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The Last Love Letter
The Last Love Letter Robert Fleming Book Review Amanda Easton, the author of The Last Love Letter, has a history of letter writing going back to her college days when she sometimes said the...
A Letter To My Father
A Letter To My Father Linda Watkins Book Review I had high expectations of debut autobiography, A Letter to My Father, by John W. Griffin, mainly because of my love for autobiographies and also due ...
Men We Cherish
Men We Cherish Thumper Book Review African-American Women Praise The Men In Their Lives, Edited by Brooke Stephens is an anthology. A book filled with laughter, heartache, inspiration, comfort, heart...
The Strawberry Letter: Real Talk
The Strawberry Letter: Real Talk Kam Williams Book Review "I’ve been Shirley’s partner in radio for over ten years now… I am amazed by how she manages to balance her personal and...
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters Kam Williams Book Review In this tender, beautiful letter to his daughters, President Barack Obama has written a moving tribute to thirteen groundbreaki...
A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home
A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home Kam Williams Book Review “Black families and neighborhoods have been disproportionately victimized by bankers’ p...
Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice System
Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice System Kam Williams Book Review “The August 9th fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by poli...
Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice Sys
Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice Sys Kam Williams Book Review “The August 9th fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by police ...
Dear Star Baby
Dear Star Baby Judy Allen Dodson Book Review Dear Star Baby by Malcolm Newsome is a heartwarming, sensitive, and beautifully written picture book that addresses the delicate subject of grief and loss...
Race Matters
Race Matters Kirby Roy III Book Review Reading and evaluating the overriding themes in Cornel West’s Race Matters, which was published in 1993, given the context of events that have occurred si...
Relationships
Relationships Tiffany M. Davis Book Review Leonard Jenkins II’s first book, Relationships (Volume I): Lessons Before Dying, is a tale of love (finding it, losing it, keeping it) set against an ...
For Every One
For Every One Vanessa Vanzie Book Review The title of the book, For Everyone, by Jason Reynolds states exactly who the book is for; that means it is written for you and for me. The timely message was...
Telling It Like It Is: The Remarkable Life Experiences of My Aunt Edna
Telling It Like It Is: The Remarkable Life Experiences of My Aunt Edna Carol Taylor Book Review Telling It Like It Is, is equal parts historical biography, personal recollections, family memories, an...
The Love Ethic
The Love Ethic Robert Fleming Book Review Inspired by their work with African American couples at their Chicago organization, the acclaimed Twinlineal Institute, Kamau and Akilah Butler, bo...
Summer Snow
Summer Snow Thumper Book Review Summer Snow: Reflections from a Black Daughter of the South, is a collection of essays by Trudier Harris, based on her memories, observations and opinions that came ...
Sucka Free Love
Sucka Free Love Kam Williams Book Review ’The goal of this book is to demonstrate with real life examples the many ways we shoot ourselves in the foot in our quest for love’ We al...
Pregnant While Black: Advancing Justice for Maternal Health in America
Pregnant While Black: Advancing Justice for Maternal Health in America Eryka Parker Book Review As a Black woman born and raised in the United States, I have always been aware of how blessed I am to ...
Black Women, Ivory Tower
Black Women, Ivory Tower Ahmad Wright Book Review The best colleges and universities in the nation promise a sense of belonging, public validation, and personal relationships that can last a lifetime...
Forever Sentimental
Forever Sentimental Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Ohio Poet, Kenyatta is a man of many words. His book Forever Sentimental-AGAPE LOVE is Volume Three in the Forever Sentimental book s...
Help Me to Find My People: The African-American Search for Family Lost in Slavery
Help Me to Find My People: The African-American Search for Family Lost in Slavery Kam Williams Book Review “This is a book about slavery and family and loss and longing… It is about th...
Who Would Have Thunk It! The First Adventures of the Fraser Foster Kids
Who Would Have Thunk It! The First Adventures of the Fraser Foster Kids Kam Williams Book Review “Our story began a very long time ago when we were little kids with no place to live. Our moth...
