43 Books Published by Perseus Books Group on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

Click for more detail about Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race

by Beverly Daniel Tatum
Da Capo Press (Sep 05, 2017)
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Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see black youth seated together in the cafeteria. Of course, it’s not just the black kids sitting together-the white, Latino, Asian Pacific, and, in some regions, American Indian youth are clustered in their own groups, too. The same phenomenon can be observed in college dining halls, faculty lounges, and corporate cafeterias. What is going on here? Is this self-segregation a problem we should try to fix, or a coping strategy we should support? How can we get past our reluctance to talk about racial issues to even discuss it? And what about all the other questions we and our children have about race? Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, asserts that we do not know how to talk about our racial differences: Whites are afraid of using the wrong words and being perceived as "racist" while parents of color are afraid of exposing their children to painful racial realities too soon. Using real-life examples and the latest research, Tatum presents strong evidence that straight talk about our racial identities-whatever they may be-is essential if we are serious about facilitating communication across racial and ethnic divides. We have waited far too long to begin our conversations about race. This remarkable book, infused with great wisdom and humanity, has already helped hundreds of thousands of readers figure out where to start.


Click for more detail about Intellectuals And Race by Thomas Sowell Intellectuals And Race

by Thomas Sowell
Da Capo Press (Mar 12, 2013)
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Intellectuals and Race is a radical book in the original sense of one that goes to the root of the problem. The role of intellectuals in racial strife is explored in an international context that puts the American experience in a wholly new light.

The views of individual intellectuals have spanned the spectrum, but the views of intellectuals as a whole have tended to cluster. Indeed, these views have clustered at one end of the spectrum in the early twentieth century and then clustered at the opposite end of the spectrum in the late twentieth century. Moreover, these radically different views of race in these two eras were held by intellectuals whose views on other issues were very similar in both eras.

Intellectuals and Race is not, however, a book about history, even though it has much historical evidence, as well as demographic, geographic, economic and statistical evidence— all of it directed toward testing the underlying assumptions about race that have prevailed at times among intellectuals in general, and especially intellectuals at the highest levels. Nor is this simply a theoretical exercise. The impact of intellectuals’ ideas and crusades on the larger society, both past and present, is the ultimate concern. These ideas and crusades have ranged widely from racial theories of intelligence to eugenics to "social justice" and multiculturalism.

In addition to in-depth examinations of these and other issues, Intellectuals and Race explores the incentives, the visions and the rationales that drive intellectuals at the highest levels to conclusions that have often turned out to be counterproductive and even disastrous, not only for particular racial or ethnic groups, but for societies as a whole.


Click for more detail about Almost a Woman: A Memoir by Esmeralda Santiago Almost a Woman: A Memoir

by Esmeralda Santiago
Da Capo Press (Jun 12, 2012)
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The acclaimed author of When I was Puerto Rican continues the riveting chronicle of her life in a heartfelt coming-of-age memoir.


Click for more detail about Winner Take All: China’s Race For Resources And What It Means For The World by Dambisa Moyo Winner Take All: China’s Race For Resources And What It Means For The World

by Dambisa Moyo
Da Capo Press (Jun 05, 2012)
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Commodities permeate virtually every aspect of modern daily living, but for all their importance?their breadth, their depth, their intricacies, and their central role in daily life?few people who are not economists or traders know how commodity markets work. Almost every day, newspaper headlines and media commentators scream warnings of impending doom—shortages of arable land, clashes over water, and political conflict as global demand for fossil fuels outstrips supply. The picture is bleak, but our grasp of the details and the macro shifts in commodities markets remain blurry.Winner Take All is about the commodity dynamics that the world will face over the next several decades. In particular, it is about the implications of China’s rush for resources across all regions of the world. The scale of China’s resource campaign for hard commodities (metals and minerals) and soft commodities (timber and food) is among the largest in history. To be sure, China is not the first country to launch a global crusade to secure resources. From Britain’s transcontinental operations dating back to the end of the 16th century, to the rise of modern European and American transnational corporations between the mid 1860’s and 1870’s, the industrial revolution that powered these economies created a voracious demand for raw materials and created the need to go far beyond their native countries.So too is China’s resource rush today. Although still in its early stages, already the breadth of China’s operation is awesome, and seemingly unstoppable. China’s global charge for commodities is a story of China’s quest to secure its claims on resource assets, and to guarantee the flow of inputs needed to continue to drive economic development. Moyo, an expert in global commodities markets, explains the implications of China’s resource grab in a world of diminishing resources.


