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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...
Love
Love Thumper Book Review For those of you who don’t know me or have not read any of my reviews, I have a tendency of getting extremely excited over republished books written by African Amer...
Black Man under the Deep Blue Sea
Black Man under the Deep Blue Sea Emanuel Carpenter Book Review What if Jacques Cousteau was a black American? Would he have had the opportunities to explore the waters, write books about his experi...
Balls of Fury
Balls of Fury Kam Williams balls_8.jpg Film Review Balls of Fury Film Review by Kam WilliamsRated PG-13 for profanity, crude behavior and sex-related humor. Running time: 90 minutes ...
The Soloist
The Soloist Kam Williams jamie_14.jpg Film Review Jamie Foxx Riveting as Homeless Savant in Best Role since Ray The Soloist Rated PG-13 for mature themes, drug us...
How To Think Big
How To Think Big Kam Williams Book Review "I am not a genius. I am not a prodigy or sensation or phenomenon. I am just like you. At the age of 19, I founded my first company. After graduat...
Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina
Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina Kam Williams Book Review “As the only African-American soloist dancing with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre, Misty Copeland has made history. Bu...
The Lion’s Brood
The Lion’s Brood Thumper Book Review I am weak when it comes to reading books on subjects off the normally beaten path of bestselling African-American novels. My ears perked up when I received a re...
Blue in Green
Blue in Green Robert Fleming Book Review On August 25, 1959, jazz trumpeter Miles Davis escorts a white girl to a cab, lights a cigarette outside Birdland, and a city policeman harasses the black man...
Beasts of No Nation
Beasts of No Nation Robert Fleming Book Review As John A. Williams, that black titan of letters, often says ’there can never be enough political novels written by our community,’ the num...
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...
Black Hands White House: Slave Labor and the Making of America
Black Hands White House: Slave Labor and the Making of America Robert Fleming Book Review Renee K. Harrison, an associate professor of African American and US religious history at Howard University, ...
Dark Girls (Preview)
Dark Girls (Preview) Kam Williams dark-girls-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Dark Girls: Real Women, Real Stories Click to order via Amazon This documentary exploresd the deep-seated biases ...
In The Falling Snow
In The Falling Snow Thumper Book Review I have heard of Caryl Phillps. We have reviewed one of his earlier novels for AALBC.com in the past, but I had not read anything by him. Phillips’s...
Echoes of Cabrini-Green: Letters to my Mother
Echoes of Cabrini-Green: Letters to my Mother Eryka Parker Book Review In Echoes of Cabrini-Green, Rudolph Elliot Willis writes letters to his late mother, narrating the events of his childhood leadi...
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...
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...
Dying Eyes Don’t Lie
Dying Eyes Don’t Lie Eryka Parker Book Review Set in 1981, Dying Eyes Don’t Lie by Keith Mosley is a genre-blending thriller that explores justice, community, and legacy through the eyes of two...
Bibsy
Bibsy Carol Taylor Book Review “Langston County is tucked into the southern tip of New York State, wedged between the Hudson River and the New Jersey state line. And it was home to Jake Tuck...
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...
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 ...
Street Judge
Street Judge Thumper Book Review In his fiction debut Judge Greg Mathis, star of the syndicated Judge Mathis TV show, releases Street Judge, a mystery/thriller with a message. Although I ha...
Soul Food Junkies
Soul Food Junkies Kam Williams Soul-Food-Junkies-poster.jpg Film Review Soul Food Junkies - Premiering January 2013 on Independent Lens Soul Food Junkies 64 minutes In this PBS ...
Married But Still Looking
Married But Still Looking Kim Rose Book Review This pensive musing from a rap legend neatly summarize the challenge faced by Genesis Styles, an almost 30-year-old, ex-NBA 12th man aspirant and semi-d...
African Rhytms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston
African Rhytms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston Robert Fleming Book Review True jazz buffs will welcome this well-detailed, informative memoir, African Rhythms, by one of the most innovative mus...
Dark Corner
Dark Corner Thumper Book Review I love vampire tales with a passion. I’m always on the look out for new, well written, vampire adventures. I was anxious to read Brandon Massey’s latest ...