Real Men Cook
Real Men Cook Kam Williams Book Review "Increasingly, African-American men in particular are often portrayed as criminals, drug addicts, absentee fathers, and jailbirds. Seldom are they...
By Love Possessed: Stories
By Love Possessed: Stories Emanuel Carpenter Book Review What’s it like to be in love on the island of Jamaica? Is it all about long walks on the beach, listening to Reggae music, and kissi...
New Harmony: A Mother’s Story of Love and Loss
New Harmony: A Mother’s Story of Love and Loss Robert Fleming Book Review A complete reading of this debut novel by Leon E. Pettiway, a professor emeritus at Indiana University and an ordained Buddhi...
One Foot in Love
One Foot in Love Thumper Book Review Bil Wright, author of Sunday You Learn to Box, has returned with his wonderful sophomore effort, One Foot in Love. I loved Wright’s debut novel and was an...
Shoe Fetish 2: Grown Into High Heels
Shoe Fetish 2: Grown Into High Heels Carol Taylor Book Review Shoe Fetish 2: Grown Into High Heels is part social commentary, murder mystery, female empowerment novel; and is as much a search for sel...
Hand-Me-Down Dreams
Hand-Me-Down Dreams Robert Fleming Book Review Phillip Wilhite’s novel, Hand-Me-Down Dreams, happens in a period in the glory days of big-league sports during 1980, when the media and baseball ...
The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era
The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era Troy Johnson Book Review I grew up in New York City’s East Harlem during the 60s and 70s. Virtually all my peers were Bl...
It’s All Love
It’s All Love Robert Fleming Book Review If there is a commodity that is seriously misunderstood in our community, it is the emotion of love which binds us to each other. Marita Golden, a p...
Love & Basketball
Love & Basketball Michael Dequina http://aalbc.com/reviews/images/love.jpg Film Review Reviewed by Michael Dequina Love & Basketball (2000) Starring: Sanaa Lathan, Omar Epps Director: G...
Burial Ground
Burial Ground Eryka Parker Book Review I recently spent time diving into the pages of Burial Ground, a collection of poetry by Glenda R. Taylor. The ethereal cover and enticing description sucked me ...
Soul Poems for My Sistas
Soul Poems for My Sistas Felicia Pride Book Review Poetry is one literary form that far too many attempt with the misguided notion that it is easy to write. Between the length or the ability...
Little White Lies By Cole Riley
Little White Lies By Cole Riley Michelle Paynter Book Review Little White Lies is more than a pathetically sad and heartbreaking story of Melvin, a young, aspiring Black high school athlete, who wr...
Between the World and Me
Between the World and Me Kam Williams Book Review “In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about american history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for h...
Growing Up In The Nation’s Capital: We Made It, But It Took An Entire Village
Growing Up In The Nation’s Capital: We Made It, But It Took An Entire Village Carol Taylor Book Review “I am a native Washingtonian, but I did not ‘live’ where most people want t...
Bamboozled by Jesus
Bamboozled by Jesus Carol Taylor Book Review Part self-help, part comedic memoir, part inspirational and motivational how-to, Yvonne Orji’s Bamboozled by Jesus is heartfelt and relatable advice...
Bestselling DVD's for 2012
Bestselling DVD's for 2012 Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/aalbcdvd5.jpg Film Review Top Ten Selling DVDs for 2012 See Bestselling DVDs #6 - #10 #1 • What Black Men Think Click to...
The Boys of Baraka
The Boys of Baraka Kam Williams the_bo3.jpg Film Review Kenya as Alternative to Mean Streets of Baltimore The Boys of Baraka Directed by Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady Genre: Documentary Runtime: 8...
Lackawanna Blues
Lackawanna Blues Brian Egeston lackaw3.jpg Film Review How Matriarchs Have Made Us A Film Review of Lackawanna Blues. Lackawanna Blues (2005) (TV) Directed by George C. Wolfe Written by Ruben Santi...
After the Dance: My Life with Marvin Gaye
After the Dance: My Life with Marvin Gaye Kam Williams Book Review “After her 17th birthday in 1973, Janis Hunter met Marvin Gaye—the soulful prince of Motown with the seductive liquid...