Click for more detail about When I Left Home: My Story by Buddy Guy When I Left Home: My Story

by Buddy Guy
Da Capo Press (May 08, 2012)
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According to Eric Clapton, John Mayer, and the late Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buddy Guy is the greatest blues guitarist of all time. An enormous influence on these musicians as well as Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck, he is the living embodiment of Chicago blues. Guy’s epic story stands at the absolute nexus of modern blues. He came to Chicago from rural Louisiana in the fifties?the very moment when urban blues were electrifying our culture. He was a regular session player at Chess Records. Willie Dixon was his mentor. He was a sideman in the bands of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. He and Junior Wells formed a band of their own. In the sixties, he became a recording star in his own right. When I Left Home tells Guy’s picaresque story in his own unique voice, that of a storyteller who remembers everything, including blues masters in their prime and the exploding, evolving culture of music that happened all around him.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Dismantling America: And Other Controversial Essays by Thomas Sowell Dismantling America: And Other Controversial Essays

by Thomas Sowell
Da Capo Press (Aug 10, 2010)
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These wide-ranging essays—on many individual political, economic, cultural and legal issues—have as a recurring, underlying theme the decline of the values and institutions that have sustained and advanced American society for more than two centuries. This decline has been more than an erosion. It has, in many cases, been a deliberate dismantling of American values and institutions by people convinced that their superior wisdom and virtue must over-ride both the traditions of the country and the will of the people.Whether these essays (originally published as syndicated newspaper columns) are individually about financial bailouts, illegal immigrants, gay marriage, national security, or the Duke University rape case, the underlying concern is about what these very different kinds of things say about the general direction of American society.This larger and longer-lasting question is whether the particular issues discussed reflect a degeneration or dismantling of the America that we once knew and expected to pass on to our children and grandchildren. There are people determined that this country’s values, history, laws, traditions and role in the world are fundamentally wrong and must be changed. Such people will not stop dismantling America unless they get stopped—and the next election may be the last time to stop them, before they take the country beyond the point of no return.


Click for more detail about Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine by Bryant Terry Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine

by Bryant Terry
Da Capo Press (Mar 02, 2009)
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The mere mention of soul food brings thoughts of greasy fare and clogged arteries. Bryant Terry offers recipes that leave out heavy salt and refined sugar, “bad” fats, and unhealthy cooking techniques, and leave in the down-home flavor. Vegan Soul Kitchen recipes use fresh, whole, high-quality, healthy ingredients and cooking methods with a focus on local, seasonal, sustainably raised food. Terry’s new recipes have been conceived through the prism of the African Diaspora—cutting, pasting, reworking, and remixing African, Caribbean, African-American, Native American, and European staples, cooking techniques, and distinctive dishes to create something familiar, comforting, and deliciously unique. Reinterpreting popular dishes from African and Caribbean countries as well as his favorite childhood dishes, Terry reinvents African-American and Southern cuisine—capitalizing on the complex flavors of the tradition, without the animal products.

Includes recipes for: Double Mustard Greens & Roasted Yam Soup; Cajun-Creole-Spiced Tempeh Pieces with Creamy Grits; Caramelized Grapefruit, Avocado, and Watercress Salad with Grapefruit Vinaigrette; and Sweet Cornmeal-Coconut Butter Drop Biscuits.


Click for more detail about Pow-Wow: Charting the Fault Lines in the American Experience - Short Fiction from Then to Now by Ishmael Reed Pow-Wow: Charting the Fault Lines in the American Experience - Short Fiction from Then to Now

by Ishmael Reed
Da Capo Press (Jan 27, 2009)
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Using the yardstick that a short story is any fiction under 15,000 words, Ishmael Reed—with the assistance of Carla Blank—has assembled an anthology that includes work ranging from animal stories of the Northwest Coast Eyaks to African-American folklore to reflections on the American Muslim experience. Pow-Wow is the sequel to Reed’s From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas, 1900 –2002, a volume that included both Tupac Shakur and T. S. Eliot, and was named one of the best poetry anthologies of 2003 by Library Journal. Its fiction-focused follow-up once again demonstrates the broad range of American writing, from such stellar names as Langston Hughes, Gertrude Stein, Russell Banks, and Alejandro Murguía to newly discovered writers of all races, genders, and backgrounds.

This landmark collection features: Zora Neale Hurston, Chester Himes, Robert Coover, Bharati Mukherjee, Benjamin Franklin, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Ntozake Shange, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Mark Twain, Grace Paley, Russell Charles Leong, Charles Wright, James Alan McPherson, and more.


