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Ordinary Girls: A Memoir
Ordinary Girls: A Memoir Brenda M. Greene Book Review Jaquira Diaz, in her memoir Ordinary Girls, crafts a story that illustrates the intersection of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and poverty on the li...
The Justus Girls
The Justus Girls Thumper Book Review I should let go of my preconceived notions that I am beginning to grow tired of the girl-coming-of-age story or the sista-girlfriend relationship tales. It seems ...
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 ...
The Dagger
The Dagger Hedi Harrington Book Review Timothy George’s 2016 novel, The Dagger, should come with a warning to all readers: “Fasten your seatbelts.” The fast-paced thriller is a sequ...
Dark Girls
Dark Girls Kam Williams Book Review “In today’s society, dark skin has become linked to longer prison time, higher unemployment rates, low self-esteem, lower standards of beauty, a...
Lizzie & McKenzie’s Fabulous Adventures: Mayhem in Madrid
Lizzie & McKenzie’s Fabulous Adventures: Mayhem in Madrid Troy Johnson Book Review Lizzie & McKenzie’s Fabulous Adventures: Mayhem in Madrid is the first book in a series of chapter books t...
For Colored Girls
For Colored Girls Kam Williams images/img47.jpg Film Review Black Feminist Classic Refreshed Courtesy of Tyler Perry For Colored Girls [2010] Click to order via Amazon Rated for ...
Baby Momma Drama
Baby Momma Drama Thumper Book Review Carl Weber’s new book is loaded with the type of drama I love, — unfiltered, full strength, wig snatching, "yo-momma’s-a-ho!" drama. ...
Mama Dearest
Mama Dearest Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Motherhood Gone Wild? New York Times Bestselling author, E. Lynn Harris had released twelve acclaimed novels before he suddenly pas...
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...
The Souls of Black Girls
The Souls of Black Girls Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/the_so37.gif Film Review Provocative Documentary Examines Image of Black Females Propagated by the Media The Souls of Blac...
I’m Through with White Girls
I’m Through with White Girls Kam Williams i’m_th14.jpg Film Review Brother Cured of Jungle Fever Decides to Settle Down with a Sister I’m Through with White Girls (...
Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire
Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire Kam Williams Book Review ’Arguably, Drusilla Dunjee Houston was one of the most important African-American women writers of the 20th Centu...
Jacob’s Ghetto
Jacob’s Ghetto Robert Fleming Book Review Usually commercial young adult novels steer clear of thorny issues, such as drug addiction, gang violence, racial profiling, or poverty. This one does not. T...
Not a Day Goes By
Not a Day Goes By Paige Turner Book Review Lifestyles of the Bitch and Famous If you enjoy the big payback and revenge, then popular writer E. Lynn Harris’ is "da man", and his lat...
Abide With Me
Abide With Me Paige Turner Book Review Warning: The following comments reveal a conflicted and divided point of view, a la the characters who populate the novels of E. Lynn Harris. Readers are ad...
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 ...
Rebirth of a Nation
Rebirth of a Nation Kam Williams rebirt48.jpg Film Review DJ Does Hip-Hop Remix of Birth of a Nation DJ Spooky’s Rebirth of a Nation Click to o...
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 ...
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...
Womanish Theology
Womanish Theology Eryka Parker Book Review “How differently would Black girls see the world or themselves had they [been] represented and treated as imago Dei [created in the image and likeness...
Stages
Stages Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall STAGES, the debut novel by Malikah Reese Maccabee is a wonderfully written and very engaging story about women of color in crisi...
Blacktrospective 2008 - Annual Assessment of the Best (and Worst) in Black Cinema
Blacktrospective 2008 - Annual Assessment of the Best (and Worst) in Black Cinema Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/the_se11.jpg Film Review Kam's Annual Assessment of the Best (and...
The Day You Begin
The Day You Begin Neoma Nwasike Book Review Have you ever felt like an outsider, or like you just did not belong? In this big world, with so many different faces, it can sometimes feel overwhelming a...
Scottsboro
Scottsboro Thumper Book Review The history book train that I hopped on a few months ago is still rolling strong with no station stop in sight. The ride continues with the novel Scottsboro ...
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...
