AALBC Search
Sacred Woman: A Guide to Healing the Feminine Body, Mind, and Spirit
Sacred Woman: A Guide to Healing the Feminine Body, Mind, and Spirit Queen Afua Excerpt CHAPTER 1 KHAMITIC NUBIAN PHILOSOPHY THEY SAY OUR WAY IS DEAD. THEY SAY OUR WAY IS NO MORE. THAT THE NI...
Alain Locke: An Introduction
Alain Locke: An Introduction Charles Molesworth Excerpt ALAIN LOCKE: AN INTRODUCTION(Part 1) Alain Locke established his intellectual brilliance by a lifetime of study ...
An Approach to Style: The 21 Reminders
An Approach to Style: The 21 Reminders William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White Excerpt In the final chapter of The Elements of Style, E. B. White provides a list of guidelines to help writers develop a di...
Black Man’s Version to Exhale
Black Man’s Version to Exhale Akie F. Davis Excerpt Introduction We know all too well of the frustrating encounters that many Black women have had when dealing with Black men. However, little h...
Table of Contents <em>Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice</em>
Table of Contents Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice Patrice Lawrence Excerpt Chapter 1 Al I’m hungry. Really hungry. I want to fill the biggest bowl with cornflakes and ...
Sometimes I Cry
Sometimes I Cry Linda Dominique Grosvenor Excerpt I have never been more anxious in my entire life than I am right now. I’m sitting at my desk with an hour or more to kill and a list of things...
The Water Dancer
The Water Dancer Ta-Nehisi Coates Excerpt And I could only have seen her there on the stone bridge, a dancer wreathed in ghostly blue, because that was the way they would have taken her back when I w...
Chapters 1 and 2
Chapters 1 and 2 Harlow Giles Unger Excerpt Chapters 1 and 2 Chapter 1College Is Not for Everyone So your kid says he or she wants to go to college. “All my friends are going!&rdq...
Brothers, Lust, and Love: Thoughts on Manhood, Sex, and Romance
Brothers, Lust, and Love: Thoughts on Manhood, Sex, and Romance William July II Excerpt SBF Seeking Mr. Right. Must be 6’3", 215, have a mustache, degree in law or medicine from Ivy Leagu...
Preface
Preface Kekla Magoon Excerpt Preface: When people talk about the Black Panthers, sometimes they speak in hushed tones, as if history itself could overhear. As if the Panthers are a secret no one s...
Unbossed: How Black Girls Are Leading the Way
Unbossed: How Black Girls Are Leading the Way Helon Habila and Kadija Sesay Excerpt Chapter 1 When she was just five years old, Ssanyu Lukoma fell in love with a book called Rosa, an inspiring chi...
The End of Race Politics
The End of Race Politics Coleman Hughes Excerpt Chapter 1Race, Anti-racism, and Neoracism For most of my life, I saw my mother as neither black nor white. Her Puerto Rican father was darker-skinned ...
Morning Drive to Midnight
Morning Drive to Midnight Renee Prewitt Killingsworth Excerpt After working together awhile, Adrienne and Selena developed a bond that transcended simple friendship. Adrienne used to say they clicke...
Let the Oppressed Go Free: Exploring Theologies of Liberation
Let the Oppressed Go Free: Exploring Theologies of Liberation Marvin Andrew McMickle Excerpt The Invisible Black Woman It seems that African American men who worked tirelessly to reverse the st...
A Voice from the South
A Voice from the South Excerpt In the clash and clatter of our American Conflict, it has been said that the South remains silent. Like the Sphinx, she inspires vociferous disputation, but hersel...
Drone Child Chapters 1 and 2
Drone Child Chapters 1 and 2 David H. Rothman Excerpt CHAPTER ONE: THE DEATHS OF PAPA AND MAMA BOULE-BOULE People called me “The Fix-It Boy.” I repaired broken radios and TVs around ou...
Drone Child Chapters 1 and 2
Drone Child Chapters 1 and 2 David H. Rothman Excerpt CHAPTER ONE: THE DEATHS OF PAPA AND MAMA BOULE-BOULE People called me “The Fix-It Boy.” I repaired broken radios and TVs around ou...
The Colored Garden
The Colored Garden O.H. Bennett Excerpt From Chapter One: Meeting the Gardener In the middle of Kentucky farmland where a cornfield of withered brown stalks meets the grass of a cow pasture there ...
The Future Has a Past
The Future Has a Past J. California Cooper Excerpt A Shooting Star Now, you don’t know me. And, I know that you know that nobody knows everything. But a person does have to go by whatever ...