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 ...
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 ...
The Arc of Truth: The Thinking of Martin Luther King Jr.
The Arc of Truth: The Thinking of Martin Luther King Jr. Robert Fleming Book Review From the start of his singular journey to confronting cultural bigotry and moral chaos, Dr. Martin Luther King stoo...
Prisoners
Prisoners Kam Williams prisoners.jpg Film Review Parents and Police Search for Kidnapped Kids in Mesmerizing, Multi-Layered Mystery Prisoners Now Available on DVD Win a Copy of Prisoners on ...
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...
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...
An Uncaged Eagle -- True Freedom
An Uncaged Eagle -- True Freedom Kam Williams Book Review "This autobiography tells the story of my life while highlighting some of the tremendous people who helped me overcome adversities I fa...
How Could My Husband Be Gay?
How Could My Husband Be Gay? Kam Williams Book Review Have you ever ignored any red flags regarding your mate? "How Could My Husband Be Gay?" may cause you to never make that mistake agai...
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...
Digital Coup: The Conspiracy to Thwart Global Democracy
Digital Coup: The Conspiracy to Thwart Global Democracy Shanida Carter Book Review “Democracy around the globe is facing its greatest threat since World War II,” writes author Darin Johnson, who beli...
The Great Deluge
The Great Deluge Kam Williams Book Review ’One person not seen on the streets, at the Superdome, or on a rescue boat of any kind was Mayor Nagin. Since the storm had approached the Crescent C...
Cosby: His Life and Times
Cosby: His Life and Times Kam Williams Book Review “[Bill] Cosby grew up in a Philadelphia housing project, the son of an alcoholic, largely absent father and a loving but overworked mother&...
PHD (Po Ho on Dope) to Ph.D.: How Education Saved My Life
PHD (Po Ho on Dope) to Ph.D.: How Education Saved My Life Anita Doreen Diggs Book Review PHD (Po Ho on Dope) to Ph.D.: How Education Saved My Life by Elaine Richardson begins in a poor and working c...
Never Say Never
Never Say Never Idrissa Uqdah Book Review In this drama -filled novel, Victoria Christopher Murray gives her readers a shocking story that is edgy Christian fiction, at it’s best. Miriam has ...
Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living
Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living Kam Williams Book Review “I’m aware that, for black men today, racism is still an obstacle that causes tremendous anger and suffering… Whether...
The Legacy of Islamic Anti-Semitism
The Legacy of Islamic Anti-Semitism Kam Williams Book Review ’Is Islamic anti-Semitism only a modern phenomenon? During the last fifteen years, certain Western scholars have t...
Devil‘s Wake
Devil‘s Wake Emanuel Carpenter Book Review Something is turning the world into zombies. Perhaps it’s a virus or maybe even the latest flu vaccine. Whatever the cause, prevention is simple. Do...
Walking Among The Kudzu
Walking Among The Kudzu Emanuel Carpenter Book Review In H. Victoria Hargro Atkerson's latest book, "Walking Among the Kudzu," readers are taken on the journey of the life of Shelby ...
Born to Win
Born to Win Kam Williams Book Review "No Negro player, man or woman, had ever set foot on one of these courts. In many ways, it was an even tougher personal Jim Crow-busting assignment than was...
Leaving
Leaving Thumper Book Review Leaving, the debut novel by Richard Dry, is an epic tale that spans three generations of a black family, from the 1950s to circa 2000. Leaving is an epic not only in siz...
Handbook for an Unpredictable Life How I Survived Sister Renata and My Crazy Mother
Handbook for an Unpredictable Life How I Survived Sister Renata and My Crazy Mother Kam Williams Book Review “I hated the fact that my mother was crazy. I wanted her to be normal. Even when...
Flight
Flight Kam Williams flight-moive-poster.jpg Film Review Hero Pilot Participates in Cover-Up in Special F/X-Driven Legal Thriller Flight (2012) In Theaters: Nov 2, 2012 Wide Drama Directed By: Robert...
