsung civil rights organizer, Black Power activist, and barrier-breaking Black woman.

Known widely as an independent thinker, wife, and mother (of writer and musician Greg Tate, Tate was especially close to the young leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), including and especially Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael). Collaborating with these activists, she became a mentor, nurturer, mother-of-the-movement, and a target of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI.

Tate was a gifted communicator who channeled her talents and skills into a career as a journalist, press secretary, and communications director. She defied gender stereotypes of the 1960s, playing key roles behind the scenes in the lives and work of an astonishing number of high-profile leaders of the most influential social-change organizations and events of the twentieth century. She was also a valued crisis manager who worked with numerous Black Nationalist leaders and Pan-African activists. She kept open lines of communications with several prominent US politicians and members of the Congressional Black Caucus such as Carl Stokes, John Conyers, and Shirley Chisholm. She was particularly close to Marion Barry and Jesse Jackson, both of whom she served as press secretary.

She was a world traveler, present for historic moments of national and international importance such as the successful 1983 mission led by Democratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson to free Lt. Robert Goodman, a military hostage being held by the Syrian government.

Although publicly viewed as an accomplished and competent activist, most people never knew that privately Florence Tate was bravely fighting to maintain her mental health. Diagnosed with chronic depression as a young mother, she endured many years of electroconvulsive shock treatment and psychiatric therapy hoping to ward off her recurring bouts of melancholy and despair. But she never gave up. She endured the treatments and the ups and downs of her condition to live a full life, contributing to her community, fighting for human and civil rights, and being available to her family.

Farmgirls was written in collaboration with author Jake-ann Jones, who became Tate’s friend, confidant, and mentee. The book is an engaging collage of Tate’s life, woven together from her journal entries, memories of people who knew her, and excerpts from her FBI files. Together, these multiple perspectives bring into focus the complex and complicated saga of a public persona engaged in private struggle, defying and overcoming the odds.

Finally, the inestimable attainments of Dr. Andrew Billingsley are applauded in this long overdue Festshrift by those who were schooled and influenced by him.

Billingsley is considered the seminal scholar on the sociology of the Black family, his Black Families in White America remains a classic and a standard reference. He has also attained groundbreaking achievements in other arenas. Serving as a university president (Morgan State University), university administrator (Berkeley, Howard University and The University of Maryland), Billingsley has received acclaim and a host of awards from professional and academic organizations.

This anthology rewards us with the first published collection of individual reminders about Billingsley’s scholarly accomplishments and his unique leadership style.

For those who are aware of his achievements, and for those who are not, Andrew Billingsley, Scholar and Institution Builder, is a fresh, grand tribute of insights about a man whose untiring devotion to Black community well-being has marked his entire career.

Race First, largely unavailable for several years, will be re-issued as the first book in the new TMP series. Its publication date, August 17, 2020 marks the 133rd anniversary of Marcus Garvey’s birth.

“This book has the important element that is missing in most of the books and articles on Garvey—a political analysis of what the Garvey Movement was about …” —John Henrik Clarke, The Black Scholar

A classic study of the Garvey movement, this is the most thoroughly researched book on Garvey’s ideas by a historian of black nationalism.

Written by Earl Conrad and originally published by Carter G. Woodson and the The Associated Publishers in 1943 and 1990, General Harriet Tubman is a well-researched and documented biography. It draws on the accounts of Tubman’s living relatives and others with expert knowledge of the period in which she lived. Perhaps, for this reason, in his acknowledgements for the first edition, Conrad likened the book to Tubman herself:

“Scores of people have contributed to the information, the understanding, and diverse other assistance that has been necessary in effecting this complete life of Harriet Tubman. I could not possibly call it my own. It is as much the property of others, and of the Negroes in particular, as Harriet herself was the claim of her people and her country.”

The Osiris Papers: Reflections on the Life and Writings of Dr. Frances Cress Welsing is intended to be the first of many treatises written to examine the life, theories, and contributions of Dr. Frances Cress Welsing. Some of these writings will be hagiographic. Some will be critical, but all will expand our understanding of one of the greatest African thinkers of the past 100 years.

“There are so many things to feel about this woman” so for this volume, we assembled a group of scholars, social activists, and entertainers to write on one of the Nine Areas of White Supremacy outlined by Neely Fuller in his monumental work The United Independent Compensatory Code/System/Concept: A Compensatory Counter-Racist Code. You will learn how Mr. Fuller directly influenced the theories of Dr. Welsing. While Mr. Fuller asked “What is racism/white supremacy?,” Dr. Welsing asked “Why is there racism/white supremacy?” There is an important difference in these two queries and each will be answered in various ways throughout this volume by writers who, knew Dr. Welsing personally, worked with her on various projects, or are deeply familiar with her writings.

Editors: Raymond Winbush and Dr. Denise Wright

Contributors:

• Harry Allen
• Dr. Marimba Ani
• Anthony Browder
• Patrick Delices
• Laini Mataka
• Dr. Jeffrey Menzise
• Dr. Wade Nobles
• Yaa Asantewaa Nzingha
• Pilar Jan Penn
• Dr. Jose V. Pimienta-Bey
• Dr. Ife Williams
• Dr. Conrad Walter Worrill
• Dr. Jeremiah Wright

In the first of two groundbreaking volumes, the father of African Studies, William Leo Hansberry, examines the myth and legend surrounding some of the African continent’s most dynamic countries. Pillars in Ethiopian History (Volume I) consists of four of Hansberry’s lectures on the theme of Ethiopian history—the Queen of Sheba legend, the origin and development of Ethiopian Christianity, medieval international relations, and the Prester John legend.

The essays included in Pillars in Ethiopian History are taken from Hansberry’s private papers amassed while he taught at Howard University from 1922-1959. During these thirty-seven years, Hansberry laid the foundation for the systematic study of African history, culture and politics. Hansberry, who received both his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Harvard University, unfortunately, was never able to receive his doctorate in African Studies as there were no programs offering the degree in his time.

In African and Africans as Seen by Classical Writers, the second of two groundbreaking volumes, the father of African Studies, William Leo Hansberry, examines classical references to the African continent and its people. The writings of Homer, Pliny, Ovid, Virgil, Herodotus and others are discussed and analyzed in a lively and highly readable manner.

The essays included in Africa and Africans As Seen by Classical Writers are taken from Hansberry’s private papers amassed while he taught at Howard University from 1922-1959. During these thirty-seven years, Hansberry laid the foundation for the systematic study of African history, culture and politics. Hansberry, who received both his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Harvard University, unfortunately, was never able to receive his doctorate in African Studies as there were no programs offering the degree in his time.

When rock and roll was transforming American culture in the 1950s and ’60s, East Harlem pulsed with the sounds of mambo and merengue. Instead of Elvis and the Beatles, Marta Moreno Vega grew up worshiping Celia Cruz, Mario Bauza, and Arsenio Rodriguez. Their music could be heard on every radio in El Barrio and from the main stage at the legendary Palladium, where every weekend working-class kids dressed in their sharpest suits and highest heels and became mambo kings and queens. Spanish Harlem was a vibrant and dynamic world, but it was also a place of constant change, where the traditions of Puerto Rican parents clashed with their children’s American ideals.

A precocious little girl with wildly curly hair, Marta was the baby of the family and the favorite of her elderly abuela, who lived in the apartment down the hall. Abuela Luisa was the spiritual center of the family, an espiritista who smoked cigars and honored the Afro-Caribbean deities who had always protected their family. But it was Marta’s brother, Chachito, who taught her the latest dance steps and called her from the pay phone at the Palladium at night so she could listen, huddled beneath the bedcovers, to the seductive rhythms of Tito Puente and his orchestra.

In this luminous and lively memoir, Marta Moreno Vega calls forth the spirit of Puerto Rican New York and the music, mysticism, and traditions of a remarkable and quintessentially American childhood.

The recent Hollywood film Hidden Figures presents a portrait of how African-American women shaped the U.S. effort in aerospace during the height of Jim Crow. In Storming the Heavens, Gerald Horne presents the necessary back story to this story and goes further to detail the earlier struggle of African-Americans to gain the right to fly. This struggle involved pioneers like Bessie Coleman, who traveled to World War I era Paris in order to gain piloting skills that she was denied in her U.S. homeland; and John Robinson, from Chicago via Mississippi, who traveled to 1930s Ethiopia where he was the leading pilot for this beleaguered African nation as it withstood an invasion from fascist Italy, became the personal pilot of His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie and became a founder of Ethiopian Airways, which to this very day is Africa’s most important carrier. Additionally, Horne adds nuance to the oft told tale of the Tuskegee Airmen but goes further to discuss the role of U.S. pilots during the Korean war in the early 1950s. He also tells the story of how and why U.S. airlines were fought when they began to fly into South Africa–and how planes from this land of apartheid were protested when they landed at U.S. airports.

This riveting story climaxes with the launching of the Soviet satellite, Sputnik, in 1957 which marked a new stage in the battle for aerospace and helps to convince the U.S. that the centuries-long fixation on the “race race” was hampering the new challenge represented by the “space race.” This conflict was unfolding as the battle to desegregate public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas was spotlighting, globally, the bleeding wound that was Jim Crow and sheds light on how and why depriving African-Americans of skills and education was causing the nation to fall behind. Thus, in this embattled context, barriers are broken and African-Americans who once endured inferior conditions on planes and in airports and in airport manufacturing facilities alike, gained added impetus in their decades long struggle to win the right to fly.