Click for more detail about Mixing It Up: Taking On the Media Bullies and Other Reflections by Ishmael Reed Mixing It Up: Taking On the Media Bullies and Other Reflections

by Ishmael Reed
Da Capo Press (Jul 08, 2008)
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A new collection of essays first published in The New York Times and Playboy. Reed tackles subjects including Oakland, eugenics, and domestic violence,


Click for more detail about New and Collected Poems 1964-2007 by Ishmael Reed New and Collected Poems 1964-2007

by Ishmael Reed
Da Capo Press (Jul 26, 2007)
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First poetry collection in nearly twenty years. In language that is pointed, innovative and profoundly optimistic, Reed weaves politics and war with Nigerian poetry and jazz all in the service of his continual redefinition of American culture.


Click for more detail about We Gotta Have It: Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies, 1986-2006 by Esther Iverem We Gotta Have It: Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies, 1986-2006

by Esther Iverem
Da Capo Press (Apr 13, 2007)
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An essential look at the cultural dissemination of African-American in film with an exclusive interview with Spike Lee.

Book Review

Click for more detail about If I Stop, I’ll Die: The Comedy and Tragedy of Richard Pryor by John A. Williams and Dennis A. Williams If I Stop, I’ll Die: The Comedy and Tragedy of Richard Pryor

by John A. Williams and Dennis A. Williams
Da Capo Press (Dec 21, 2006)
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Though it is hard to imagine what America will be like now that Richard Pryor has passed away, it would be harder to imagine life if there had never been a Pryor, teaching us to laugh, and by laughing, to see. In the 1960s, when many black performers were trying to open the color barrier, comedian Richard Pryor was slamming into it with a vengeance. Employing the language and attitude of the black ghetto, he assaulted racism in comic routines that were both outrageous and screamingly funny. If I Stop, I’ll Die examines the comedian’s life and humor which not only reveals details of Pryor’s troubled but briliant career, but also places these events within the context that shaped Pryor’s outlook, personality, and opportunities. It captures the irony that pervaded his life and career: how he could present brilliantly universal material from such a militantly black perspective; how the powers of Hollywood could force him to portray on film the very racial caricatures that he lampooned on stage; how he could publicly flaunt his private exploits, with embellished comedic versions of his drug use, sexual adventures and bursts of violence, while fiercely protecting the real facts behind such episodes.


Click for more detail about When I Was Puerto Rican: A Memoir by Esmeralda Santiago When I Was Puerto Rican: A Memoir

by Esmeralda Santiago
Da Capo Press (Feb 28, 2006)
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Magic, sexual tension, high comedy, and intense drama move through an enchanted yet harsh autobiography, in the story of a young girl who leaves rural Puerto Rico for New York’s tenements and a chance for success.


Click for more detail about The Days of Good Looks: The Prose and Poetry of Cheryl Clarke, 1980 to 2005 by Cheryl Clarke The Days of Good Looks: The Prose and Poetry of Cheryl Clarke, 1980 to 2005

by Cheryl Clarke
Da Capo Press (Jan 10, 2006)
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Lauded by luminaries such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Adrienne Rich, and Joy Harjo, among others, the work of African American lesbian poet Cheryl Clarke has spoken on behalf of the black, feminist and gay movements for more than 25 years. Her writing has earned her distinction as a contemporary black feminist icon in the tradition of June Jordan. In fact, few writers have tackled hot-button issues of race and sexuality with as much force or fearless humor as Clarke. The Days of Good Looks — her first new book of poetry in a decade — collects the author’s most popular poems and essays along with an array of new unpublished writing.


Click for more detail about Out of Bounds: Coming Out of Sexual Abuse, Addiction, and My Life of Lies in the NFL Closet by Roy Simmons and Damon DiMarco Out of Bounds: Coming Out of Sexual Abuse, Addiction, and My Life of Lies in the NFL Closet

by Roy Simmons and Damon DiMarco
Carroll & Graf (Dec 13, 2005)
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The second NFL player ever to come out as gay and the first ever to come out as HIV-positive, Roy Simmons was an up-and-coming star offensive lineman who quit football after just four years rather than be exposed as gay. Out of Bounds tells his compelling story-from his rape at age 10 to being plucked from his poor Southern background to join the NFL, from his first taste of pro football fame and sudden enormous wealth to his fast-paced, no holds barred nightlife of heavy drugs and countless sexual encounters with women and men. Simmons led a roller-coaster life that peaked in the late 1980s with his playing in the Superbowl. Ultimately, however, reckless living left him penniless, friendless, and on the brink of suicide. Finally in 1992, Simmons tapped the courage to come out as gay on national TV—then coming out as HIV-positive 10 years later—leading him to a healthy path of sobriety and self-acceptance.