Faith in the Valley: Lessons for Women on the Journey to Peace
Faith in the Valley: Lessons for Women on the Journey to Peace Iyanla Vanzant Excerpt Chapter 1 The Valley of Light Teaches us the lesson of stillness, through the imposition of a state of so...
Satin Doll: A Novel
Satin Doll: A Novel Karen E. Quinones Miller Excerpt Bang! The sound was loud, but not quite jarring enough to register instant recognition in her reefer-dulled brain. It could have been a fire...
Zora Neale Hurston: A Life In Letters by Carla Kaplan
Zora Neale Hurston: A Life In Letters by Carla Kaplan Zora Neale Hurston Excerpt Chapter 1 “DE TALKIN’ GAME” The Twenties (and Before) First and foremost a storyteller, with ...
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION Khristi Lauren Adams Excerpt INTRODUCTION The turn of the millennium has seen an upsurge in new and young African writers and this has been particularly noticeable in terms of the num...
A Letter for My Mother
A Letter for My Mother Nina Foxx Excerpt Nina Foxx’s Letter: A Letter to My Once Mother-in-Law Charlenne, The doctors say that it won’t be long now. Your son just called and told m...
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother James McBride Excerpt CHAPTER ONE Dead I’m dead. You want to talk about my family and here I been dead to them for fifty y...
The Other Side of the Game
The Other Side of the Game Anita Doreen Diggs Excerpt CHAPTER 5 EVELYN Phil is taking me to B.B. King’s blues club in Manhattan so I’m trying to find the right pair ...
Introduction: The Isley Brothers’ 3+3
Introduction: The Isley Brothers’ 3+3 Darrell M. McNeill Excerpt Introduction The Isley Brothers Are America’s Most Tenured Rock and Roll Group: Deal with it. All you are ever told in this ...
Adultery
Adultery Paulo Coelho Excerpt Every morning, when I open my eyes to the so-Âcalled “new day,” I feel like closing them again, staying in bed, and not getting up. But I can’t do t...
Will by Will Smith
Will by Will Smith Robert Fleming Excerpt one FEAR I’ve always thought of myself as a coward. Most of my memories of my childhood involve me being afraid in some way-afraid of other kids,...
She
She Saul Williams Excerpt From She i presented my feminine side with flowers she cut the stems and placed them gently down my throat and these tu lips might soon eclips...
In My Family’s Shadow: Sister of Sports Phenomenon Michael Jordan
In My Family’s Shadow: Sister of Sports Phenomenon Michael Jordan Deloris E. Jordan Excerpt Ending eight years after it first began and five years after losing my virginity to my father, it scares me...
The New Negro: Voices Of The Harlem Renaissance
The New Negro: Voices Of The Harlem Renaissance Jose Andres and Matt Goulding Excerpt “Harlem” by Alain Locke If we were to offer a symbol of what Harlem has come to mean in the short s...
A leap of Faith
A leap of Faith Anita L. Helm Excerpt PREFACE For some time now, I have wanted to write a story about my life—I’m still living, so this is my capture of my first half. I hope the stories...
Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned
Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned Walter Mosley Excerpt CHAPTER ONE CRIMSON SHADOW {1.} "What you doin' there, boy?" It was six a.m. Socrates Fortlow had come out to the al...
Dana Dances on Paper
Dana Dances on Paper Darcel Turner Excerpt 10 JAM "Dana," Uncle Jerry commanded, "I don’t know where your mother is, but you betta get upst...
All I Want For Christmas
All I Want For Christmas Joyce A. Brown, Princess F.L. Gooden, Terri Ann Johnson, Sonia Johnston, Patricia Woodside, Cryssy Dee, Candy Jackson, and others Excerpt An excerpt from Terri Ann Johnson&rs...
Show Me No Mercy
Show Me No Mercy Anita L. Roseboro Excerpt Casey ran from the bedroom and rushed out the door without anything more than a comforter wrapped around her body to ward off the freezing temperatures. She...
Not All Dogs
Not All Dogs C. Kelly Robinson Excerpt Prologue Chapter One: Choirboy Chapter Two: Smooth Operator Chapter Three: Sinister Minister Chapter Four: Bootstrapper Prologue (top) Sheryl Gibs...
Dick Gregory’s Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat: Cookin’ with Mother Nature
Dick Gregory’s Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat: Cookin’ with Mother Nature Dick Gregory Excerpt 1Warning: The Author Has Determined That Not Reading the Following Pages Is Dangerous to Your Health ...