As a young man Runoko Rashidi was inspired by the traveling journalist and historian J. A. Rogers. Rogers was undefeatable, rescuing and uncovering Black history from obscure places around the world and many of Europe s historically ruling families. W.E.B. any continues today constantly adding to the countries and the Wonders that he uncovers. DuBois once wrote of Rogers no man alive has written more about the Negro . Rashidi found inspiration in Roger s life and work and pledged to travel the world much like Rogers had done to follow in his footsteps and witness firsthand the presence of Africa around the world. This book documents Rashidi’s inspired Global Journeys in Search of the African Presence. It’s a unique travelogue, recording country by country travels, and day by day encounters with people, historical markers, art and cultural practices that separate and unite Blacks around the word. It s richly illustrated; with colorful photos mostly taken by the author. The photos do a wonderful job of highlighting the author s pursuit of a global Africa. They also present the reader with the same stunning visual African presence that Rashidi found, and still finds as he continues his travels today. He now has visited more than sixty countries, long ago surpassing the twenty-four that Rogers - his inspiration had visited in his life. Travelogues as literature are not a new way of sharing the experience of distant lands, as they have been around for centuries. In fact, many of the early exploiters of Africa used their travelogues to inform other exploiters of Africa and the New World . The uniqueness of Runoko s work is his passionate purpose. He turns the old tradition on its head, rather than using the narrative to exploit and disperse people of African descent, Runoko s purpose is to unite those people, now found all over the world by pointing to their similarities and to their unified beginnings. In that sense the man, and book are unique. No one has travel further, no one has traveled more, no one has traveled with the passion of this man to unite people of African descent with their common origin, and common history. Today Runoko s global search continues as he regularly takes groups to the many distant places he has traveled, as well as new ones that he crosses off his ever-shortening list. His current activity will hopefully lead to a volume two of global searching. With each group he leads he gets to experience his passion anew, assuring that a new generation will share the inspiration that propels him.

VISIONS AND CYPHERS is a rhetorical reader that takes a writing about writing approach to literacy and composition studies to encourage students to think through the role of writing and writing instruction in their academic and social development. Employing essays that consider race, culture, and difference in discussions about writing instruction and composition practices, Visions and Cyphers stresses the idea that writing is a fluid and purposeful mixture of language, design, and cultural choices. The essays featured in Visions and Cyphers are authored by an impressive range of diverse scholarly writers, each of whom is prominent in the field of composition and literacy studies and each of whom engages conversations about language, writing, culture, and rhetorical possibilities from intense and creative perspectives. Complemented by discussion questions that prompt students to think about the authors rhetorical choices and the context and cultural relevance for writing, the essays in Visions and Cyphers help students puzzle through the complex theories that inform writing instruction to help them to take ownership of their writing development and their roles as social engineers and culture keepers.

Black Classic Press, in partnership with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH,) announces the launch of The Woodson Series, which recognizes the pioneering efforts of Carter G. Woodson, The father of Black History Month, as a publisher and institution builder. (Read More ›)

Woodson wrote this text to educated teachers and the general public about Africa. Part I of the book presents a brief summary Africa’s past, including chapters on “The Negro in Africa,” “The Negro in the European Mind,” “The Negro in America,” “The Negro in Literature,” “The Negro in Art,” “The Education of the Negro,” “The Religious Development of the Negro,” and “Economic Imperialism.” Part II contains bibliographical notes and comments on these chapters and the others in the book.

Black Classic Press, in partnership with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH,) announces the launch of The Woodson Series, which recognizes the pioneering efforts of Carter G. Woodson, The father of Black History Month, as a publisher and institution builder. (Read More ›)

“The accounts of the successful strivings of Negroes for enlightenment under most adverse circumstances read like beautiful romances of a people in an heroic age.“

The adverse circumstances to which Woodson refers occurred during the antebellum period, from the beginning of slavery to the Civil War. In this work he chronicles the educational endeavors of Africans in America during this timeframe. He does so with the hope of “narrating in brief how benevolent teachers of both races strove to give antebellum Negroes the education through which many of them gained freedom in its highest and best sense.” First published in 1919.

There are moments in time when the forces of society, government, and the individual converge to provide a window of opportunity to create something special. For Howard University School of Social Work (HUSSW) the 1970s was such a time. Moving from the era of its esteemed founding dean, Dr. Inabel Burns Lindsay the School transitioned to a new era, with new leadership, new vision, and new energy to secure the future of the School. Using a case study approach this book examines the people, the institution and the processes which sought to use the curriculum of the school to respond to the demands for changes in social work education at HUSSW. The backdrop of the civil rights movement provided the sense of urgency and commitment to the challenges and promises of change.

Black Classic Press, in partnership with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH,) announces the launch of The Woodson Series, which recognizes the pioneering efforts of Carter G. Woodson, The father of Black History Month, as a publisher and institution builder. (Read More ›)

“The importance of the church in the life of the Negro justifies the publication of this brief account of the development of the institution.”

Woodson traces the influence of the Black church in America from colonial times through the early years of the twentieth century. To highlight the importance of clergy as leaders in the Black community, he includes numerous short biographies of church leaders who were instrumental in the development of various denominations or were significant members of the religious community.

Black Classic Press, in partnership with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH,) announces the launch of The Woodson Series, which recognizes the pioneering efforts of Carter G. Woodson, The father of Black History Month, as a publisher and institution builder. (Read More ▶)

When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his “proper place” and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.

The oppressor has always indoctrinated the weak with his interpretation of the crimes of the strong.”

Originally published in 1933, Mis-Education of the Negro is considered Woodson’s seminal work. This text explores his thesis that African Americans were being culturally indoctrinated, rather than taught, in American schools. He asserts that this conditioning caused African-Americans to become dependent and to seek out inferior places in the greater society of which they were a part. Woodson skillfully exposes the weaknesses of Euro-centric based curriculums that failed to include African American history and culture.

Black Classic Press, in partnership with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH,) announces the launch of The Woodson Series, which recognizes the pioneering efforts of Carter G. Woodson, The father of Black History Month, as a publisher and institution builder. (Read More ›)

To Uncle George, who in captivity in America manifested the African spirit of resistance to slavery and died fighting the institution.“

So reads Woodson’s dedication to this text, which provides a historical survey of African leaders and makes in an important contribution to America’s cultural past. His text serves as a counterpoint to the largely Eurocentric narrative of African history that was popular at the time. It includes individual portraits of the Mbundu’s Queen Anna Nzinga, Shaka of the Zulu Kingdom, King Béhanzin of Dahomey and numerous others. Woodson’s objective and in-depth account of the complex political, military, and economic history of the African continent helped mainstream America move toward a more thorough understanding of its rich history.

Highly Recommended. All levels/libraries—CHOICE

Everything you need to teach African American Studies is in this book.—Ahmad Rahman, Associate Professor of History, University of Michigan.

There is an ongoing debate as to whether African American Studies is a discipline, or multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary field. Some scholars assert that African American Studies use a well-defined common approach in examining history, politics, and the family in the same way as scholars in the disciplines of economics, sociology, and political science. Other scholars consider African American Studies multidisciplinary, a field somewhat comparable to the field of education in which scholars employ a variety of disciplinary lenses-be they anthropological, psychological, historical, etc., —to study the African world experience. In this model the boundaries between traditional disciplines are accepted, and researches in African American Studies simply conduct discipline based an analysis of particular topics. Finally, another group of scholars insists that African American Studies is interdisciplinary, an enterprise that generates distinctive analyses by combining perspectives from different traditional disciplines and synthesizing them into a unique framework of analysis.

The emergence of Tiger Woods on the international golf scene has brought the world’s attention to the African American experience in golf. But before Tiger, names like Ted Rhodes, Bill Spiller, Ann Gregory, and so many others remained in relative obscurity without being given the chance to compete. Forbidden Fairways is not just a history of the African Americans who have been playing golf for over 200 years but a tribute to them as well. From the unnamed South Carolina enslaved young man who first dared to hit a golf ball when his master wasn’t looking … to another young man named Tiger who dared to win the Masters while the whole world watched. It’s a sad story in places, uplifting in others. It’s about cruelty, but it’s also about courage. It’s about pettiness, but it’s also about perseverance. It’s about golf, but it’s about life, too. Descriptive and intuitive, Forbidden Fairways lets you in on the real story.

Included in this edition is a new Introduction by Sinnette, as well as remarks he delivered at the African American Golf History Symposium at the United States Gold Association Museum in Far Hills, NJ.

Finally, proof that the Willie Lynch Speech is a hoax!

Supposedly given in 1712, the Willie Lynch Speech is widely believed to be authentic. Actually, as revealed in this book, it is an amateurish and malicious hoax. Unfortunately, many people taken in by this hoax have spread and championed it. An extreme example of this championing occurred in 1995 at the Million Man March. There, the Willie Lynch Speech was dramatically repeated in one of the speeches. Marchers and millions around the world who witnessed the March through television and radio were presented with this hoax as fact and history.

