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I Called Him Morgan
I Called Him Morgan Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/authors/images/i-called-him-morgan.jpg Film Review Reverential Retrospective Revisits Abbreviated Life of Legendary Jazz Great Excellent (4 star...
Delightfulee
Delightfulee Robert Fleming Book Review One of Jazz’s trumpet kings, Dizzy Gillespie, a founder of bop, considered Lee Morgan one of the major post-bop trumpet stylists, along with Fr...
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...
Gangsta Lean
Gangsta Lean Linda Watkins Book Review Too Clean! Debut novel, Gangsta Lean, penned by Rochan Morgan is one of the few chronologically tight stories written by a new author this year. It is so ti...
Olympus Has Fallen
Olympus Has Fallen Kam Williams olympus-has-fallen-angela-bassett-Morgan-Freeman.jpg Film Review Olympus Has Fallen (2013) Click to order DVD from Amazon In Theaters: Mar 22, 2013 Wide ...
Cop Out
Cop Out Kam Williams images/img28.jpg Film Review Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis Co-Star in Mismatched Cops Comedy Cop Out Rated R for pervasive profanity, sexual references, violence and br...
Invictus
Invictus Kam Williams images/invictusdvd.jpg Film Review DVD Features Morgan Freeman in Oscar-Nominated Performance as Nelson Mandela Invictus Click to buy via Amazon.com Actors...
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...
Fifth Born
Fifth Born Thumper Book Review My copy of Fifth Born, the debut novel by Zelda Lockhart, came by way of this year’s Book Expo America convention (BEA). I met Ms. Lockhart and her son at The B...
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: My Life as a Hip-Hop Feminist
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: My Life as a Hip-Hop Feminist Lynne d. Johnson Book Review Hip-hop has intrinsically woven itself into the fabric of Americana. The culture, music, icons, and p...
Daughters of Men
Daughters of Men Kam Williams Book Review ’Good black fathers are far more plentiful than either the media or warped social science would have us believe’ The moral beau...
Promises to Keep
Promises to Keep Thumper Book Review Your beloved son is murdered and your family slowly begins falling apart. How do you hold it all together, your family, yourself and find the murderer of your s...
The Artist
The Artist Kam Williams theartist_movieposter.jpg Film Review Fading Star Falls for Emerging Ingenue in B&W Homage to Silent Era The Artist Rated PG-13 for a crude gesture and a disturb...
Dancing the Afrofuture: Hula, Hip-Hop, and the Dunham Legacy
Dancing the Afrofuture: Hula, Hip-Hop, and the Dunham Legacy Karen Brown Book Review I had just recently attended the 2024 International Conference and Festival of Blacks in Dance in Memphis, Tenness...
Corridors of Genius
Corridors of Genius Robert Fleming Book Review So many conflicting words have been written about the King of Pop, Michael Joseph Jackson, (1958-2009). Glenda R. Taylor’s Corridors of Genius tak...
New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve Kam Williams images/newyearseve_movieposter.jpg Film Review New Yorkers Search for Love in Serendipitous Romantic Comedy New Year’s Eve [2011] Rated PG-13 for profanity and...
Behind those Books (press release)
Behind those Books (press release) Troy Johnson images/behindthosebooks.jpg Film Review Behind Those Books: A Thought Provoking Documentary Tackling Societal Ills Through Literature Behind Th...
Secrets and Lies
Secrets and Lies Idrissa Uqdah Book Review For Better or For Worse Rhonda McKnight's debut novel, Secrets and Lies is about a married couple who despite their comfortable financial situation a...
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...
Goony Goo-Goo and Ga-Ga Too!
Goony Goo-Goo and Ga-Ga Too! Kelly Starling Lyons Book Review Drawing inspiration from her own children, author Kia Morgan Smith has written a fun picture book about the trials and triumphs of ...
Andrew Billingsley Scholar and Institution Builder: Essays and Tributes
Andrew Billingsley Scholar and Institution Builder: Essays and Tributes Robert Fleming Book Review What makes a scholar great? The easy answer is the prolonged effort of an individual to provide a la...