Dippin My Spoon
Dippin My Spoon Nina Foxx Excerpt BACK IN AUSTIN, Amber was sure of one thing; she didn’t want anything from Tyler. He could have everything, except her car. She knew she didn’t want ...
Where to Choose: A Novel
Where to Choose: A Novel Penny Mickelbury Excerpt Chapter Four Late-morning sun shone directly down on the purple and lilac and pink and white bougainvillea; shone easily through the tops of to...
Wonderful Ethiopians Of The Ancient Cushite Empire, Book 1
Wonderful Ethiopians Of The Ancient Cushite Empire, Book 1 Drusilla Dunjee Houston Excerpt The minds of men today are stirred with eager questionings about the origin of civilization and about ...
Prince and Me: His #1 Fan: My Minneapolis Memories
Prince and Me: His #1 Fan: My Minneapolis Memories Andrea Foy Excerpt NEW YEAR’S EVE, PART 1 I spent New Year’s Eve 1992 in Minneapolis with friends I met from the Controversy Fan Clu...
Of One Blood
Of One Blood Pauline Hopkins Excerpt Chapter One The recitations were over for the day. It was the first week in November and it had rained about every day the entire week; now freezing temperatur...
Operation Sisterhood
Operation Sisterhood Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich Excerpt 1 So it really was a dark and stormy night, and it figured, thought Bo. Of course it was a dark and stormy night. Of course it was. Ok...
Unsung Heroes
Unsung Heroes Elizabeth Ross Haynes Excerpt In casting about for stories to read to a little friend, one day I drew from the Library "My Life and Times" by Frederick Douglass. I knew that t...
Two “Til Midnight
Two “Til Midnight Bernard L. Dillard Excerpt Lead-In: Faculty members and staff at a university are having a diversity meeting and are discussing issues that concern becoming a more diverse camp...
Wolf Hustle
Wolf Hustle Cin Fabré Excerpt Introduction The hustle has always been with me. Once I discovered the stock market I became infected with the delirious joy that comes from a successful speculative ...
On The Shoulders Of Giants: My Journey Through The Harlem Renaissance
On The Shoulders Of Giants: My Journey Through The Harlem Renaissance Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Excerpt "Some Technicolor Bazaar" How Harlem Became the Center of the Universe Harlem!&helli...
Topaz
Topaz Beverly Jenkins Excerpt Chicago May 1884 Under the cover of the darkness, Katherine Love stood with her back pressed closely against the outside wall of the warehouse, hoping she couldn&r...
Blue Blood (Ivy League Mysteries)
Blue Blood (Ivy League Mysteries) Pamela Thomas-Graham Excerpt Chapter One: We’re Not in Cambridge Anymore Georgian. Gothic. Houses. Colleges. The Yard. Old Campus. Widener. Sterli...
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass Excerpt PREFACE In the month of August 1841, I attended an anti-slavery convention in Nantucket, at which it was my happiness to beco...
Chaser: A Novel
Chaser: A Novel Miasha Excerpt Kenny, Stop, Pleeeease! Kennnnyyy!” I cried for my life. It wasn’t even about the baby anymore because I was sure it was dead. There was no ...
Embracing the Horror
Embracing the Horror Darline Dorce-Coupet Excerpt San Juan although very beautiful was a blur, as I contemplated the mysteries of the powerful desire I was experiencing. So completely absorbed by m...
The Messenger Reader
The Messenger Reader Sondra Kathryn Wilson Excerpt In this short story, Fenton Johnson introduces the reader to Elizabeth (Eliza) Jan, an African-American servant. Liza, a Southerner, finds herself w...
A PERFECT WORLD: (A Perry Richards Novel)
A PERFECT WORLD: (A Perry Richards Novel) Bernard Alexander McNealy Excerpt From Chapter 2: On Shaky Ground I moved to the porch baluster…leaning closer to her. ’You aren’t ruling...
Peace From Broken Pieces: How To Get Through What You’re Going Through
Peace From Broken Pieces: How To Get Through What You’re Going Through Iyanla Vanzant Excerpt It is often difficult to identify the exact moment that your life falls apart. In most cases, it is not a...
Journey To Justice
Journey To Justice Johnnie Cochran Excerpt WHY I WANTED TO BE A LAWYER I have often been asked why I wanted to be a lawyer. One of the most important things that happened to me during ...
The Secret Lives of the Four Wives
The Secret Lives of the Four Wives Lola Shoneyin Excerpt Chapter One – Polygamist I didn’t just happen upon this room; I dreamed of the pale green walls before I arrived. Now the built...
