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A Death In Texas
A Death In Texas Thumper Book Review Upon hearing of the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. in his hometown of Jasper, Texas, it occurred to me that "A new way of performing the act of lynching h...
Eight Minutes of Heaven
Eight Minutes of Heaven Robert Fleming Book Review Travis English, author of Knights of Paris, returns with his second work of fiction, Eight Minutes of Heaven, a story about Derek Treadwell, w...
Secrets, Lies & Family Ties
Secrets, Lies & Family Ties Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Author Sylvia Hubbard has written a wonderful sensual tale of intrigue and family drama in her latest release, Secrets, Lies & Family Tie...
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...
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 "...
American Violet
American Violet Kam Williams americ2.jpg Film Review Dramatization Revisits Infamous Case of Racial Profiling and Malicious Prosecution in Texas American Violet Rat...
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 ...
Vanishing Pearls: The Oysterman of Pointe a la Hache
Vanishing Pearls: The Oysterman of Pointe a la Hache Kam Williams array.jpg Film Review Vanishing Pearls: The Oysterman of Pointe a la Hache In Theaters: April 18, 2014 (limited) on Netflix Writte...
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...
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...
The Northern Stories of Charles Chesnutt
The Northern Stories of Charles Chesnutt Paige Turner Book Review Today’s image-obsessed pop stars pride themselves on continually unveiling new identities. But truth be told, they are l...
Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original
Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original Robert Fleming Book Review Highly detailed, stunning, and comprehensive, Robin Kelley’s excellent biography of innovative jazz pian...
It’s A Thin Line
It’s A Thin Line Thumper Book Review It’s A Thin Line may be the title to Kimberla Lawson Roby’s latest novel, but it also describes the condition of my last nerve that this book jumped ...
Unchon-ni: South Korea, I Remember 1962-63
Unchon-ni: South Korea, I Remember 1962-63 Robert Fleming Book Review Codis Hampton III’s stirring account of his time in the military in South Korea was the first book produced by this veteran...
Blacktop Wasteland
Blacktop Wasteland W. Paul Coates Book Review Black Top Wastland a Conversation With S A Cosby and Paul CoatesAug 30, 2020 06:00 p.m. Eastern Time Register S. A. Cosby has written a winning book ...
Blacktop Wasteland
Blacktop Wasteland W. Paul Coates Book Review Black Top Wastland a Conversation With S A Cosby and Paul CoatesAug 30, 2020 06:00 p.m. Eastern Time Register S. A. Cosby has written a winning book ...
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...
Raising the Bar
Raising the Bar Kam Williams Book Review “Gabrielle Douglas is the first African-American and first woman of color from any nation to win an Olympic gold medal in the individual gymnastics ...
How We Fight for Our Lives
How We Fight for Our Lives Brianna-Christine Alicea Book Review As a recipient of the Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from Cave Canem and Queer/Art/Mentorship, Saeed Jones is a poet and the author of...
Flesh: The Disappearance of Portia Barrington
Flesh: The Disappearance of Portia Barrington Robert Fleming Book Review As the author of over a dozen novels including the bestselling Little Girl Lost series, Keith Lee Johnson has created his ...
Fantasia Life Is Not a Fairy Tale
Fantasia Life Is Not a Fairy Tale Kam Williams Book Review "Faith is a legacy for many women in my family, as are the legacies of teen pregnancy, being single mothers, emotional and physical ...
Once Upon a Lie
Once Upon a Lie Carol Taylor Book Review Once Upon a Lie is timely and timeless story of an unlikely friendship, doomed love, and tragedy, that asks the questions: Can we escape our circumstances and...
Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Sower Tony Lindsay Book Review Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler’s sci-fi novel gives the reader an intimate look into the mind of a young philosopher. Lauren Oya Olamina is a...
The Naked Truth
The Naked Truth Kam Williams Book Review ’I was born Marvelyn Brown, a little black girl in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 7, 1984, but I wouldn’t understand the signi...
