AALBC Search
Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Rachel Eliza Griffiths 0000000527846142 Rachel Eliza Griffiths, a poet, photographer, and creative writing teacher, is renowned for her literary portraits, fine art photography, and lyric videos. She...
Nellie Y. McKay
Nellie Y. McKay 0000000081108566 Nellie Y. McKay, an influential figure in American literature, co-edited the Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Her work highlighted the scholarly study...
Patricia Jabbeh Wesley
Patricia Jabbeh Wesley 0000000046027939 Wesley Receives the 2023 Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Award Dr. Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, a Penn State Altoona professor of English, creative writing and Afri...
Troy Pappy Johnson
Troy Pappy Johnson NONE Troy “Pappy” Johnson, a Brooklyn native, is a Howard University graduate and US Army veteran. He has had a successful career in Theatrical/Film Production in NYC, working with...
Adrian Matejka
Adrian Matejka 0000000037525872 Adrian Matejka is a Germany-born, Indiana-based author and educator. A graduate of Indiana University and Southern Illinois University Carbondale, he has penned award-...
Irene Luxbacher
Irene Luxbacher 0000000078506870 Irene Luxbacher is a renowned Canadian artist, author, and children's book illustrator. With degrees in Art History and Fine Art, she has gained acclaim through her a...
Hayden Goodman
Hayden Goodman NONE Hayden Goodman, born in Western Massachusetts, is a renowned painter and children's book illustrator. Her clients include the New Yorker, the New York Times, MIT, and Garden & Gun...
Marcus Bridgewater
Marcus Bridgewater NONE Marcus Bridgewater, known on social media as Garden Marcus, is also the author of How to Grow: Nurture Your Garden, Nurture Yourself. Media outlets that have featured his wor...
O.H. Bennett
O.H. Bennett NONE O.H. Bennett is a versatile writer with experience in advertising, military orders, and technical writing. He has a Journalism degree from the University of Evansville and an MFA fr...
Doris Jean Austin
Doris Jean Austin 0000000084312407 Doris Jean Austin (1949-1994) was an accomplished journalist from Mobile, Alabama, known for her contributions to Essence magazine and her novel, “After the Garden”...
Leah Henderson
Leah Henderson NONE Leah Henderson is an award-winning author with a passion for travel and exploration, which influences her work. Her notable works include the Africana Children’s Book Award notabl...
Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor 0000000108802241 Richard Pryor December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005 Before ...
Fabienne Josaphat
Fabienne Josaphat 0000000001379199 "Fabienne Josaphat, an M.F.A. graduate from Florida International University, is an accomplished writer with works in various journals. 'Dancing in the Baron’s Shad...
Lynda Koolish
Lynda Koolish NONE Lynda Koolish, a photographer and literature scholar, captures the essence of writers she admires through her deeply collaborative and personal work. Her artistry involves paying a...
Markette Sheppard
Markette Sheppard NONE Markette Sheppard is an Emmy-winning journalist, children's book author, and founder of The GLOW Brands, LLC. Her bestseller 'What Is Light?' inspires children to discover inne...
Richard Morris
Richard Morris 000000002791695X Richard A. Morris is a Harvard Business School alumnus, Vietnam war veteran and former building code specialist turned novelist. Known for his critically acclaimed nov...
Vincent Brown
Vincent Brown 0000000114674784 Vincent Brown is the Charles Warren Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. He is the author of Tacky...
Hugh Holton
Hugh Holton NONE Hubert “Hugh” Holton, son of a police officer, was a prolific author who passed away in 2001. Raised in Woodlawn, he attended Saint Anselm elementary school and Mount Carmel high sch...
David Diop
David Diop 0000000381649161 David Diop, born in 1966, is a renowned French-Senegalese author known for his historical fiction. His novel “At Night All Blood is Black” won the 2021 International Booke...
Jackie Sibblies Drury
Jackie Sibblies Drury NONE Jackie Sibblies Drury is a Brooklyn-based playwright, known for plays including 'We Are Proud to Present...' and 'Really'. Her work has been showcased by prominent institut...