Legend of the Orange Scepter
Legend of the Orange Scepter Robert Fleming Book Review It’s very difficult to write a Young Adult fiction. Also, the difficulty only increases when you add elements of science fiction and fant...
Twenty Feet from Stardom
Twenty Feet from Stardom Kam Williams 20-feet-from-stardom.jpg Film Review Backup Singers Belatedly Get Their Props in Pop Music Documentary Twenty Feet from Stardom In Theaters: Jun 14, 2013 Limited...
Amistad
Amistad Michael Dequina images/amista36.jpg Film Review Amistad Rated R for some scenes of strong brutal violence and some related nudity. Starring: Morgan Freeman …...
Black Coffee
Black Coffee Kam Williams black-coffee-2014-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Fired and Dumped Dude Finds Soul Mate on Rebound in Faith-Based Romantic Romp Black Coffee In Theaters: Jan 10, 2014 Limited...
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 ...
Fast & Furious 6
Fast & Furious 6 Kam Williams fast-and-furious-still.jpg Film Review Farfetched Sequel Features Comedy and Cartoon Physics Fast & Furious 6 In Theaters: May 24, 2013 Wide PG-13 for sexuali...
Iron Lady
Iron Lady Kam Williams theironlady_movieposter.jpg Film Review Streep Delivers Oscar-Quality Performance Impersonating Brit PM The Iron Lady Rated PG-13 for violent images and brief nudity. R...
Every Man a King
Every Man a King Robert Fleming Book Review For those who love the creators of the hard-boiled private dicks from the 1930s such as Dashiell Hammett, James Cain, and Raymond Chandler, Walter Mosley&r...
Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights
Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights Kam Williams Book Review “Whiteness… derives power from its status as an unmarked category… [It] nev...
The Gods of the Bacteria: The World Before Darwin
The Gods of the Bacteria: The World Before Darwin Robert Fleming Book Review Dr. Billy Earley, a veteran practitioner and graduate from the Charles Drew School of Medicine and Science, brings his e...
Family Affair
Family Affair Kam Williams Book Review ’Who am I? It’s a fundamental question for everyone, of course, but for African-Americans, it has particular resonance. Since our...
Elizabeth’s Song
Elizabeth’s Song Linda Watkins Book Review I am aware that surprises come in many forms, and in many ways. And I was glad when I discovered Elizabeth’s Song, by author, Michael Wenberg, and il...
Grace After Midnight: A Memoir
Grace After Midnight: A Memoir Troy Johnson Book Review This Review Appears in the Fall 2007 Issue of Harlem World Magazine Felicia “Snoop” Pearson, of...
The Audacity of Hope
The Audacity of Hope Kam Williams Book Review ’There’s a school of thought that sees the Founding Fathers only as hypocrites and the Constitution only as a betrayal of the grand ideal...
Kickin’ It Old School
Kickin’ It Old School Kam Williams kickin6.jpg Film Review Patient Emerges from 20-Year Coma to Breakdance Again in Bad Taste Comedy Kickin’ It Old School Rated PG-13 for profanity, ethn...
Toe to Toe
Toe to Toe Kam Williams images/img4B.jpg Film Review Coeds Lock Horns and Lacrosse Sticks in Cross-Cultural Drama Toe to Toe (2010) Unrated Running time: 104 Minutes Distr...
Fear of a Black Republican
Fear of a Black Republican Kam Williams fearofablackrepublican.jpg Film Review Fear of a Black Republican Unrated Running time: 111 Minutes Studio: Shamrock Stine Productions DV...
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 2 Kam Williams images/ironman2.jpg Film Review Downey Delights with Charm and Derring-Do in Swashbucking Sequel Iron Man 2 Rated PG-13 for profanity and intense sci-fi violence. I...
Beyond Glory
Beyond Glory Thumper Book Review Warning! I’ve been cleaning up my library again-meaning I’m about to review an old book. I have two walls full of bookshelves, whose...