Got to be Real: Four Original Love Stories
Got to be Real: Four Original Love Stories Thumper Book Review Got to Be Real is a thrilling collection of four original love stories, told by fellas who get pulses racing from Los Angeles to New ...
The Gem Connection
The Gem Connection Robert Fleming Book Review This is the usual jewel heist, complicated by a ruthless murder. These are the facts: Wealthy jeweler Clinton Windell, a man who is used to getting his o...
Corruption Officer: From Jail Guard to Perpetrator inside Rikers Island
Corruption Officer: From Jail Guard to Perpetrator inside Rikers Island Kam Williams Book Review “This shocking memoir from a former corrections officer… shares an eye-opening, gritty,...
Round & Round Together
Round & Round Together Kam Williams Book Review “About four months before the March on Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King was arrested during demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama. While in j...
Obama Talks Back: Global Lessons A Dialogue with America’s Young Leaders
Obama Talks Back: Global Lessons A Dialogue with America’s Young Leaders Kam Williams Book Review “This collection of letters [offer] a rare glimpse into the dialogue between our nation&rsquo...
In My Father’s House
In My Father’s House Thumper Book Review In My Father’s House is the first installment to a new series the late E. Lynn Harris was working on at the time of his death. I don’t know if t...
Blues From Down Deep
Blues From Down Deep Thumper Book Review Reviewed by Thumper Blues From Down Deep is the second novel I have read by Gwynne Forster, the first being Once In A Lifetime which I enjoyed. I was not pl...
This Leaves Me Okay
This Leaves Me Okay Ahmad Wright Book Review It is not every day that your grandmother writes you a letter. Even rarer for a grandmother with an eighth-grade education to write periodically in her ow...
Butter: Novellas, Stories, and Fragments
Butter: Novellas, Stories, and Fragments Robert Fleming Book Review Recently, I received a letter from lit legend Gayl Jones, saying that she wasn’t writing anymore. Discovered by iconic editor...
Who We Be: The Colorization of America
Who We Be: The Colorization of America Kam Williams Book Review “Race. A four-letter word. The greatest social divide in American life, a half-century ago and today. During that time, the ...
Butterfly Rising
Butterfly Rising Troy Johnson images/tanya_wright.jpg Film Review A Letter from Tanya Wright Tanya Wright author/writer/director, BUTTERFLY RISING My name is Tanya Wright. I am an actress...
Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice
Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice Carol Taylor Book Review Much more than a memoir, Black Power, Black Lawyer traces not only Nkechi Taifa’s personal life, and her decad...
The Denzel Principle: Why Black Women Can’t Find Good Black Men
The Denzel Principle: Why Black Women Can’t Find Good Black Men Kam Williams Book Review "What do black women want? The truth? They are looking for Denzel Washington. They have been so thoroughly b...
Black. White
Black. White Kam Williams brian_48.jpg Film Review Black and White Families Swap Skin Color to See How the Other Half Lives The Sparks: Before The...
Red at the Bone
Red at the Bone Brenda M. Greene Book Review Jacqueline Woodson is the best-selling author of more than two dozen award-winning books, including the 2016 New Times best-selling National Book Award fi...
I’m Telling
I’m Telling Thumper Book Review For those who are curious as to whether Karen E. Quinones Miller successfully evades the mythical writers’ "sophomore slump" with her latest novel, I&...
Love In A Carry-On Bag
Love In A Carry-On Bag Idrissa Uqdah Book Review As Wild As The Wind Modern technology has made a long-distance love affair more of a reality. The characters in this novel took the concept and made...
Looking for Sweet Love
Looking for Sweet Love Emanuel Carpenter Book Review Can a sista get some love? That’s the question addressed in R.L. Byrd’s new book "Looking for Sweet Love." The story takes place in...
Love Unlimited
Love Unlimited Paige Turner Book Review The man is known by many names: The Maestro; The Icon of Love; The First, Last and Everything! In his new autobiography, recording legend Barry White lives up ...
Paradise: Love (Paradies: Liebe)
Paradise: Love (Paradies: Liebe) Kam Williams paradise-love-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Single-Mom Develops Jungle Fever in Kenya in Initial Installment of Incendiary Trilogy Paradise: Love...