James F. Daniels
James F. Daniels NONE James F. Daniels, author of 'Metamorphosis: From Cotton Picker to Community Leader', shares his journey from growing up as a sharecropper in the Jim Crow South to becoming a com...
Kelvin Bodley
Kelvin Bodley NONE Kelvin D. Bodley, a Chicago native and now Florida resident, is a social change advocate, author, and Minister of the Gospel. He served as the Special Assistant to Mayor Anthony Gr...
K.L. Reeves
K.L. Reeves NONE Harvard graduate Kevin “K.L.” Reeves is a dedicated Chicago-based artist and writer, striving to illuminate the complexities of the human experience through his work. Despite persona...
Andre Ward
Andre Ward NONE Andre Michael Ward, born 1984, is a retired American boxer with an untarnished record. He was a multi-time world champion in two weight categories from 2004-2017. Recognized by The Ri...
Luke Flowers
Luke Flowers NONE Luke Flowers, founder of Luke Flowers Creative in 2010, is dedicated to illuminating the imagination in all his work, inspired by the meaning of his name, 'Light'. He aims to enligh...
Clyde R. Taylor
Clyde R. Taylor NONE Clyde Russell Taylor was a vital figure in African American studies, known for his influential work in film and cultural criticism. He focused on the portrayal of Black people in...
Robyn C. Spencer
Robyn C. Spencer 0000000117365645 Robyn C. Spencer is a historian and Associate Professor at Lehman College, CUNY. She specializes in post-WWII social protest, urban and working-class radicalism, and...
Albert French
Albert French 0000000054146305 Albert French, a Vietnam war veteran and former US Marine, turned his distressing war experiences and emotional struggle into powerful memoirs and novels. His works inc...
Elizabeth Hinton
Elizabeth Hinton 0000000120381355 Elizabeth Hinton is an associate professor of history, African American studies, and law at Yale University. She authored 'From the War on Poverty to the War on Crim...
Richard Wesley
Richard Wesley 0000000078408226 Richard Wesley, born in 1945, is a celebrated playwright, screenwriter, and associate professor of Playwriting and Screenwriting. He graduated from Howard University i...
Ziggy Marley
Ziggy Marley 000000011476515X Ziggy Marley, five-time Grammy-winning musician, actor, and activist, was born in Jamaica to Bob and Rita Marley. He began his career in music at just 10 years old and l...
Calista Brill and Nilah Magruder
Calista Brill and Nilah Magruder MULTIPLE Calista Brill is a writer and editor based in New England, where she lives with her family and either too many or too few house spiders, depending on how yo...
William Jelani Cobb
William Jelani Cobb 0000000034332610 William Jelani Cobb, Ph.D., is an accomplished author, educator, and journalist specializing in post-Civil War African American history and 20th-century American ...
Alice Dunbar-Nelson
Alice Dunbar-Nelson 0000000081179540 Check out Love, Activism, and the Respectable Life of Alice Dunbar-Nelson Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935) was an acclaimed American journalist, political act...
Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges 0000000120255957 Chris Hedges was a foreign correspondent for nearly two decades for The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor and National Public...
Jean Toomer
Jean Toomer 0000000120198120 Jean Toomer (1894-1967), born as Nathan Pinchback Toomer, was a leading African American poet and novelist of the Harlem Renaissance and Modernism. Born to wealthy parent...
Bennett Parten
Bennett Parten NONE Bennett Parten is an assistant professor of history at Georgia Southern University whose area of expertise is the Civil War period. He is a native of Royston, Georgia, and complet...
Lynn Gaines
Lynn Gaines NONE Ohio-based artist, Lynn Gaines, works for American Greetings and enjoys creating children's book illustrations. She utilizes both traditional and digital mediums, drawing inspiration...
Cozbi A. Cabrera
Cozbi A. Cabrera NONE I wanted to express something that was really beautiful… —Cozbi A. Cabrera Cozbi A. Cabrera, a Brooklyn native, is a multidisciplinary creative best known for design...
Valerie Brown
Valerie Brown 0000000084824330 Valerie Brown is a Buddhist-Quaker Dharma teacher, executive coach, and co-director of Georgetown's Institute for Transformational Leadership. Formerly a lawyer and lob...