In the Death of the Willie Lynch Speech, Professor Manu Ampim exposes the myth of Willie Lynch. Ampim does this by documenting the 20th century origin and fraudulent history of the Willie Lynch Speech and speculating, correctly, about the author’s identity—forcing the admitted hoaxer to confess.

This volume contains the fake Willie Lynch Speech correspondence between Ampim and the admitted hoaxer, and the admitted hoaxer’s confession.

More on why this book is so important.

A Lie of Reinvention is a response to Manning Marable’s biography of Malcolm X, A Life of Reinvention. Marable’s book was controversially acclaimed by some as his magna opus. At the same time, it was denounced and debated by others as a worthless read full of conjecture, errors, and without any new factual content. In this collection of critical essays, editors Jared Ball and Todd Steven Burroughs lead a group of established and emerging Black scholars and activists who take a clear stance in this controversy: Marable’s biography is at best flawed and at worst a major setback in American history, African American studies, and scholarship on the life of Malcolm X.

In the tradition of John Henrik Clarke’s classic anthology William Styron’s Nat Turner: Ten Black Writers Respond, this volume provides a striking critique of Marable’s text. In 1968, Clarke and his assembled writers felt it essential to respond to Styron’s fictionalized and ahistorical Nat Turner, the heroic leader of one of America’s most famous revolts against enslavement. In A Lie of Reinvention, the editors sense a different threat to an African American icon, Malcolm X. This time, the threat is presented as an authoritative biography. To counter the threat, Ball and Burroughs respond with a barbed collection of commentaries of Marable’s text.

The essays come from all quarters of the Black community. From behind prison walls, Mumia Abu-Jamal revises his prior public praise of Marable’s book with an essay written specifically for this volume. A. Peter Bailey, a veteran journalist who worked with Malcolm X’s Organization for Afro-American Unity, disputes how he is characterized in Marable’s book. Bill Strickland, who also knew Malcolm X, provides what he calls a ?personal critique” of the biography. Younger scholars such as Kali Akuno, Kamau Franklin, Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua, Christopher M. Tinson, Eugene Puryear and Greg Thomas join veterans Rosmari Mealy, Raymond Winbush, Amiri Baraka and Karl Evanzz in pointing out historical problems and ideological misinterpretations in Marable’s work.

Through the lens of Black psychology, this book is a radical blending of African centered historiography with an innovative analysis of the role of consciousness formation and identity fragmentation as the unfinished revolution. This work provides a new intellectual discourse in the understanding of human psychology, cultural studies, traditional African spirituality, political science, and race relations. The Island of Memes: Haiti s Unfinished Revolution makes clear that the remembering or re-experiencing of an African meaning of consciousness is essential to the liberation of the African mind and the development, empowerment, and revitalization of African people worldwide.

This poet does not mellow. Laini Mataka is wiser, smarter, and stronger than ever. If you’ve read any of her earlier books and thought she might mellow, you’d be wrong. If you loved reading Bein A Strong Black Woman Can Get U Killed!! and wanted more, The Prince of Kokomo is for you. Laini doesn’t just write about Black reality, she tears it apart, piercing the boundless and forgotten moments that shape our reality.

When you read The Prince of Kokomo, be armed to follow Mataka into battle. She is Harriet Tubman restored. Like Harriet, she has no time for those who love the comfort of their prisons or the seductions of their enslavement.

“A memoir about the beginnings of my journey on the page. My half-baked thoughts, inept drawings, and compulsive repetitions”—Preface.

“The Graphomaniac’s Primer: A Semi-Surrealist Memoir is a chronicle about my journey on the page through drawings, thoughts, and memories. I’ve always loved the blank page: from my first drawings to my first lined explorations of letters when I was small. Here I combine it all in the only way I know how to express that form, the memoir.” —Walter Mosley

This new title by Walter Mosley is unlike any other Mosley book you have seen or read!

Amy Jacques Garvey worked closely with her husband, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., throughout his crusade. Here she gives an insider detailed account of Garvey, Garveyism, and this nascent period of Black Nationalism. Like all great dreamers and planners, Marcus Garvey dreamed and planned ahead of his time and his peoples’ ability to understand the significance of his life’s work. A set of circumstances, mostly created by the world colonial powers, crushed this dreamer, but not his dreams. Due to the persistence and years of sacrifice of Mrs. Amy Jacques Garvey, widow of Marcus Garvey, a large body of work by and about this great nationalist leader has been preserved and can be made available to a new generation of black people who have the power to turn his dreams into realities.

A Black Fire! was written and delivered by Ras Baraka at the home going celebration for his father, Amiri Baraka, on January 18, 2014. The eulogy closed the four-hour service which was attended by more than 3,000 celebrants and hosted by actor and activist, Danny Glover. Ras Baraka delivered the rhapsodizing eulogy in the tradition of his father, who was an extraordinary master of the praise form. Amiri Baraka delivered eulogies honoring the famous and well-known, such as James Baldwin and John Coltrane. He also honored lesser known individuals, including friends and relatives. One of Amiri’s more moving eulogies was delivered for his daughter, Shani, who was tragically killed in 2003.

Moving beyond the loss of both his father and brother, E.Ethelbert Miller tells the story of how love survived in his family. When Miller was about ten years old, his father told him how he considered leaving his mother. Years later, now a writer and a father, Miller looks back on the simple remark and how it shaped him. In Fathering Words, Miller explores his development as an African American writer, the responsibility of his chosen career, and his ambitions to raise the consciousness of Black people.

Miller’s poetry often relies on the voices of women. Here in Fathering Words, he has chosen to write his memoir in two voices. He places his sister’s voice on the page next to his own. The result is a wonderful duet that tells two stories woven into one. Fathering Words is Miller’s moving tribute and a powerful memoir.

Based on rare oral data from women participants in the Mau Mau rebellion, this book chronicles changes in women’s domestic reproduction, legal status, and gender roles that took place under colonial rule. The book links labor activism, cultural nationalism, and the more overtly political issues of land alienation, judicial control, and character of the colonial administration in an analysis of the impact of colonial policy on Kikuyu society, and especially its negative consequences for women. Dr Presley argues that women’s involvement in anti-colonial activities began during the World War I era when the state forcibly recruited women into a wage labor system characterized by physical and sexual abuse. Women took part in all facets of the increasingly violent nationalist movement, including serving in the guerilla army. This book is an important addition to the Mau Mau debate, offering a careful exploration of the effect of colonial social policy on women and making a valuable, original contribution to the literature on African peasant women and their involvement with a major liberation struggle. First published 1992.

More than five decades have lapsed since September 1960, when African American Muslim leader Malcolm X welcomed Cuban President Fidel Castro to a midnight meeting at Harlem’s Black-owned Hotel Theresa.

Castro and his delegation had come to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, but the management of the Manhattan hotel they had booked refused to house them. Upon learning of their plight, Malcolm invited the Cuban emissaries to come uptown to Harlem, where he claimed they would be greeted with open arms.

Indeed, Harlemites by the thousands gave Castro a rousing, even magnificent welcome, keeping a round-the-clock vigil in the pouring rain outside his balcony window. To Harlem’s masses, unfazed by the red baiting and anti-Cuba hysteria of the day, Castro was that bearded revolutionary who had told White America to go to hell. They crowded the streets to see and cheer the Cuban delegation and its then thirty-four-year-old revolutionary leader.

Sadly, however, little is said, even today, about the far-reaching conversations that took place between Malcolm and Fidel that September evening. Only three newsmen were allowed to join them: two representatives and a photographer from the Negro press. They noted that the two leaders exchanged pleasantries, then spoke candidly, through their interpreters, about self-determination and national liberation. Though language differences proved a formidable barrier, author Rosemari Mealy maintains that the respect that both men expressed towards each other…solidified the ties of friendship between the Cuban revolution and the relentless struggles of the African American people.

In this slim yet significant volume, Mealy, along with contributors Elombe Brath, LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Sarah E. Wright, and Bill Epton, compile the recollections of a number of persons who played important roles in this historic summit. They add to these their own perspectives as historians, poets, journalists, and political activists on the two leaders and the revolutionary movements they spawned. The combined reflections, coupled with Malcolm’s and Fidel’s own writings about the encounter and rare photographs of the two men together, yield an authentic accounting of a remarkable meeting of the minds.

Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a collection of fourteen essays by scholars and creative writers from Africa and the Americas. Called one of two significant critical works on Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late 1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of Carter G. Woodson and Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an historical context for understanding 20th-century creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone writers, such as Cuban Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist, and scholar Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the significance of Negritude in Latin America.
This collaborative text set the tone for later conferences in which writers and scholars worked together to promote, disseminate, and critique the literature of Spanish-speaking people of African descent. For example, Antonio Olliz Boyd’s examination of Blackness in Latin American literature is an unwitting call-and-response to Ortiz’s analysis of negritud. Similarly, Martha Cobb and Sylvia Wynter examine concepts of race and representation in Spanish peninsular literature from the Moorish conquest through the Siglo de Oro. John F. Matheus describes the portrayal of Blacks in early Latin American literature, while Lemuel Johnson and Constance Sparrow de García Barrio focus their analyses on Cuban and Puerto Rican poetry.
This edition of BHL includes a new introduction, which traces the development of Afro-Hispanic creative writing and literary criticism in the past thirty years. The field has been enriched by the publication of three important journals, organization of seminars and conferences, and application of new critical methodologies. This edition also includes a bibliographic essay that describes the creative production of Afro-Hispanic writers, particularly women, Latinos, and Ecuatoguineans who have emerged in the last three decades. The updated bibliography describes the publications of scholars, such as Richard L. Jackson and Marvin A. Lewis, who have broadened the field to include analyses of genres, themes, countries, and individual authors.
This collection introduced many academics to a new discipline, defined and shaped the contours of that discipline, and provided an aesthetic that led to the development of other theories. Cited by a literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the field of Afro-Hispanic Literature … on which most scholars in the field ’cut their teeth,’" Blacks in Hispanic Literature, thus, helped to lay the groundwork for the evolution of Afro-Hispanic Studies.

First published in 1974, and edited by John Henrik Clarke with the aid of Amy Jacques Garvey, this is a superbly edited collection of writings reflecting the life and work of Marcus Garvey. Included are essays by Garvey scholars, contemporaries and critics including Robert Hill, Rupert Lewis, and W.E.B DuBois.

Opening with an extensive Introduction by Clarke, the book is presented in seven parts, primarily delineated by the major phases of Garvey’s career. Each part opens with a commentary by Clarke, followed by essays written by Garvey scholars, family, contemporaries and critics. Concluding each part is a section titled ?Garvey in His Own Words” presenting speeches and writings by Garvey.

Parts I and II, titled The Formative Years and the Years of Triumph and Tragedy respectively, Clarke includes a short biographical look at Garvey’s early years written Amy Jacques Garvey while Robert Hill speaks of Garvey’s work prior to his arrival in the United States. Clarke describes 1920-1925 as the ?building years, searching years, and years of magnificent dreaming”, and provides several essays by Garvey that share his perception on the failure of the Black Star Line along with a critical essay by W.E.B. DuBois. Also included is an ?insider’s view”

This is an essential book for everyone.—Centerprise Trust, UK
In twenty two chapters, When We Ruled examines the nature of what we call Black history; critically surveying the often-shoddy documentation of that history. Importantly, it focuses upon African civilization in the Valley of the Nile and analyzes the key historical phases of Ancient Egypt—critical exercises for any professed scholar of African history and vital pieces of Africa’s legacy … When we Ruled is a timely and immensely important work of benefit to scholars and students alike. I am proud to add it to my library, from the Introduction—Runoko Rashidi.Available for the first time in paperback, this edition includes over 100 images, 18 maps, a 15 page chronological table, index, and bibliography. New introduction by Runoko Rashidi for the Black Classic Press edition.

This book is extraordinary in its optimism. One could approach the book as a novel, a philosophical treatise, a dialogue of rationalism, an Edwardian romance, or as a meditation on love, self, family, and community. It is all of these and more because it is filled with African as well as Greek myths as reference points and is a sound political tract on the contemporary strivings of the Turks and the Russians as well as African life under British colonial rule. Yet Casely Hayford is certain in the end that there would be victory over the colonial oppression in the Gold Coast and that his people, the Fante, would enjoy their own freedoms and independence as citizens equal to any in the world. For him, this is not just the objective of the Fante, it is it the aim for the entire Ethiopian world, by which he means all of Africa. Rise, you mighty giant! Rise! Ethiopia will soon be unbound! And so it was.

At the height of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, Black social workers, frustrated by the slow pace of social action and social change in America, organized a national movement of Black social activists willing to confront racism in America and the day-to-day injustices experienced by members of the Black community. Progressive, militant and unapologetic for their persistent dedication and commitment to addressing the pressing social needs of Black America, this book tells the story of the people and their mission to bring about change in America.

Polygyny ? the practice of having multiple wives ? has existed since ancient times and is still practiced in many countries throughout the world. In this book, Dr. Patricia Dixon argues that the practice is one the African American community should adopt as well. According to Dixon, the concept of monogamy was spread by Christianity and created an unrealistic and romanticized notion of marriage that leaves many women, especially African American women, unfulfilled and unsupported. She offers many reasons to support polygyny, most importantly, the shortage of available African American men. Through extensive interviews, she offers an insider’s look at polygynous marriages, showing readers its benefits and disadvantages, interpersonal dynamics, how financial, sexual, and parental responsibilities are determined, and the legal, moral, and cultural challenges that must be overcome in order to make polygynous marriage possible within American society.

Race, Law and Public Policy is an examination of slavery, Jim Crow, desegregation, and equal opportunity eras. Johnson compares and contrasts the legal responses to Black crime versus White crime with a focus on death penalty cases applied to Blacks; analyzes the legal responses to Black liberation efforts; and traces government efforts to destroy the Black community.

In this early African centered work, the Carlisles explore the ancient worlds of Cush, Ethiopia, Nubia and other kingdoms, documenting ancient African contributions to world culture.

Tempest Landry, an everyman African American, is “accidentally” killed by a cop. Denied access to heaven because of what he considers a few minor transgressions, Tempest refuses to go to hell. Stymied, Saint Peter sends him back to Harlem, where a guiding angel tries to convince him to accept Saint Peter’s judgment, and even the Devil himself tries to win over Tempest’s soul. Through the street-smart Landry, Mosley poses the provocative question: Is sin for blacks the same as it is for whites? And who gets to decide?

Published to coincide with the 125th anniversary of William Carlos Williams’ birth, Neil Williams in his daily professional routine. He likewise details the prolific writer’s complex nightlife within the Bohemian circles of Greenwich Village and the long and loving friendships he shared with literary superstars such as Ezra Pound and Hilda Doolittle. Based on Baldwin’s years of study cataloging the Williams archives at SUNY/Buffalo and at Yale

More than 20,000 sheets and rough drafts for poems, short stories, novels, plays, and Williams’ ambitious epic poem, “Paterson,” To All Gentleness presents a striking portrait of a man who managed to live two important lives, distinct yet driven by the same impulses of creativity and caring.

Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing was originally published in 1968. This important work is kept in print by the efforts of Black Classic Press.

The defining work of the Black Arts Movement, Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing is at once a rich anthology and an extraordinary source document. Nearly 200 selections, including poetry, essays, short stories, and plays, from over 75 cultural critics, writers, and political leaders, capture the social and cultural turmoil of the 1960s. In his new introduction, Amiri Baraka reflects — nearly four decades later — on both the movement and the book.

Original 1968 cover

While many texts are readily available chronicling the Black Power Movement, the same cannot be said for its ’aesthetic and spiritual sister,’ the Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal, co-editors and contributors to this volume, saw Black Fire as a manifesto to bring about change in Black thought and action, generated from a Black aesthetic. Often considered the seminal work from the Black Arts Movement, Black Fire is a rich anthology and an extraordinary source document, presenting 178 selections of poetry, essays, short stories and plays from cultural critics, literary artists and political leaders. Many of the contributors became prominent, nationally and internationally. Others receded into the cultural landscape, even before Black Fire’s first publication in 1968. Included in this groundbreaking volume are essays by John Henrik Clarke, Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), Harold Cruse, and A.B. Spellman; poetry by Askia Toure, Sonia Sanchez, Gaston Neal, Stanley Crouch, Calvin C. Hernton, and surprisingly Sun-Ra; fiction by Julia Fields and drama from Ed Bullins. Sixty-three additional contributors round out this comprehensive work.

Excerpt

These are the wizards, the bards, the babalawo, the shaiks, of Weusi Mchoro. These descriptions will be carried for the next thousand years

We are being good. We are the beings of goodness, again. We will be righteous and our creations good and strong and righteous, and teaching. The teaching and the descriptions. The will and the strength. Songs, chants, ‘bad sh*t goin down,’ rendered as the light beam of God warms your hearts forever. Forget, and reget. Reget and forget. Where it was. This is the source, Kitab Sudan. The black man’s comfort and guide. Where we was we will be agin. Tho the map be broke and thorny tho the wimmens sell they men, then cry up hell to get them back our here agin. In the middle of my life, In the middle of our dreams. The black artist. The black man. The holy holy black man. The man you seek. The climber the striver. The maker of peace. The lover. The warrior. We are they whom you seek. Look in. Find yr self. Find the being, the speaker. The voice, the back dust hover in your soft eyeclosings. Is you. Is the creator. Is nothing. Plus or minus, you vehicle! We are presenting. Your various selves. We are presenting from God, a tone, your own. Go on. Now.” —Amiri Baraka, From the Foreword<

An insider’s look at the formative years of the Black Panther Party, this raw, sympathetic portrayal is as fresh today as when first published in 1971. Reginald Major knew and worked with leaders of the Party prior to its organization, and from this intimate vantage point he captured events as the Panthers set the example for black resistance across the country. This edition includes a new introduction by the author.

This provocative study examines the far-reaching influence of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Theodore G. Vincent details UNIA’s origins and clarifies the many myths and controversies surrounding the organization and its founder. Initially written to explore the black militancy movement of the 1920s from the point of view of the Black Power struggles of the 1960s, the author’s new introduction adds a 21st-century perspective.