The First
The First Kipjo K. Ewers Excerpt CHAPTER 1 Monday 11:30 PM, Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas, prisoner 28301:014 stared at her prison door as if she was watching a movie. She barely touched h...
Running to Fall — Chapters 1 & 2
Running to Fall — Chapters 1 & 2 Kalisha Buckhanon Excerpt ONE MARCH 2021 Right around time things started reopening, the late March thaw brought a lifeless girl up to the tail end of the Grays...
Running to Fall — Chapters 1 & 2
Running to Fall — Chapters 1 & 2 Kalisha Buckhanon Excerpt ONE MARCH 2021 Right around time things started reopening, the late March thaw brought a lifeless girl up to the tail end of the Grays...
Cane
Cane Jean Toomer Excerpt Introduction to Cane As it appeared in the Perennial Classic edition copyright 1969 by Arna Bontemps LOOKING back on the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s,...
Greed: A Seven Deadly Sins Novel
Greed: A Seven Deadly Sins Novel Victoria Christopher Murray Excerpt Chapter 1 “Just got paid…it’s Friday night.” I tapped the button on my steering wheel, silencing the bo...
Polo Cowboy Chapter 1
Polo Cowboy Chapter 1 G. Neri Excerpt Preface: Mama is fuming. “Say that again.” I swallow and take a deep breath. “I ain’t goin’ back to Detroit.” Five m...
IN STATES TO THE SOUTHWEST
IN STATES TO THE SOUTHWEST Carter G. Woodson Excerpt CHAPTER VI IN STATES TO THE SOUTHWEST Elsewhere the natives on or near the West Coast had not developed such political organizations as those wh...
Not My Will
Not My Will Khara Campbell Excerpt Prologue “Virtue, your man dogged you and you gonna let him get away with that mess? If I was you, I would be busting some holes in his tires and smashing ou...
Holding Pattern
Holding Pattern Jeffery Renard Allen Excerpt Black flutter, Mamma flashed about the room, workbound, her shiny knee-length black leather boots working against the wood floor like po...
Harmattan Rain
Harmattan Rain Ayesha Harruna Attah Excerpt Ernest sat in the driver’s seat of the Pontiac tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. Lizzie packed Akua Afriyie, Naa Tsoo, Kwame and Ernest ...
Love Don’t Come Easy
Love Don’t Come Easy J.T. Smith Excerpt After finishing my job with Lance, I hurried back home and washed up. Looking at the alarm clock on my nightstand, I saw that it was a little after three. I hu...
A Life of Turmoil: The short stories of Ana Franken 08150017
A Life of Turmoil: The short stories of Ana Franken 08150017 Johanna Sparrow Excerpt Yes, Mother The turmoiled relationship of Ana Franken a Short Story “Sometimes I wish that I had all boys...
The Truth About Men: The Secret Side Of The Opposite Sex
The Truth About Men: The Secret Side Of The Opposite Sex Ian Smith Excerpt THE FIRST PRINCIPLETHE SUBTLE ART OF HOOKING US There’s a big misperception that men never want to be in commit...
Mama Rocks the Empty Cradle
Mama Rocks the Empty Cradle Nora Deloach Excerpt Carrie Smalls shrugged. "I reckon you think ’cause your job throw you to be with her that you know her better than anybody else. My questi...
The Husband We Share
The Husband We Share London St. Charles Excerpt Chapter One Lauren Carter screamed and bolted upright in her bed, snatched from the reoccurring nightmare that had plagued her for years. She touched ...
Obscure Boundaries
Obscure Boundaries S.F. Powell Excerpt …“You know he’ll be out by the time she gets home.” Todd dropped his head for a minute then looked up. “Wanna watch Medea&rsquo...
My Soul to Keep
My Soul to Keep Tananarive Due Excerpt Even now, alone, Dawit knew he was being watched. One of the Searchers had found him, perhaps months before. He’d noticed a cigarette butt half bur...
Jelani’s Key Chapter II
Jelani’s Key Chapter II D. Amari Jackson Excerpt Chapter II The Bully of Benning Road
Everything Fades Away
Everything Fades Away Zane Excerpt An Excerpt (expletives redacted) Lust is the benefit of self at the expense of others. Love is the benefit of others at the expense of self. The first lick...
Standing Tall
Standing Tall Jake Sloan Excerpt 1 The Culture: Southern Influence at a West Coast Installation, 1930—1961 The year 1961 was the one that a future president of the United States, Barack Husse...
The Quest of the Silver Fleece
The Quest of the Silver Fleece W.E.B. Du Bois Excerpt The entire novel is available at Project Gutenberg OneDREAMS Night fell. The red waters of the swamp grew sinister and sullen. The tall pines...