Anastacia-Reneé
Anastacia-Reneé NONE Anastacia-Reneé is an acclaimed writer, educator, artist, and speaker known for her cross-genre work. Author of several books, her works have been featured in numerous literary ...
Anna Woofenden
Anna Woofenden NONE Anna Woofenden is a founding pastor, author, and podcast co-host based in Massachusetts. She's a pivotal figure in the food and faith movement, passionate about spirituality, just...
Donna Drew Sawyer
Donna Drew Sawyer NONE Donna Drew Sawyer, author of Provenance, has a rich background in arts administration, advertising, and public relations. A New Yorker with over three decades of experience in ...
Barbara Fant
Barbara Fant 0000000114483152 Barbara Fant is an acclaimed poet who has been writing and performing for over fifteen years. She has competed in nine National Poetry Slam competitions and placed 8th ...
Jake Alexander and Melleny Taylor
Jake Alexander and Melleny Taylor MULTIPLE Jake Alexander, an award-winning illustrator from England, is known for his works inspired by pop culture and current events. Melleny Taylor, a former Art &...
Paule Marshall
Paule Marshall 0000000110812465 Watch a Powerful Tribute to Paule Marshall and John A. Williams Paule Marshall, born Valenza Pauline Burke, was a renowned author and educator. She was selected by Lang...
W. J. Lofton
W. J. Lofton NONE W. J. Lofton, a Chicago-born poet and multimodal artist, is the author of A Garden for Black Boys Between the Stages of Soil and Stardust. His work explores the intersections of ra...
Historical Research Department of the Nation of Islam
Historical Research Department of the Nation of Islam NONE This author explores the historical relationship between Black and Jewish communities, claiming that Black leaders advocating for economic a...
Larry Ward
Larry Ward NONE AALBC Mourns the passing of Larry Ward August 19, 2025 Dr. Larry Ward was the co-founder of The Lotus Institute and a beloved senior Dharma teacher in Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Plu...
Jessica Fong
Jessica Fong NONE Jessica Fong is a Latina and native Spanish speaker who is deeply rooted in the environmental education community of Chicago as well as nationally. Jessica’s teaching journey...
Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones 0000000121452274 Jennifer Jones is a Tony Award-winning dancer and activist known for her pioneering role as the first Black Rockette. Jennifer Jones is a Tony Award-winning dancer and...
Tom Knight
Tom Knight 0000000356443698 After an enjoyable stint as a graphic designer, Tom Knight is now proud to be using his imagination as a full-time career. Drawing on a long and abiding love of imagery f...
Brigid Washington
Brigid Washington NONE Brigid R. Washington is a Trinidadian food writer who has covered a variety of topics, including Caribbean food and culture as it intersects with life in the United States. ...
Janet Halfmann
Janet Halfmann NONE Janet Halfmann, author of over 30 children's books, many on natural science, enjoys gardening, nature exploration, travel, and films. She resides in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin wit...
Elizabeth Acevedo
Elizabeth Acevedo 0000000120164676 Elizabeth Acevedo, a New York Times bestselling author, is known for her award-winning debut novel, The Poet X. She is a daughter of Dominican immigrants, with degr...
Ashley Iman
Ashley Iman NONE Ashley Iman, a former teacher and lifelong learner, currently directs a teacher residency program in Washington, DC. In her free time, she enjoys exploring national parks and gardeni...
Bria Alston
Bria Alston NONE Bria Alston is a writer and children’s book editor living in New York City. She has written titles including Serena Williams: A Little Golden Book Biography, Tiana’s Garden Grows, a...
David Greenberg
David Greenberg 0000000071453622 David Greenberg is an author and professor of history and of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University and a frequent commentator on historical and political...
Terrence L. Johnson
Terrence L. Johnson NONE Terrence L. Johnson is the Charles G. Adams Professor of African American Religious Studies, Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS), Director of Religion and...
Nnedi Okorafor
Nnedi Okorafor 0000000037028083 Nnedi Okorafor, Ph.D., is a Nigerian-American novelist known for blending African culture into her creative works. The New York Times has praised her stunning imaginat...