Book Review

Click for more detail about The Turkish Lover: A Memoir by Esmeralda Santiago The Turkish Lover: A Memoir

by Esmeralda Santiago
Da Capo Press (Aug 10, 2005)
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Esmeralda’s relationship with “the Turk” is told with expansive humanity, earthy humor, and psychological courage.


Click for more detail about Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America by Keith Boykin Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America

by Keith Boykin
Carroll & Graf (Dec 13, 2004)
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Bolstered by national television exposure on Oprah and a cover story in the New York Times Magazine, the "down low"—a term used to refer to "straight" men who have sex with men—was thrust into the open in 2004. Keith Boykin, a former Clinton White House aide, goes beyond the hype with the first responsible, eye-opening look at the down low sensation. Unlike all previous accounts on the topic, Beyond the Down Low presents the DL not merely as a problem of gay and bisexual men living in the shadows, but more as an example of America’s unwillingness to engage in critical but uncomfortable conversations about black sexuality. Boykin details how society has helped to create an environment where black gay and bisexual men feel compelled to lead double lives. Meanwhile, the dialogue that has taken place in the black community encourages an unhealthy battle of the sexes, ignores the complexity of the closet, demonizes bisexuality, disempowers women, and misdirects public resources and attention. This book is a timely and well researched answer to the question, "Why are so many black men on the DL?" More importantly, it is an essential tool to pry open the closet door in black America.


Click for more detail about Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song: A Guerilla Filmmaking Manifesto by Melvin Van Peebles Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song: A Guerilla Filmmaking Manifesto

by Melvin Van Peebles
Da Capo Press (Aug 24, 2004)
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In 1971, Melvin Van Peebles’s independently produced film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song became the top-grossing independent film of that year, helped usher in the blaxploitation genre, and served as the flag-bearer for independent filmmakers. Melvin’s original diary of his struggles to conceptualize, finance, film, and distribute Sweetback will become an indispensable guide for aspiring filmmakers. Melvin is the authentic pioneer, and his achievement—and the determination he displayed—are eye-opening and inspiring. As son Mario Van Peebles (who made his debut in Sweetback) recalls in his Introduction, "[Melvin] was forced to self-finance, constantly on the brink of ruin, his crew got arrested and jailed, death threats, and yet [at first] he refused to submit his film to the all-white MPAA ratings board for approval. The film then received an X rating. My dad, true to form, printed t-shirts that read ‘Rated X … by an all white jury’ and made it part of his marketing campaign." Mario reflects on his father’s example and contrasts Melvin’s guerrilla filmmaking with the possibilities—technological, economic, and cultural—open to filmmakers, especially black filmmakers, today. Photographs are included in this incredible filmmaking manifesto.


Click for more detail about I Put A Spell On You: The Autobiography Of Nina Simone by Nina Simone I Put A Spell On You: The Autobiography Of Nina Simone

by Nina Simone
Da Capo Press (Sep 04, 2003)
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A gorgeous, inimitable singer and songwriter, Nina Simone (1933-2003) changed the face of both music and race relations in America. She struck a chord with bluesy jazz ballads like "Put a Little Sugar in My Bowl" and powerful protest songs such as "Mississippi Goddam" and "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black," the anthem of the American Civil Rights movement. Coinciding with the re-release of her famous Philips Recordings, here are the reflections of the "High Priestess of Soul" on her own life.


Click for more detail about From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas 1900-2002 by Ishmael Reed From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas 1900-2002

by Ishmael Reed
Da Capo Press (Dec 31, 2002)
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Celebrated novelist, poet, and MacArthur fellow Ishmael Reed pushes the boundaries once again in the publication of From Totems to Hip Hop—a truly all-inclusive multicultural anthology—a literary event which will finally even the playing field. This important collection synthesizes and presents broad swaths of work from poets of all races and backgrounds, as only Reed can, ranging from Gertrude Stein to Ai, from Bessie Smith to Askia Toure, from W. C. Handy to the little-known poetry of Ernest Hemingway. Through his unique position in American letters, as writer, teacher, and even publisher, Reed has an unparalleled working knowledge of many of the more marginalized voices in American poetry. This collection will reflect that unique access by including acknowledged masters as well as lesser known talents in greater variety than any previous anthology. From Totems to Hip Hop will cover American poetry from its pre-Columbian origins to the hip hop lyricists of today and, with the guidance of Reed’s thoughtful and provocative introduction and headnotes, trace the remarkably rich cross-pollination which has continually occurred across racial and cultural lines.


