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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...
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...
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...
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-...
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...
Hip-Hop: A Cultural Odyssey
Hip-Hop: A Cultural Odyssey Troy Johnson Book Review Hip-Hop Culture’s first OFFICIAL luxury, large format coffee table book will inspire, entertain and educate all generations of readers wit...
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: ...
Why Black People Can’t Lose Weight
Why Black People Can’t Lose Weight Kam Williams Book Review ’Weight loss. Why is it such a vicious circle? Why does it seem unattainable for us as a community, despite the hundreds of diet...
Killing the Messenger: A Story of Radical Faith
Killing the Messenger: A Story of Radical Faith Kam Williams Book Review "When a 19 year-old member of a Black Muslim cult assassinated Chauncey Bailey in 2007—the most shocking killing...
Life: Four Quarters Plus Overtime
Life: Four Quarters Plus Overtime Robert Fleming Book Review Life: Four Quarters Plus Overtime, is truly wisdom from the ages. In this self-help guide. Floyd Griffin Jr., a man of many notable experi...
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth Kam Williams Book Review “This book is an attempt to reclaim, as much as possible, the Jesus of history, the Jesus of Christianity… whos...
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...
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...
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...
Black Water Rising
Black Water Rising Thumper Book Review Attica Locke’s debut novel, Black Water Rising, got a lot of press last year, a lot of good press. I’ve been slowly getting back into the gro...
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 ...
Cash Crop
Cash Crop Kam Williams images/cashcropmovie.jpg Film Review Decriminalization Documentary Extols Virtues of Legalizing Marijuana Cash Crop Unrated Running time: 84 Minutes Distributor: Sier...
Circus
Circus Kam Williams circus10.jpg Film Review Russian Retrospective Features 1936 Film Indicting American Racism Circus (Tsirk) Unrated In Russian and English with subtitles. ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Russell Atkins: On the Life & Work of an American Master
Russell Atkins: On the Life & Work of an American Master Robert Fleming Book Review This is an astounding tribute to one of the most innovative American artists, Russell Atkins, by a small, indepe...
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...
Ali
Ali Marvin X alimovie.jpg Film Review ""A notable and articulate advocacy of black conscientious objection came from the Nation of Islam. In 1942 Elijah Muhammad was arrested in Chicago an...
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 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 ...
Sparkle (2012)
Sparkle (2012) Kam Williams sparkle-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Singing Siblings Seek Fame in Remake of Musical Morality Play Sparkle [2012] In Theaters: Aug 17, 2012 Wide Rated PG-13 for v...
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 ...
The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease
The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease Kam Williams Book Review "This book tells the story of how race gets written into the definition of mental illness… The book a...
Linsanity
Linsanity Kam Williams linsanity.jpg Film Review Linsanity In Theaters: Oct 4, 2013 Limited Rated: PG Running time: 1 hr. 28 min. In English and Mandarin with subtitles Distributor: Ketchup ...
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...
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...
Black Power Inc.
Black Power Inc. Rondall Brasher Book Review I would like to initiate my review of Cora Daniels’ Black Power Inc. by eluding to a quote attributed to Malcolm X, too Black’too strong. T...
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...
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...
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...
Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice
Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice Carol Taylor Book Review Much more than a memoir, Black Power, Black Lawyer traces not only Nkechi Taifa’s personal life, and her decad...
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...
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...
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 ...
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 "...
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, ...
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...
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...
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 ...
The Covenant with Black America
The Covenant with Black America Kam Williams Book Review Book Review by Kam Williams "Why a Covenant with Black America? In short, because’ without organization, black folk will ...
The Black Sleuth
The Black Sleuth Thumper Book Review Suggested Title: Tale of Early Black Detective Prescribes Strong Medicine Or Forgotten Black Writer Doses Up Strong Medicine Northeastern University Press, in its...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate
Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate Kam Williams Book Review "Is it possible to talk about Muslims and terrorism without being called a bigot? …What happened to me was not about me a...
Crisis of the Black Intellectual
Crisis of the Black Intellectual Kam Williams Book Review ’Today there are many Black intellectuals who do not think of Black people as a people and have no wish to do so. They think of the...
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...
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...
Before the Streetlights Come on: Black America’s Urgent Call for Climate Solutions
Before the Streetlights Come on: Black America’s Urgent Call for Climate Solutions Robert Fleming Book Review As I received Heather McTeer Toney’s new book on climate solutions, I had also read...
Beulah Hill
Beulah Hill Thumper Book Review I am sounding the alert that I just read a novel that has a strong black male character in it. Let’s imagine that I’m waving a big neon sign with...
The Little Black Book
The Little Black Book Kam Williams Book Review "The object of this Survival Manual is to save lives - the lives of Black African Males who are on the Endangered list in this American society...
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 ...
Charcoal Joe
Charcoal Joe Tony Lindsay Book Review What was refreshingly abundant in Walter Mosley’s Charcoal Joe was Black male characters. From strong Black men to Black men seeking guidance, the reader w...