Bunmi Emenanjo
Bunmi Emenanjo NONE Bunmi Emenanjo is an attorney and entrepreneur. Born in the United States and raised in Nigeria, her childhood and culture inspire her writing. Bunmi Emenanjo is an attorney and e...
John Lewis
John Lewis 0000000114586629 Born to sharecroppers, John Robert Lewis became a key figure in the US Civil Rights Movement. As chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and a speaker at...
Faye Thompson
Faye Thompson NONE Faye Thompson, a passionate author, discovered her love for writing at a young age. After a life diversion and a degree in psychology, an epiphany led her back to her true calling....
Zeba Blay
Zeba Blay NONE Zeba Blay is a film and culture critic with a career spanning nearly a decade. She has contributed to various publications like The New York Times and was a Senior Culture Writer at Hu...
Christopher Myers
Christopher Myers NONE Christopher Myers, son of renowned author Walter Dean Myers, is an award-winning illustrator with a deep appreciation for storytelling through images. Myers extends his family'...
Véronique Tadjo
Véronique Tadjo 0000000081825936 Véronique Tadjo, an Ivorian poet, novelist, academic, and artist, holds a doctorate in Black American Literature and Civilization. She served as the head of the Fren...
Michael Simanga
Michael Simanga NONE Michael Simanga holds a doctorate in African American Studies from the Union Institute and University, USA and teaches in the Department of African American Studies at Georgia St...
Karen Walrond
Karen Walrond NONE Karen Walrond is a lawyer, leadership coach, activist, and senior director for Brené Brown Education and Research Group. She's a Certified Dare To Lead™ Facilitator, photographe...
Vincent L. Johnson
Vincent L. Johnson NONE Vincent L. Johnson, MD, a pediatrician and author, uses his passion for storytelling to create books that inspire and entertain young readers. Drawing from his upbringing in C...
Kahran and Regis Bethencourt
Kahran and Regis Bethencourt MULTIPLE Kahran and Regis Bethencourt are Atlanta-based photographers specializing in child and family portraits. The couple captures unique beauty as Canon Explorers of ...
Geneva Bowers
Geneva Bowers NONE Geneva Bowers is a self-taught illustrator from North Carolina, known for children’s books like Beyoncé Shine Your Light and Curls. Her work, blending whimsy, realism and color, w...
Toni Ann Johnson
Toni Ann Johnson NONE Toni Ann Johnson is an award-winning author recognized for her linked story collection 'Light Skin Gone to Waste', which won the 2021 Flannery O'Connor Award and was nominated f...
William Craft and Ellen Craft
William Craft and Ellen Craft MULTIPLE William and Ellen Craft, escaped slaves from Georgia, became famous fugitives in the 1840s. Disguised as a white man and his servant, they reached the North and...
Alexandra Morton
Alexandra Morton 0000000078676423 Alexandra Morton, host of The Book Look and 2011 Miss Black America-Baltimore, offers a unique online book review show on NewsOne.com. Featuring the latest book news...
Stella Dadzie
Stella Dadzie 0000000081383699 Stella Dadzie was born in 1952 in London, United Kingdom, to a white English mother and a Ghanaian father, who was Ghana’s first trained pilot and served as a navigato...
Gigi Best
Gigi Best NONE Gigi Best, a prolific author, historian, and genealogist, is also the owner of Best Books & Rich Treasures. She possesses rich academic credentials and is a member of various historica...
Edward Roy
Edward Roy 0000000108894174 Edward Roy, born in 1945, grew up in Harlem, NY, mentored by influential figures including Malcolm X. He served in the US Army’s Medical Corps during the Cold War and Viet...
Aminatta Forna
Aminatta Forna 0000000123211415 Aminatta Forna, born in Glasgow and raised in Sierra Leone and the UK, is an acclaimed author with works including The Devil that Danced on the Water, Ancestor Stones,...
David J. Mason
David J. Mason NONE David J. Mason, digital publishing entrepreneur and founder of HMG ePublishing, is a seasoned executive with a deep interest in the history of his family and the Civil War. He's k...