The Equalizer
The Equalizer Kam Williams the-equalizer.jpg Film Review The Equalizer In Theaters: Sep 26, 2014 Wide Rated R for graphic violence, sexual references and pervasive profanity Running time: 131 minu...
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...
A Flag for Juneteenth
A Flag for Juneteenth Mel Hopkins Book Review Choose Freedom In A Flag for Juneteenth, Kim Taylor weaves a tale of freedom and how to achieve it even when your world is in tatters. And while this...
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...
Marley
Marley Kam Williams marely2012_movie_poster.jpg Film Review Revealing Biopic Chronicles Personal Life and Musical Career of Revered Reggae Icon Marley [2012] Order via Amazon.com In Theaters: A...
Never Back Down
Never Back Down Kam Williams never_24.jpg Film Review New Karate Kid in Town Learns to ’Never Back Down’ Never Back Down Rated PG-13 for mature themes, intense violence, pro...
Very Young Girls
Very Young Girls Kam Williams very_y1.jpg Film Review NYC Documentary Shows It’s Hard Out There for a Ho, Too Very Young Girls Unrated Running time: 83 minutes Studio: Swinging T...
We the Party
We the Party Kam Williams wetheparty.jpg Film Review The African-American answer to American Pie! We the Party [2012] In Theaters: Apr 6, 2012 Limited Comedy Directed By: Mario V...
The Empire in Africa
The Empire in Africa Kam Williams the_em41.jpg Film Review Disturbing Documentary Graphically Chronicles Sierra Leone’s Civil War The Empire in Africa Unrated In French, English and l...
Hairspray
Hairspray Kam Williams hairsp27.jpg Film Review Hairspray Click to order via Amazon Rated PG for teen smoking, mild epithets andsuggestive content. Running time: 107 minutes Studio: New Li...
The PACMAN Plan
The PACMAN Plan Tiffany M. Davis Book Review The PACMAN plan is an ambitious debut by Sam A. Kempt. Set in the smoldering background of Austin, Texas, this book takes an eye-opening look at race, ...
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...
Second Chance: The Martha Marie Preston Story
Second Chance: The Martha Marie Preston Story Kam Williams Book Review "I had finally run out of options… There I was. Locked in a tiny jail cell, staring into space and wondering how my lif...
The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock 'n’ Roll
The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock 'n’ Roll Robert Fleming Book Review It’s a shame that nothing substantial has been written about that sacred Black entertainment network of the ...
Bourbon Street
Bourbon Street Thumper Book Review It has been a long while since I read a book as complex and gorgeous as Bourbon Street written by Leonce Gaiter. A novel which explores the spectrum of inner na...
Marvel’s Black Panther
Marvel’s Black Panther Brenda M. Greene Book Review The 2016 San Diego Comic-Con was a memorable moment for independent researcher and writer Todd Steven Burroughs. Burroughs begins Marvel’s Bl...
Ain’t But a Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story
Ain’t But a Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story Robert Fleming Book Review Jazz is dead! If you believe that mess, you must not listen to radio or read any of the mainstream media. Howeve...
Front Row Seat: A Photographic Portrait of the Presidency of George W. Bush
Front Row Seat: A Photographic Portrait of the Presidency of George W. Bush Kam Williams Book Review “I was privileged to work with Eric Draper during my entire Presidency. I got to know him ...
Life Is a Game
Life Is a Game Kam Williams Book Review ’The choices we make determine our destiny and whether success or disaster is achieved. We either elevate to greatness or descend to obs...
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...
When It All Falls Down
When It All Falls Down Ahmad Wright Book Review Remember when Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem in 2016? When HBO’s Insecure, created and produced by Issa Rae in 2016, was must-...
Harlem Honey
Harlem Honey Lisa Y? Wilson Book Review In Harlem Honey: The Adventures of a Curious Kid, the story begins as Moses and his parents have recently moved to Harlem, away from the comfort and familiarit...
