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My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family’s Nazi Past
My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family’s Nazi Past Kam Williams Book Review “When Jennifer Teege, a German-Nigerian woman, happened to pluck a library book from...
As If Nothing Happened
As If Nothing Happened Tiffany M. Davis Book Review "And in the nine years she had known Joya, since freshman year, and in the eight years they had known Yvonne, the three had never become dist...
Winnie Mandela
Winnie Mandela Kam Williams nelsonandwinnie.jpg Film Review Jennifer Hudson Portrays Infamous Icon in Warts-and-All Biopic Winnie Mandela In Theaters: Sep 6, 2013 Limited On DVD: Dec 17,...
If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer
If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer Kam Williams Book Review "I’m going to tell you a story you’ve never heard before, because no one knows this story the way I know it. It t...
Blacktrospective 2006
Blacktrospective 2006 Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/akeela46sm.jpg Film Review Blacktrospective 2006 ’ Annual Look Back at the Best (and Worst) in Black Cinema by Kam Williams How d...
Snapshot
Snapshot Tony Lindsay Book Review In Snapshot, Camryn King demonstrates the power of a page turning thriller. Through King’s beautifully descriptive screens, narrative pace, believable dialog, ...
Through The Storm
Through The Storm Linda Watkins Book Review Coming of age is no easy feat. I think everyone still cringes at mistakes made as teenagers, which came from not listening to words of wisdom from mom and...
Shayla Sweet and Her Magical Pen
Shayla Sweet and Her Magical Pen Denolyn Carroll Book Review “…And a little child shall lead them…” (Isaiah 11:6 NKJV). While spending summer break at her grandmother Nani&...
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...
Verses: The Harmony, Discourse and Undivided Pursuit of Wholeness
Verses: The Harmony, Discourse and Undivided Pursuit of Wholeness Brianna-Christine Alicea Book Review Verses (The Harmony, Discourse, and Undivided Pursuit of Wholeness) by Jewel Caston-Mendoza chro...
Femme du Monde
Femme du Monde Tara Betts Book Review Spears Jones’ second collection Femme du Monde does not simply unfold the artful experiences of a woman who has traveled and soaked up the internatio...
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...
The Undefeated
The Undefeated Vanessa Vanzie Book Review ℐf you have been searching for a book that will fill a child with the greatest sense of self-worth just for being who they are, then look no further. Ta...
19 Years Old & 19 Men Later: A Memoir
19 Years Old & 19 Men Later: A Memoir Kam Williams Book Review “I wrote this book as a guide for young women so that they won’t make the same mistakes I’ve made… I really...
Adam by Adam
Adam by Adam Thumper Book Review ’Never let anyone keep you contained and never let anyone keep your voice silent.’ -Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. to a young Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. If I were...
Adam by Adam: The Autobiography of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
Adam by Adam: The Autobiography of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Thumper Book Review ’Never let anyone keep you contained and never let anyone keep your voice silent.’ -Adam Clayton Powell, ...
Powerhouse Radio: Rough Roads, Radiance, and Rebirth
Powerhouse Radio: Rough Roads, Radiance, and Rebirth Ahmad Wright Book Review It is not often that a living person’s résumé reads as a memoir, however, Powerhouse Radio: Rough Roa...
I Know Who Holds Tomorrow
I Know Who Holds Tomorrow Thumper Book Review I Know Who Holds Tomorrow is the first book that I’ve read written by Francis Ray. I hesitated to pick it up because it shares its title with an o...
True Love
True Love Kam Williams Book Review “This is a story of love. It started when love was lost and I felt as if my world had fallen apart. What followed was a transformative journey, through t...
The Odd Life of Timothy Green
The Odd Life of Timothy Green Kam Williams the-odd-life-of-timothy-green.jpg Film Review Childless Couple’s Prayers Answered in Enchanting Fairytale The Odd Life of Timothy Green In Thea...
Safe from the Neighbors by Steve Yarbrough
Safe from the Neighbors by Steve Yarbrough Thumper Book Review Reviewed by Thumper I came across Steve Yarbrough’s latest novel, Safe from the Neighbors, when I started my annual search on t...
In The Words Of Nelson Mandela
In The Words Of Nelson Mandela Robert Fleming Book Review One of the greatest assignments of my career as a newspaper reporter was covering South African leader, Nelson Mandela, who had just been r...
Crash
Crash Kam Williams crash.70.jpg Film Review Crash Director & Writer: Paul Haggis Studio: Lions Gate Films Cast: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fic...