Confessions of a Video Vixen
Confessions of a Video Vixen Kam Williams Book Review This is a review of a version of Confessions of a Video Vixen published 20 years earlier. Where young girls once aspired to be models and b...
Confessions of a Video Vixen
Confessions of a Video Vixen Kam Williams Book Review "Where young girls once aspired to be models and ballerinas, they now aspire to be hip-hop video girls. I sat down to write this book...
Daddy’s Little Girls
Daddy’s Little Girls Kam Williams daddy’15.jpg Film Review Frigid Attorney Melts for Amorous Auto Mechanic in Charming, if Predictable, Romantic Comedy Daddy’s Little Girls Film Re...
The Lady
The Lady Linda Dominique Grosvenor Book Review T.D. Jakes has a way of knowing what women want, and need. With the well received "Woman Thou Art Loosed," and the follow up "Daddy Love ...
Post-Traumatic
Post-Traumatic Robert Fleming Book Review Chantal Johnson’s debut novel, Post-Traumatic, confronts the emotional toll of sexual assault, a real-life survivor narrative, with the prickly residue...
Life as a Single Mom
Life as a Single Mom Kam Williams Book Review ’’Being a single mom isn't easy,’ is something I hear constantly over and over throughout my travels, and I mostly hear it fro...
Faith in the Fire: Wisdom for Life
Faith in the Fire: Wisdom for Life Kam Williams Book Review "Amazingly, many people of faith and members of the reading public have not heard of Gardner Taylor or his accomplishments. Publication ...
How to be an Antiracist
How to be an Antiracist Tony Lindsay Book Review How to be an Antiracist is an instructional text written by historian, professor, and bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi. The teaching text begins by i...
Standing Tall
Standing Tall Kam Williams Book Review ’As much as I love basketball’ it has always been a vehicle for me to instill values and self-respect in the girls I coach’ I am the last ...
Between Good and Ghetto
Between Good and Ghetto Kam Williams Book Review ’The lives of the inner-city girls and young women profiled in this book are deeply influenced by violence of various kinds. ...
Witnessing and Testifying
Witnessing and Testifying Paige Turner Book Review At the dawn of this new millennium when the "bimbo-ization" of American women is in full flower it is instructive to look back to times wh...
The Book of Night Women
The Book of Night Women Thumper Book Review I have been awaiting the arrival of The Book of Night Women by Marlon James, literally, for years. I read and loved his debut novel, John Crow&r...
Defying the Odds
Defying the Odds Kam Williams Book Review ’Whether the threat is a burning cross in a sleepy Southern town, or a female doctor bucking the whites-only hiring policies of a city h...
The Denzel Principle: Why Black Women Can’t Find Good Black Men
The Denzel Principle: Why Black Women Can’t Find Good Black Men Kam Williams Book Review "What do black women want? The truth? They are looking for Denzel Washington. They have been so thoroughly b...
Material Witness: The Drew Smith Series
Material Witness: The Drew Smith Series Robert Fleming Book Review In this third installment of Norwood Holland’s acclaimed Drew Smith Series, Material Witness, there are a few wrinkles in both...
Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise
Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise Kam Williams Book Review Last year, Tavis Smiley took a lot of heat over his reluctance to rubber-stamp Barack Obama’s candidacy simply ...
We Need to Talk
We Need to Talk Kam Williams images/51Icf9mwW+L._SL500_AA300_.jpg Film Review Sisters Make Most of Opportunity to Reflect on Relationships in Latest Documentary from Janks Morton We ...
Penitentiary Tales: A Love Story
Penitentiary Tales: A Love Story Robert Fleming Book Review When I was growing up, I heard about boys and girls, men and women from my Hood going to The Big House. One of the girls I dated had an inm...
Why Men Fear Marriage
Why Men Fear Marriage Mel Hopkins Book Review WANTED: “Single Women” In 2050, women internment camps populate the Pacific coastline. This housing once reserved for Japanese Americans...
Hot Johnny (And the Women Who Loved Him)
Hot Johnny (And the Women Who Loved Him) Thumper Book Review “That’s mighty pretty, precious“ The question, "Damn Thumper is using a term of endearment in the heading of a r...
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...