Chapter One
Chapter One Catherine Joy White Excerpt Silence This thread of gold that ties me to my mother, my grandmother, and the women who came before looks a lot like the color purple. Like the purple hibi...
Introduction and Chapter 9 – B. C. Franklin
Introduction and Chapter 9 – B. C. Franklin Carlos Moreno Excerpt Introduction and Chapter 9 – B. C. Franklin “Time is an enormous, long river, and I’m standing in it, just as yo...
Obsessive Intimacies
Obsessive Intimacies Yani Excerpt This nigga must’ve either lost his fucking mind or he thinks I’m still the same dumb and naïve Tierra from high-school and college. I know muthafucking ...
The Angry Ones
The Angry Ones John A. Williams Excerpt You remember a lot of things about a trip across America. You remember the sandstone rocks reared above red and brown plains, the twisted, fiercely shaped arro...
The Immortality Of Influence
The Immortality Of Influence Salome Thomas-El Excerpt Foreword by Will Smith If you finish this book and are not inspired to immediately go out and effect change in your community, then you w...
Waiting in Vain
Waiting in Vain Colin Channer Excerpt On the day he met Sylvia, Fire woke up in Blanche’s arms with a numbness in his soul. It was his ninetieth day of celibacy, and the night before had almo...
A Thug’s Redemption 3: The Wrath of Andre
A Thug’s Redemption 3: The Wrath of Andre Yani Excerpt Tiffany disconnected the phone and paced the living room. Jamal had a second phone with only one number in it that went to a man who seemed to ...
Cowards and Angels
Cowards and Angels Aileen Muhammad Excerpt Mia (From Cowards and Angels) Death before dishonor. An embrace like no other. A fair exchange. An honored declaration that life’s sagging hypocr...
Wake Up Happy: The Dream Big, Win Big Guide to Transforming Your Life
Wake Up Happy: The Dream Big, Win Big Guide to Transforming Your Life Michael Strahan and Veronica Chambers Excerpt WHAT I LEARNED FROM HERSCHEL WALKER Rule #1 Help can—and will—c...
You Only Get Better: Celebrating Life Every Step of the Way
You Only Get Better: Celebrating Life Every Step of the Way Connie Briscoe, Lolita Files, and Anita Bunkley Excerpt The brass headboard thumped against the wall as he rolled off of her and onto his b...
You Only Get Better: Celebrating Life Every Step of the Way
You Only Get Better: Celebrating Life Every Step of the Way Connie Briscoe, Lolita Files, and Anita Bunkley Excerpt The brass headboard thumped against the wall as he rolled off of her and onto his b...
Dear G-Spot: Straight Talk About Sex and Love
Dear G-Spot: Straight Talk About Sex and Love Zane Excerpt Chapter One: Sexual Addiction Sexual addiction is a topic very near and dear to my heart. When I first decided to write my novel Add...
Coming Forth by Day
Coming Forth by Day Kakwasi Somadhi Excerpt Excerpt from Chapter Seven When Loretha showed up with Solly that hot July evening, the village was already crowded. Men and women with Afros as big as ...
A Promised Land (Deluxe Signed Edition)
A Promised Land (Deluxe Signed Edition) Barack Obama Excerpt Preface I began writing this book shortly after the end of my presidency—after Michelle and I had boarded Air Force One for the l...
A Promised Land
A Promised Land Barack Obama Excerpt Preface I began writing this book shortly after the end of my presidency—after Michelle and I had boarded Air Force One for the last time and traveled we...
Black Girl You Are Atlas
Black Girl You Are Atlas Renée Watson Excerpt at•las | \ ’at-les \ from Merriam-Webster Dictionary 1 capitalized: a Titan who for his part in the Titans’ revolt against the gods ...
Life, Love & Loneliness
Life, Love & Loneliness Crystal Lacey Winslow Excerpt CHAPTER 3 - LYRIC DEVANEY At 11:00 am sharp, Richard’s black Mercedes- Benz arrived. His driver got out and opened the door and Richard ...
My Love, My Love: or The Peasant Girl
My Love, My Love: or The Peasant Girl Rosa Guy Excerpt Chapter One On that island where rivers run deep, where the sea sparkling in the sun earns it the name Jewel of the Antilles, the tops of t...
In the Still of the Night: Personal Safety for Women
In the Still of the Night: Personal Safety for Women Andrea Foy Excerpt Une Nuit de Paris\ “How did I get myself into this mess?” I thought. There I was, riding on the Metro out of Par...