Dreamgirls (2006)
Dreamgirls (2006) Kam Williams dreamg1.jpg Film Review Jennifer Hudson Steals the Show in Adaptation of Tony Award-Winning Musical Dreamgirls (2006) Rated PG-13 for sex, expletives, and dru...
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...
Who Does She Think She Is
Who Does She Think She Is Thumper Book Review Demons and condemned souls must be having snowball fights in Hell because I not only read another Benilde Little book; I actually liked it. I know, I kn...
From Dusk To Dawn
From Dusk To Dawn Idrissa Uqdah Book Review The opening chapter of From Dusk To Dawn by first-time novelist Niambi Brown Davis reads like your average romance novel, but this reviewer found ...
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...
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 ...
Split Indecision
Split Indecision Jayne Cubbage Book Review Before reading Split Indecision by Pierre Bateau, be sure to sit back and fasten your seatbelt because this book is going to take you on a wild ride. Bate...
Lost in Language & Sound: Or How I Found My Way to the Arts: Essays
Lost in Language & Sound: Or How I Found My Way to the Arts: Essays Alvin Romer Book Review Poetry and prose if presented and mixed well with a demonstrative esthetic can work wonders for anyone try...
Love Bones: A Collection of Poetry
Love Bones: A Collection of Poetry Robert Fleming Book Review Love seems to be the emotional fuel for all forms of popular expression. This book’s author, Ronald Oliphant, knows firsthand ...
Jungle Nights & Soda Fountain Rags
Jungle Nights & Soda Fountain Rags Kalamu ya Salaam Book Review Brian Gilmore is a cut above. His 30-part poem on Duke Ellington is deep and deft. Each section can stand alone, but taken as a whole ...
Everything I Know About Zombies
Everything I Know About Zombies Carol Taylor Book Review “When the apocalypse came, nine-year-old Letitia Johnson tried. She grabbed her little sister and her classmates and locked them ...
Forever
Forever RAWSISTAZ Book Review The title of McCann’s new book, Forever, made me wonder what really lasts forever, does life, love or even death? And why do we exert so much energy trying to make...
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...
Nappy Hair
Nappy Hair Troy Johnson Book Review One nap of her hair is the only perfect circle in nature. —from Nappy Hair I recently purchased Nappy Hair and have read it to my daughters. I must say c...
The Wounds Are the Witness
The Wounds Are the Witness Denolyn Carroll Book Review The Wounds Are the Witness speaks to the often disregarded or denied cycles of pain and trauma among marginalized and disenfranchised people, wh...
The Other Woman
The Other Woman Thumper Book Review If you have been following my reviews and/or discussion board over the years, you probably know I’m a huge fan of Eric Jerome Dickey. I’ve read and lo...
The Icarus Girl
The Icarus Girl Paige Turner Book Review Jessamy Harrison is an eight year-old, Afro-British girl, who writes haiku, reads Shakespeare, and just skipped a grade in school. Jess’ parents...
Marriage 101
Marriage 101 Kam Williams Book Review ’Most of us have heard what the acronym BIBLE stands for: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. The Bible gives us everything we need ...
Q: The Autobio of Quincy Jones
Q: The Autobio of Quincy Jones Paige Turner Book Review The new book, Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones reads almost like a fable or a fairy tale. The young Quincy Jones, with his twinkly eyes, wa...
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...
Wimbey’s Corner
Wimbey’s Corner Emanuel Carpenter Book Review At first glance, one might think that Wimbey’s Corner is a story about a big and black country bumpkin’ named Wayne Hunter who moves from a...
The Queen of Harlem
The Queen of Harlem Brian Egeston Book Review He has managed to fool us all! Because his previous work gave the impression that his was the authentic voice of the next generation of Black male southe...
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...
The Cabin in the Woods
The Cabin in the Woods Kam Williams cabininthewoods.jpg Film Review College Kids Hunted at Haunted House in Harrowing Horror Flick The Cabin in the Woods [2012] In Theaters: Apr 13, 2012 Wide Rated...
The Grace of Silence: A Memoir
The Grace of Silence: A Memoir Kam Williams Book Review "As a young man, my father had been shot by a white policeman, but never spoke about the incident after leaving Alabama and moving north. H...
When All Hell Breaks Loose
When All Hell Breaks Loose Thumper Book Review less than a minor disturbance. If you can grasp these things along with a few others, then you have the essence of the trouble that our hero Gregory ...
Palmares
Palmares Robert Fleming Book Review No less than the esteemed late novelist Toni Morrison, the chief editorial gatekeeper of Random House, was stunned by the narrative power of Gayl Jones’ firs...
Sap Rising
Sap Rising Thumper Book Review There’s music in the trees. Whether the trees are standing still under the blue cloudless sky, or in its embarrassed nakedness under gray heavens with biting wint...
All You Need to Know about the Music Business
All You Need to Know about the Music Business Kam Williams Book Review ’In the music business, the key to success lies in knowing how to protect yourself. To do that, you need...
Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea
Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea Linda Watkins Book Review Everyone knows that poetry is opinionated, subjective and sometimes downright confusing. I was delighted to find that the problem of comprehensi...
In Another Place, Not Here
In Another Place, Not Here Akilah Monifa Book Review Lest we forget that all African-American woman do not live in the United States of America, along comes Dionne Brand, a Trinidadian born now Can...
Blend In or Fade Out: A Memoir
Blend In or Fade Out: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review The main theme of identity takes center stage in Colnese M. Herndon’s emotional riveting memoir, Blend In Or Fade Out, as the writer in...
The Color Purple
The Color Purple Angeli R. Rasbury Book Review Alice Walker once told an interviewer, "The black woman is one of America’s greatest heroes… . She has been oppressed beyond recogni...
I Always Knew: A Memoir
I Always Knew: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review This country rarely acknowledges the celebrated triple threats of the arts in our community. Consider Barbara Chase-Riboud, the noted African-Americ...
Finding Heaven in the Dark
Finding Heaven in the Dark Carol Taylor Book Review Part memoir, part self-help, part-spiritual realization, Finding Heaven In The Dark is William Ingram’s moving account of his journey to spir...
Consumed…
Consumed… Jacqueline Jones LaMon Book Review AALBC.com review by Jacqueline Jones LaMon I firmly believe that there are no coincidences in this life, that we are presented with that which is f...
Ostinato Vamps: Poems
Ostinato Vamps: Poems Rondall Brasher Book Review For those who are not familiar with Wanda Coleman, she is the award-winning author of Bathwater Wine and Mercurochrome. She also gained c...
Surviving and Thriving: 365 Facts in Black Economic History
Surviving and Thriving: 365 Facts in Black Economic History Kam Williams Book Review “In her poem, ‘And Still I Rise,’ Dr. Maya Angelou wrote, ‘You can write me down in h...
Forever An Ex
Forever An Ex Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Where Does The Love Go? Only the women in Forever An Ex know for sure. The sequel to Murray’s wildly popular The Ex Files centers on the specifics of b...
A Feast of Peonies
A Feast of Peonies Thumper Book Review Within the first four pages of A Feast of Peonies, the 165-page debut novel by Obi; I was both intrigued, and mesmerized. This electrifying novel centers on a...
Resurrecting Midnight by Eric Jerome Dickey
Resurrecting Midnight by Eric Jerome Dickey Thumper Book Review Man, I must have been knocked out for a long ass time. I had to take a leave of absence for three years because I had to go bac...
Kinyarwanda
Kinyarwanda Kam Williams images/kinyarwanda_movie_poster.jpg Film Review Rwandan Tragedy Revisited in "Crash"-Like Ensemble Drama Read an interview with the film maker Alrick Brown Kinyarwanda ...
Distant Lover
Distant Lover Thumper Book Review "Ooooo, she makes me SICK!! She does this to me every time!" I heard this from my good friend Steve right after I said hello when I answered the phone. A...
The Unsettled
The Unsettled Donna Hill Book Review Similar in the bold and empathetic style of her debut novel, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, author Ayana Mathis’s newest tome, The Unsettled, weaves an intric...
Animated Objects
Animated Objects Patricia Mckinney Book Review I was very impressed with Animated Objects by Linda Addison. It was written by a person who truly loves and enjoys the horror and fantasy ...
Poetic Perceptions
Poetic Perceptions Robert Fleming Book Review Some African-American critics yearn for a return to the fire and passion of the revolutionary fervor of the 1960s Black Arts Movement, but there are ...
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...
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 ...
Bright Eyes
Bright Eyes Troy Johnson Book Review Here, Cheryl Willis Hudson co-author of: Bright Eyes, Brown Skin, helps young children see the beauty of their physical characteristics. Bright eyes, brown sk...
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...
Likeness of Being
Likeness of Being Jamie Walker Book Review In Likeness of Being: A Poetic Look at Friends and Strangers, poet Nathan M. Richardson offers readers an invitation to his soulful, Southern roots. Full ...