My Bully, My Aunt, and Her Final Gift
My Bully, My Aunt, and Her Final Gift Shaundale Rénā Book Review In My Bully, My Aunt, & Her Final Gift, writer Harold Phifer openly shares childhood experiences with both boldness and wit. The s...
A Fool Indeed
A Fool Indeed Clarence V. Reynolds Book Review To say that Charles Fuller has a lot going on is putting it mildly. The one-time ladies’ man is newly married to a woman whom he has dedicated him...
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...
Paul Mooney: It’s The End of the World
Paul Mooney: It’s The End of the World Kam Williams images/paul_mooney.jpg Film Review Paul Mooney Concert Flick Shot at Strip Club Paul Mooney: It’s The End of the World Very Good (3 star...
Thunder Soul
Thunder Soul Kam Williams images/thundersoul.jpg Film Review Reverential Bio-Pic Pays Tribute to Legendary H.S. Bandleader Thunder Soul Rated PG for smoking and mild epithets Running time: ...
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration Connie Bradley Book Review I finally finished the 620-page The Warmth of Other Suns by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Isabel W...
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...
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...
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...
Mississippi Damned
Mississippi Damned Kam Williams mississippi-damned.jpg Film Review Mississippi Damned In Theaters: January 16, 2009 (limited) on Netflix Written and Directed by: Tina Mabry Rating: UnratedGe...
Precious
Precious Kam Williams precio2.jpg Film Review Lee Daniels’ Long-Anticipated Sundance-Winner Lives up to the Buzz Precious Click to order DVD via Amazon Rated R fo...
Punta Soul
Punta Soul Kam Williams punta_28.jpg Film Review PARANDA MEDIA 80 Vaughn Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10801 Contact: Margery Laing 914-393-3037 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Februa...
Born into Brothels
Born into Brothels Kam Williams born_i24.jpg Film Review Academy Award-Winning Documentary Showing at Human Rights Watch Festival Born into Brothels Click to order vi...
Dear White People
Dear White People Kam Williams dear-wite-people-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Dear White People In Theaters: Oct 17, 2014 Limited On DVD: Feb 3, 2015 Rated R for profanity, ethnic and sexual prefe...
Blacktrospective 2009 - Kam’s Annual Assessment of the Best (and Worst) in Black Cinema
Blacktrospective 2009 - Kam’s Annual Assessment of the Best (and Worst) in Black Cinema Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/precious_movieposter.jpg Film Review Kam's Annual Assessment of the Best ...
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 ...
Color Me Butterfly
Color Me Butterfly Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Domestic Abuse: A Generational Curse?This book spans a 60 year period in the lives of a family of strong African American women who survived domestic a...
In-Dependence from Bondage
In-Dependence from Bondage Kam Williams Book Review ’Claude McKay (1890-1948) and Michael N. Manley (1924-1997) shared a common commitment to the struggle of African Diaspora people for libe...
Priscilla: Engaging in the Game of Politics
Priscilla: Engaging in the Game of Politics Robert Fleming Book Review In this novel, Priscilla: Engaging in the Game of Politics, Dr. M. J. Simms-Maddox weaves the fabric of her life with the narrat...
Go Tell it on the Mountain
Go Tell it on the Mountain Angeli R. Rasbury Book Review Originally Published in Sacred Fire Go Tell It on the Mountain is considered to be James Baldwin’s greatest novel. Like muc...
Daughters of the Dust: The Making of an African American Woman&rquo;s Film
Daughters of the Dust: The Making of an African American Woman&rquo;s Film Akilah Monifa Book Review This historical novel is actually a sequel to the movie of the same title. The book although stee...
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...
What in the Hell Happened? An Intimate Look at Love and Relationship with Raw Honesty
What in the Hell Happened? An Intimate Look at Love and Relationship with Raw Honesty Kam Williams Book Review “There is an illusion of marriage created by Hollywood… that only exists in...
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...
Peony’s Daughters
Peony’s Daughters Idrissa Uqdah Book Review A Mother With Crosses To Bear Although not categorized as Christian Fiction, Peony’s Daughters by Leceila Turnage is a very spiritual read w...