Homie Spumoni
Homie Spumoni Kam Williams homie_59.jpg Film Review Italian Kid Learns He’s Really Black in Cross-Cultural Comedy Homie Spumoni Click to order via Amazon Rated R ...
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...
Reversal of Trends: A Black Man’s Journey across the Mason-Dixon Line
Reversal of Trends: A Black Man’s Journey across the Mason-Dixon Line Robert Fleming Book Review Often, memoirs can be self-indulgent, unimaginative, and a cheesy promotion of self. That’s not ...
For the Sake of Soul
For the Sake of Soul Robert Fleming Book Review Sometimes short fiction can be a daunting task for the writer, especially when he decides to confront the challenges of plot, characterization, dialogu...
Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God
Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God Kam Williams Book Review “Why is it becoming increasingly acceptable to kill unarmed black children? Why are they so easily perceived as...
IDOLeyes
IDOLeyes Idrissa Uqdah Book Review A Singer’s Life Changing American Idol Experience Mandisa Hundley may well go down in history as the most talked about American Idol participant who di...
Judge Not!
Judge Not! Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Waiting For Justice To Prevail Audrey Forrest Carter has penned a great sequel to her well-received debut novel, The Wages of Sin. In Judge Not! readers f...
Jump at the Sun
Jump at the Sun Idrissa Uqdah Book Review It’s Always The Mama Baggage Kim McLarin is known for writing novels about touchy issues within the Black community. Her stories step on toes an...
Hollywood Fantasies of Miscegenation
Hollywood Fantasies of Miscegenation Kam Williams Book Review "Hollywood Fantasies of Miscegenation analyzes white fantasies of interracial desire in the history of popular American film. Fro...
Hope on a Tightrope
Hope on a Tightrope Kam Williams Book Review ’We are now in one of the most truly prophetic moments in the history of America. The poor and very poor are sleeping with self-de...
Legends
Legends Kam Williams Book Review ’’Would America have been America without her Negro people?’ W.E.B. Du Bois wrote those words shortly after the turn of...
Oxford Anth. of African-American Poetry
Oxford Anth. of African-American Poetry Kam Williams Book Review ’I’ve known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.’ ’ Excerpted from Th...
In My Bedroom
In My Bedroom Leah Mullen Book Review Rayne Holland, budding film director, wife and mother appear to have it all. She’s poised to be lauded for her work in the film industry when she’s...
A Mighty Love
A Mighty Love Linda Watkins Book Review Relationship novels are for escapism. The content should tantalize the reader’ evoke deep emotion and keep one’s attention. Unfortunately, A Might...
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...
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere Linda Watkins Book Review Short story collections that are strong and rich throughout are rare finds. Most contain one or two good stories accompanied by mediocre ones....
Lookin’ For Luv
Lookin’ For Luv Thumper Book Review I gotta be honest with y’all, I wasn’t expecting too much from this book when I picked it up. I wanted to read it because the author Carl Weber somet...
Terminus: Tales of the Black Fantastic from the ATL
Terminus: Tales of the Black Fantastic from the ATL Amanda Robinson Book Review Atlanta is one of the most popular cities in this country. This metropolis is one of the few epicenters dripping Black ...
Hair Love
Hair Love Neoma Nwasike Book Review When you were a little Black girl, growing up, did you embrace your beauty? Did you love the deep richness of your blackness and the uniqueness of your hair? Do yo...
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...
Badass Black Girl: Questions, Quotes, and Affirmations for Teens
Badass Black Girl: Questions, Quotes, and Affirmations for Teens Carol Taylor Book Review Dear Badass Black Girl, You are a true warrior who inherited the strength, courage, wisdom, love, and di...
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...
Walking with Our Ancestors
Walking with Our Ancestors Denolyn Carroll Book Review On the face of it, contemplation is deep reflective thought or consideration. At a higher level, it hinges on a critical spiritual component tha...
My Divine Natural Hair
My Divine Natural Hair Eryka Parker Book Review “The One who created us crowned us first. Shining atop our heads is a divine diadem with all the lightness of air, radiance of honor, and the wei...
New Harmony: A Mother’s Story of Love and Loss
New Harmony: A Mother’s Story of Love and Loss Robert Fleming Book Review A complete reading of this debut novel by Leon E. Pettiway, a professor emeritus at Indiana University and an ordained Buddhi...
Black Boys, I See You
Black Boys, I See You Kirkus Book Review STARRED REVIEW Written from a place of love and deeply attuned to the emotional needs of Black boys. A kid lit giant extends a mighty message of love. ...
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...
The Wealth Choice: Success Secrets of Black Millionaires
The Wealth Choice: Success Secrets of Black Millionaires Kam Williams Book Review “In spite of Black America’s advances… with more successful, educated and accomplished entrepren...
Unburdened by Conscience: A Black People’s Collective Account of America’s Antebellum So
Unburdened by Conscience: A Black People’s Collective Account of America’s Antebellum So Kam Williams Book Review "While pursuing my Bachelor of Arts degree in college, I took a lot of history cour...
Pariah
Pariah Kam Williams pariah1.jpg Film Review Latent Lesbian Summons Courage in Out-of-the-Closet Drama Pariah [2011] Written & Directed By: Dee Rees Rated R for profanity and sexuality. Run...
Rejoice & Shout
Rejoice & Shout Kam Williams http://content8.flixster.com/movie/11/15/72/11157290_det.jpg Film Review 200-Year History of Gospel Music Celebrated in Sanctified Documentary Rejoice and Sho...
War Witch
War Witch Kam Williams war-witch-photo.jpg Film Review 12 year-old Endures Host of Horrors in Haunting Coming-of-Age Drama War Witch (2013) In Theaters: Mar 1, 2013 Limited Drama Directed By: ...
Freedom Riders (American Experience)
Freedom Riders (American Experience) Kam Williams images/Sprite%20117.jpg Film Review American Experience: Freedom Riders Click to buy via Amazon.com Number of discs: 1 Rated: NR (...
Hollywood Chinese
Hollywood Chinese Kam Williams hollyw27.jpg Film Review Asian Stereotypes in Cinema Explored by Enlightening Expose Hollywood Chinese ...
Granddaddy
Granddaddy Carol Taylor Book Review Granddaddy is a poignant literary novel, told mostly in a stream of conscious narrative, that traces a family’s emotional journey through their memories of t...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Beauty And The Beast
Beauty And The Beast Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Deatri King-Bey has stepped out of the box and given her readers a Black fairy tale in Beauty And The Beast that I really enjoyed. Set in modern...
If There Be Pain
If There Be Pain Jayne Cubbage Book Review On the surface it appears that Gloria Mallette has designed her latest novel, If There Be Pain to read like a chronicle of the life of Kyle Lawson, a selfi...
Cry Me a River
Cry Me a River Thumper Book Review I have said it before, and most likely, I will say it again, but there is no drama like family drama. With Ernest Hill’s Cry Me a River, I got exactly that&...
I Missed the Bus, But I Arrived On Time!
I Missed the Bus, But I Arrived On Time! Robert Fleming Book Review Our reading community gets tired of memoirs celebrating guns, drugs, loose morals, and general mayhem. Willis L. Drake’s reco...
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...
Baldwin: A Love Story
Baldwin: A Love Story Robert Fleming Book Review Long before I met James Baldwin’s friend Vertamae Grosvenor, I was a preteen Black boy who had read the writer’s bold novel Go Tell It on ...
Chike and the River
Chike and the River Kam Williams Book Review Book Review by Kam Williams "Chike was now 11 years-old, and he had never left his village. Then one day his mother told him that he would be going to ...
Inner City Miracle
Inner City Miracle Thumper Book Review Judge Greg Mathis makes his debut on the literary stage with his autobiography, Inner City Miracle: A Memoir. Mathis is the star of the popular The Judge Greg...
The Monkeybars of Life
The Monkeybars of Life Robert Fleming Book Review Ted Pittman’s debut novel, The Monkeybars Of Life, salutes the dual notions of endurance and survival. Pittman’s ...
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...