Click for more detail about Buppies, B-boys, Baps, And Bohos: Notes On Post-soul Black Culture by Nelson George Buppies, B-boys, Baps, And Bohos: Notes On Post-soul Black Culture

by Nelson George
Da Capo Press (Jul 12, 2001)
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In this new and expanded edition of Nelson George’s classic cultural study, contemporary black culture is chronicled through essays on music, film, sports, publishing, politics and city life, both uptown and down. Buppies enters nearly every arena of the black urban USA: roisterous rappers and legendary hoopsters, streetwise hustlers and influential filmmakers, unsung musicians and drug dealers at work.


Click for more detail about Allies for Freedom & Blacks on John Brown (Revised) by Benjamin Quarles Allies for Freedom & Blacks on John Brown (Revised)

by Benjamin Quarles
Da Capo Press (Feb 01, 2001)
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John Brown is an endlessly fascinating historical figure. Here are two classic studies by a pioneer in African American studies, one about the place of John Brown in African American history, the other about the reasons for the unique esteem in which he has been held by successive generations of blacks.This two-in-one edition features a new introduction by William S. McFeely, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Grant: A Biography.


Click for more detail about Word On The Street: Debunking The Myth Of Word On The Street: Debunking The Myth Of "Pure" Standard English

by John McWhorter
Da Capo Press (Jan 01, 2001)
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Though there is a contingent of linguists who fight the fact, our language is always changing—not only through slang, but sound, syntax, and words’ meanings as well. Debunking the myth of "pure" standard English, tackling controversial positions, and eschewing politically correct arguments, linguist John McWhorter considers speech patterns and regional accents to demonstrate just how the changes do occur. Wielding reason and humor, McWhorter ultimately explains why we must embrace these changes, ultimately revealing our American English in all its variety, expressiveness, and power.


Click for more detail about Man Ray: American Artist by Neil Baldwin Man Ray: American Artist

by Neil Baldwin
Da Capo Press (Dec 01, 2000)
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The definitive biography of one of the most influential surrealists and a quintessential modernist. Figure-painter, sculptor, photographer, filmmaker, and collagist, Ray was born Emmanuel Radnitsky in Brooklyn. This book traces his American upbringing and his departure for Europe plus his work in painting, sculpture, photography, and filmmaking. Although he wasn’t successful in all media, Man Ray nonetheless had his own style and vision. Baldwin’s portrait was the first full-length biography of Man Ray. This edition has a new intro by the author updating the artist’s story.


Click for more detail about Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday (Revised) by Robert G. O’Meally Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday (Revised)

by Robert G. O’Meally
Da Capo Press (Sep 07, 2000)
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Billie Holiday deserves a biography in which her musicianship isn’t overshadowed by the tragic events of her life. In this absorbing and authoritative account of the greatest jazz singer in history, O’Meally has written that book, according to Entertainment Weekly. O’Meally emphasizes Holiday’s artistry and training rather than her personal miseries, and he uses voluminous archival material to correct common myths about Holiday. Chronicling her rigorous musical apprenticeship in Baltimore, her reception in New York by Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington, and her work with various musicians, particularly Lester Young, Lady Day is an impassioned testament to Holiday’s genius that confirms her place in American jazz.


Click for more detail about Assimilation Blues: Black Families In White Communities, Who Succeeds And Why (Contributions In Afro-American & African Studies) by Beverly Daniel Tatum Assimilation Blues: Black Families In White Communities, Who Succeeds And Why (Contributions In Afro-American & African Studies)

by Beverly Daniel Tatum
Da Capo Press (Jan 07, 2000)
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What does it mean to be Black in a white, middle-class community? Is it the ultimate symbol of success? Or will one pay in isolation, alienation, rootlessness? What price must one pay for paradise? Is the price too high?Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, interviewed Black families in depth to identify the sacrifices and achievements necessary to survive and prosper in a white community. For the Black citizens of ?Sun Beach,” dual-income households, religious affiliation, and extended families help maintain stability. But with assimilation comes an insidious ?hidden racism,” subtly communicated when Black children aren’t called on in class and revealed more fully in incidents of racial name-calling. By listening to the individual voices of these children and their parents, Dr. Tatum skillfully probes the complex questions of identity that arise for a visible people rendered invisible by their surroundings.