Romal J. Tune
Romal J. Tune NONE Romal J. Tune, Senior Advisor to TMS Global's President and public relations consultant, is a renowned speaker and seminar facilitator. He specializes in guiding individuals and or...
Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith
Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith MULTIPLE Randy Roberts is distinguished professor of history at Purdue University. An award-winning author, he focuses on the intersection of popular and political cul...
Carl Gamble
Carl Gamble NONE “There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.” Carl Gamble, a former aviator, author and speaker, shares his inspiring journey from a...
Alaina E. Roberts
Alaina E. Roberts NONE Alaina E. Roberts, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh, specializing in Black and Native American history. She holds a Doctorate from In...
Ric Murphy
Ric Murphy NONE Ric Murphy, an award-winning author and historian from Boston, specializes in genealogical research and African American history. With a family lineage dating back to early colonial A...
Henry Norman
Henry Norman 000000011072158X Henry Norman (1843-1933), a renowned author from Pennsylvania, penned his timeless thoughts on race, religion, politics, and relationships. His notable works, Thoughts I...
Harlow Giles Unger
Harlow Giles Unger 0000000109206513 Harlow Giles Unger is a seasoned journalist, historian, and educator, with over 27 published books focusing on American education and Revolutionary War leaders. A ...
Byron Pitts
Byron Pitts 0000000039302138 Byron Pitts is a renowned American journalist and author with ABC News. A multiple Emmy award winner, Pitts has over 20 years of experience, covering significant events l...
Cheryl Wills
Cheryl Wills NONE Cheryl Wills is an acclaimed anchor for New York 1 News, author, and public speaker. Known for her coverage of significant events like 9/11, she's also authored “Die Free: A Heroic ...
Martina McGowan
Martina McGowan NONE Martina McGowan, MD, is a retired gynecologist, advocate against social injustices, and leader in community and workplace. She participated in school desegregation and served wom...
John Hope Franklin
John Hope Franklin 0000000114547638 John Hope Franklin (January 2, 1915 – March 25, 2009) was an educator and historian. Franklin lived through America’s most defining twentieth-century transf...
David W. Blight
David W. Blight 0000000109197565 David W. Blight, Sterling Professor of History at Yale, directs the Gilder Lehrman Center for Slavery Studies. An author/editor of 12 books, he's dedicated much of hi...
Glen Ford
Glen Ford 0000000368549254 Glen Ford (1949-2021) was the executive director of Black Agenda Report and co-founder of BlackCommentator.com. A Vietnam War veteran and Black Panther member, he had a pro...
Morrie Turner
Morrie Turner 0000000021272073 Morris “Morrie” Turner (1923-2014) was an American cartoonist known for creating Wee Pals, the first American syndicated comic strip featuring an integrated cast. Raise...
Matthew F. Delmont
Matthew F. Delmont 0000000356157878 Matthew F. Delmont is the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth College. An expert on African American history and the history of ...
Yusef Komunyakaa
Yusef Komunyakaa 000000011440862X Yusef Komunyakaa the first African American male to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry Yusef Komunyakaa, born on April 29, 1947, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet recog...
Tanita S. Davis
Tanita S. Davis NONE Tanita S. Davis, award-winning author of six novels for young readers, is known for “Serena Says,” “Peas and Carrots,” and the Coretta Scott King Honor book, “Mare’s War.” A chat...
Mary Helen Washington
Mary Helen Washington 0000000076894080 Mary Helen Washington is an English Professor at the University of Maryland. She's a former Bunting Fellow at Harvard and has taught at the University of Massac...
Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons 0000000121201766 David Chester Gibbons, born in 1949, is a renowned English comics artist and writer. He's famed for his collaborations with Alan Moore, particularly on Watchmen and a no...
Benjamin Quarles
Benjamin Quarles 0000000121004017 Benjamin A. Quarles (1904-1996) was a renowned historian and prolific writer, known for his extensive research on black soldiers and abolitionists in the American Re...
Chris Tomlinson
Chris Tomlinson NONE Chris Tomlinson, a seasoned reporter, has covered major global events from 50 countries and nine war zones. Based in Austin, he currently writes for The Houston Chronicle. Chris ...