AALBC Search
Love Don’t Come Easy
Love Don’t Come Easy Tiffany M. Davis Book Review Boy looks for girl. Boy finds girl. Boy loses girl. Boy looks for another girl. J.T. Smith puts a fresh spin on an old formula in his highly enterta...
Jamesy Boy
Jamesy Boy Kam Williams jamesy-boy.jpg Film Review Jamesy Boy In Theaters: Jan 17, 2014 Limited On DVD: Feb 24, 2014 Click to order via Amazon Unrated, 1 hr. 49 min. Drama, Kids & Family,...
A House Is Not a Home
A House Is Not a Home Thumper Book Review The song says it’s hard to say goodbye’humph, not when the guests have overstayed their welcome it Ain't. At that time, saying goodbye is th...
Baby Boy
Baby Boy Marvin X moviebabyboy.jpg Film Review Baby Boy Written, Directed, Produced by John Singleton Click to Order via Amazon Rating: R Studio: Columbia Tri-Star Theatrical Release Date: June ...
Bring It On 4
Bring It On 4 Kam Williams bring_60.jpg Film Review Fourth Installment of Cheerleading Franchise Out on DVD Bring It On 4: In It to Win It Rated PG-13 for profanity, crude humor and su...
White Men Cant Hump
White Men Cant Hump Kam Williams Book Review ’Why should black men continue to sit back and allow whites to negatively define black male sexuality, especially when you consider the fact t...
White Boy/Black Girl
White Boy/Black Girl Eryka Parker Book Review The recently published White Boy/Black Girl: What Our Differences Can Teach Us, One Honest Conversation at a Time by Adaeze and Chad Brinkman is a though...
Jesus Boy
Jesus Boy Thumper Book Review I have a question for you: have you ever heard of anything; a food dish, a recipe, a car or a book, that by the description alone, you knew, KNEW it was going ...
God Don’t Like Ugly
God Don’t Like Ugly Thumper Book Review "I was hoping when I started God don't Like Ugly that it wasn't the typical girl-coming-of-age story. Alongside you-go-girl books, girl-coming-of...
Sleep Don’t Come Easy
Sleep Don’t Come Easy Thumper Book Review I came across Sleep don't Come Easy by J.D. Mason and Victor McGlothin some time ago. I threw it in my ’to read’ pile when I spotte...
The Black Clergy’s Misguided Worship Leadership
The Black Clergy’s Misguided Worship Leadership Robert Fleming Book Review With this defiant publication, The Black Clergy’s Misguided Worship Leadership, Dr. Christopher C. Bell, Jr....
The Fall of Rome
The Fall of Rome Thumper Book Review The Fall of Rome is the first adult novel by Coretta Scott King winner Martha Southgate. Southgate through the narrative of three people told a story that strip...
Dying Eyes Don’t Lie
Dying Eyes Don’t Lie Eryka Parker Book Review Set in 1981, Dying Eyes Don’t Lie by Keith Mosley is a genre-blending thriller that explores justice, community, and legacy through the eyes of two...
White Flight
White Flight Kam Williams Book Review "At the start of the 21st Century, the politics created by white flight are not simply still present; they are predominant. Despite its fundamental im...
Love Don’t Live Here Anymore
Love Don’t Live Here Anymore Paige Turner Book Review Randy, the main character in Denene Millner and Nick Chiles "Love Don’t Live Here Anymore" reflects on his marriage: "What ...
Don’t Trip, He Ain’t Through with Me Yet
Don’t Trip, He Ain’t Through with Me Yet Kam Williams dont_t1.jpg Film Review Comedian Steve Harvey Keeps It Clean in Family-Oriented Concert Flick Don’t Trip … He Ain’t Th...
Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance
Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance Connie Bradley Book Review Definitions of Miss Anne: A coded term for any white woman. A derisive name for a white woman. An emanc...
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...
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...
He Talk Like a White Boy
He Talk Like a White Boy Kam Williams Book Review "I have grown tired of hearing people badmouth America. I love my country and claim it as my own because I believe America is good. 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...
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson Kam Williams Book Review "As the ’Bad’ tour moved to St. Louis, a 13 year-old boy named Peter joined the entourage. This kid had been with us in New York and was now...
Don’t Blame It on Rio
Don’t Blame It on Rio Kam Williams Book Review ’Black women were once at the center of black men’s lives, as wives, mothers, lovers and partners’ However, in this generation, b...
They Tell Me of a Home
They Tell Me of a Home Thumper Book Review I was in the mood for a Southern gothic novel. For those of you who may not know, a Southern gothic novel is one that takes place in the S...
White Wedding (2010)
White Wedding (2010) Kam Williams images/69214_gal.jpg Film Review Groom and Best Man Get Waylaid En Route to Wedding in South African Romantic Comedy White Wedding Click to buy onli...
Looking for Happy
Looking for Happy Judy Allen Dodson Book Review “Some days, Happy is Hard to Find” as we set out on a quest in this heartfelt and hopeful picture book, Looking For Happy, which follows a ...
Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama
Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama Kam Williams Book Review “Whites don’t think they have the moral authority to ask anything of black people, certainly not to judge...
Carl Van Vechten & the Harlem Renaissance: A Portrait in Black & White
Carl Van Vechten & the Harlem Renaissance: A Portrait in Black & White Kam Williams Book Review “This book is a portrait of a once-controversial figure… a white man with a passion ...
A Death In Texas
A Death In Texas Thumper Book Review Upon hearing of the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. in his hometown of Jasper, Texas, it occurred to me that "A new way of performing the act of lynching h...
Dakota Grand: A Novel
Dakota Grand: A Novel Brian Egeston Book Review There are codes within creeds and creeds within cliques. Perhaps this is the most subliminal, if not unintentional, message in Kenji Jasper’s lat...
Chike and the River
Chike and the River Kam Williams Book Review Book Review by Kam Williams "Chike was now 11 years-old, and he had never left his village. Then one day his mother told him that he would be going to ...
Turn the Page and You Don’t Stop: Sharing Successful Chapters in Our Lives with Youth
Turn the Page and You Don’t Stop: Sharing Successful Chapters in Our Lives with Youth Kam Williams Book Review “Why read? Reading isn’t just for sissies, or nerds or geeks. Research...
Oil and Water and Other Things That don’t Mix
Oil and Water and Other Things That don’t Mix Robert Fleming Book Review If you take a trip to the once-scenic Gulf Coast, you will see there is more to be done in the restoration and rejuvenation...
Don’t Drop the MIC
Don’t Drop the MIC Denolyn Carroll Book Review In Don’t Drop the Mic, renowned pastor, orator, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Bishop T. D. Jakes puts a new spin on the notion of the b...
Men Don’t Heal
Men Don’t Heal Kam Williams Book Review ’The purpose of this book is to give you multiple relationship examples from all angles and to examine those examples from all angle...
The Upper Room
The Upper Room Thumper Book Review Mary Monroe initially caught my attention and admiration with her second novel God Don’t Like Ugly. I loved God Don’t Like Ugly, as I previously stated...
The King of No: A Financial Firefighter
The King of No: A Financial Firefighter Robert Fleming Book Review Following 38 years in the investment business, Loyall Wilson assembles some of his financial know-how in this slender book, accumula...
White House Diary
White House Diary Kam Williams Book Review "During my four years in the White House, I kept a personal diary by dictating my thoughts and observations several times each day… When dictatin...
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America Kam Williams Book Review “America is in trouble, and a lot of that trouble—perhaps most of it—has to do with race. Everywhere we tu...
The Revolution Will Not Be Funded
The Revolution Will Not Be Funded Kam Williams Book Review ’Many white-led social justice non-profits proclaim, in everything from their mission statements to their funding proposals, that...
White Coat Fever
White Coat Fever Thumper Book Review Roland S. Jefferson, author of the classic The School on 103rd Street, is back on the scene with his latest novel, White Coat Fever. The title of the novel is...
Well Considered By Richard Morris
Well Considered By Richard Morris Robert Fleming Book Review Some critics have often said white authors cannot capture the soul and passion of African American characters, but that is not the case ...
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...
Dear White People
Dear White People Kam Williams dear-wite-people-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Dear White People In Theaters: Oct 17, 2014 Limited On DVD: Feb 3, 2015 Rated R for profanity, ethnic and sexual prefe...
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...
Daughters of the Dust: The Making of an African American Woman&rquo;s Film
Daughters of the Dust: The Making of an African American Woman&rquo;s Film Akilah Monifa Book Review This historical novel is actually a sequel to the movie of the same title. The book although stee...
The Other Side of Losing
The Other Side of Losing Kam Williams Book Review ’The Curse of the Goat’ Real Cubs fans don't talk about it much, no more than once or twice a season. Usually it’s ...
Leaving Atlanta
Leaving Atlanta Thumper Book Review Tayari Jones enters the literary scene with Leaving Atlanta, a novel that takes place in 1979 Atlanta, Georgia during what came to be known as the Atlanta Child ...
Bittersweet
Bittersweet Thumper Book Review Bittersweet, the debut novel by Freddie Lee Johnson, lll, proves the old adage that you can’t always judge a book by its cover. As I picked up Bittersweet from t...
Blacktrospective 2010 - Annual Assessment of the Best (and Worst) in Black Cinema
Blacktrospective 2010 - Annual Assessment of the Best (and Worst) in Black Cinema Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/images/Just-Wright.jpg Film Review Blacktrospective 2010 - Annual Assessmen...
The Secrets of Newberry
The Secrets of Newberry Thumper Book Review J. D. Mason is a gift that keeps on giving, in a good way. Mason is one of my favorite authors, so much so that I will read anything that has her name ...
We Gotta Have It
We Gotta Have It Kam Williams Book Review ’We Gotta Have It represents twenty years of seeing a new generation of Black movies. Before this journey began in 1986, with Spike Lee’s She...
Praise Song for the Butterflies
Praise Song for the Butterflies Tony Lindsay Book Review An effective novelist can change reality with their fiction. Many writers see and experience things that are unjust, and they react. They writ...
Peony’s Daughters
Peony’s Daughters Idrissa Uqdah Book Review A Mother With Crosses To Bear Although not categorized as Christian Fiction, Peony’s Daughters by Leceila Turnage is a very spiritual read w...
Wench
Wench Thumper Book Review I had a feeling that even though we are educated enough in the institution of slavery, there are still aspects that take me by surprise. Dolen Perkins-Valdez debut...
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...
Blacktop Wasteland
Blacktop Wasteland W. Paul Coates Book Review Black Top Wastland a Conversation With S A Cosby and Paul CoatesAug 30, 2020 06:00 p.m. Eastern Time Register S. A. Cosby has written a winning book ...
Blacktop Wasteland
Blacktop Wasteland W. Paul Coates Book Review Black Top Wastland a Conversation With S A Cosby and Paul CoatesAug 30, 2020 06:00 p.m. Eastern Time Register S. A. Cosby has written a winning book ...
I Missed the Bus, But I Arrived On Time!
I Missed the Bus, But I Arrived On Time! Robert Fleming Book Review Our reading community gets tired of memoirs celebrating guns, drugs, loose morals, and general mayhem. Willis L. Drake’s reco...
Going Home
Going Home Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Home Is Where The Heart Is Evelyn Palfrey is an author who writes romance novels. The unique thing about her books is that she writes romance for the "...
Buddy Guy: When I Left Home — My Story
Buddy Guy: When I Left Home — My Story Robert Fleming Book Review When I Left Home, the memoir of legendary blue guitarist Buddy Guy, with support from noted writer David Ritz, traces the musician ...
Going Home In Chains: Stories
Going Home In Chains: Stories Robert Fleming Book Review Glenville Lovell, one of the foremost Caribbean writers, has written several novels, including the acclaimed Fire in the Canes, Too Beautifu...
Home
Home Connie Bradley Book Review I just recently completed Toni Morrison’s latest book Home, a novel I have been looking forward to reading because its advance notices promoted it as being set i...
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 ...
New England White
New England White Kam Williams Book Review ’I like writing [about] this world for the same reason that others like reading [about] it: the black upper class is a continuing fascination, an...
Sundown Towns
Sundown Towns Kam Williams Book Review ’Beginning in about 1890 and continuing until 1968, white Americans established thousands of towns across the United States for whites only. A &rsqu...
White Gold
White Gold Carol Taylor Book Review This sweeping historical novel follows aspiring railroad engineer, William Roberson, from his Jamaican homeland in 1897 at 16, to Panama, to help build the Pan...
Joan Myers Brown & the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina
Joan Myers Brown & the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina Kam Williams Book Review “Blacks in the segregationist United States of America of the 30s and 40s fought back with inherent toug...
Living Black History
Living Black History Kam Williams Book Review ’Since race itself is a fraudulent concept, devoid of scientific reality, racism can only be justified through the suppression of black counter-n...
Mixed: My Life in Black and White
Mixed: My Life in Black and White Kam Williams Book Review ’Soon, two black security guards were buzzed through the doors toward me. My mouth stayed on full blast. ’Oh, sure, y’...
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...
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 ...
It Was The Devil All Along: A Memoir
It Was The Devil All Along: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review Her name is Avalon Soulette Brown, a God-sent woman who happens to be an accomplished nurse from Newark, New Jersey, and still lives ...
Everything But The Burden
Everything But The Burden Rondall Brasher Book Review "Of all of our studies, history is best qualified to reward ourresearch." —El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X) This quo...
The Adventures of Sasha & Malia at the White House
The Adventures of Sasha & Malia at the White House Kam Williams Book Review "[This] story came to me in a dream one night not long after the inauguration of President Barack Obama… I d...
The Complete Muhammad Ali
The Complete Muhammad Ali Tony Lindsay Book Review Ishmael Reed’s The Complete Muhammad Ali is much more than a standard biography. The work provides specific details on numerous facets that su...
Black Hands White House: Slave Labor and the Making of America
Black Hands White House: Slave Labor and the Making of America Robert Fleming Book Review Renee K. Harrison, an associate professor of African American and US religious history at Howard University, ...
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...
I’m Through with White Girls
I’m Through with White Girls Kam Williams i’m_th14.jpg Film Review Brother Cured of Jungle Fever Decides to Settle Down with a Sister I’m Through with White Girls (...
black misery
black misery Troy Johnson Book Review Misery is when you heardon the radio that the neighborhoodyou live in is a slum butyou always thought it was home” black misery is a pictur...
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 ...
Passing by Samaria
Passing by Samaria Paige Turner Book Review In the early days of the church, when doing the Lord’s work, Christians tried to pass by the town of Samaria, tried to evade visiting this unpleasan...
Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God
Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God Kam Williams Book Review “Why is it becoming increasingly acceptable to kill unarmed black children? Why are they so easily perceived as...
Lion’s Blood
Lion’s Blood Thumper Book Review Steven Barnes, has emerged with one of the best books of 2002, a novel that explores a "what if" question; What if the United States of America had a past w...
Be a Father to Your Child
Be a Father to Your Child Kam Williams Book Review ’I will be completely candid here and say that I have carried around a great deal of resentment toward older Black men since...
Mixed Me!
Mixed Me! Kam Williams Book Review Mom and Dad say I’m a blend of dark and light:“We mixed you perfectly, and got you just right.” Mike has awesome hair. He has LOTS of energy!...
Neglected but Undefeated: The Life Of A Boy Who Never Knew A Mother’s Love
Neglected but Undefeated: The Life Of A Boy Who Never Knew A Mother’s Love Carol Taylor Book Review Born in 1987, Jonathan Anthony Burkett has lived a young life that reads like fiction: vicious be...
Every Bitter Thing Sweet
Every Bitter Thing Sweet Tiffany M. Davis Book Review Every Bitter Thing Sweet picks up where A Thirst For Rain ends. While this is the story of Odile and Rory, Ms. Carrington continues her portrayal...
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 ...
Zion and Zara Stories: The Big Bike Race
Zion and Zara Stories: The Big Bike Race Amanda Robinson Book Review Good children’s books are hard to come by. Many of them lack morals for children to learn from or educational content to gro...
The Day You Begin
The Day You Begin Neoma Nwasike Book Review Have you ever felt like an outsider, or like you just did not belong? In this big world, with so many different faces, it can sometimes feel overwhelming a...
Will
Will Robert Fleming Book Review There are millions of success stories in America. This is one of them. Film superstar Will Smith’s memoir, Will, is almost a fantasy comprised of Yankee success,...
Baldwin: A Love Story
Baldwin: A Love Story Robert Fleming Book Review Long before I met James Baldwin’s friend Vertamae Grosvenor, I was a preteen Black boy who had read the writer’s bold novel Go Tell It on ...
Kevin and His Dad
Kevin and His Dad Kam Williams Book Review ’What could be better for a young boy than to spend a whole day with his father! With mom away on a Saturday, that’s exa...
Red Hook Summer
Red Hook Summer Kam Williams red-hook-summer.jpg Film Review Latest Spike Lee Joint Deserves to Get the Hook Red Hook Summer (2012) In Theaters: Aug 10, 2012 Limited R, 2 hr. 1 min. Drama Directed ...
Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat
Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat Julianne Malveaux Book Review I don’t often write about comedians, but the recent passing of my friend Dick Gregory reminded me of the very important role t...
Caught in a Rundown
Caught in a Rundown Thumper Book Review If this post isn’t a shining example of a recommendation, forgive me. I’m a little slow from not getting enough sleep last night all because of a...
Ida Mae
Ida Mae Thumper Book Review There are times when I love this job. The times that I hate to lay a book down for any reason. The times when the counting of pages mean that the story is coming to an end...
Glorious
Glorious Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Bernice McFadden’s long awaited release, is pure poetry. This novel sings to you through the eyes of Easter Bartlett who runs away as a young girl when ...
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...