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Beauty And The Beast
Beauty And The Beast Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Deatri King-Bey has stepped out of the box and given her readers a Black fairy tale in Beauty And The Beast that I really enjoyed. Set in modern...
Gay Rebel of the Harlem Ren…
Gay Rebel of the Harlem Ren… Thumper Book Review Richard Bruce Nugent is the best well-kept secret of the Harlem Renaissance. Nugent isn’t unheard of in the annals of the Renaissance; ...
His Name Is George Floyd
His Name Is George Floyd Robert Fleming Book Review In the midst of the deadly Covic-19 pandemic, the world witnessed the brutal killing of George Floyd, a 44-year-old black man, by a white Minneapol...
The Urban Guide To Biblical Money
The Urban Guide To Biblical Money Paige Turner Book Review "Have you ever felt like you missed out on something God had for you because you did not handle your money matters in quite the right ...
Cop Out
Cop Out Kam Williams images/img28.jpg Film Review Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis Co-Star in Mismatched Cops Comedy Cop Out Rated R for pervasive profanity, sexual references, violence and br...
Front Row Seat: A Photographic Portrait of the Presidency of George W. Bush
Front Row Seat: A Photographic Portrait of the Presidency of George W. Bush Kam Williams Book Review “I was privileged to work with Eric Draper during my entire Presidency. I got to know him ...
My Long Trip Home: A Family Memoir
My Long Trip Home: A Family Memoir Kam Williams Book Review "His father, Syl Whitaker, was the charismatic grandson of slaves… His mother, Jeanne Theis, was a shy, World War II refugee from ...
Raceball: How The Major Leagues Colonized The Black and Latin Game
Raceball: How The Major Leagues Colonized The Black and Latin Game Robert Fleming Book Review As a life-long baseball fan, I�m always on the look-out for meaningful books on the sport with its pa...
i see through eyes
i see through eyes Kalamu ya Salaam Book Review Eric Payne is not ready to publish a book a poetry’but, on the other hand, the 21st century is a new time. If a person believes they are a poet a...
That Mean Old Yesterday: A Memoir
That Mean Old Yesterday: A Memoir Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Paint a picture of a little brown girl who walks in fear and sadness. Her dark story is told in Stacey Patton’s memoir, Tha...
The Artist
The Artist Kam Williams theartist_movieposter.jpg Film Review Fading Star Falls for Emerging Ingenue in B&W Homage to Silent Era The Artist Rated PG-13 for a crude gesture and a disturb...
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...
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...
Freedom Summer: The Savage Season That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy
Freedom Summer: The Savage Season That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy Thumper Book Review I decided to be ambitions this summer and read a number of non-fiction titles. I blame ...
Evan Almighty
Evan Almighty Kam Williams evan_a1.jpg Film Review God Asks Modern-Day Noah to Build Ark in Faith-Based Family Comedy Evan Almighty Rated PG for crude humor and scenes of ...
High Waters
High Waters Thumper Book Review High Waters, a novel by Suzon Tropez, is a novel that I am unsure as to what the storyline or the point of the novel is. I think it is a novel about an older black ...
Transitioning to Real Life
Transitioning to Real Life Jamie Walker Book Review It isn't easy transitioning from college to the real world, but in Transitioning to Real Life: A Common Sense Guide for the African American ...
The Portable Promise Land
The Portable Promise Land Thumper Book Review I heard about The Portable Promised Land, the short story collection written by Toure’, before its publication. Usually, I don’t pay any mi...
The Dagger
The Dagger Hedi Harrington Book Review Timothy George’s 2016 novel, The Dagger, should come with a warning to all readers: “Fasten your seatbelts.” The fast-paced thriller is a sequ...
To Funk and Die in L.A.
To Funk and Die in L.A. Tony Lindsay Book Review Nelson George’s To Funk and Die in LA, offers the reader multiple mysteries to solve. The protagonist, D Hunter (a New Yorker), is immediately w...
In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom
In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom Robert Fleming Book Review If you were politically conscious decades ago, you would have read the prison chronicles...
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...
The Pact
The Pact Kam Williams the_pa18.jpg Film Review Three Black Boys from Newark Overcome Odds to Become Doctors The Pact Click to order via Amazon ...
What’s My Name
What’s My Name Kam Williams Book Review ’The most violent anti-busing demonstrations in America were not in Birmingham or Biloxi, but Boston. Every city has its stories of both racism and res...
The Third Verse
The Third Verse Robert Fleming Book Review America is a glorious idea founded on democracy and equality for all. When Jerry Canada, a former trial lawyer and New Yorker, chooses one of the most famou...
Drone Child
Drone Child Denolyn Carroll Book Review Where does one begin to speak of atrocities so heinous that the telling itself is hauntingly vicious? David H. Rothman jumps right in. Drone Child opens with a...
The Prophetic Lens: The Camera and Black Moral Agency from MLK to Darnella Frazier
The Prophetic Lens: The Camera and Black Moral Agency from MLK to Darnella Frazier Donna Hill Book Review From the moment Africans were kidnapped, brought to America and enslaved, violence has been i...
The History of White People
The History of White People Kam Williams Book Review "Most Americans envision whiteness as racially indivisible, though ethnically divided; this is the scheme anthropologists laid out in the mid ...
The Neoconservative Revolution
The Neoconservative Revolution Kam Williams Book Review ’In the United States, Jewish political conservatism was evident from the founding of the republic until well into the 20th Century&rsq...
Whippins
Whippins Thumper Book Review It’s times like these that I wish I were an editor. Whippins, Switches & Peach Cobbler, the first by Brian Egeston, is a novel that doesn’t quite make up ...
Under the Skin
Under the Skin Robert Fleming Book Review Following the needless deaths of my grandfather and my father, I was very interested in reading Linda Villarosa’s Under The Skin: The Hidden Toll Of Ra...
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones Chris Hayden Book Review If It Ain’t Speculative and It Ain’t Fiction Need Black Folks Read Speculative Fiction? It distresses me when I can grant only q...
Brave at Heart
Brave at Heart Kirkus Book Review “A professor emeritus reimagines Western notions of race, crime, and justice in this volume of essays. Not only has America failed to adequately say ‘...
Dolemite Is My Name
Dolemite Is My Name C. Liegh McInnis https://aalbc.com/reviews/images/Dolemite_is_My_Name.jpg Film Review Rating: R (for some sexuality, full nudity and brief language) Genre: Drama Directed By: C...
Awaken
Awaken Melissa Brown Levine Book Review Awaken is a powerful story about heritage and restoration. Author Timothy George takes an innovative approach in this African-focused tale by combining m...
Slaves with Swag: The Negroes Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention
Slaves with Swag: The Negroes Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention Kam Williams Book Review “Every February, your history teachers taught you about nine African-Americans: Martin Luther Kin...
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...
The Presidency in Black and White: My Up-Close View of Three Presidents and Race in America
The Presidency in Black and White: My Up-Close View of Three Presidents and Race in America Kam Williams Book Review “[This book] gives readers a compelling behind-the-scenes look at race re...
When Frogs Grow Feet: The Un-Aborted Are Alive and Well
When Frogs Grow Feet: The Un-Aborted Are Alive and Well Robert Fleming Book Review While When Frogs Grow Feet’s blurb links its juicy contents to Henry Miller’s classic wanton tale, Tro...
The New Paradigm for Financial Markets
The New Paradigm for Financial Markets Kam Williams Book Review ’We are in the midst of a financial crisis the likes of which has not been seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s&rsquo...
Strongholds
Strongholds Idrissa Uqdah Book Review The second book in the Blessed Trinity trilogy by best selling Christian fiction author, Vanessa Davis Griggs is a story full of the challenges that c...
The Speech: The Story behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream
The Speech: The Story behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream Kam Williams Book Review “A great speech is both timely and timeless. First and foremost, it must touch and move its immediate ...
No Place for Race: Why We Need to Address Economic and Social Factors That Are Crushing Us Every Day
No Place for Race: Why We Need to Address Economic and Social Factors That Are Crushing Us Every Day Kam Williams Book Review “Law enforcement isn’t about the white man out to get the bla...
Rough Crossings
Rough Crossings Kam Williams Book Review ’Seeing the Revolutionary War through the eyes of enslaved blacks turns its meaning upside down. ’ The vaunted war for liberty was a...
Dark Midnight When I Rise
Dark Midnight When I Rise Paige Turner Book Review The history of blacks in America remains a vast uncharted territory. While the contributions of mainstream cultures have been duly recorded, the e...
Seduced
Seduced Sheree Renée Thomas Book Review As a rule, I don’t kiss and tell, but sometimes, sometimes you get a hold to something that is just too good to keep to yourself. Well, I have to admit i...
Big Enough to Be Inconsistent
Big Enough to Be Inconsistent Thumper Book Review There is a great chance that my review of Big Enough to Be Inconsistent: Abraham Lincoln Confronts Slavery and Race by George M. Fredrickso...
In Search of Nella Larsen
In Search of Nella Larsen Thumper Book Review I’m back! It’s good to be back, although I have to tell you that it took me a minute to find groove, before I was able to fall int...
Zone One: A Novel
Zone One: A Novel Robert Fleming Book Review As one of the finest word craftsmen of his generation, Colson Whitehead has shown a high degree of imaginative skill and creativity, turning each genre ...
Destini the Chocolate Princess
Destini the Chocolate Princess Robert Fleming Book Review Joan Wright Lewis’ novel, Destini the Chocolate Princess, reveals a terrible affliction in our community; the degree of self-loathing b...
Life: Four Quarters Plus Overtime
Life: Four Quarters Plus Overtime Robert Fleming Book Review Life: Four Quarters Plus Overtime, is truly wisdom from the ages. In this self-help guide. Floyd Griffin Jr., a man of many notable experi...
Love in the Age of Dragons
Love in the Age of Dragons Robert Fleming Book Review Fatima R. Henson’s Love In The Age Of Dragons has all of the best ingredients of fantasy, speculative fiction, and science fiction. There i...
What Makes You Come Alive: A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman
What Makes You Come Alive: A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman Robert Fleming Book Review This was a labor of love. Over seven years ago, it was the mission of Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown, a Harvard-tr...
The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation
The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation Robert Fleming Book Review South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn’s The First Eight: A Personal Histo...
Sugar in the Blood: A Family’s Story of Slavery and Empire
Sugar in the Blood: A Family’s Story of Slavery and Empire Kam Williams Book Review “In the late 1630s, lured by the promise of the New World, Andrea Stuart’s earliest known maternal an...
Sweet Georgia Brown
Sweet Georgia Brown Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Can A Woman Reinvent Herself? Cheryl Robinson is known for writing novels with a twist, portraying women who face the odds and succeed. Her books...
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...
Madea’s Witness Protection
Madea’s Witness Protection Kam Williams madeas-witness-protection.jpg Film Review Tyler Perry and Eugene Levy Make for Strange Bedfellows in Fish-Out-of-Water Comedy Madea’s Witness Protec...
Muhammad Ali: The Long-Lost Movie
Muhammad Ali: The Long-Lost Movie Kam Williams ali_film.jpg Film Review Documentary Gives Glimpses of The Greatest in ’73 & ‘74 Muhammad Ali: The Long-Lost Movie Unra...
Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary
Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary Kam Williams mumia-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Reverential Biopic Paints Sympathetic Portrait of Controversial Cause Célèbre Mumia: Long distance Revolut...
Notorious
Notorious Kam Williams jamal_17.jpg Film Review Warts-and-All Bio-Pic Recounts Rise and Fall of Biggie Smalls Notorious Rated R for nudity, drug use, graphic sexuality, ethnic slurs and p...
Roots
Roots Kam Williams alex.h11.jpg Film Review 30th Anniversary Edition of Emmy-Winning Miniseries Arrives on DVD Roots (Four-Disc -30th Anniversary Edition) (1977) Click to order via AmazonDirec...
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Kam Williams tinker_film.jpg Film Review It’s Spy vs. Spy in Adaptation of John le Carre Cold War Thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy [2011] Rated R for vi...
United in Anger: A History of ACT UP
United in Anger: A History of ACT UP Kam Williams united-in-anger.jpg Film Review Riveting Gay Rights Retrospective Revisits Rise of AIDS Activism Movement United in Anger: A History of ACT ...
W. (2008)
W. (2008) Kam Williams w.htm13.jpg Film Review Oliver Stone Chronicles Bush’s Checkered Career with Damning Bio-Pic W. Rated PG-13 for profanity, sexual references, smoking, alc...
ATL
ATL Kam Williams atl.ht46.jpg Film Review T.I. Makes Impressive Screen Debut in Coming-of-Age Flick Set in His Hometown of Atlanta ATL Film Review by Kam Williams Excellent (3.5 stars) Rated PG-13 f...
Balls of Fury
Balls of Fury Kam Williams balls_8.jpg Film Review Balls of Fury Film Review by Kam WilliamsRated PG-13 for profanity, crude behavior and sex-related humor. Running time: 90 minutes ...
The Descendants
The Descendants Kam Williams images/thedescendants.jpg Film Review Clooney Seeks Redemption as Regretful Patriarch in Dysfunctional Family Drama The Descendants Rated R for profanity and sexua...
Good Hair
Good Hair Kam Williams images/img1C.jpg Film Review Chris Rock’s Lighthearted Look at Sisters’ ‘Dos Arrives on DVD Good Hair Click to order from Amazon Rated PG-1...
Gravity
Gravity Kam Williams gravity.jpg Film Review Astronauts Struggle to Survive Shuttle Disaster in Harrowing Outer Space Thriller Gravity In Theaters: Oct 4, 2013 Wide Rated PG-13 for inte...
Homie Spumoni
Homie Spumoni Kam Williams homie_59.jpg Film Review Italian Kid Learns He’s Really Black in Cross-Cultural Comedy Homie Spumoni Click to order via Amazon Rated R ...
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete Kam Williams mister-and-pete-the-kids.jpg Film Review Abandoned Kids Fend for Themselves in Gritty, NYC Saga The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete Av...
Life Is A Canvas
Life Is A Canvas Carol Taylor Book Review Life is a Canvas is a contemporary novel about finding love and self and how the choices we make early in life, particularly in our twenties, sets us on a pa...
Russell Atkins: On the Life & Work of an American Master
Russell Atkins: On the Life & Work of an American Master Robert Fleming Book Review This is an astounding tribute to one of the most innovative American artists, Russell Atkins, by a small, indepe...
Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire
Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire Kam Williams Book Review ’Arguably, Drusilla Dunjee Houston was one of the most important African-American women writers of the 20th Centu...
Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living
Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living Kam Williams Book Review “I’m aware that, for black men today, racism is still an obstacle that causes tremendous anger and suffering… Whether...
The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker
The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker Thumper Book Review The World Has Changed: Conversation with Alice Walker edited by Rudolph Byrd is a type of book that I had not seen befor...
Black Faces in White Places
Black Faces in White Places Kam Williams Book Review "What do we mean by Black Faces in White Places? It is more than just a numbers game and being the only person of color in a predominantly wh...
The End of Anger: A New Generation’s Take on Race and Rage
The End of Anger: A New Generation’s Take on Race and Rage Kam Williams Book Review "The End of Anger is an exploration of why it is that many blacks are feeling optimistic these days&hellip...
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,...
The Northern Stories of Charles Chesnutt
The Northern Stories of Charles Chesnutt Paige Turner Book Review Today’s image-obsessed pop stars pride themselves on continually unveiling new identities. But truth be told, they are l...
Embracing the Horror
Embracing the Horror RAWSISTAZ Book Review Darline Dorce-Coupet’s first novel, Embracing the Horror, is a fresh and unique love story with just enough suspense to keep the pages turning. ...
Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography
Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography Troy Johnson Book Review The age of multitasking needs better narrative history. It must be absolutely factual, immediately accessible, smart, and brilliantly fun....
Rudolph Lewis: The Prophetic Voice of the Poet
Rudolph Lewis: The Prophetic Voice of the Poet Miriam Decosta-Willis Book Review Rudolph Lewis In his lyrical Mockingbirds at Jerusalem: A Poetic Memoir, poet, editor, and former professor and l...
Book of Letters
Book of Letters Robert Fleming Book Review Mary J. Taylor’s Book Of Letters is just that, a book of letters from the Old School of storytelling. The series of sepia cultural flashbacks moves th...
Andrew Billingsley Scholar and Institution Builder: Essays and Tributes
Andrew Billingsley Scholar and Institution Builder: Essays and Tributes Robert Fleming Book Review What makes a scholar great? The easy answer is the prolonged effort of an individual to provide a la...
Vice President Kamala Harris: Her Path To The White House
Vice President Kamala Harris: Her Path To The White House Robert Fleming Book Review America has a love-hate relationship with pioneers, the people who break impossible barriers to forge a successful...
Blue in Green
Blue in Green Robert Fleming Book Review On August 25, 1959, jazz trumpeter Miles Davis escorts a white girl to a cab, lights a cigarette outside Birdland, and a city policeman harasses the black man...
Gathering Blossoms Under Fire
Gathering Blossoms Under Fire Robert Fleming Book Review Nobody will find the controversial writer, Alice Walker neutral, because of her fierce, unorthodox views. As an award-winning novelist, essayi...
The New Brownies’ Book
The New Brownies’ Book Clarence V. Reynolds Book Review In the November 1910 premier issue of The Crisis, the official journal of the NAACP, historian, scholar, civil rights activist, sociologist, an...
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...
We’ve Been Here Before: How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America
We’ve Been Here Before: How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America Eryka Parker Book Review We’ve Been Here Before: How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America by Michael I...
The Known World
The Known World Thumper Book Review As is becoming an unbreakable and pleasurable yearly excursion, I attended the 2003 Book Expo America (BEA) in Los Angeles. I love the BEA. The convention is all...
The Light of Truth: Writings of an Anti-Lynching Crusader
The Light of Truth: Writings of an Anti-Lynching Crusader Kam Williams Book Review “Ida B. Wells was born a slave in Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1862. After beginning a teaching career to ...
The Ecstatic
The Ecstatic Thumper Book Review In a landmark volume on cultural stereotypes, Yuval Taylor (Faking It) and Jake Austen, the editor of Roctober Magazine, detail the history of the significance of...
Scottsboro
Scottsboro Thumper Book Review The history book train that I hopped on a few months ago is still rolling strong with no station stop in sight. The ride continues with the novel Scottsboro ...
Darkest America: Black Minstrelsy from Slavery to Hip-Hop
Darkest America: Black Minstrelsy from Slavery to Hip-Hop Robert Fleming Book Review In a landmark volume on cultural stereotypes, Yuval Taylor (Faking It) and Jake Austen, the editor of Roctober M...
The Ex Chronicles: A Novel
The Ex Chronicles: A Novel Thumper Book Review If any of you have been following me for any length of time, you are well aware of how I feel about the 3, 4 sista-girlfriends novels that had become ...
The Henry Louis Gates
The Henry Louis Gates Robert Fleming Book Review Henry Louis Gates, Jr., one of the nation’s most acclaimed scholars, is a masterful jack of all trades, including educator, editor, critic and ...
Why White Kids Love Hip Hop
Why White Kids Love Hip Hop Kam Williams Book Review "Hip-hop is the last hope for this generation and arguably the last hope for America… The best remedy for leaving the o...