Few of Dr. Ben’s books are written with co-authors. The Black Man’s North and East Africa is an exception. Written with one of his early colleagues, George E. Simmonds, this work attacks the racist manipulation of African and Black history by ’educators’ and ’authorities on Africa’. Defenders of the Africans’ right to tell their own story, the authors insist that Black people must take responsibility for their own history, "Until African (Black) people are willing, and do write their own experience, past, and present, we will continue being slaves, mentally, physically, and spiritually, to Caucasian and Semitic racism and religious bigotry.

Published while teaching at the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University, this work showcases Dr. Ben as a mentor, and gives readers a sample of his interactive teaching style. He combines in this book a dynamic lecture on the Diagram of the Law of Opposites, along with essays contributed by his graduate students on aspects of the same topic. This collaboration between student and teacher distinguishes this volume from the many other books by this noted activist-historian.1975*, 2005. 66 pp. illus.

Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun? is the inspiring story of Reginald Lewis: lawyer, Wall Street wizard, philanthropist — and the wealthiest black man in American history.

When six-year-old Reginald Lewis overheard his grandparents discussing employment discrimination against African Americans, he asked, “Why should white guys have all the fun?" This self-assured child would grow up to become the CEO of Beatrice International and one of the most successful entrepreneurs ever. At the time of his death in 1993, his personal fortune was estimated in excess of $400 million and his vast commercial empire spanned four continents. Despite the notoriety surrounding Lewis’s financial coups, little has been written about the life of this remarkable man. Based on Lewis’s unfinished autobiography, as well as scores of interviews with family, friends, and colleagues, the book cuts through the myth and media hype to reveal the man behind the legend. What emerges is a vivid portrait of a proud, fiercely determined individual with a razor-sharp tongue — and an intellect to match — who would settle for nothing less than excellence from himself and others.

Oakland, California, 1966-one of the nation’s most controversial political organizations, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense is founded. During its meteoric rise, and almost as rapid decline, the Black Panther Party became the subject of countless news articles, books, commentaries, and several motion pictures. This often misunderstood notoriety has made the Panthers America’s most well-known Black revolutionaries. But few who have examined the role of the Panthers have done so with the depth and skill of Dr. Charles E. Jones and the other contributers to this provocative collection of essays. Here is a volume that provides the extensive analysis that will lead to a more complete understanding of the dynamics surrounding the Black Panther Party. Now available for the first time in paperback.

Beginning work on The Negro in 1912, W.E.B. Du Bois labored against an intesten backdrop of colonialism and racism. Europe had carved up the African continent, exploiting Africa and its people. Appearing in 1915, Du Bois’ account attacked the foundation of this explotiation—the racist doctrine that claimed Africans have no history, have made no contributions to history, and deserve no history. Du Bois’ work was nothing less tha pioneering and with this slim volume he inspired generations to see African history from a different perspective—an African Perspective.

In an analytical approach to the statutes of twelve slave holding states Stroud’s book exposed to the world the diabolical nature of legal enactments throughout the South that debased both African people and those who held them in bondage. Stroud’s Slave Laws had extensive influence upon national legal thinking on the issue of slavery.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world’s literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

As Black and African Studies programs emerged in the early 1970’s, the question of who has the right and responsibility to determine course and curriculum also emerged.

In Hebrewisms of West Africa Williams examines the relationship between the Jamaican and the Ashanti cultures and folk beliefs. He documents the Hebraic practices, customs and beliefs which he found among both groups of people.

Mosley, like many New Yorkers, has tried to make sense of the events of 9/11—and his own reaction to them. He remembered his father’s stories about World War II and how he didn’t think of himself as an American until German soldiers shot at him. How did he feel—and how did African Americans feel—about the unfolding debate of what brought America to this tragic juncture. Was the displacement his father felt, a half century ago, still a part of this new generations’ experience?

In What Next, Mosley addresses these questions and others, inviting the reader into a dialogue that is brilliantly argued, and poetically concise. What Next offers food for thought and is a call to action for African Americans and freedom loving people everywhere.

This anthology begins with the memory of landscapes and landmarks, presenting poems in the For My People tradition of Margaret Walker. It includes a section titled Blood and Disappointment in the Land, which documents ongoing social struggles. Other poems focus on the love that is essential for survival, rebirth, and dreams. More than 100 prominent African American poets contribute, including the distinguished and award-winning poets Toi Derricotte, Sam Cornish, Jabari Asim, and Pinkie Gordon Lane.

William Cooper Nell: Nineteenth-Century African American Abolitionist, Historian, Integrationist.

For the first time, a biography of William Cooper Nell and a major portion of his articles from "The Liberator", "The National Anti-Slavery Standard", and "The North Star" have been published in a single volume. The book is the first to document the life and works of Nell and includes correspondence with many noted abolitionists such as Wendell Phillips, Frederick Douglass, Amy Kirby Post and Charles Sumner.

Osei leads readers from the humble birth and difficult youth of the great South African warrior and chief Skaka Zulu to his rise as one of Africa’s - and the worlds - greatest leaders.

This mesmerizing collection of verse containing the poetry of Linda Joy Burke, Lenett Nefertiti Allen, Jaki-Terry, and Chezia Thompson-Cager is as diverse and inspiring as the women who wrote these poems.

This is a unique and pioneering survey of the ancient and contemporary (1937) African world. Huggins views Africa and African accomplishments from a decidedly African-centered perspective. A strong supporter of Ethiopia and its fight against fascism, Huggins devotes a detailed chapter to Ethiopian history and the war with Italy. Huggins successfully wrote this book for students, independent study groups, and the general reader. This edition is not to be confused with John G. Jackson s later book which has the same title. Huggins was one of Jackson s mentors. Comparing the two books one can see how Jackson was influenced by Huggins, a seldom-noted member of the Harlem historians. With the republication of the original Introduction to African Civilizations, readers now have access to Willis N. Huggins his ability as an historian, his dedication as an activist, and to one of the more important works produced by a Black self-trained historian.

The title is a lament for the strong Black woman "who carried her family in her belly, the community on her head, and the race on her back." A magical collection. Slashing and critical. Yet at the same time, it is full of love, insight, and the nourishing stuff that’s meant to keep us STRONG and ALIVE.

Ancient Future celebrates the wisdom of those ancient civilizations that did not disassociate the philosophical, spiritual, and material realms of life. This book is an attempt to re-create this holistic experience in hopes that a synthesized view of life will become reality in the 21st century.

In Race, Law and Public Policy Johnson compares and contrasts the legal responses to "Black" crime versus ’’White’’ crime with a focus on death penalty cases applied to Blacks; analyzes the legal responses to Black liberation efforts; and traces government efforts to destroy the Black community.

The authors present the importance of the African tradition. Kindezi (the art of Babysitting) and the ndezi (the babysitters) provide extensive value and service to both society and the individual child, making for a cohesive, unified community. Introduction by Marimba Ani.

For a long time Africa has been under eclipse. Much of our past glory, success and achievements in the field of art, industry, commerce and civilization generally has been distorted or suppressed. Much of what the white men have written about Africa bears no realistic relationship to the favorable conditions obtaining in Africa before the advent of the whites. It was the whites who by their atrocious deeds The slave Trade, the Partition and Colonization practically destroyed African civilization achieved after many years of hard work. Imagination may try to reconstruct the figure of our loses, but an accurate calculation will remain a vain thing because of the extent and magnitude of the destruction. African discontent must be deeper than it had been admitted.—From the text.

As a self-trained scientist, inventor, astronomer, and mathematician, Benjamin Banneker had few equals in early nineteenth century America. With the help of Murray, an assistant librarian for the Library of Congress and a pioneer of the Negro history movement, Allen compiled the information on Banneker’s life and work, presented in this volume.

A rare andlong out-of-print gem, this work is a wonderful time capsule to the past, filled with hundreds of well-known and little-known tidbits about Blacks.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Book by Johnson, J.C.Degraft-

The author’s strong voice resounds throughout this collection from the title poem to the final pages as he examines failed relationships and broken promises, exploring themes of despair, depression, and desire with an uncommon honesty and tenacity.

In the 1970s, the battle for racial equality being waged in the streets an d the legislatures took the ivory tower. Black students, researchers and instructors had long been witness to the distortion of their history, their communities, and their identities in the classroom and in the field. The Black community had long borne the brunt of academia s failings. But many, like the contributors to Joyce A. Ladner s The Death of White Sociology, took up their pens and raised their voices against mis-education and bias in social science research.

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

Set in 1839, this is the true story of a revolt on the Spanish slave ship "Amistad", whose cargo of 53 Africans rebelled against their captors. Captured off the coast of Connecticut when their desperate attempt to sail home failed, the Africans are forced to stand trial for the murder of the crew that had held them prisoner. To win their freedom, they find themselves taking on not just the Spanish, but the entire American justice system. They are joined in their fight by a young attorney, former U.s. President John Quincy Adams, and a fiery abolitionist.

