11 Books Published by Smithsonian Books on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

Click for more detail about Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap by National Museum of African American History & Culture Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap

by National Museum of African American History & Culture
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (Aug 21, 2021)
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The Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap is a first-of-it’s-kind multimedia collection chronicling the growth of the music and culture from the parks of the Bronx to solidifying a reach that spans the globe. The set includes 129 tracks on 9 CDs and a 300-page book with original design by Cey Adams, artist and founding creative director of Def Jam Recordings, as well as essays by some of hip-hop’s leading writers and critics and never-before-seen photographs. Through the music, writing, and extensive liner notes, the Anthology reveals the many trends within this multifaceted genre, it’s social and political implications, and it’s influence on popular culture.

The Anthology is the third major compendium produced by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings that tells the story of a defining era of music “of, by, and for the people,” following the Anthology of American Folk Music and Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology. It frequently highlights the objects and stories of hip-hop displayed in the National Museum of African American History and Culture galleries, offering perspective on the African American experience and it’s impact on American culture. Curation of the Anthology was headed by a committee including rappers Chuck D and MC Lyte; writers and scholars Jeff Chang and Mark Anthony Neal; early Def Jam senior executives-turned-cultural-advisors Bill Adler and Bill Stephney; and producers Questlove and 9th Wonder. This release is a collaboration between the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

All 129 songs, from the 9 CD collection, which are included with the book are in the YouTube Playlist Below:

  1. Disc 1 – Fatback - King Tim III
  2. Disc 1 – Sugarhill Gang - Rapper’s Delight
  3. Disc 1 – The Sequence - Funk You Up
  4. Disc 1 – Kurtis Blow - The Breaks
  5. Disc 1 – Funky Four +1 - That’s the Joint
  6. Disc 1 – Spoonie Gee feat. The Sequence - Monster Jam
  7. Disc 1 – Treacherous Three - The Body Rock
  8. Disc 1 – Blondie - Rapture
  9. Disc 1 – Grandmaster Flash – The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel
  10. Disc 1 – Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock
  11. Disc 2 – Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message
  12. Disc 2 – The Fearless Four - Rockin It
  13. Disc 2 – Cold Crush Brothers - Punk Rock Rap
  14. Disc 2 – Herbie Hancock - Rockit
  15. Disc 2 – Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Looking for the Perfect Beat
  16. Disc 2 – Run-DMC - It’s Like That
  17. Disc 2 – Whodini - Friends
  18. Disc 2 – Cold Crush Brothers - Fresh, Fly, Wild & Bold
  19. Disc 2 – T. La Rock - It’s Yours
  20. Disc 2 – The World’s Famous Supreme Team - Hey! DJ
  21. Disc 2 – Newcleus - Jam On It
  22. Disc 2 – UTFO - Roxanne, Roxanne
  23. Disc 3 – Roxanne Shanté - Roxanne’s Revenge
  24. Disc 3 – Fat Boys - Fat Boys
  25. Disc 3 – Doug E. Fresh & MC Ricky D - La Di Da Di
  26. Disc 3 – LL Cool J - I Can’t Live without my Radio
  27. Disc 3 – Schoolly D - P.S.K. ‘What Does It Mean?’
  28. Disc 3 – Run-DMC feat. Aerosmith - Walk This Way
  29. Disc 3 – Beastie Boys - Paul Revere
  30. Disc 3 – Ultramagnetic MC’s - Ego Tripping
  31. Disc 3 – Ice-T - 6 ’N The Mornin’
  32. Disc 3 – Kool Moe Dee - How Ya Like Me Now
  33. Disc 3 – LL Cool J - I Need Love
  34. Disc 3 – Eric B feat. Rakim - Eric B is President
  35. Disc 3 – Mantronix - King of The Beats
  36. Disc 4 – Stetsasonic feat. the Rev. Jesse Jackson & Olatunji - A.F.R.I.C.A.
  37. Disc 4 – Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Parents Just Don’t Understand
  38. Disc 4 – Audio Two - Top Billin’
  39. Disc 4 – MC Lyte - Lyte As A Rock
  40. Disc 4 – Big Daddy Kane - Raw
  41. Disc 4 – Marley Marl feat. Master Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, & Big Daddy Kane - The Symphony
  42. Disc 4 – MC Lyte - I Cram to Understand U (Sam)
  43. Disc 4 – Tone Lōc - Wild Thing
  44. Disc 4 – Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock - It Takes Two
  45. Disc 4 – Jungle Brothers – I’ll House You
  46. Disc 4 – N.W.A. - Fuck Tha Police
  47. Disc 4 – Public Enemy - Fight the Power
  48. Disc 4 – The Stop the Violence Movement - Self Destruction
  49. Disc 4 – Too Short - Life Is…Too Short
  50. Disc 4 – Slick Rick - Children’s Story
  51. Disc 4 – 3rd Bass - The Gas Face
  52. Disc 5 – Queen Latifah feat. Monie Love - Ladies First
  53. Disc 5 – Public Enemy - Bring the Noise
  54. Disc 5 – De La Soul - Me Myself and I
  55. Disc 5 – Biz Markie - Just a Friend
  56. Disc 5 – The D.O.C. - It’s Funky Enough
  57. Disc 5 – 2 Live Crew - Me So Horny
  58. Disc 5 – Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance
  59. Disc 5 – MC Hammer - U Can’t Touch This
  60. Disc 5 – Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
  61. Disc 5 – Brand Nubian - All for One
  62. Disc 5 – Geto Boys - Mind Playing Tricks on Me
  63. Disc 5 – A Tribe Called Quest - Scenario
  64. Disc 5 – Black Sheep - The Choice is Yours
  65. Disc 5 – Salt-N-Pepa - Let’s Talk About Sex
  66. Disc 5 – Yo-Yo feat. Ice-Cube - Can’t Play with My Yo-Yo
  67. Disc 5 – Naughty By Nature - O.P.P.
  68. Disc 6 – Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg - Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang
  69. Disc 6 – Ice Cube - It Was a Good Day
  70. Disc 6 – Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back
  71. Disc 6 – Arrested Development - Tennessee
  72. Disc 6 – Digable Planets - Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)
  73. Disc 6 – House of Pain - Jump Around
  74. Disc 6 – Positive K - I Got a Man
  75. Disc 6 – Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)
  76. Disc 6 – UGK - Pocket Full of Stones
  77. Disc 6 – Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M.
  78. Disc 6 – Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain
  79. Disc 6 – The Pharcyde - Passin’ Me By
  80. Disc 6 – Eightball & MJG - Comin Out Hard
  81. Disc 6 – Common Sense - I Used to Love H.E.R.
  82. Disc 6 – Da Brat - Funkdafied
  83. Disc 6 – Nas – N.Y. State of Mind
  84. Disc 6 – Craig Mack feat. The Notorious B.I.G., Rampage, LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes - Flava In Your Ear
  85. Disc 7 – Beastie Boys - Sabotage
  86. Disc 7 – The Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy
  87. Disc 7 – Gang Starr feat. Nice & Smooth - DWYCK
  88. Disc 7 – Warren G feat. Nate Dogg - Regulate
  89. Disc 7 – Snoop Doggy Dogg - Murder Was The Case
  90. Disc 7 – E-40 feat. Suga T - Sprinkle Me
  91. Disc 7 – Goodie Mob - Cell Therapy
  92. Disc 7 – Coolio feat. L.V. - Gangsta’s Paradise
  93. Disc 7 – 2Pac - Dear Mama
  94. Disc 7 – Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, Part 2
  95. Disc 7 – Method Man feat. Mary J. Blige - I’ll Be There For You / You’re All I Need To Get By
  96. Disc 7 – Foxy Brown feat. Jay-Z - I’ll Be
  97. Disc 7 – Lil Kim feat. Puff Daddy - No Time
  98. Disc 7 – Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Tha Crossroads
  99. Disc 7 – Wu-Tang Clan feat. Cappadonna - Triumph
  100. Disc 7 – Busta Rhymes - Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See
  101. Disc 7 – Master P feat. Silkk The Shocker, Mia X, Fiend - Make ‘Em Say Uhh!
  102. Disc 8 – Missy Elliot - The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)
  103. Disc 8 – Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing)
  104. Disc 8 – DMX - Ruff Ryders’ Anthem
  105. Disc 8 – The Roots - The Next Movement
  106. Disc 8 – Mos Def - Mathematics
  107. Disc 8 – BG - Bling Bling
  108. Disc 8 – dead prez - Hip Hop
  109. Disc 8 – Eminem feat. Dido - Stan
  110. Disc 8 – OutKast - Ms. Jackson
  111. Disc 8 – Nelly - Country Grammar (Hot Shit)
  112. Disc 8 – Ludacris feat. Pharrell - Southern Hospitality
  113. Disc 8 – Nas - One Mic
  114. Disc 8 – 50 Cent - In Da Club
  115. Disc 8 – Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz feat. Ying Yang Twins - Get Low
  116. Disc 9 – Talib Kweli - Black Girl Pain
  117. Disc 9 – Kanye West - Jesus Walks
  118. Disc 9 – Three 6 Mafia feat. Young Buck, Eightball & MJG - Stay Fly
  119. Disc 9 – Rick Ross – Hustlin’
  120. Disc 9 – Lupe Fiasco feat. Nikki Jean – Hip-Hop Saved My Life
  121. Disc 9 – Young Jezzy feat. Nas - My President
  122. Disc 9 – David Banner feat. Chris Brown & Yung Joc - Get Like Me
  123. Disc 9 – Lil Wayne feat. Robin Thicke - Tie My Hands
  124. Disc 9 – Jay Electronica - Exhibit C
  125. Disc 9 – Nicki Minaj - Super Bass
  126. Disc 9 – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz - Thrift Shop
  127. Disc 9 – J Cole feat. TLC - Crooked Smile
  128. Disc 9 – Kanye West - Blood On The Leaves
  129. Disc 9 – Drake - Started From the Bottom