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...
The Prime Anniversary
The Prime Anniversary Brianna-Christine Alicea Book Review Jay Wright is an acclaimed poet, essayist, and playwright. Wright is the author of several collections of poetry, which include but are not ...
I Am New Orleans
I Am New Orleans Robert Fleming Book Review American poet, author, filmmaker, and teacher Kalamu ya Salaam, a leading citizen of New Orleans’s 9th Ward, has always been a booster for the Cresce...
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...
My America: Langston Hughes on Democracy
My America: Langston Hughes on Democracy Ahmad Wright Book Review My America: Langston Hughes on Democracy by Randal Maurice Jelks is self-described as “a commentary on select Langston essays, poems,...
Review of A Raisin in the Sun DVD (2008)
Review of A Raisin in the Sun DVD (2008) Kam Williams a_rais29.jpg Film Review Diddy Stars in Adaptation of Classic Play Available on DVD A Raisin in the Sun Click to order vi...
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...
Black and Ugly
Black and Ugly Thumper Book Review Shocked?! You should be. I know I am. Before any of you say anything, I admit that I am somewhat surprised to be reading T. Styles latest novel, Black and U...
Getting Up and Getting On
Getting Up and Getting On Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Time Can Help Heal Wounds Second time novelist MBridges is back with another Betty Jean title; Getting Up and Getting On. Th...
Fourplay: The Dance of Sensuality
Fourplay: The Dance of Sensuality Thumper Book Review Fourplay…the Dance of Sensuality, the latest novel by Brenda L. Thomas, is the continuing story of Sasha Boranni from Thomas’s firs...
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...
I Hate Muscular Dystrophy: Loving a Child with a Life-Altering Disease
I Hate Muscular Dystrophy: Loving a Child with a Life-Altering Disease Kam Williams Book Review "This is a personal story of a family’s ability to love and support each other through the...
I’m African and Proud
I’m African and Proud Kam Williams Book Review ’I’ve taught in New Jersey schools for 32 years, 21 as a kindergarten teacher. I’ve seen so many children of African descent who ha...
Life AFTER the Down Low
Life AFTER the Down Low Carol Taylor Book Review Life After the Down Low is Ingrid M. Ellis’ honest and harrowing account of her life after finding out that her husband, Bobby, the man she thou...
Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been
Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been Amanda Robinson Book Review In the midst of arguably a time of the greatest push for the advocacy of LGBT acceptance, Jackie Hi...
Violet of a Deeper Blue
Violet of a Deeper Blue Thumper Book Review Violet Of A Deeper Blue is the story of Brandon Northcross, a young black MBA graduate from Dartmouth who previously lived in New Hampshire. Brandon had re...
The Lace Wig Bible: How to Style
The Lace Wig Bible: How to Style Kam Williams Book Review “You cannot be a top hair stylist today without working with some types of wigs or hair extensions… I have been blessed to hav...
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...
If You Can See It
If You Can See It Kam Williams Book Review “People want to know how a youngster from poverty, who failed his way through public school, got caught up in the 80’s crack epidemic, got i...
Black Woman Redefined: Dispelling Myths and Discovering Fulfillment in the Age of Michelle Obama
Black Woman Redefined: Dispelling Myths and Discovering Fulfillment in the Age of Michelle Obama Kam Williams Book Review "Dear Mrs. Obama, Do you have any idea what you mean to us? By us, I mean ...
Diary of a Lost Girl (2)
Diary of a Lost Girl (2) Chris Stevenson Book Review “There are more pyramids in the Sudan than there are in Egypt, that’s a statistical fact… and today there are still 2-3 milli...
John McCain’s Racism and Why It Matters
John McCain’s Racism and Why It Matters Kam Williams Book Review ’’I hate the gooks,’ said John McCain in the year 2000. ’I will hate them as long as I live.&rsquo...
Freedom’s Daughters
Freedom’s Daughters Paige Turner Book Review “Women hold up half the sky” is one of Chinese revolutionary Mao Tse Dung’s most often quoted statements. However readers of Freedom&rsq...
Free and Other Stories
Free and Other Stories Thumper Book Review My Dear Ms. Anika Nailah, I know, normally, that book reviews are not generally written in letterform, from the reviewer to the author. Since I have been kn...
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 ...
Jesus and the Abolitionists
Jesus and the Abolitionists Shaundale Rénā Book Review At first glance, I was drawn to Jesus and the Abolitionists: How Anarchist Christianity Empowers the People because of its eye-catching cover. I...