The Black Agenda
The Black Agenda Robert Fleming Book Review Who was Glen Ford? If you ask that question of some of the best critical thinkers in the Black community, they would say Ford was one of the most capabl...
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...
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...
Everything But The Burden
Everything But The Burden Rondall Brasher Book Review "Of all of our studies, history is best qualified to reward ourresearch." —El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X) This quo...
This Side of Glory
This Side of Glory Thumper Book Review This Side Of Glory: The Autobiography of David Hilliard and the Story of the Black Panther Party by David Hilliard and Lewis Cole On my continuing quest in read...
Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama
Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama Kam Williams Book Review “Barack Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention instantly catapulted him into the national spotlight and...
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks Kam Williams Book Review “Described by the New York Times as ‘the accidental matriarch of the civil rights movement,’ the Rosa Parks who surf...
Remembering Roots: How an American Classic Transformed the World
Remembering Roots: How an American Classic Transformed the World Robert Fleming Book Review Unfortunately, there were efforts to demean the late Alex Haley’s Roots: The Saga of an American Family whe...
Bill Clinton and Black America
Bill Clinton and Black America Walter Benefield Book Review Bill Clinton came to the presidency of the United States inheriting a less than admirable race relations history from his predecessors. Wha...
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...
(1)ne Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race
(1)ne Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race Kam Williams Book Review “What exactly is Blackness and what does it mean to be Black? Is Blackness a matter of biology or consciousness? Who determines...
Black Male Frames: African-Americans in a Century of Hollywood Cinema
Black Male Frames: African-Americans in a Century of Hollywood Cinema Kam Williams Book Review “Black Male Frames charts the development and shifting popularity of two stereotypes of black mal...
Diary of a Tired Black Man
Diary of a Tired Black Man Kam Williams diary_11.jpg Film Review Brow-Beaten Brother Gets Even in Thought-Provoking Melodrama Diary of a Tired Black Man Unrated Running time: 108 m...
Black Food
Black Food Robert Fleming Book Review Black food, aka Soul food, is celebrated all over the world for its delicious ingredients, tangy flavors, homegrown recipes, and traditional richness. This book,...
Joan Myers Brown & the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina
Joan Myers Brown & the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina Kam Williams Book Review “Blacks in the segregationist United States of America of the 30s and 40s fought back with inherent toug...
The Presidency in Black and White: My Up-Close View of Three Presidents and Race in America
The Presidency in Black and White: My Up-Close View of Three Presidents and Race in America Kam Williams Book Review “[This book] gives readers a compelling behind-the-scenes look at race re...
Under the Skin
Under the Skin Robert Fleming Book Review Following the needless deaths of my grandfather and my father, I was very interested in reading Linda Villarosa’s Under The Skin: The Hidden Toll Of Ra...
Mrs. Black
Mrs. Black Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Angelia Vernon Menchan who also has written under the name, acVernon Menchan has just released an new novel that takes us further into the world of the...
Is Bill Cosby Right?: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?
Is Bill Cosby Right?: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind? Kam Williams Book Review “A book you can’t put down, but for all the wrong reasons.” “On May 17, 2004, ...
The Black Clergy’s Misguided Worship Leadership
The Black Clergy’s Misguided Worship Leadership Robert Fleming Book Review With this defiant publication, The Black Clergy’s Misguided Worship Leadership, Dr. Christopher C. Bell, Jr....
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...
Palmares
Palmares Robert Fleming Book Review No less than the esteemed late novelist Toni Morrison, the chief editorial gatekeeper of Random House, was stunned by the narrative power of Gayl Jones’ firs...
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...
A Matter of Life or Death: Why Black Men Must Save Black Boys in America’s Public Schools
A Matter of Life or Death: Why Black Men Must Save Black Boys in America’s Public Schools Kam Williams Book Review “Life for many black boys is akin to a war. Wars on their minds, souls, spi...
The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics
The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics Kam Williams Book Review “Barack Obama’s triumph in the presidential election of 2008… contains ...
The Vanishing Black Male
The Vanishing Black Male Kam Williams the_va2.jpg Film Review Documentary Explores Issue of Disappearing African-American Men The Vanishing Black Male Studio: Seven Generations Product...
Black Snake Moan
Black Snake Moan Kam Williams black_3.jpg Film Review Bible-Thumping Bluesman Tames Wanton Woman in Tawdry Tale of Sin and Redemption Black Snake Moan Rated R for profanity, nudity, gr...
Black Dynamite
Black Dynamite Kam Williams images/img19.jpg Film Review Campy Spoof of Blaxploitation Era Comes to Blu-Ray Black Dynamite Click to order from Amazon Rated R for profanity, ma...
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution Kam Williams black-pathers-movie-poster.jpg Film Review The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution In Theaters: Sep 2, 2015 Limited Runtime: 1 hr....
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...
Standing in the Need of Prayer
Standing in the Need of Prayer Rondall Brasher Book Review Standing in the Need of Prayer is a book dedicated the diverse and powerful subject of Black prayer. The photographs and other anthropologi...