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No Surrender
No Surrender Robert Fleming Book Review When news reached me about the death of renowned poetess, Ai, I knew that I must write something about her and her unwavering lyrical examination of the hu...
The Collected Poems of Nikki Giovanni
The Collected Poems of Nikki Giovanni Rondall Brasher Book Review The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni has been grafted to my hands for the last 3 weeks. This anthology is the chronological atlas...
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...
Come Joy!
Come Joy! Idrissa Uqdah Book Review From reading only the first four poems in this collection; I knew I was on to something wonderful. Come Joy, Songs From The Soft of Night by Bridgette Alyce Grea...
Baring My Soul
Baring My Soul Rondall Brasher Book Review I have just finished a collection of poems called Baring My Soul by Stacey Renee Tolbert aka "The Brown Suga Poet". It was my first introduction ...
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 ...
Heart and Soul: Poems of Thoughts & Emotions
Heart and Soul: Poems of Thoughts & Emotions V.S. Chochezi Book Review Masterful New Poetry Collection for Sipping or Gulping My observation has been that many wine drinkers tend to have a wide ar...
A2: A Scholarly Poetical Science Discourse
A2: A Scholarly Poetical Science Discourse Ahmad Wright Book Review Afrocentric themes find themselves cast through an academic lens of creativity, analysis, and cultural criticism in this revised, s...
Run Toward Fear
Run Toward Fear Rondall Brasher Book Review This book is actually done in two parts. The first is a collection of personal poems. The second part is forty pieces of advice for poets who wanted to k...
Ali
Ali Marvin X alimovie.jpg Film Review ""A notable and articulate advocacy of black conscientious objection came from the Nation of Islam. In 1942 Elijah Muhammad was arrested in Chicago an...
She’s Gotta Have It
She’s Gotta Have It Kam Williams shes_g9.jpg Film Review Spike Lee’s First Feature Film Finally Arrives on DVD She’s Gotta Have It (1986) Click to order via Amazon Directors: ...
Hair Power - Skin Revolution: A Collection of Poems and Personal Essays by Black and Mixed-Race Wome
Hair Power - Skin Revolution: A Collection of Poems and Personal Essays by Black and Mixed-Race Wome Kam Williams Book Review "I can honestly say I have a passion for language… I enjoy writi...
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...
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...
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...
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...
My Lovely Golden Rose: A Lifetime Of Poetic Reflections and Precious Memories
My Lovely Golden Rose: A Lifetime Of Poetic Reflections and Precious Memories Carol Taylor Book Review My Lovely Golden Rose is a poetry and poetic prose collection of Carrolyn Pichet’s pers...
Motion Sickness
Motion Sickness RAWSISTAZ Book Review Terry O’Neal shares her collection of poetry in her first book entitled Motion Sickness. It is a compilation of poems that range in topics including ...
William Kunstler
William Kunstler Kam Williams willia18.jpg Film Review Bio-Pic Chronicles the Life and Times of Late Civil Rights Lawyer William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe Unrated ...
Dona Julia
Dona Julia Rondall Brasher Book Review Do’a Julia and Other Selected Poems" by Alberto O. Cappas is written with tremendous amount of pride. It is a book that comes from the heart of a man...
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...
A Great Day in Harlem
A Great Day in Harlem Kam Williams a_grea34.jpg Film Review DVD Documentary on the Anatomy of Historic Jazz Photo A Great Day in Harlem Click to order via Amazon Plot Synopsis: Art Kane, now...
Do You Speak American?
Do You Speak American? Kam Williams Book Review "It is one of the paradoxes of American life that white America both is fascinated by black culture and disapproves of it, embracing it and bad-...
Hung
Hung Kam Williams Book Review ’The place: Providence, Rhode Island. The time, Spring 1986, my sophomore year in college’ I’m a little new to this, this meeting a strange girl ...
Jelly Roll: A Blues
Jelly Roll: A Blues Rondall Brasher Book Review Please allow me to set off the mood of this review by quoting one of my favorite Blues songs: I’ve been downhearted baby Ever since th...
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...
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 ...
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...
The “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” Interview
The “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” Interview Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/the-butler.jpg Film Review Two-Time Oscar-Nominee Talks about His Latest Offering Photo by Pascal Le Segretain – © 2...
The Birdcatcher
The Birdcatcher Robert Fleming Book Review What the iconic African-American writer James Baldwin once told the young writers about the traditional stature of the prominent writers who put pen to pape...
Men in Black 3
Men in Black 3 Kam Williams mib2-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Alien-Fighting Franchise Revived for Time-Travel Finale Men in Black III In Theaters: May 25, 2012 Wide Rated PG-13 for violence and su...
Killing Willis: From Different Strokes to the Mean Streets To the Life I Always Wanted
Killing Willis: From Different Strokes to the Mean Streets To the Life I Always Wanted Kam Williams Book Review "AlI I ever wanted as a kid was to be a famous TV star… My dream came true whe...
Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)
Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013) Kam Williams the-butler.jpg Film Review Forest Whitaker Delivers Oscar-Quality Performance in Emotionally-Searing Civil Rights Saga Lee Daniels’ The Butler...