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 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...
The Disilgold Way
The Disilgold Way Kam Williams Book Review "After starting a business proposal that took over 10 years, as long as it took to finally self publish my first book, I knew that I needed to ...
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...
Brown Boys Rule
Brown Boys Rule Clarence V. Reynolds Book Review While listening to a recent meditation session on the app Happier—one of my favorites—I was reminded of the importance of embracing wo...
Butter: Novellas, Stories, and Fragments
Butter: Novellas, Stories, and Fragments Robert Fleming Book Review Recently, I received a letter from lit legend Gayl Jones, saying that she wasn’t writing anymore. Discovered by iconic editor...
Alex Haley and the Books that Changed a Nation
Alex Haley and the Books that Changed a Nation Adam Henig Book Review In Alex Haley and the Books that Changed a Nation, Robert J. Norrell, professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxvi...
Strongholds
Strongholds Idrissa Uqdah Book Review The second book in the Blessed Trinity trilogy by best selling Christian fiction author, Vanessa Davis Griggs is a story full of the challenges that c...
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...
The Felix Women Series
The Felix Women Series Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Acceptance Not Required: Felix Women IV Click to order via Amazon Print Length: 58 pages (October 10, 2014) This author, Angelia Vernon M...
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...
You Made Me Love You
You Made Me Love You Robert Fleming Book Review Like Ishmael Reed, Clarence Major, and other legendary African-American male writers of their generation, John Edgar Wideman, at eighty, is nearing the...
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...
The Middle Sister
The Middle Sister Thumper Book Review I’m still finding my footing. Being away from reading books for three years, obtaining another degree, has dulled my reading senses. Now that the...
Tales of a Jailhouse Librarian: Challenging the Juvenile Justice System One Book at a Time
Tales of a Jailhouse Librarian: Challenging the Juvenile Justice System One Book at a Time Carol Taylor Book Review After almost thirty years as a high school teacher Marybeth Zeman quits her teach...
Oreo
Oreo Thumper Book Review I’m thinking, pondering, you might say, that possibly the sign of a good book isn’t the fact that it is in print. Maybe, the sign of a good book should be wheth...
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...
Cinder
Cinder Thumper Book Review Cinder, the latest novel by Albert French, is a sequel to French’s 1993 debut novel, Billy. Although it had been a long time since I read Billy, the novel...
Never Been a Time
Never Been a Time Thumper Book Review I am continuing my own personal goal of reading more history and biography books. If my memory serves me correctly, I think it had something to d...
Jazz Country
Jazz Country Walter Benefield Book Review Studying the writings of writer-intellectual Ralph Ellison, author of the critically acclaimed novel, Invisible Man promises to be rewarding. Horace Porter ...
Miss Chloe: A Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison
Miss Chloe: A Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison Robert Fleming Book Review There is so much commercial tripe out there on our bookshelves, but this book is very worthy: Miss Chloe: A Memoir Of A...
Toni Morrison’s Spiritual Vision: Faith, Folktales, and Feminism in Her Life and Literature
Toni Morrison’s Spiritual Vision: Faith, Folktales, and Feminism in Her Life and Literature Robert Fleming Book Review When literary icon Toni Morrison died in August, 2019, world literature lost a r...
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted Rondall Brasher Book Review Before I begin this review I would like to "kick", not "thank" Thumper for handing me a stack of books, and putting a...
The Black Candle
The Black Candle Kam Williams the_bl1.jpg Film Review DVD Explains Roots of Kwanzaa Celebration The Black Candle: A Kwanzaa Celebration Click to order via Amazon Unrated ...
Butterfly Rising
Butterfly Rising Troy Johnson images/tanya_wright.jpg Film Review A Letter from Tanya Wright Tanya Wright author/writer/director, BUTTERFLY RISING My name is Tanya Wright. I am an actress...
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...
Raceball: How The Major Leagues Colonized The Black and Latin Game
Raceball: How The Major Leagues Colonized The Black and Latin Game Robert Fleming Book Review As a life-long baseball fan, I�m always on the look-out for meaningful books on the sport with its pa...