Click for more detail about The Sanctified Church by Zora Neale Hurston The Sanctified Church

by Zora Neale Hurston
Lifelong Books (Feb 01, 1998)
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The Sanctified Church is a collection of Hurston’s essays on Afro-American folklore, legend, popular mythology, and, in particular, the unique spiritual character of the Southern Black Christian Church.


Click for more detail about Rebel for the Hell of It: The Life of Tupac Shakur by Armond White Rebel for the Hell of It: The Life of Tupac Shakur

by Armond White
Da Capo Press (Oct 19, 1997)
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Tupac Shakur has been deified as a Renaissance man in gansta rap. Paralleling his fame were a series of court and jail appearances and physical attacks which ended when he was gunned down on a Las Vegas street. In this first, full-length biography of the rapper, critic Armond White attempts to make sense of Shakur’s life and death, examining the larger issues of rap and ghetto culture, exploitation in the music industry, and the black struggle for self-expression. Movie rights sold to HBO. 16 photos.


Click for more detail about Fire This Time: The Watts Uprising And The 1960s by Gerald Horne Fire This Time: The Watts Uprising And The 1960s

by Gerald Horne
Da Capo Press (Aug 22, 1997)
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In August 1965 the predominantly black neighborhood of Watts in Los Angeles erupted in flames and violence following an incident of police brutality. The official death toll was thirty-four; property losses reached hundreds of millions of dollars; but the political results were even more profound. The civil rights movement was placed on the defensive as the image of rioting blacks in the West replaced the image of meek and angelic protestors in the South. A white backlash ensued that led directly to Ronald Reagan’s election as governor of California in 1966.This is the first comprehensive treatment of the uprising, its causes, and its aftermath, and is based on hundreds of oral histories and unprecedented archival research. With a cast that includes Ronald Reagan, Tom Bradley, Martin Luther King, Jr., Edmund G. Brown, the NAACP, the Black Panthers, the Nation of Islam, and thousands of blacks and whites, Fire This Time is a compelling account of an event that changed the face of racial justice in America.


Click for more detail about The Affirmative Action Debate by George E. Curry The Affirmative Action Debate

by George E. Curry
Da Capo Press (Jun 20, 1996)
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The Affirmative Action Debate collects the leading voices on all sides of this crucial dialogue. A provocative range of politicians, researchers, legal experts, and businesspeople dispute the best way to fight discrimination. Their essays explore such questions as, How did affirmative-action policies come to be? Who benefits most from them, and who suffers? How do these programs work in hiring, contracting, college admissions, and other fields? What will recent Supreme Court rulings and legislative initiatives mean? And, most fundamentally, does any race-conscious remedy simply perpetuate discrimination? Recognizing affirmative action as more than a black-and-white issue, this book includes the voices of women, Latinos, and Asian-Americans who are also affected but often ignored. A sourcebook of solid facts and surprising arguments, The Affirmative Action Debate is the one book you need to understand and discuss the nation’s sharpest political divide.


Click for more detail about Run Man Run (Himes, Chester) by Chester Himes Run Man Run (Himes, Chester)

by Chester Himes
Carroll & Graf (May 31, 1995)
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Run Man Run (Himes, Chester) Paperback - May 31, 1995 by Himes (Author)


Click for more detail about The Shadow of the Panther: Huey Newton and the Price of Black Power in America by Hugh Pearson The Shadow of the Panther: Huey Newton and the Price of Black Power in America

by Hugh Pearson
Da Capo Press (Apr 21, 1995)
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The first complete and balanced history of the Black Panther Party—powerful and provocative.

"Until The Shadow of the Panther there have been no serious book-length attempts to examine the Panthers’ history and to evaluate their significance… . A Notable Book of the Year."—New York Times Book Review (front page)

"A keenly observed, often brilliant, Panther-busting book… . Pearson nevertheless portrays the Panthers’ rise as an understandable reaction against … white chauvinism."—Los Angeles Times Book Review

"This book will awaken profound misgivings—about gun-barrel rhetoric, about armed rebellion, about the ambiguities of justice."—The New Yorker "A bracing experience … Pearson has been able to present enough hard evidence to draw a chilling portrait of Murder Incorporated in revolutionary dress."—New York Newsday

"Pearson … set out to write a very different book about his boyhood hero [Huey Newton] but didn’t blink at the truth … honest and compelling judgment."—Detroit News


Click for more detail about Daughters: On Family And Fatherhood by Gerald L. Early Daughters: On Family And Fatherhood

by Gerald L. Early
Da Capo Press (Jun 20, 1994)
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For the many readers familiar with Gerald Early’s writing, Daughters will come as no surprise; it is a book he seemed destined to write. Those readers unfamiliar with his writing are in for one of those rare pleasures of discovery, for here is a writer of extraordinary grace and intelligence.
Daughters: On Family and Fatherhood is an astonishingly honest, unsentimental, and textured look at family life. It is the story of a faith struggle, as Mr. Early says in his preface, of how the members of a family come to believe in each other.
It is also a story where race, oddly, plays only a very small role; class is a great deal more important. But mostly, it is a tale that turns on the mundane events of family life; how people living together understand and support each other - even take joy in knowing each other - despite petty annoyances, blatant misunderstandings, embarrassments, ordinary but stressful trials, and numerous insensitivities. With delicacy and uncanny intimacy, Gerald Early takes us into his family’s - and his own - heart, and the result is one of the most profoundly redemptive memoirs in years.


Click for more detail about If I Stop I’ll Die: The Comedy and Tragedy of Richard Pryor by John A. Williams and Dennis A. Williams If I Stop I’ll Die: The Comedy and Tragedy of Richard Pryor

by John A. Williams and Dennis A. Williams
Da Capo Press (Apr 28, 1993)
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Though it would be hard to imagine an America without a Richard Pryor, cursed and blessed though he is, it would be harder still to imagine, or endure, life if there had never been a Pryor, teaching us to laugh, and by laughing, to see. from IF I STOP I’LL DIE. In the 1960s, when many black performers were trying to open the colors barrier, comedian Richard Pryor was slamming into it with a vengeance. Employing the language and attitude of the black ghetto, he assaulted racism in comic routines that were both outrageous and screamingly funny. IF I STOP I’LL DIE is an incisive examination of the comedian’s life and humor which not only reveals details of Pryor’s troubled but brilliant career - his infamous Las Vegas metamorphosis, his friendships with the black intelligentsia of 1960s Berkeley, his little-known contributions to the scripts in which he appeared - but also places these events within the context that shaped Pryor’s outlook, personality, and opportunities. And it captures the irony that pervaded his life and career: how he could present brilliantly universal material from such a militantly black perspective; how the powers of Hollywood could force him to portray on film the very racial caricatures that he lampooned on stage; how he could publicly flaunt his private exploits, with embellished comedic versions of his drug use, sexual adventures, and bursts of violence, while fiercely protecting the real facts behind such episodes. For fans of this enormously gifted comic, actor, and writer, and for everyone interested in comedy and contemporary culture, this is an essential retrospective of one of America’s most enigmatic artists.


Click for more detail about Thurgood Marshall: Justice for All by Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall: Justice for All

by Thurgood Marshall
Carroll & Graf (Jun 01, 1992)
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Edited by Roger Goldman and David Gallen

Forty of Justice Marshall's opinions ruling on such issues as civil rights, education, abortion, and capital punishment are introduced by a law professor who highlights the issues and illuminates the workings of an astute legal mind.


Click for more detail about His Eye Is On The Sparrow: An Autobiography (Quality Paperbacks Series) by Ethel Waters and Charles Samuels His Eye Is On The Sparrow: An Autobiography (Quality Paperbacks Series)

by Ethel Waters and Charles Samuels
Da Capo Press (Mar 22, 1992)
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Ethel Waters’s His Eye is on the Sparrow stands as perhaps the greatest autobiography of a black female performer, capturing both the horror and the joy of the African American woman’s experience through the often bitter yet always forgiving voice of an indomitable spirit. This edition is supplemented with a new historical preface and over a dozen photographs.


Click for more detail about Murder Uptown (Carroll & Graf) by Donna Hill Murder Uptown (Carroll & Graf)

by Donna Hill
Carroll & Graf (Feb 01, 1992)
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Click for more detail about Lincoln and the Negro by Benjamin Quarles Lincoln and the Negro

by Benjamin Quarles
Da Capo Press (Aug 22, 1991)
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First published in 1962, Lincoln and the Negro was the first book to examine in detail how Lincoln faced the problem of the status of black people in American democracy, and it remains unsurpassed. Starting with Lincoln’s childhood attitudes, Benjamin Quarles traces the development of Lincoln’s thought in relation to the African American, a development which was to culminate in the Emancipation Proclamation. Concerned at first with methods of colonization outside the United States, Lincoln came later to advocate not only emancipation of the slaves, but also equal political rights for them. In addition, he was the first president to invite black Americans to the White House and to treat them as equals. Black attitudes towards Lincoln evolved almost as much Lincoln’s own attitude. When he was first elected, blacks expected very little from Lincoln. But he slowly gained their respect—by recognition of individual African Americans, by placing them in the Union Army, and ultimately by the Emancipation Proclamation. His assassination served to enshrine him as a hero for the newly freed slaves. Lincoln and the Negro, in examining both sides of the relationship, is a vitally important contribution to our understanding of Abraham Lincoln and of American democracy itself.