Click for more detail about We Return Fighting: World War I and the Shaping of Modern Black Identity by National Museum of African American History & Culture We Return Fighting: World War I and the Shaping of Modern Black Identity

by National Museum of African American History & Culture
Smithsonian Books (Nov 05, 2019)
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A richly illustrated commemoration of African Americans’ roles in World War I highlighting how the wartime experience reshaped their lives and their communities after they returned home.

This stunning book presents artifacts, medals, and photographs alongside powerful essays that together highlight the efforts of African Americans during World War I. As in many previous wars, black soldiers served the United States during the war, but they were assigned to segregated units and often relegated to labor and support duties rather than direct combat. Indeed this was the central paradox of the war: these men and women fought abroad to secure rights they did not yet have at home in the States. Black veterans’ work during the conflict—and the respect they received from French allies but not their own US military—empowered them to return home and continue the fight for those rights. The book also presents the work of black citizens on the home front. Together their efforts laid the groundwork for later advances in the civil rights movement.

We Return Fighting reminds readers not only of the central role of African American soldiers in the war that first made their country a world power. It also reveals the way the conflict shaped African American identity and lent fuel to their longstanding efforts to demand full civil rights and to stake their place in the country’s cultural and political landscape.


Click for more detail about Official Guide to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture by National Museum of African American History & Culture Official Guide to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

by National Museum of African American History & Culture
Smithsonian Books (Apr 11, 2017)
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This fully illustrated guide to the Smithsonian’s newest museum takes visitors on a journey through the richness and diversity of African American culture and the history of a people whose struggles, aspirations, and achievements have shaped the nation. Opened in September 2016, the National Museum of African American History and Culture welcomes all visitors who seek to understand, remember, and celebrate this history. The guidebook provides a comprehensive tour of the museum, including its magnificent building and grounds and eleven permanent exhibition galleries dedicated to themes of history, community, and culture. Highlights from the museum’s collection of artifacts and works of art are presented in full-color photographs, accompanied by evocative stories and voices that illuminate the American experience through the African American lens.


Click for more detail about Dream a World Anew: The African American Experience and the Shaping of America by National Museum of African American History & Culture Dream a World Anew: The African American Experience and the Shaping of America

by National Museum of African American History & Culture
Smithsonian Books (Sep 27, 2016)
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Dream A World Anew is the stunning gift book accompanying the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. It combines informative narratives from leading scholars, curators, and authors with objects from the museum’s collection to present a thorough exploration of African American history and culture. The first half of the book bridges a major gap in our national memory by examining a wide arc of African American history, from Slavery, Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Great Migrations through Segregation, the Civil Rights Movement, and beyond. The second half of the book celebrates African American creativity and cultural expressions through art, dance, theater, and literature. Sidebars and profiles of influential figures—including Harriet Tubman, Robert Smalls, Ida B. Wells, Mordecai Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, and many others—provide additional context and interest throughout the book. Dream a World Anew is a powerful book that provides an opportunity to explore and revel in African American history and culture, as well as the chance to see how central African American history is for all Americans.


Click for more detail about Begin with the Past: Building the National Museum of African American History and Culture by Mabel O. Wilson Begin with the Past: Building the National Museum of African American History and Culture

by Mabel O. Wilson
Smithsonian Books (Sep 27, 2016)
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Rising on the National Mall next to the Washington Monument, the National Museum of African American History and Culture is a tiered bronze beacon inviting everyone to learn about the richness and diversity of the African American experience and how it helped shape this nation. Begin with the Past: Building the National Museum of African American History and Culture is the story of how this unparalleled museum found its place in the nation’s collective memory and on its public commons.
 
Begin with the Past presents the long history of efforts to build a permanent place to collect, study, and present African American history and culture. In 2003 the museum was officially established at long last, yet the work of the museum was only just beginning. The book traces the appointment of the director, the selection of the site, and the process of conceiving, designing, and constructing a public monument to the achievements and contributions of African Americans. The careful selection of architects, designers, and engineers culminated in a museum that embodies African American sensibilities about space, form, and material and incorporates rich cultural symbols into the design of the building and its surrounding landscape. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a place for all Americans to understand our past and embrace our future, and this book is a testament to the inspiration and determination that went into creating this unique place.