Don’t Blame It on Rio
Don’t Blame It on Rio Kam Williams Book Review ’Black women were once at the center of black men’s lives, as wives, mothers, lovers and partners’ However, in this generation, b...
Forever An Ex
Forever An Ex Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Where Does The Love Go? Only the women in Forever An Ex know for sure. The sequel to Murray’s wildly popular The Ex Files centers on the specifics of b...
Sincerely Speaking Spiritually
Sincerely Speaking Spiritually Robert Fleming Book Review Like many successful self-help books, Sincerely Speaking Spiritually, celebrates verses of faith and inspiration in the Holy Word. Its author...
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 "...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
Lost in Language & Sound: Or How I Found My Way to the Arts: Essays
Lost in Language & Sound: Or How I Found My Way to the Arts: Essays Alvin Romer Book Review Poetry and prose if presented and mixed well with a demonstrative esthetic can work wonders for anyone try...
My Hair Can
My Hair Can Shaundale Rénā Book Review Profoundly inspiring, My Hair Can is a picture book full of wit and charm. Each page is vibrant and affirms joy and positivity for little Black boys and girls a...
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...
Through The Storm
Through The Storm Linda Watkins Book Review Coming of age is no easy feat. I think everyone still cringes at mistakes made as teenagers, which came from not listening to words of wisdom from mom and...
Jokes My Father Never Taught Me
Jokes My Father Never Taught Me Kam Williams Book Review "It was Thanksgiving. Dad had a lot of friends and family there, including’ a couple of girls stashed in the bedroom’ Fin...
The Sapphires
The Sapphires Kam Williams the-sapphires-movie-poster.jpg Film Review The True Story of Four Aboriginal Girls Who Risked Their Lives Entertaining the U.S. Troops during the Vietnam War The Sapphi...
Ikland
Ikland Kam Williams ikland-girls.jpg Film Review Redemptive Documentary Rectifies Image of Much-Maligned African Tribe Ikland (2012) In Theaters: Jun 15, 2012 Limited Unrated In Englis...
Pornified
Pornified Kam Williams Book Review ’One need not oppose pornography on religious or political grounds to be nonetheless troubled by the pornified culture. Pornography not only damages relatio...
Never Wear Red Lipstick: 8 Lies That Stop Black Women from Succeeding in Life and Business
Never Wear Red Lipstick: 8 Lies That Stop Black Women from Succeeding in Life and Business Shaundale Rénā Book Review I was surprised by Never Wear Red Lipstick: 8 Lies That Stop Black Women from Suc...
The Love Ethic
The Love Ethic Robert Fleming Book Review Inspired by their work with African American couples at their Chicago organization, the acclaimed Twinlineal Institute, Kamau and Akilah Butler, bo...
Lighting the Fires of Freedom by Janet Dewart Bell
Lighting the Fires of Freedom by Janet Dewart Bell Brenda M. Greene Book Review In Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement (The New Press, 2018), Dr. Janet ...
The Black Church: Where Women Pray and Men Prey
The Black Church: Where Women Pray and Men Prey Kam Williams Book Review “If you are a single black woman regularly attending church and tithing, or you are a woman with children that accomp...
Unfinished Business: Black Women
Unfinished Business: Black Women Kam Williams Book Review “This book explores the Black Church as a black religious site that can offer not only hope and cultural flourishing for poor black w...
Pregnant While Black: Advancing Justice for Maternal Health in America
Pregnant While Black: Advancing Justice for Maternal Health in America Eryka Parker Book Review As a Black woman born and raised in the United States, I have always been aware of how blessed I am to ...
Journey to the Woman I've Come to Love: Affirmations from Women Who Have Fallen in Love with The
Journey to the Woman I've Come to Love: Affirmations from Women Who Have Fallen in Love with The Kam Williams Book Review “About 10 years ago, I was hanging out with some old high school c...
Me First: A Deliciously Selfish Take on Life
Me First: A Deliciously Selfish Take on Life Carol Taylor Book Review Women have always been taught to put themselves last, that it’s selfish to put themselves first. Have you ever thought ab...
Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance
Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance Connie Bradley Book Review Definitions of Miss Anne: A coded term for any white woman. A derisive name for a white woman. An emanc...