A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home
A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home Kam Williams Book Review “Black families and neighborhoods have been disproportionately victimized by bankers’ p...
Go Cook Something: A Cooking Survival Guide for Active Independent Children
Go Cook Something: A Cooking Survival Guide for Active Independent Children Kam Williams Book Review "My Mom and Dad separated when I was still in Underoos, so I’ve had to help Mom a lot&hell...
Blues From Down Deep
Blues From Down Deep Thumper Book Review Reviewed by Thumper Blues From Down Deep is the second novel I have read by Gwynne Forster, the first being Once In A Lifetime which I enjoyed. I was not pl...
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...
Black Folk Could Fly
Black Folk Could Fly Robert Fleming Book Review Some of our literary greats fly under the radar. The unexpected death of the late great author Randall Kenan in 2020 at age 57 brought him well-deserve...
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...
A Dream Deferred
A Dream Deferred Robert Fleming Book Review With the recent death of Jesse Jackson, America has lost one of the most progressive political activists ever to stand on the national stage. CNN anchor Ab...
Raisins in Milk
Raisins in Milk Brenda M. Greene Book Review Raisins in Milk by David Covin is a coming of age story focused on a young girl, Ruth-Ann Weathering, who is subjected to the staunch racism and stark rea...
Samson
Samson Idrissa Uqdah Book Review A Man's Strength Is Determined By His Faith Christian author Jacquelin Thomas has crafted a new novel with a contemporary twist on the love story of the Bibl...
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...
God and Race in American Politics
God and Race in American Politics Kam Williams Book Review "Together, race and religion make up, not only the nation’s deepest and most enduring moral problem, but also its broadest and mos...
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...
The Next Big Story
The Next Big Story Kam Williams Book Review "I began life as the child of a mixed-race marriage growing up in a white suburb, treated sometimes as a creature of bad circumstance… Bad things h...
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&...
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 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...
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...
Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane’s Musical Journey
Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane’s Musical Journey Kam Williams Book Review “Music and religion were the twin forces that shaped John Coltrane’s early years. Both of his grandfathers were Me...
Loving
Loving Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/images/loving.jpg Film Review Excellent (4 of 4 stars) Rated PG-13 for mature themes and ethnic slurs Running time: 123 minutes Studio: Big...
Looking for Lincoln
Looking for Lincoln Kam Williams lookin7.jpg Film Review Checkered Legacy of Lincoln Revisited by PBS Series Looking for Lincoln Click to order via ...
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...
Take Me to the River
Take Me to the River Kam Williams take-me-to-the-river-300.jpg Film Review Take Me to the River (2014) In Theaters: Sep 12, 2014 Limited Rated: PG Running Time: 95 Minutes Musical & Performi...
Blackout
Blackout Kam Williams jeffre35.jpg Film Review Straight-to-DVD Drama Revisits the Great Blackout of 2003 Blackout (2007) DVD Click to order via Amazon Audienc...
Blood Done Sign My Name
Blood Done Sign My Name Kam Williams images/img1D.jpg Film Review Riveting Historical Drama Revisits Infamous Civil Rights Case Blood Done Sign My Name Rated PG-13 for profanity, mature th...
Changing the Game
Changing the Game Kam Williams changing-the-game.jpg Film Review Ambitious Ghetto Orphan Tested in All Ways in Sobering Coming-of-Age Changing the Game [2012] In Theaters: May 11, 2012 Limited Dram...
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games Kam Williams hungergames_movieposter.jpg Film Review Teens Forced to Compete in Fight to the Death in Futuristic Sci-Fi The Hunger Games [2012] In Theaters: Mar 23, 2012 Wide PG...
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...
Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African-American Identity
Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African-American Identity Kam Williams Book Review "In this book, I will not detail every pathological condition that ever existed in African-American...
Moses and the Monster and Miss Anne
Moses and the Monster and Miss Anne Thumper Book Review I admit that the things that form my initial impressions of a book are somewhat shallow. I love a good book cover, whether it is pictures or ...