Black Power Inc.
Black Power Inc. Rondall Brasher Book Review I would like to initiate my review of Cora Daniels’ Black Power Inc. by eluding to a quote attributed to Malcolm X, too Black’too strong. T...
The Roux in the Gumbo
The Roux in the Gumbo Idrissa Uqdah Book Review A Black Family’s Odyssey in America Kim Robinson has written a remarkable account of her family’s history gathered from stories she was ...
Faith under Fire
Faith under Fire Kam Williams Book Review ’God has given me the opportunity to reach scores of women, connecting with their spirits to bring understanding to the ’dow...
Black Boys, I See You
Black Boys, I See You Kirkus Book Review STARRED REVIEW Written from a place of love and deeply attuned to the emotional needs of Black boys. A kid lit giant extends a mighty message of love. ...
Stepping into Womanhood: A Black Woman’s Poetic Journey
Stepping into Womanhood: A Black Woman’s Poetic Journey Sister Shiree Sarana Book Review After reading sistah Traci Brooks’ book, Stepping into Womanhood: A Black Woman’s Poetic Journey,...
Where Did Our Love Go: Love and Relationships in the African-American Community
Where Did Our Love Go: Love and Relationships in the African-American Community Kam Williams Book Review “SBF. Single Black Female. Walk through any major city in the U.S. on a Friday or Sa...
Crisis of the Black Intellectual
Crisis of the Black Intellectual Kam Williams Book Review ’Today there are many Black intellectuals who do not think of Black people as a people and have no wish to do so. They think of the...
The Black Sleuth
The Black Sleuth Thumper Book Review Suggested Title: Tale of Early Black Detective Prescribes Strong Medicine Or Forgotten Black Writer Doses Up Strong Medicine Northeastern University Press, in its...
Creating Black Americans
Creating Black Americans Kam Williams Book Review ’Over the course of more than two centuries, black American artists have represented their history- scrupulously, meaningfully, and brilliantl...
What Next
What Next Paige Turner Book Review During these times of turmoil between the United States and Iraq the creative community is using the full extent of its powers to offer solutions. Walter Mosley, ...
Men We Reaped: A Memoir
Men We Reaped: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward, author of two previous acclaimed novels, Where The Line Bleeds and Salvage The Bones, closely examines...
Bass Clef Bliss
Bass Clef Bliss Kam Williams bass-clef-bliss-movie-poster.jpg Film Review African-American Mother and Son’s Adjustment to Autism Chronicled in Inspirational Film Bass Clef Bliss In Theaters:...
Love
Love Thumper Book Review For those of you who don’t know me or have not read any of my reviews, I have a tendency of getting extremely excited over republished books written by African Amer...
A Mighty Love
A Mighty Love Linda Watkins Book Review Relationship novels are for escapism. The content should tantalize the reader’ evoke deep emotion and keep one’s attention. Unfortunately, A Might...
A Love of My Own
A Love of My Own Linda Watkins Book Review Welcome Back Mr. Harris. Everybody! Yes, I mean, ev-ver-ry-bo-dy gets lonely sometimes and needs a little love. That’s what author, E. Lynn Harris,...
Perfect Combination: Seven Key Ingredients To Happily Living & Loving Together
Perfect Combination: Seven Key Ingredients To Happily Living & Loving Together Kam Williams Book Review “Jamillah and David Lamb are the dynamic couple behind the successful Off-Broadway play...
Brotherly Love
Brotherly Love Kam Williams brotherly-love.jpg Film Review Brotherly Love In Theaters: Apr 24, 2015 Limited Rated: R for violence, profanity and ethnic slurs Genre: Drama Written & Directed By...
Reconsidering The Souls of Black Folk
Reconsidering The Souls of Black Folk Thumper Book Review To commemorate the 100th anniversary of The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois — of one of the most significant books ever publis...
Charcoal Joe
Charcoal Joe Tony Lindsay Book Review What was refreshingly abundant in Walter Mosley’s Charcoal Joe was Black male characters. From strong Black men to Black men seeking guidance, the reader w...