Faith under Fire
Faith under Fire Kam Williams Book Review ’God has given me the opportunity to reach scores of women, connecting with their spirits to bring understanding to the ’dow...
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...
We Refuse to Be Silent
We Refuse to Be Silent Robert Fleming Book Review Back in 2014, after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, journalist and writer Angela P. Dodson got the idea then for her recently publi...
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...
Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It
Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Will The Truth Set Them Free? In my humble opinion, J.D. Mason is a master storyteller, as they say. From the very first novel, ...
Pimps Up
Pimps Up Kam Williams Book Review ’I believe we have reached a fascinating, and predictably retrogressive, moment in American pop culture regarding class, gender, and race. As a member of...
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...
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...
Inspiration: Profiles of Black Women Changing our World
Inspiration: Profiles of Black Women Changing our World Kam Williams Book Review “Inspiration allows 30 exceptional people to tell their unique stories. Each of these women takes us on her li...
Love
Love Thumper Book Review Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison released a new novel, adding another jewel to her already brilliant literary crown. Love, Morrison’s eighth novel, introduces...
Broken Utterances
Broken Utterances Kam Williams Book Review ’This book endeavors to piece together the broken utterances of 20 women into a seamless painting of understanding which is representative of ...
Is Marriage for White People? How the African-American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone
Is Marriage for White People? How the African-American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone Kam Williams Book Review "Over the past half-century, African-.Americans have become the most unmarrie...
Every Woman’s Man
Every Woman’s Man Thumper Book Review Yeah, it’s unusual for me to read a book with a title like, Every Woman’s Man, a novel by Rique Johnson. I don't normally go for the sister girl...
I Wish I Had A Red Dress
I Wish I Had A Red Dress Thumper Book Review I’m going to be upfront. The review will be short and sour. I Wish I Had A Red Dress, Pearl Cleage’s new novel, we return to Idlewood, Michiga...
Brave at Heart
Brave at Heart Kirkus Book Review “A professor emeritus reimagines Western notions of race, crime, and justice in this volume of essays. Not only has America failed to adequately say ‘...
When Frogs Grow Feet: The Un-Aborted Are Alive and Well
When Frogs Grow Feet: The Un-Aborted Are Alive and Well Robert Fleming Book Review While When Frogs Grow Feet’s blurb links its juicy contents to Henry Miller’s classic wanton tale, Tro...
Vice President Kamala Harris: Her Path To The White House
Vice President Kamala Harris: Her Path To The White House Robert Fleming Book Review America has a love-hate relationship with pioneers, the people who break impossible barriers to forge a successful...
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...
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...
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 ...
Dreams of My Ancestors
Dreams of My Ancestors Kam Williams Book Review “Approximately 455,000 African men, women, girls and boys were the original ancestors of the estimated 40 million African-American people i...
I Want You to Shut the F#ck Up: How the Audacity of Dopes Is Ruining America
I Want You to Shut the F#ck Up: How the Audacity of Dopes Is Ruining America Kam Williams Book Review “The American Dream is in dire need of a wake-up call… If only Uncle Sam could see...
Black Women, Ivory Tower
Black Women, Ivory Tower Ahmad Wright Book Review The best colleges and universities in the nation promise a sense of belonging, public validation, and personal relationships that can last a lifetime...
Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film
Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film Kam Williams 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...
The African Lookbook: A Visual History of 100 Years of African Women
The African Lookbook: A Visual History of 100 Years of African Women Robert Fleming Book Review Identity and gender have always fascinated Catherine McKinley, one of the fewer 15,000 mixed-race child...
Go
Go Kam Williams Book Review ’This extraordinary collection of letters to Michelle Obama says a great deal about the lives, the hopes, prayers, fears, and aspirations of Africa...
Iconic: Decoding Images of the Revolutionary Black Woman
Iconic: Decoding Images of the Revolutionary Black Woman Kam Williams Book Review “This book asks what it means to represent black womanhood and explores how these representations are connect...
Oooooh… Say It Again: Mastering the Fine Art of Verbal Seduction and Aural Sex
Oooooh… Say It Again: Mastering the Fine Art of Verbal Seduction and Aural Sex Kam Williams Book Review “How can you get a woman sexually aroused simply by using certain words, your vo...