Click for more detail about National Museum of African American History and Culture: A Souvenir Book by National Museum of African American History & Culture National Museum of African American History and Culture: A Souvenir Book

by National Museum of African American History & Culture
Smithsonian Books (Sep 27, 2016)
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This souvenir book showcases some of the most influential and important treasures of the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s collections. These include a hymn book owned by Harriet Tubman; ankle shackles used to restrain enslaved people on ships during the Middle Passage; a dress that Rosa Parks was making shortly before she was arrested; a vintage, open-cockpit Tuskegee Airmen trainer plane; Muhammad Ali’s headgear; an 1835 Bill of Sale enslaving a young girl named Polly; and Chuck Berry’s Cadillac. These objects tell us the full story of African American history, of triumphs and tragedies and highs and lows. This book, like the museum it represents, uses artifacts of African American history and culture as a lens into what it means to be an American.


Click for more detail about Picturing Children (Double Exposure) by National Museum of African American History & Culture Picturing Children (Double Exposure)

by National Museum of African American History & Culture
Smithsonian Books (Jul 05, 2016)
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Volume four in the Double Exposure series features a diverse selection of photographs of children: spontaneous records of intimate family moments, playtime, and communal activities, as well as posed portraits. Photographers include Henry Clay Anderson, Wayne F. Miller, Joe Schwartz, Jamel Shabazz, Milton Williams, and Ernest C. Withers.


Click for more detail about Civil Rights and the Promise of Equality (Double Exposure) by National Museum of African American History & Culture Civil Rights and the Promise of Equality (Double Exposure)

by National Museum of African American History & Culture
Smithsonian Books (Jul 07, 2015)
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Volume 2 of Double Exposure commemorates the ongoing fight to fulfil the promise of freedom and equality for all American citizens, from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the present. It features powerful images from, for example, Leonard Freed’s series, Black in White America, Ernest C. Withers’s photographs of the Sanitation Workers’ Solidarity March in Nashville, and Charles Moore’s documentation of police brutality during the 1963 Birmingham Childrens’ Crusade.

Bryan Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and a professor at NYU School of Law.


Click for more detail about African American Women (Double Exposure) by National Museum of African American History & Culture African American Women (Double Exposure)

by National Museum of African American History & Culture
Smithsonian Books (Jul 07, 2015)
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Volume 3 of Double Exposure highlights NMAAHC’s rich collection of photographs of African American women, some of whom are cultural icons. This volume demonstrates the dignity, joy, heartbreak, commitment, and sacrifice of women of all ages and backgrounds, with photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Beverly Conley, Robert Galbraith, Ernest C. Withers, Wayne F. Miller, P.H. Polk, Joe Schwartz, and Milton Williams.Aligned to Common Core StandardsNatasha Trethewey was the United States Poet Laureate 2012–2013. She has written an original essay and reprinted two poems for this title.Kinshasha Holman Conwill is the deputy director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.


Click for more detail about Through the African American Lens: Double Exposure by National Museum of African American History & Culture Through the African American Lens: Double Exposure

by National Museum of African American History & Culture
Smithsonian Books (Feb 17, 2015)
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Double Exposure is a major new series based on the remarkable photography collection supporting the Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American Media Arts at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). From daguerreotype portraits taken before the Civil War to twenty-first century digital prints, this series is a striking visual record of key historical events, cultural touchstones, and private and communal moments that helps to illuminate African American life.In addition to featuring fifty photographs from a broad range of African American experiences, each thematic volume includes introductions by some of the leading historians, activists, photographers, and writers of our times. Many of the images in the series are by famous photographers such as Spider Martin, Gordon Parks, Ernest C. Withers, Wayne F. Miller, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. There are also iconic images, such as McPherson & Oliver’s Gordon under Medical Inspection (circa 1867), and Charles Moore’s photographs of the 1963 Birmingham Children’s Crusade. These take their place next to unfamiliar or recently discovered images, including work by Henry Clay Anderson of everyday life in the black community in Greenville (MS), during the height of the Jim Crow segregation laws.Volume 1: Through the African American Lens is an introduction to the photography collection, revealing the ways in which African Americans have used activism, community, and culture to fight for social justice and create a better life.Aligned to Common Core StandardsDeborah Willis is an art photographer and university professor and chair at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.


Click for more detail about Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits by Deborah Willis Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits

by Deborah Willis
Smithsonian Books (Sep 01, 2008)
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This stunning collection of photographic portraits traces US history through the lives of well-known abolitionists, artists, scientists, writers, statesman, entertainers, and sports figures. Drawing on the photographic collections of the National Portrait Gallery, author Deborah Willis explores how these images—many by famous photographers—reveal the nation’s history through an African American lens and challenge us all to uphold America’s highest ideals and promises. Let Your Motto Be Resistance is the inaugural publication of the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture.