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Sweetsmoke
Sweetsmoke Thumper Book Review When I heard of the novel Sweetsmoke by David Fuller, I was intrigued. The novel takes place during the Civil War, 1862, at its heart lays a murder mystery wi...
12 Years a Slave
12 Years a Slave Kam Williams 12-years-a-slave-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Chiwetel Ejiofor Stars in Adaptation of Solomon Northup’s Memoir In Theaters: Oct 18, 2013 Limited November 1,...
Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome
Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome Kam Williams Book Review ’When African-Americans accept the deprecating accounts and images portrayed by the media, literature, music and the arts as a true ...
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 ...
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...
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 Water Dancer
The Water Dancer Tony Lindsay Book Review To mix magical realism with historical fiction is a bold task. To discuss the topic of family pride from the perspective of the offspring of a slave and a ma...
Sapphire’s Grave
Sapphire’s Grave Thumper Book Review While many of us have long since grown tired of the slave narratives, slave stories, or stories that are rooted in our past, my fascination with these stories ...
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...
The Nat Turner Insurrection Trials
The Nat Turner Insurrection Trials Emanuel Carpenter Book Review Was Nat Turner a hero or a savage? After reading the new book from legal scholar Walter L. Gordon III, you may change your mind abou...
Walk Through Darkness
Walk Through Darkness Thumper Book Review Walk Through Darkness is magnificent! The writing prowess of David Anthony Durham is a promise fulfilled. Now, if, dear reader, your time is of the essence ...
Daddy Day Camp
Daddy Day Camp Kam Williams daddy_52.jpg Film Review Daddy Day Camp Click to order via Amazon Rated PG for bodily humor and mild epithets. Running time: 93 minutes Studio: Sony Pic...
Two Wings to Veil My Face
Two Wings to Veil My Face Tony Lindsay Book Review There is genre fiction, and there is literary fiction. Within these two categories are groups; in part, genre fiction consists of mystery, romance, ...
What the Word Be: Why Black English… Is the King’s (James) English
What the Word Be: Why Black English… Is the King’s (James) English Kam Williams Book Review “Blacks came to the U.S. chained to each other but from different tribes. Neither could spea...
The Life of Olaudah Equiano
The Life of Olaudah Equiano Thumper Book Review In a continuing effort to broaden my horizon and go outside of my comfort zone, I decided to read The Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano, eve...
Freedom Bound
Freedom Bound Jayne Cubbage Book Review The novel Freedom bound is based on the life Anta Majigeen Ndiaya who had been captured by slave raiders from Yang Yang village in Senegal, West Africa. Auth...
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 ...
Devil’s Dream: A Novel about Nathan Bedford Forrest by Madison
Devil’s Dream: A Novel about Nathan Bedford Forrest by Madison Thumper Book Review It is safe to say, I began this book in complete and total ignorance. I had not read any of Madison Smartt Bell&rs...
The Black Count: Glory
The Black Count: Glory Kam Williams Book Review The original Alexandre Dumas was born in 1762… in the French sugar colony of Saint-Domingue. [His] life is so extraordinary on so many leve...
Lion’s Blood
Lion’s Blood Thumper Book Review Sequel to Lion’s Blood is Equally Magnificent “Have you ever heard the expression ‘Zulu Heart?’” “No," he said, and t...
The God Who Begat a Jackal
The God Who Begat a Jackal Thumper Book Review The great author of American letters, Albert Murray, wrote in his recently published book From The Briarpatch, ’The goal of the serious storytelle...
The Fire of Freedom: Abraham Galloway and the Slaves’ Civil War
The Fire of Freedom: Abraham Galloway and the Slaves’ Civil War Kam Williams Book Review “This is the story of Abraham H. Galloway (1837-70), a fiery young slave rebel, radical abolitionist,...
The Book of Night Women
The Book of Night Women Thumper Book Review I have been awaiting the arrival of The Book of Night Women by Marlon James, literally, for years. I read and loved his debut novel, John Crow&r...
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...
50 Years after Brown: The State of Black Equality in America
50 Years after Brown: The State of Black Equality in America Kam Williams Book Review "The state of black equality in America 50 years after Brown reflects the historical recalcitrance o...
Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History
Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History Kam Williams Book Review ’If you are able to see [your ancestors&...
Unburdened by Conscience: A Black People’s Collective Account of America’s Antebellum So
Unburdened by Conscience: A Black People’s Collective Account of America’s Antebellum So Kam Williams Book Review "While pursuing my Bachelor of Arts degree in college, I took a lot of history cour...
Meeting David Wilson
Meeting David Wilson Kam Williams meetin7.jpg Film Review MSNBC Special to Feature Reunion of Blacks and Whites Linked to Ancestors from Same Slave Plantation Meeting David Wilson Unrated...
Inheriting the Trade
Inheriting the Trade Kam Williams traces5.jpg Film Review Descendants of Slave Owners Retrace Ancestors Triangular Trade Route Credit: Amishadai Sackitey DeWolf family...
Blacktrospective 2013 by Kam Williams
Blacktrospective 2013 by Kam Williams Kam Williams http://aalbc.com/reviews/20-feet-from-stardom.jpg Film Review Blacktrospective 2013 - Annual Assessment of the Best in Black Cinema Each year we pub...
In The House Of The Interpreter: A Memoir
In The House Of The Interpreter: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review This stunning second memoir by noted Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, In The House Of The Interpreter, cover...
The Black Rose
The Black Rose Paige Turner Book Review Journalist and novelist Tananarive Due is fast establishing herself as a professional writer who can master any genre she deigns to approach. With her previ...
Selected Poems of Calvin C. Hernton
Selected Poems of Calvin C. Hernton Robert Fleming Book Review Back in the day, Calvin C. Hernton, a poet, scholar, and essayist, was considered a literary maverick, an outspoken advocate of truth-te...
God’s Graffiti: Inspiring Stories for Teens
God’s Graffiti: Inspiring Stories for Teens Kam Williams Book Review “I was raised in poverty, surrounded by drug dealers, gangs and community violence. My mother was addicted to crack cocai...
A Fortune for Your Disaster
A Fortune for Your Disaster Brianna-Christine Alicea Book Review A Fortune for Your Disaster is a powerful, resonant poetry collection about forgiveness and grappling with physical and emotional viol...
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...
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man Kam Williams Book Review “I want every woman who truly wants a solid relationship to forget everything she’s been taught about men erase the ...
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man Kam Williams Book Review “I want every woman who truly wants a solid relationship to forget everything she’s been taught about men erase th...
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man Kam Williams Book Review “I want every woman who truly wants a solid relationship to forget everything she’s been taught about men erase th...
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man Kam Williams Book Review “I want every woman who truly wants a solid relationship to forget everything she’s been taught about men erase th...
Praedamus Let Us Prey Selling Heaven: It’s All An Illusion
Praedamus Let Us Prey Selling Heaven: It’s All An Illusion Kam Williams Book Review “Religion plays an important part in most people’s lives… Many of us have absolute and often b...
Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou
Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou Kam Williams Book Review “‘Words mean more than what is set down on paper,’ Maya Angelou wrote in her groundbreaking m...
Jimmy’s Rhythm & Blues
Jimmy’s Rhythm & Blues Clarence V. Reynolds Book Review This year, we will celebrate the centennial of the birth of prominent writer, civil rights activist, and intellectual James Baldwin. Born in Ha...
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...
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Becoming by Michelle Obama Amanda Robinson Book Review Being a Black woman in America right now comes with a great deal of scrutiny. We are praised for our diversity, yet simultaneously cast aside fo...
The Memory Librarian
The Memory Librarian Robert Fleming Book Review When I think of singer-actor-fashion icon Janelle Monae, the word eclectic comes to mind. She is everywhere in the media, on every platform. Along with...
Eve’s Bayou
Eve’s Bayou Sherelle R. Williams images/eve’s.39.jpg Film Review EVE’S BAYOU (1997) MPAA: Rated R for sexuality and language. Runtime: USA 109 minutes ...
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...
Anonymous
Anonymous Kam Williams images/anonymous.jpg Film Review Intriguing Whodunit Suggests Shakespeare Was a Fraud Anonymous Rated PG-13 for violence and sexuality. Running time: 130 minutes Di...
F.B. Eyes: How J. Edgar Hoover’s Ghostreaders Framed African American Literature
F.B. Eyes: How J. Edgar Hoover’s Ghostreaders Framed African American Literature Kam Williams Book Review “Drawing on nearly 14,000 pages of newly released FBI files, F.B. Eyes exposes the Bu...
Legacy
Legacy Michael Dequina images/LegacyPoster4-212x300.jpg Film Review Legacy [2010] LEGACY Not Rated Running time: 92 minutes Studio: Codeblack Entertainment Rating: 3 1...
Seven Pounds
Seven Pounds Kam Williams seven_3.jpg Film Review Will Smith as Widower Wracked with Guilt Seven Pounds Click to order via Amazon Rated PG-13 for mature themes, sensuali...
Prodigal
Prodigal Chauncey Ridley Book Review David Covin’s Prodigal is a well-tuned engine of richly resonant, polysemous form firing on all cylinders: a hip, ripping thriller set in the mean streets o...
Superfly (2018)
Superfly (2018) Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/images/superfly-2018-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Excellent ★★★★ (out of 4 stars) Trevor Jackson Plays Iconic Titl...
Courageous
Courageous Kam Williams courageous_family.jpg Film Review Cops Struggle to Juggle Careers and Fatherhood in Faith-Based Family Flick Courageous Rated PG-13 for violence and drug use. Runni...
Madea Goes to Jail
Madea Goes to Jail Kam Williams madea_1.jpg Film Review Tyler Perry’s Back in Drag for Another Modern Morality Play Madea Goes to...
Kabluey
Kabluey Kam Williams kablue18.jpg Film Review Lisa Kudrow Shines as Soldier’s Frazzled Wife in Stop-Loss Comedy Kabluey Rated PG-13 for sexuality, a crude reference a...
Legends
Legends Kam Williams Book Review ’’Would America have been America without her Negro people?’ W.E.B. Du Bois wrote those words shortly after the turn of...
A People’s History of the United States
A People’s History of the United States Kam Williams Book Review "There is not a country in world history in which racism has been more important, for so long a time, as the United Stat...
Confessions of a Call Girl
Confessions of a Call Girl Kam Williams confes55.jpg Film Review Tamala Jones Plays Conflicted Title Character in Kinky Blaxploitation Flick Confessions of a Call Girl Click to ...
The Family That Preys
The Family That Preys Kam Williams sanaa_25.jpg Film Review Skeletons Aplenty in Latest Tyler Perry Dysfunctional Family Drama The Family That Preys Click...
I Will Follow
I Will Follow Kam Williams images/iwillfollow.jpg Film Review Bittersweet Drama Chronicles Day in the Life of Grief-Stricken Caregiver I Will Follow Order via Amazon.com Unrated ...
Freedom's Journal: The First African-American Newspaper
Freedom's Journal: The First African-American Newspaper Kam Williams Book Review “While the Constitution declares that all men are born free and equal, the wise corporation of the city of...
The Bondwoman’s Narrative
The Bondwoman’s Narrative Paige Turner Book Review In the 1850s a female slave owned by John Wheeler, a North Carolina plantation owner and minor government official, escaped and fled to freedom. Sh...
The People Could Fly
The People Could Fly Kam Williams Book Review "The People Could Fly is one of the most extraordinary, moving tales in black folklore… [It] is a detailed fantasy of suffering, of magi...
Let Us Descend
Let Us Descend Donna Hill Book Review Acclaimed writer Jesmyn Ward, two-time National Book Award winner for Sing, Unburied, Sing and Salvage the Bones, returns with her latest, Let Us Descend, a haun...
Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an an American Cuisine
Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an an American Cuisine Kam Williams Book Review From frontier cabins to plantation houses to the White House, from steamboat galleys and Pullman kitchens to pub...
Ebony & Ivy: Race
Ebony & Ivy: Race Kam Williams Book Review “Ebony & Ivy… delivers a groundbreaking and incendiary exploration of the intertwined histories of slavery, race, and higher education&he...
African American History for Dummies
African American History for Dummies Kam Williams Book Review ’African-American history, to be clear, is so much more than a handful of extraordinary individuals or practices like slaver...
Am I Not a Man?
Am I Not a Man? Robert Fleming Book Review What a curious book to be written by Mark L. Shurtleff, Utah’s Attorney General! This well-researched historical novel, Am I Not A Man?,...
The Birth of a Nation
The Birth of a Nation Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/images/birth-of-a-nation-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Reverential Biopic Revisits Life of Infamous Slave Revolt Leader Excellent (4 star...
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 ...
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...
Something Torn and New
Something Torn and New Kam Williams Book Review ’Linguicide is the linguistic equivalent of genocide. Genocide involves conscious acts of physical massacre; linguicide, conscious ac...
Belle
Belle Kam Williams belle.jpg Film Review Belle In Theaters: May 2, 2014 Limited Rated PG for smoking, mature themes and ethnic insensitivity. Running time: 104 minutes Drama Directed By: Amma As...
Django Unchained (2012)
Django Unchained (2012) Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/django-movie-poster2.jpg Film Review Ex-Slave Exacts Vengeance in Tarantino Variation on Spaghetti Western Django Unchained (201...
The Legacy of Islamic Anti-Semitism
The Legacy of Islamic Anti-Semitism Kam Williams Book Review ’Is Islamic anti-Semitism only a modern phenomenon? During the last fifteen years, certain Western scholars have t...
Princes of the Road
Princes of the Road Emanuel Carpenter Book Review In David Covin’s Princes of the Road, the author transports readers to the 1930s of America, where Jim Crow and racism ruled. The central cha...
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 Salt Roads
The Salt Roads Linda Watkins Book Review Award winning author Nalo Hopkinson’s The Salt Roads is a multilayered fantasy full of various meanings, Haitian voodoo, mythology, slavery and Europe...
Sugar of the Crop
Sugar of the Crop Kam Williams Book Review Everyone I interviewed for this book is now dead” Before I started the search, the one person I knew who was a granddaughter of a ...
Meet Dave (2008)
Meet Dave (2008) Kam Williams meet_d27.jpg Film Review Eddie Murphy Misfires as Brother from Another Planet Meet Dave Rated PG for action, suggestive...
Baby Momma Drama
Baby Momma Drama Thumper Book Review Carl Weber’s new book is loaded with the type of drama I love, — unfiltered, full strength, wig snatching, "yo-momma’s-a-ho!" drama. ...
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 ...
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...
Chasing Me to My Grave
Chasing Me to My Grave Robert Fleming Book Review This enthralling memoir is one of the most heralded books about the life, imagination, and cultural influences of an African American man who goes to...
Touched
Touched Walter Benefield Book Review Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "We are not makers of history. We are made by history, Dr. Matthew (Matty) Allen Green knows this all to well. On his first nig...
Uncle Yah Yah Parts I & II 21st Century Man of Wisdom
Uncle Yah Yah Parts I & II 21st Century Man of Wisdom Alvin Romer Book Review Author Al Dickens gives us his unique brand of wisdom told as by Uncle Yah Yah, a storyteller and wise sage spewing amus...
Not a Day Goes By
Not a Day Goes By Paige Turner Book Review Lifestyles of the Bitch and Famous If you enjoy the big payback and revenge, then popular writer E. Lynn Harris’ is "da man", and his lat...
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...
The Clan of Southern Man
The Clan of Southern Man Robert Fleming Book Review Any serious student of African-American history could point to the rich, informative contents of two iconic publications: Chancellor Williams&rsquo...
Fever in the Blood
Fever in the Blood Thumper Book Review I must say that I write this review from a somewhat prejudicial position. I am a fan of Robert Fleming. I loved the two anthologies he edited, Intimacy and ...
Jump at the Sun
Jump at the Sun Idrissa Uqdah Book Review It’s Always The Mama Baggage Kim McLarin is known for writing novels about touchy issues within the Black community. Her stories step on toes an...
Gift of Truth
Gift of Truth Michelle Paynter Book Review There are literary craftsmen who spend a lifetime writing in one particular genre, and there are others who possess a creative and literary zeal, which ...
Stagolee Shot Billy
Stagolee Shot Billy Thumper Book Review It was because of my mother’s and aunt Janice’s love of 60’s soul music that I first encountered and fell in love with Wilson Pickett singin...
Blessings
Blessings Thumper Book Review Blessing is the third novel written by the author of Lil Mama Rules and Caught Up In The Rapture, Sheneska Jackson. Blessings is the story of four women who work in a ...
Insignificant Others: Erotic Novellas
Insignificant Others: Erotic Novellas Anita Doreen Diggs Book Review Award winning authors, Pynk and Carol Taylor have written two original tales for Insignificant Others. Fans will love both sto...
Freedom at Dawn: Robert Smalls’s Voyage Out of Slavery
Freedom at Dawn: Robert Smalls’s Voyage Out of Slavery Richard Murray Book Review Frederick Douglass once said, “The American Government and the American Constitution are spoken of in a manner ...
The Ancestors
The Ancestors Thumper Book Review The Ancestors is an anthology featuring stories by authors L.A. Banks, Tananarive Due and Brandon Massey. I am always happy to come across science fiction ...