Joshua Giddings (1795-1864), an anti-slavery leader and a champion of free speech, was admitted to the bar in 1821 and went on to serve several terms in the United States Congress, where he seized every opportunity to expose the sophisms of the slaveocracy. One of the highlights of his term during the first session of the Thirty-ffith Congress was the publication of The Exiles of Florida: The Crimes Committed By Our Government Against the Maroons, Who Fled From South Carolina and Other Slave States, Seeking Protection Under Spanish Laws (1858).

An early indictment of slaveocracy, The Exiles of Florida is an account of the Florida Wars, which were waged by U.S. forces against an unoffending community of Blacks and Native Americans. Both groups were viewed as a threat to the status quo and the expansionist anthem of an emerging United States. In The Exiles of Florida, Giddings presents evidence of the United States Government’s deadly role in destroying this Florida community, where both Blacks and native Americans lived, worked, and actively resisted enslavement.

Originally published in 1960, this study focuses on the exploitive nature of the word “Negro.” Tracing its origins to the African slave trade, Moore shows how the label “Negro” was used to separate African descendents and to confirm their supposed inferiority.

Originally published in 1978, a collection of essays includes historical and black nationalist perspectives on black women during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, highlighting their common experience of racism and sexism.

In lecture/essay format, Dr. Ben identifies and corrects myths about the inferiority and primitiveness of the indigenous African peoples and their descendants. Order Africa Mother of Western Civilization here.

A prequel to the Easy Rawlins mystery series finds a nineteen-year-old Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins and his companion, Raymond “Mouse” Alexander, on a perilous 1939 odyssey that takes them from Houston to a mysterious bayou world of voodoo, sex, revenge, and death.

Walker’s Appeal represents one of the earliest African-centered discourses on an oppressed people’s right to freedom. African American political philosophy has evolved from many of the themes that it articulates. Order David Walker’s Appeal here.

Of the books authored by Martin R. Delany (1812-1885), The Origin of Races and Color is perhaps the most obscure. Out-of-print until now, it has been available to the public only through select libraries. At the time of its publication in 1879, this valuable resource presented a bold challenge to racist views of African inferiority. Delany wrote in opposition to a developing oppressive intellectualism that used Darwin’s thesis, "the survival of the fittest," to support its demented theories of Black inferiority.

Skillfully blending biblical history, archaeology and anthropology, Delany offered evidence to the "serious inquirer" suggesting the first humans were African, and that these Africans were ". . . builders of the pyramids, sculptors of the sphinxes, and original god-kings… ." With such radical assertions, Delany advanced a model of ancient history that contradicted the very foundation of intellectual racism. He believed knowledge of one’s past was essential, and that it could provide Black people with the regenerative force necessary to inspire their self-improvement. Were he alive today, Delany would certainly feel at home with the present generation of Africancentrists, especially since he developed and articulated so many of their arguments more than a century ago.

Blood In My Eye was completed only days before it’s author was killed. George Jackson died on August 21, 1971 at the hands of San Quentin prison guards during an alleged escape attempt. At eighteen, George Jackson was convicted of stealing seventy dollars from a gas station and was sentenced from one year to life. He was to spent the rest of his life — eleven years— in the California prison system, seven in solidary confinement. In prison he read widely and transformed himself into an activist and political theoretician who defined himself as a revolutionary.

Dr. Ben destroys the myth of a "white Jewish race" and the bigotry that has denied the existence of an African Jewish culture. He establishes the legitimacy of contemporary Black Jewish culture in Africa and the diaspora and predates its origin before ancient Nile Valley civilizations.

First published in 1886, this book has held its place as the classic work on the Moors in Spain: a scholarly, wonderfully readable and sweeping tale of splendor and tragedy.

“Palatial cities rose under their hand. Aqueducts, rivaling those of the Roman Campagna, brought the streams from the mountains to city and field. Great districts, naturally sunburnt and barren, were made by skilful irrigation to blossom into wonderful fertility. Under their rule Spain was a rich, a prosperous, and, to a great degree, a happy land. Ample revenue of their monarchs enabled them to undertake and complete works of regal splendor, of which the admired Alhambra and the Mosque—now the Cathedral—of Cordova, with its thousand pillars of variegated marble, yet remaining after the desolations of centuries, are striking examples… Their universities were of such celebrity that students from all Christian lands eagerly repaired to them… In poetry and elegant literature, they attained no inconsiderable success.”

In this collection of articles, Harrison advocates an independent Black political thrust and a kind of education that prepares African people for nationhood. Introduction by John Henrik Clarke.1920*,1997. 152 pp. Paperback

The second book in a 3-volume set, The Myth of Genesis and Exodus and the Excursion of Their African Origins is a companion volume to African Origins of the Major Western Religions and The Need for a Black Bible . These three volumes were originally published as a 3-volume set The Black Man’s Religion and are available separately for the first time. The Black Man’s Religion is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to gain a better understanding of belief systems in the Western World.

Other volumes in this set include ISBN number(s): 0766126536. Volume one of a two volume set. (This description is for all volumes.) Containing an attempt to recover and reconstitute the lost origins of the myths and mysteries, types and symbols, religion and language, with Egypt for the mouthpiece and Africa as the birthplace. Vol. I, Egyptian origins in the British Isles; Egypt; Comparative vocabulary of English and Egyptian words; Hieroglyphics in Britain; Egyptian origins in words; Egyptian water-names; Egyptian names of personages; British symbolical customs and Egyptian naming; Egyptian deities in the British Isles; Egyptian place-names and the record of the stones; Type-names of the people. Vol. II; Comparative vocabulary of Hebrew and Egyptian words; Hebrew cruxes with Egyptian illustrations; Egyptian origins in the Hebrew scriptures, religion, language, and letters; The phenomenal origin of Jehovah-Elohim; Egyptian origin of the Exodus; Moses and Joshua, or the two Lion-Gods of Egypt; An Egyptian dynasty of Hebrew deities identified from the monuments; The Egyptian origin of the Jews traced from the monuments; Comparative vocabulary of Akkado-Assyrian and Egyptian words; Egyptian origins in the Akkado-Assyrian language and mythology; Comparative vocabulary of Maori and Egyptian words; African origins of the Maori; Roots in Africa beyond Egypt. Mr. Massey has collected together all the principal facts known about Egypt, with a view to trace the origin of mankind. Some portions of his theories are undoubtedly correct, especially those which go to prove that the Egyptians are the oldest known historical race, that they are an African people of a peculiar type, and by no means an Asiatic tribe filtered through the Isthmus of Suez. Evidence of their primitive development is to be found in their physical type. The significance of this work was not recognized in its own time over 100 years ago. This book emphasizes the African origins of mankind in Africa. This work could give new pride and awareness in the staggering perspective of the history of Black people. See also, The Natural Genesis.

Ginzburg compiles vivid newspaper accounts from 1886 to 1960 to provide insight and understanding of the history of racial violence.

First published in 1962, 100 Years of Lynchings, is as relevant today as it was then. It presents the reader with vivid newspaper accounts of a “red record of racial atrocities.” It is a simple and straight forward presentation. Lacking narration, the news articles speak for themselves. Through them, we witness a history of racial atrocities that we cannot afford to forget. Ginzburg skillfully selected articles from a wide range of papers, large and small, radical and conservative, white and Black. Through them, he has created a documentary of lynchings. The collection of articles which extend into the 1960s provides a sobering view of American history. Few who read the book will remain unaffected by this view.

Through Ralph Ginzburg’s 100 Years of Lynchings, we gain insight and understanding of the magnitude of racial violence. The hidden past is illuminated to rekindle the defensive vigilance of this generation.

In a masterful and unique manner, Dr. Ben uses Black Man of the Nile to challenge and expose "Europeanized" African history. Order Black Man of the Nile here.

Seize the Time

The third book in a 3-book volume set, The Need for a Black Bible is a companion volume to African Origins of the Major western Religions and The Myth of Genesis and Exodus and the Exclusion of Their African Origins. These three volumes were originally published as the 3-volume set The Black Man’s Religion and are available separately for the first time. The Black Man’s Religion is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to gain a better understanding of belief systems in the Western World.

In Early Negro Writing, first published in 1971, Dorothy Porter presents a rare and indispensable collection of writings of literary, social, and historical importance. Most of the writings contained in this collection are no longer in print. In some cases, only one or two original copies are known to exist.

Early Negro Writing is rich with narratives, poems, essays, and public addresses by many of America’s early Black literary pioneers and champions of racial equality. Represented in this work are poems by Jupiter Hammon and Phillis Wheatley and a spiritual song by Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal church.

The essays in this collection document the fact that from the earliest days of this country, Black Americans have voiced their concerns on the subject of freedom, slavery, politics, morals, religion, education, emigration, and other issues. Confronted by an often hostile social environment Blacks learned quickly the value of mutual aid and fraternal organizations. Addresses by Masonic organizer and abolitionist Prince Hall and others highlight the importance of these early self-help efforts.

When Lady Lugard sat down to write A Tropical Dependency, it was not her intention to inspire generations of Africans to regain the independence of their countries. Lugard writes of slavery as though it was a God-given right of Europeans to own Africans as slaves. Ironically, her text on Africa’s place in history reaffirms the belief that, If Africa did it once, Africa can do it again; Introduction by John Henry Clarke.

In the first volume of Ancient Egypt, Massey was primarily concerned with elaborating how the first humans emerging in Africa created thought. In the second volume, Massey examines the celestial phenomenon known as the Precession of the Equinoxes. The Complete facsimile edition in two volumes

Hillard examines the economic, educational, spiritual, and political aspects of the African American reality.

The poems of Laini Mataka display her sharp wit, sincere political consciousness, and genuine love for Black people.

Blyden offers an early African-centered perspective on race, religion, and the development of Africa.

African life and Customs is an essential collection of Edward Wilmont Blyden s articles that examines the socioeconomic structure of African society. A native of St. Thomas, West Indies, Blyden (1832-1912) lived most of his life on the African continent. He was an accomplished educator, linguist, writer, and world traveler, who strongly defended the unique character of African and its people. In African life and Customs, Blyden examined the culture of pure Africans those untouched by European and Asiatic influences. He identified the family as the basic unit in African society and polygamy as the foundation of African families. He described African social systems as cooperative; everyone worked for each other. No one went without work, food, or clothing. Blyden challenged white racial theorists who held Africans were inferior and whose arguments supported their preconceived ideas. He assumed Africans to be distinct rather than inferior, and he analyzed African culture within the context of African social experiences. Although some regarded Blyden s views as controversial during his time, today, upon reevaluation, his work is seen by many as an important attempt to perform a holistic analysis of African society. African Life and Customs is an impressive African centered interpretation of African culture.

Collier’s first published collection of short stories. It includes standards such as "Marigolds" as well as newer selections such as the story "Breeder."

Rev. Pascoe G. Hill has left us a chilling testament. Fifty Days on Board a Slave - Vessel is his unforgettable account of life on a slave ship. Hill’s narrative locks fifty days into an existence of forever that haunts, not from the fear of the unknown, but the fear of the known. At a relatively safe distance of more than a hundred years away from Hill’s time we know, as he did, the extended suffering of the enslaved Africans.

Delany used The condition, Elevation, Emigration to analyze this conflict and its probably solution. Crafting a skillful argument, he attacked slavery and the subjugation of Black people. To underscore the capacity of Blacks to live as equals, he recorded their achievements in business agriculture, literature, the military, and other professions. Concluding that Blacks would never be allowed to coexist with whites, Delany completed his analysis by suggesting possible locations for Black emigration. He wrote, We are a nation within a nation…We must go from our oppressors.

Dr. John Henrik Clarke s African People in World History inaugurates the Black Classic Press Contemporary Lecture Series. This series is devoted to the publication of views expressed by leading contemporary thinkers and essayists. Dr. Clarke qualifies as both. He is Professor Emeritus of African World History at Hunter College. As a historian, educator, and author, he has dedicated his life to uncovering the identity and place of African people in world history.

African Origins of the Major "Western Religions" first published in 1970, continues to be one of Dr. Ben’s most thought-provoking works. This critical examination of the history, beliefs and myths, remains instructive and fresh. By highlighting the African influences and roots of these religions, Dr. Ben reveals an untold history that many would prefer to froget.

A chronology of the Bible (first published in 1972) is perhaps his most popular work. Originally prepared at the request of a group of Harlem-based ministers, Chronology documents the African origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Dr. Ben traces significant influences, developments, and people that have shaped and provided the foundation for the holy books used in these religions.

From first-hand observations and study, Volney demonstrates that early Nile Valley Africans provided a basis for the civilization of his time.

Much of First Light is autobiographical, a young boy growing into urban manhood; it’s a book of family, of strangers, of learning to tell time by the people that populated E. Ethelbert Miller’s life. He has populated his work with mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and lovers who fight daily to be able to do simple things like drink clean water and sleep without gunshots interrupting their dreams. He takes instruction from Pablo Neruda, Margaret Walker, political prisoners and finds inspiration in the aloneness of Winnie Mandela. Mostly, it is a book of love, personal and cultural. It’s silences are penetrating, its insights are liberating, its violence is quieting and its love is contagious.

Book by Osuntoki

Egypt’s rebirth exemplifies the purely African notions of resurrection and immortality. The Tale of Two Brothers clearly articulates these themes as well as other contemporary ones such as truth, justice, and righteousness. This ancient fairy tale is translated from the Egyptian papyrus; drawings are included.

We witness Nat’s days in slavery, his attachment to his mother and family which yields to the temptation of the West. We are carried through his introduction to the range where he becomes an expert cowboy and marksman. After winning a shooting contest in Deadwood, South Dakota in 1876, his skills as a marksman earned him the nickname Deadwood Dick . In all, Nat Love spent twenty years living the life of a cowboy. In his latter life, Nat Love and several of his former saddle mates worked for the railroad. He became a devoted father and family man.

"I see in her work, from ’White Traditions in Black-Face,’ to the title poem ’Never As Strangers,’ a complete repertory of one woman’s travels through Black America. It is quite a trip." -Haki R. Madhubuti. To listen to a sample or purchase Laini’s audiobook, click on "Links to Other Sites" on the left menu and click on Audiobook: Never As Strangers.

Rogers focuses on the seldom discussed topic of Black "blood" in the white race. By exposing the extensive intermixture and intermarriage of Blacks and whites, Rogers attacks racist thought at its roots.

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A Collectors Item: The Centennial Edition 1887 – 1987

Compiled by Amy Jacques Garvey with a New Preface by Dr. Tony Martin, a preeminent authority Garvey

The Philosophy and Opinions, first published in two volumes in 1923 and 1925, quickly became a celebrated apologia for the leader of the largest Pan-African mass movement of all time. “As we approach the 1987 celebration of the centennial of Marcus Garvey’s birth, the time seems appropriate for the United States and Jamaican governments to declare null and void the legal proceedings that unjustly sent him to jail in both countries. Nor should a mere ’pardon’ suffice, presupposing as it does, the presence of guilt to begin with.”—From the Preface.

Originally published on 1938, The Negro’s Contribution to Art, Seifert argues that Africans were among the world’s first artists.

“Originally published in 1926, Houston’s masterwork is more relevant today than ever before!” —Troy Johnson, AALBC.com’s Founder

Houston describes the origin of civilization and establishes links among the ancient Black populations of Arabia, Persia, Babylonia, and India. In each case, she concludes that the Blacks who inhabited these areas were all culturally related.

“Uninformed men make unsafe leaders. that is the primal cause for so many errors of judgment in state and national councils. We look upon them not as statesmen but as promoters of petty politics, for out of their deliberations spring no alleviation of the woes of the world. It is from this lack of understanding in leadership that the world suffers most today. We could discriminate between the true and false in our civilization, if we knew more about primitive culture. The way by which the first man climbed must ever be the human way. Racial prejudices are the greatest menace to world progress. Classes clash because the wealth of the world concentrates more and more in the hands of a few. The tragedy of human misery increases, the increase of defectives, the growing artificiality of modern living, compels us to seek and blazen forth the knowledge of the true origin of culture and the fundamental principles that through the ages have been the basis of true progress. Only by this wisdom shall we know how to lift human life today.”
(read the full excerpt »)

The history of Ethiopia could also be called the history of humanity. The question is not if this history is well documented, but why it is not thought widely in schools. The time necessary to study the tomes that refer to the Nubians as the forbearers of our civilization is enormous. The world owes Ethiopia for its history, astronomy, agriculture and all the other sciences, and John G. Jackson gave ample references to validate this claim. Ethiopia’s history is incredible and a treasure to the world and it is a shame that it has been distorted by the persistent Eurocentrism.

First published in 1940, this is a unique history which chronicles the accomplishments and tenacity of Black men and women.

2015 Reprint of 1936 Edition. Full Facsimile of the original edition. Not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. J. A. Rogers was a Jamaican-American author, journalist, and historian who contributed to the history of Africa and the African diaspora, especially the history of African Americans in the United States. His research spanned the academic fields of history, sociology and anthropology. He challenged prevailing ideas about race, demonstrated the connections between civilizations, and traced African achievements. He was one of the greatest popularizers of African history in the 20th century. The Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 inspired grass roots political activism in black America and is the background to this pamphlet. Rogers’s text critiques the nature of race under colonialism by illustrating how state boundaries and racial categories are coordinate, strategic operations of colonial power. In many respects it functions as any early statement of anti-colonialism from the black perspective.

Book by George W. Parker

Harlem Mecca is an indispensable aid toward gaining a better understanding of the Harlem Renaissance.The contributors to this edition include W.E.B Du Bois, Arthur Schomburg, James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, and Countee Cullen.

With colonization come the dismantling of traditional African belief systems. Influenced by the Eurpopean propaganda mills, some Africans began to believe that they had produced nothing of worth. This is the origin of Black seminarians who could not find a Black Theology. In Black Seminarians, ben-Jochannan outlines sources of Black theology before Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It’s important for us to know that the ideas, practices, and concepts that went into the making of Judaism, Christianity and Islam were already old in Africa before Europe was born. Black Seminarians marks an important first step in our journey to reclaim our spiritual heritage. — From the introduction.

First published in 1977, black genealogy remains a unique guide guide among standard genealogical references. author charles blockson, a noted genealogist and african american historian, traced his own family roots back through the 18th century. along his journey, he discovered obstacles and advantages that make searching for black family history a rewarding experience.

The wisdom of having good health can’t be overemphasized. If you’re tired of being sick and tired, here’s the perfect book for you. In Self-Healing Power and Therapy, Dr. K. Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau presents an extraordinary and revolutionary thesis that successfully combines centuries-old Black African medical practices with the principles of contemporary medicine. Self-Healing Power and Therapy is based on the Bantu-Kongo teachings on the art of healing, which are devoted to assisting the human being in understanding the key principles that govern life. Combining ancient practices with today’s sophisticated methods of healing, here then, for the very first time, is a thorough exploration and explanation of an ancient art in a modern setting whose efficacy has survived the test of time.

In volume one, Massey focuses on Egyptian origins in the British Isles. In the second volume, he explores the African/Egyptian roots of the Hebrews, the Akkado-Assyrians, and the Maori. By linking these diverse cultures and origins to their African roots, Massey demonstrates not only the extent of African influence but its durability as well. Introduction by Charles S. Finch. 1881*, 1995. 1200 pp. Two-Volume set. Paper.

Volume I and Volume II are available separately as kindle e-books for $9.99 each.

Link to Volume I e-book.

Link to Volume II e-book.

Women in Africa and the African Diaspora examines the role and place of women in the African diaspora. Contributors clarify the concept, methodology, and projected guidelines for studies of women throughout the African diaspora.

In this second edition, the essays are grouped into four thematic divisions: "Theory and Method," "Africa," "The Diaspora," and "Comparative Studies." New essays have been added that are by Lucille Mathurin Mair, Darlene Clark Hine, Sheila S. Walker, Miriam DeCosta-Willis, and each editor.

285 pages, includes index, images.

Barbados celebrated its 50th Anniversary of Independence November 2016. This booklet was created to give greater perspective on those who participated in that process. 

"…one of the greatest sons of our nation, and one of he critical architects of our nationhood and Independence…a key political thinker, activist, researcher, organizer, historian, lecturer, scholar and bibliophile..imperishable example of a life of committed struggle and activist on behalf of his beloved Barbados." - Davis A. Comissiong

"Moore, as the ’man of words,’ was a presence that could not be avoided during the first five decades of the century. His voice was frequently heard,not only in North America but also in Europe, extolling the virtues of political emancipation for his native English-speaking islands…" - Franklin W. Knight

Taking the street as its model, Word Hustle is an appraisal of Donald Goines’s legacy as well as an examination of a tradition and a model of writing. More than a collection of essays, it is a study whose contributors seek to make room for new models for studying Black literature and culture.

Word Hustle is the first scholarly treatment of fiction writer Donald Goines, and thereby the first serious consideration of what has been termed “street literature,” “ghetto literature,” “street fiction,” or “urban fiction.” By examining Goines, one of street literature’s most prolific founders, this collection seeks to begin a legitimate study of the genre and its authors. In illuminating the layers of Goines’s novels, the contributors engage topics such as Black Power politics, revolutionary violence, domesticity and fatherhood, revisions of the mulatto trope, rape and racialized sexuality, and the prison industrial complex.

"This blazingly original and brilliantly argued collection of essays may force us to redefine not only African American literary history bu also large areas of modern American cultural history."-H. Bruce Franklin

"L.H. Stallings and Greg Thomas have produced a crucial study that avoids translating the "raw" power of street literature into a "cooked" academic discourse. This anthology uncovers Donald Goines’s Pan Africanism, class critique, neo-slave narratives, and his deep connection with Hip Hop aesthetics."-Natalie Margo Crawford

ISBN 978-1-58073-046-4, 2011, 218 pp. Paper.

Similar to the ways that Jazz, the Blues and Soul music heightened consciousness and educated scores of generations, Hip Hop music and culture has become a source of enlightenment around the world. Hip Hop Studies came of age in the 1990’s as purveyors of the culture became scholars and proselytized the academic merits of the music and lifestyle. Higher Learning: Hip Hop in the Ivory Tower features a collection of instructive articles by educators in multiple fields who share their successful Hip Hop-based pedagogical strategies. Written to encourage deep learning among millennials, these experts evaluate the intellectual discourse surrounding Hip Hop and use its uniqueness to teach a wide range of academic subjects. Going beyond lyrics in the classroom, Higher Learning: Hip Hop in the Ivory Tower is a valuable source of Hip Hop based information and an exchange of ideas that can close the generation gap for decades to come. Edited by Karin Stanford and Charles E. Jones.

This biography is a brief but succinct account of Marcus Garvey’s life and work. An ideal text for both students and serious laymen. Originally published 1983. 189 pages.

The real roots of the Harlem Renaissance lie in the Garvey Movement. Zora Neale Hurston, Alain Locke and Claude McKay all published in Garvey’s Negro World before the "mainstream" Renaissance got going. Afro-America’s first book reviews and literary competitions came out of the Garvey Movement. This volume presents a rich treasury of literary criticism, book reviews, poetry, short stories, music and art appreciation, polemics on the Black aesthetic and other never before published literary and cultural writings of Garvey’s Harlem Renaissance. Authors range from the unknown to major literary and political figures whose Garvey connections few will suspect.

"Martin performs a valuable service….[Garvey’s literary contribution] has been largely overlooked in studies such as Nathan Huggins’s Harlem Renaissance, David Levering Lewis’s When Harlem Was in Vogue, and Jervis Anderson’s This Was Harlem." CHOICE

"In language that is elegant and richly anecdotal, Tony Martin has served notice that anyone who wishes to study the Harlem Renaissance or trace the development of the Black aesthetic must acknowledge the important influenc of the Garvey movement." Joanne Veal Gabbin, AFRO-AMERICANS IN NEW YORK LIFE AND HISTORY


 "Successful in showing that the popularly rooted Garveyites displayed as much zeal for literature as did the now better-known NAACP and Urban League, Martin’s book serves as a corrective work…." John M. Reilly, AMERICAN LITERARY SCHOLARSHIP, 1984

About the Author

Marcus Garvey was many things race leader, journalist, orator and ideologist. He was also a poet, and his poetical works are collected here for the first time. From a purely literary standpoint, he inspired better poetry than he himself produced. Even so, however, he could still justify the attempt, for he saw verse as an important supplementary vehicle for propagating his ideas. And these are the ideas upon which the world’s greatest Pan-African movement was built.

-From the PREFACE

A great many people have been surprised and pleased at discovering that the Honorable Marcus Garvey, President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, is a poet of high order: that is, that he possesses in large measure the divine power of expressing himself in the language of poetry, which a distinguished authority has declared to be the sublimest expression of the human soul after perfection. Only those who have suffered greatly or felt the ecstacies of joy in its highest and purest form, are capable of reaching the depths in poetic expression which affect and move great masses of people.

-T. Thomas Fortune, NEGRO WOULD (1927)

"Volume I contains an introduction along with documents on the outlook of the New Jewel Movement and on the health, education, culture, labor, development and religious policies of the government of Maurice Bishop. Volume II turns to the foreign policy of the New Jewel Movement."

Tony Martin, the distinguished professor of African American and Caribbean history at Wellesley College is determined to rescue Amy Ashwood Garvey from obscurity, and place her not only in the forefront of the Marcus Garvey pantheon, but also in the feminist and Pan-African movements of the twentieth century. His book, Amy Ashwood Garvey: Pan-Africanist, Feminist, and Mrs. Marcus Garvey No. 1, Or, A Tale of Two Amies is, indeed, a marvel of scholarship. He tells us that he worked on this book for some twenty-seven years, and it shows. The number of references alone is enough to inspire awe.

Martin has done everything and has been everywhere, in the quest to present Amy Ashwood Garvey as a real person, bereft of any unnecessary sociological or psychological encrustations. In doing so, Martin also presents facts and insights on the life of Marcus Garvey hitherto unknown. Professor Martin appears determined to keep the Garveys in front of us for as long as he lives (he has given us eight very good books already). [In "this richly researched and deeply-delved book,"] Professor Martin has brought to life, and in such fine detail, a charismatic and driven woman who not many would emulate, but most likely would appreciate.

- John C. Walter, Afro-Americans in New York Life and History

In September 1937, three years before his death, Marcus Garvey assembled a small group of his most trusted organizers. For almost a quarter of a century he had led the Universal Negro Improvement Association, at its peak the largest international mass movement in the history of African peoples. Now he wanted to pass on the lessons he had learned, to the group best suited to carry the struggle forward. For one month he instructed this elite student body, twelve hours a day, seven days a week. The sessions were secret and much of the instruction was not written down. The students did, however receive written copies of twenty-two lessons, which Garvey called the Course of African Philosophy. This fascinating distillation of a great leader’s experience is published here for the first time.

A lecture launching the 1997 commemoration of Emancipation delivered for the Emancipation Support Committee at Spektakula Forum, Port of Spain, on June 22, 1997

This is Tony Martin’s account of the writing of "Race First" the seminal work on Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association.

Woodson’s A Century of Negro Migration documents the movement of blacks living in the American south to the north and western parts of the country during the colonial period to the early 1900s. This book gives an enlightening account of the obstacles and triumphs faced and experienced by African Americans who sought to better their lives.