Click for more detail about Black Abolitionists (Revised) by Benjamin Quarles Black Abolitionists (Revised)

by Benjamin Quarles
Da Capo Press (Mar 22, 1991)
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While much is known about the white men and women who were involved in the anti-slavery movement, the black abolitionists have been largely ignored. This book, written by one of America’s leading black historians, sets the record straight. As Benjamin Quarles shows, blacks were anything but passive in the abolitionist movement. Many of the pioneers of abolition were black; dozens of black preachers and writers actively promoted the cause; black organizations were founded to support their brothers; black ambassadors for freedom crossed the Atlantic; blacks were instrumental in the operation of the Underground Railroad. Quarles puts it eloquently: ”To the extent that America had a revolutionary tradition [the black American] was its protagonist no less than its symbol.”


Click for more detail about Black Manhattan by James Weldon Johnson Black Manhattan

by James Weldon Johnson
Da Capo Press (Mar 21, 1991)
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In this classic work, first published in 1930, James Weldon Johnson, one of the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance, combined the skills of the historian, social scientist, and the reporter to trace the New York black experience from the earliest settlements on Chatham Square during the pre-revolutionary period to the triumphant achievements of Harlem in the 1920s. But Black Manhattan is by no means simply history; It illuminates Johnson and his contributions to both black literature and black organizations; it provides us with an intimate account of the black theatrical and musical world of which Johnson had been a part; and it raises searching questions about the black people’s struggle to find their identity. Black Manhattan remains one of the essential books on the black American experience, losing none of its resonance and value after many decades.


Click for more detail about The Omni-Americans: Black Experience And American Culture (Da Capo Press Paperback) by Albert Murray The Omni-Americans: Black Experience And American Culture (Da Capo Press Paperback)

by Albert Murray
Da Capo Press (Mar 22, 1990)
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The Omni-Americans is a classic collection of wickedly incisive essays, commentaries, and reviews on politics, literature, and music. Provocative and compelling, Albert Murray debunks the "so-called findings and all-too-inclusive extrapolations of social science survey technicians," contending that "human nature is no less complex and fascinating for being encased in dark skin." His claim that blacks have produced "the most complicated culture, and therefore the most complicated sensibility in the western world" is elucidated in a book which, according to Walker Percy, "fits no ideology, resists all abstractions, offends orthodox liberals and conservatives, attacks social scientists and Governor Wallace in the same breath, sees all the faults of the country, and holds out hope in the end."


Click for more detail about Stomping The Blues (Da Capo Paperback) by Albert Murray Stomping The Blues (Da Capo Paperback)

by Albert Murray
Da Capo Press (Aug 01, 1989)
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This study of the blues by one of America’s premier essayists and novelists will change old attitudes about a tradition that continues to feed the very heart of popular music?a blues that dances, shakes, shimmies, and exchanges bad news for stomping, rollicking, pulse-quickening good times.


Click for more detail about The Negro in the Civil War by Benjamin Quarles The Negro in the Civil War

by Benjamin Quarles
Da Capo Press (Mar 22, 1989)
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"The Civil War was a revolution in many ways," writes Benjamin Quarles in this renowned work. "But on one point there is common agreement: without slavery there would have been no resort to arms. Hence the slave was the key factor in the war. But the Negro’s tale was not merely a passive one; he did not tarry in the wings, hands folded. He was an active member of the cast, prominent in the dramatis personae. To him freedom was a two-way street; indeed he gave prior to receiving."

Quarles writes powerfully about the role of three-and-a-half million blacks in the South, who were impressed into non-combatant service—building forts and entrenchments, working in factories and mines. In the North, black Americans fought with distinction on the front lines, shedding blood for an ideal—emancipation—that was cruelly betrayed during Reconstruction. The story of black Americans in the Civil War, in which they, in more ways than one, stood in the middle, was largely untold until this book by a distinguished scholar offered the wisdom and verve to make a great episode in our history come alive.