My Sisters’ Voices
My Sisters’ Voices Linda Watkins Book Review "And special thanks go to all those individuals who follow me in stores, call me derogatory and offensive names, and keep me from doing and achieving...
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 ...
Read Until You Understand
Read Until You Understand Robert Fleming Book Review With a solid array of books to her credit, Farah Jasmine Griffin has possibly written one of the artistic highlights in the national book marketpl...
The Rebel’s Clinic
The Rebel’s Clinic Robert Fleming Book Review For decades now, the writings of noted psychiatrist and philosopher Frantz Fanon, who died in 1961, have been essential reading for anyone who wanted to ...
Our Kind of People
Our Kind of People Paige Turner Book Review A comedian joked that ethnic groups need an elite "Royal Family" to look up to. He mentioned that most WASPS identify with the British Royal fami...
Phenomenally Me
Phenomenally Me Chris Hayden Book Review In a dark room with a blue light In the basement, music just right Nothing going down but the Mellow sounds of Mr. DJ’s turntables Going round" Boyz...
Dead Presidents
Dead Presidents Ted Prigge images/dead.h42.jpg Film Review DEAD PRESIDENTS (1995) (out of a possible ) Directors: Allen and Albert Hughes Writer: Michael Henry Brown (based on a...
Long Live the Spirit of the Million Man March
Long Live the Spirit of the Million Man March Kam Williams images/longlivemmm.jpg Film Review Long Live the Spirit of the Million Man March Click to Order via Amazon Unrated Running ti...
Just Too Good to Be True
Just Too Good to Be True Thumper Book Review I never thought the moon would rise or the sun would set on the day that I would be writing a review on any E. Lynn Harris book. I use to be a fan of ...
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...
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...
Just Wanna Testify
Just Wanna Testify Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Vamping The Vamps… Just Wanna Testify by the mega-talented author, Pearl Cleage was met with mixed reviews when it was first released. Many of...
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...
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...
Syncope
Syncope Brianna-Christine Alicea Book Review As a third-grade poet teacher, an author, and as a leader for an English conversation group for immigrants, Wadud is involved with her community. She is a...
Second Line Home: New Orleans Poems
Second Line Home: New Orleans Poems Rudolph Lewis Book Review June 2005, almost a decade ago, was the time I last visited New Orleans. It was still almost the Big Easy I knew in the mid-1980s. Seve...
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 ...
Black Swan
Black Swan Rondall Brasher Book Review When Poetry Takes Wing Black Swan by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon was published in 2002. This lapse of time annoys me because I somehow missed this rare "lot...
How To Knock A Bravebird From Her Perch
How To Knock A Bravebird From Her Perch Carol Taylor Book Review Inspired by family and friends who have been victims of abuse, D. Bryant Simmons, an advocate of female empowerment and children&rsq...
Just As I Am By Cicely Tyson
Just As I Am By Cicely Tyson Robert Fleming Book Review When I was a teen sweeping sawdust at the butchery, where I worked after school hours, my uncle hipped me to jazz and Bird, Monk, Prez, and La...
A Memory of Fictions (or) Just Tiddy-Boom
A Memory of Fictions (or) Just Tiddy-Boom Robert Fleming Book Review So many books written by gay, Black men do not explore the inner emotional terrain of their character. That is why this vast, dram...
Jake the Fake Goes for Laughs
Jake the Fake Goes for Laughs Vanessa Vanzie Book Review In general, kids enjoy a little something funny and wacky in the books they read to keep them interested until the very end. There is no way 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...
More than Just Race
More than Just Race Kam Williams Book Review ’This book will likely generate controversy because I dare to take culture seriously as one of the explanatory variables in the st...
Bounce
Bounce Idrissa Uqdah Book Review It’s All About The Trust!Author K.M. Jackson has a real winner in Bounce, a combination contemporary women’s fiction/romance novel that is both ente...
People Buy Brands
People Buy Brands Kam Williams Book Review "Once I was like a lot of people who think that marketing is just a way of convincing people to buy a whole bunch of things they don’t need&hellip...
Ancient
Ancient Emanuel Carpenter Book Review Imagine fodder for an African-themed Twilight Zone movie or perhaps an idea for a late night movie on the Sci-Fi Channel on the Dark Continent. When reading ...
The Face That Changed It All
The Face That Changed It All Kam Williams Book Review “Beverly Johnson made history in 1974… [as] the first African-American woman… whose face appeared on the cover of the world...
Thank You, Omu!
Thank You, Omu! Neoma Nwasike Book Review How important is community to you? Is it at the epicenter of your heart, and do the people who make up your unique and wonderful community, allow you to thri...
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
A Day Late and a Dollar Short Paige Turner Book Review The publishing world and the legions of Terry McMillan fans can now officially exhale. McMillan’s long awaited "serious" nov...
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...
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 ...
More Like Wrestling: A Novel
More Like Wrestling: A Novel Thumper Book Review More Like Wrestling, the debut novel by Danyel Smith, is centered on the close relationship between two sisters. This was a vexing book…emo...
Burial Ground
Burial Ground Eryka Parker Book Review I recently spent time diving into the pages of Burial Ground, a collection of poetry by Glenda R. Taylor. The ethereal cover and enticing description sucked me ...
Sellout
Sellout Robert Fleming Book Review This debut novel, written by James Lewis, deals with the thorny issue of interracial dating from every side, rendered with narrative precision and emotional det...
Celebritize Yourself: The Three-Step Method to Increase Your Visibility and Explode Your Business
Celebritize Yourself: The Three-Step Method to Increase Your Visibility and Explode Your Business Kam Williams Book Review "To become a celebrity is no easy feat, but in today’s world, it is ...
What Mother Never Told Me
What Mother Never Told Me Idrissa Uqdah Book Review A Family's Secret Sins "Every Family has it's secrets…" says national best selling author, Donna Hill in her latest n...
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,...
Southside With You
Southside With You Kam Williams southside_with_you.jpg Film Review Inspirational Biopic Revisits Barack and Michelle’s Very First Date Southside With You In Theaters: August 26, 2016 Wide ...
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...
Just As I Am By Cicely Tyson
Just As I Am By Cicely Tyson Robert Fleming Book Review How many of us pray when we board an airplane? Not everyone. This author, James T. Hollin Jr., a former military pilot and experienced ai...
Long Train…
Long Train… Jacqueline Jones LaMon Book Review One of the magical qualities of reading is that we are transported from who we are and all that we know to be true into other realms. We are intr...
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...
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...
Women of a New Tribe
Women of a New Tribe Kam Williams Book Review African-American females have had a very difficult history: from slavery to racism to poverty. Although slavery has been abolished in this country, a...
This Side of Glory
This Side of Glory Thumper Book Review This Side Of Glory: The Autobiography of David Hilliard and the Story of the Black Panther Party by David Hilliard and Lewis Cole On my continuing quest in read...
Inner-City Interludes
Inner-City Interludes Jayne Cubbage Book Review Inner-City Interludes by Hoezee probably won’t go down in history as a literary classic. Perhaps as an ode to the ’hood’ and...
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...
Role Call
Role Call Rondall Brasher Book Review I encounter many literary anthologies that try to appease my appetite for new talent. But most of them fall short of their mark, and few of these collections ar...
Money: What Financial "Experts" Will Never Tell You
Money: What Financial "Experts" Will Never Tell You Shannon Simpson Book Review When I moved to Washington, D.C. in 2007, I was in for a rude awakening. I looked at my income compared to...
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...
Breaking the Code of Silence
Breaking the Code of Silence Kam Williams Book Review ’I felt even more secure with this man than I had ever felt in an previous relationship. Even though h...
The Other Wes Moore: One Name
The Other Wes Moore: One Name Kam Williams Book Review "This is the story of two boys living in Baltimore with similar histories and an identical name: Wes Moore. One of us is free and has experi...
Without the King
Without the King Kam Williams withou27.jpg Film Review The Misadventures of Mswati in Swaziland Without the King Director - Michael Skolnik Run Time - 84 Minutes Language - English and siSwati Fo...
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 Letter To My Father
A Letter To My Father Linda Watkins Book Review I had high expectations of debut autobiography, A Letter to My Father, by John W. Griffin, mainly because of my love for autobiographies and also due ...
Jelly Roll: A Blues
Jelly Roll: A Blues Rondall Brasher Book Review I preface this review by saying that I am an avid fan of the Blues. So, when someone comes along and captures the unmistakable feeling that comes w...
Blind Light
Blind Light Carol Taylor Book Review In 2001, visionary social justice advocate, Glenda R. Taylor was struck with a potentially devastating illness that took most of her sight. Instead of retreating ...
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...
Veracity and Verse
Veracity and Verse Denolyn Carroll Book Review “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. This vision is for...
The Meaning of Michelle
The Meaning of Michelle Kam Williams Book Review “Michelle Obama is unlike any other First Lady in American History. From her first moment on the public stage, she has challenged traditional Am...
I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to "The Blind Side" and Beyond
I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to "The Blind Side" and Beyond Kam Williams Book Review "I didn’t write this book just to revisit The Blind Side… I want to help sepa...
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&...
Never As Good As the First Time
Never As Good As the First Time Emanuel Carpenter Book Review What happens when a good, Christian housewife finds herself divorced and having to fend for herself and her children? Perhaps s...
Free Lunch
Free Lunch Kam Williams Book Review ’The evidence of a growing divide between the superrich and everyone else in America is so overwhelming that all but the few lightweight ideologues amo...
Is It Just Me? Or Is It Nuts Out There?
Is It Just Me? Or Is It Nuts Out There? Kam Williams Book Review "Thoughtlessness is the new manners, and I’ve got to say I don’t like it… Somehow, so many little pieces of court...
Duende
Duende Robert Fleming Book Review Poet Quincy Troupe’s literary magic has elevated him to the forefront of modern American writers. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he, the son of a catcher in the ...