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 "...
Powder Necklace
Powder Necklace Thumper Book Review I was trying not to like Powder Necklace, the debut novel by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond. I had had my fill of the black girl coming-of-age story. A few years ago, ...
Martin Luther King Bullavoid: Imploding Communities
Martin Luther King Bullavoid: Imploding Communities Carol Taylor Book Review “Amid mounting threats to his life, Martin Luther King chose to step onto the second floor balcony of the Lorrai...
Brown’s Possession
Brown’s Possession Idrissa Uqdah Book Review To say that the books in acVernon Menchan’s trilogy; Black’s Trilogy are about a complicated love story is like saying water is wet. C...
Gotta Keep On Tryin'
Gotta Keep On Tryin' Idrissa Uqdah Book Review In the sequel to the novel, Tryin’ To Sleep In The Bed You Made, life-long friends Gayle Saunders and Patricia (Pat) Reid are together ...
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...
America The Black Point of View
America The Black Point of View Kam Williams Book Review “I come from a place that is so invisible that you can hardly see me. Yet, I am despised, hated and feared more than anyone or anythin...
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...
Creating Black Americans
Creating Black Americans Kam Williams Book Review ’Over the course of more than two centuries, black American artists have represented their history- scrupulously, meaningfully, and brilliantl...
Learning about the Africans That Came to the Americas!
Learning about the Africans That Came to the Americas! Kam Williams Book Review "When I looked at my small son and wondered what types of information would be important for him to learn that I...
Tavis Smiley Books
Tavis Smiley Books Lynne d. Johnson Book Review Tavis Smiley, syndicated radio and BET talk-show host, is committed to making the world a better place. This is his mission. His first book, Doing What...
Conversations With Octavia Butler
Conversations With Octavia Butler Robert Fleming Book Review As the sole major black female author of science fiction throughout her career, Octavia Butler reshaped the fictional world of fantasy ...
Mama Dearest
Mama Dearest Thumper Book Review As many of you know, Mama Dearest is the last book written by E. Lynn Harris. I was a fan of Harris’s during the Invisible Life days and a few books ...
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...
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...
Holly
Holly Thumper Book Review French is brilliant. French’s follow up to the equally magnificent Billy. One of the few books that I have to disagree with it’s publishers’ summary of t...
Reconsidering The Souls of Black Folk
Reconsidering The Souls of Black Folk Thumper Book Review To commemorate the 100th anniversary of The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois — of one of the most significant books ever publis...
Seventh Child
Seventh Child Thumper Book Review Seventh Child: A Family Memoir of Malcolm X is a memoir told by his nephew, Rodnell P. Collins and his mother, Ella Little Collins. Seventh Child is a nice, factual,...
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, ...
Three Days Before The Shooting…
Three Days Before The Shooting… Robert Fleming Book Review When legendary African American writer Ralph Ellison died in 1994, everyone who loves good books mourned at his passing and wondered i...
Getting To The Good Part
Getting To The Good Part Thumper Book Review Hello. It only took me a few hours to read this bad boy. I guess I can qualify it as one of those books that can make you lose sleep. So, if some words ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
The Roots of Rap
The Roots of Rap Neoma Nwasike Book Review Hip-Hop is a culture that has spanned generations and has become worldwide. It found its humble beginnings in some of the roughest trenches, deep in the Bro...
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...
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...
Sulwe
Sulwe Shafika Burke Book Review Do our young black girls have enough willpower to face whatever life throws at them? Do they look at themselves and see beauty, or the lack of? Have we successfully co...
Black Brother, Black Brother
Black Brother, Black Brother Shafika Burke Book Review Invisibility is all Donte wishes for after moving from New York to Massachusetts. The move places him in a war against people blinded by racism ...
Genesis Begins Again
Genesis Begins Again Shafika Burke Book Review Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams is a powerful, poignant, and ultimately empowering middle-grade novel that highlights issues sure to interest...
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...
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...