The Black Agenda
The Black Agenda Robert Fleming Book Review Who was Glen Ford? If you ask that question of some of the best critical thinkers in the Black community, they would say Ford was one of the most capabl...
Marvel’s Black Panther
Marvel’s Black Panther Brenda M. Greene Book Review The 2016 San Diego Comic-Con was a memorable moment for independent researcher and writer Todd Steven Burroughs. Burroughs begins Marvel’s Bl...
Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African-American Identity
Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African-American Identity Kam Williams Book Review "In this book, I will not detail every pathological condition that ever existed in African-American...
Detroit
Detroit Kam Williams ../reviews/images/detroit.jpg Film Review Claustrophobic Docudrama Revisits ’67 Riots through the Prism of Infamous Interrogation at Algiers Hotel Very Good (★ύ...
Seaside Stories
Seaside Stories Robert Fleming Book Review There should be more African-American fiction like this, recapturing a time when our communities were more-or-less intact and families were solid. S. R...
Rebuild the Dream
Rebuild the Dream Kam Williams Book Review “For at least 30 years, the wealthy and privileged have been rigging the system to acquire more wealth and privilege. At this point, 400 families ...
Isaac and the Bah Family Tree
Isaac and the Bah Family Tree Kam Williams Book Review ’There was a tree that stood alone in the Bah family backyard. Thick, brown bark covered the trunk, while the gently swa...
Family Affair
Family Affair Kam Williams Book Review ’Who am I? It’s a fundamental question for everyone, of course, but for African-Americans, it has particular resonance. Since our...
The Lost German Slave Girl
The Lost German Slave Girl Paige Turner Book Review Only the great American melting pot could provide a setting where an Australian author recounts the tale of an orphaned German immigrant who was ...
A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks
A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks Neoma Nwasike Book Review Gwendolyn Brooks was a very influential African American poet who became the first Black writer to win a Pulitzer Prize award (Poetry). In the ch...
Speaking of Summer
Speaking of Summer Brenda M. Greene Book Review Mental illness in fiction provides a lens and a relatively safe space by which readers can examine its complexity and impact on the lives of the indivi...
The African Lookbook: A Visual History of 100 Years of African Women
The African Lookbook: A Visual History of 100 Years of African Women Robert Fleming Book Review Identity and gender have always fascinated Catherine McKinley, one of the fewer 15,000 mixed-race child...
When It All Falls Down
When It All Falls Down Ahmad Wright Book Review Remember when Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem in 2016? When HBO’s Insecure, created and produced by Issa Rae in 2016, was must-...
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
A Day Late and a Dollar Short Paige Turner Book Review The publishing world and the legions of Terry McMillan fans can now officially exhale. McMillan’s long awaited "serious" nov...
Get Down: Stories
Get Down: Stories Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Asali Solomon’s collection of short stories, Get Down is a short story reader’s delight. The stories are so real and many are set in Solomon&r...
Black Silk
Black Silk Thumper Book Review Black Silk: A Collection of African American Erotica is an anthology that cheers the sexual, sensual side of African-Americans in literature told through short stories ...
Black Coffee
Black Coffee Emanuel Carpenter Book Review In “Black Coffee,” the sequel to R.L. Byrd’s “Looking for Sweet Love,” men take center stage. In this testosterone-driven n...
Breaking The Blank
Breaking The Blank Eryka Parker Book Review If poetry is an artful expression of the soul, the creators of Breaking the Blank understood the assignment. This compelling literary work proudly speaks o...
Hair Love
Hair Love Neoma Nwasike Book Review When you were a little Black girl, growing up, did you embrace your beauty? Did you love the deep richness of your blackness and the uniqueness of your hair? Do yo...
Unfinished Business: Black Women
Unfinished Business: Black Women Kam Williams Book Review “This book explores the Black Church as a black religious site that can offer not only hope and cultural flourishing for poor black w...
Beulah Hill
Beulah Hill Thumper Book Review I am sounding the alert that I just read a novel that has a strong black male character in it. Let’s imagine that I’m waving a big neon sign with...