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The Nat Turner Insurrection Trials
The Nat Turner Insurrection Trials Emanuel Carpenter Book Review Was Nat Turner a hero or a savage? After reading the new book from legal scholar Walter L. Gordon III, you may change your mind abou...
Freedom Bound
Freedom Bound Jayne Cubbage Book Review The novel Freedom bound is based on the life Anta Majigeen Ndiaya who had been captured by slave raiders from Yang Yang village in Senegal, West Africa. Auth...
Boys into Men
Boys into Men Paige Turner Book Review BOYS INTO MEN: RAISING OUR AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGE SONS By Paige Turner An old Parliament Funkadelic album was entitled America Eats Its Young. While this se...
The Birth of a Nation
The Birth of a Nation Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/images/birth-of-a-nation-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Reverential Biopic Revisits Life of Infamous Slave Revolt Leader Excellent (4 star...
Love Don’t Live Here Anymore
Love Don’t Live Here Anymore Paige Turner Book Review Randy, the main character in Denene Millner and Nick Chiles "Love Don’t Live Here Anymore" reflects on his marriage: "What ...
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...
The Icarus Girl
The Icarus Girl Paige Turner Book Review Jessamy Harrison is an eight year-old, Afro-British girl, who writes haiku, reads Shakespeare, and just skipped a grade in school. Jess’ parents...
What Next
What Next Paige Turner Book Review During these times of turmoil between the United States and Iraq the creative community is using the full extent of its powers to offer solutions. Walter Mosley, ...
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...
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...
Angel On My Shoulder
Angel On My Shoulder Paige Turner Book Review Angel on Her Shoulder, Devil in Her Mind Natalie Cole’s autobiography, Angel On My Shoulder is one of the years’ most eagerly anticipated bo...
The Urban Guide To Biblical Money
The Urban Guide To Biblical Money Paige Turner Book Review "Have you ever felt like you missed out on something God had for you because you did not handle your money matters in quite the right ...
Dark Midnight When I Rise
Dark Midnight When I Rise Paige Turner Book Review The history of blacks in America remains a vast uncharted territory. While the contributions of mainstream cultures have been duly recorded, the e...
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...
The Lost German Slave Girl
The Lost German Slave Girl Paige Turner Book Review Only the great American melting pot could provide a setting where an Australian author recounts the tale of an orphaned German immigrant who was ...
Love Unlimited
Love Unlimited Paige Turner Book Review The man is known by many names: The Maestro; The Icon of Love; The First, Last and Everything! In his new autobiography, recording legend Barry White lives up ...
Miles and Me
Miles and Me Paige Turner Book Review Quincy Troupe’s candid account of his friendship with Miles Davis is a revealing portrait of a great musician and an intimate study of a unique...
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...
Oh God!
Oh God! Paige Turner Book Review Sexuality is an extremely powerful force and a very real and large component of everyone’s existence. Yet black churches, like most religions through the ages, ...
Our Kind of People
Our Kind of People Paige Turner Book Review A comedian joked that ethnic groups need an elite "Royal Family" to look up to. He mentioned that most WASPS identify with the British Royal fami...
Passing by Samaria
Passing by Samaria Paige Turner Book Review In the early days of the church, when doing the Lord’s work, Christians tried to pass by the town of Samaria, tried to evade visiting this unpleasan...
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...
The Black Rose
The Black Rose Paige Turner Book Review Journalist and novelist Tananarive Due is fast establishing herself as a professional writer who can master any genre she deigns to approach. With her previ...
Wake Up Everybody
Wake Up Everybody Paige Turner Book Review I play the street life cuz there’s no place I can go Street Life - it’s the only life I know Street Life - there’s a thousand parts to pla...
Cinder
Cinder Thumper Book Review Cinder, the latest novel by Albert French, is a sequel to French’s 1993 debut novel, Billy. Although it had been a long time since I read Billy, the novel...
Living Water
Living Water Paige Turner Book Review The Woman at the Well is a well-known bible story that almost begs for deeper examination. Her conversation with Jesus, and His promise of "living wa...
Far From The Tree
Far From The Tree Paige Turner Book Review A prominent novelist once declared, "You can’t go home again", but co authors Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant have reevaluated this truism...
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
A Day Late and a Dollar Short Paige Turner Book Review The publishing world and the legions of Terry McMillan fans can now officially exhale. McMillan’s long awaited "serious" nov...
The Brothers
The Brothers Paige Turner Book Review Musical Gumbo Features Some of Life’s Ups and Lotsa Life’s Downs The Neville Brothers new autobiography, The Brothers, co written with celebrity bio...
The Ditchdigger’s Daughters
The Ditchdigger’s Daughters Paige Turner Book Review The Ditchdigger’s Daughters is the story of Donald Thornton, a laborer, and his wife Tass, a domestic, who managed to shepherd their six ...
Strange Fruit
Strange Fruit Paige Turner Book Review "Anatomy of a Mind Blowing Song" One of the most deeply satisfying and thought provoking books traces the anatomy of a rarely remember song from...
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 Good House
The Good House Thumper Book Review Tananarive Due has returned with The Good House, her best book to date. The Good House is a magnificent, irresistible family drama of one family fighting an evil ...
A Haunted House 2
A Haunted House 2 Kam Williams haunted-house2-movie-review.jpg Film Review A Haunted House 2 In Theaters: Apr 18, 2014 Wide Running time: 87 minutes Rated R for violence, graphic sexuality, front...
In My Father’s House
In My Father’s House Thumper Book Review In My Father’s House is the first installment to a new series the late E. Lynn Harris was working on at the time of his death. I don’t know if t...
House of Payne, Volume 4
House of Payne, Volume 4 Kam Williams house_26.jpg Film Review House of Payne, Volume 4 Click to order via AmazonUnrated Running time: 440 minutes Studio: Lionsgat...
The Other Side of Losing
The Other Side of Losing Kam Williams Book Review ’The Curse of the Goat’ Real Cubs fans don't talk about it much, no more than once or twice a season. Usually it’s ...
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...
Married Men
Married Men Thumper Book Review Savvy, smart Kyle runs a booming African American beauty supply business, but his main job is hiding his wife from Talk about a Calgon-take-me-away book!! Married...
Rudolph Lewis: The Prophetic Voice of the Poet
Rudolph Lewis: The Prophetic Voice of the Poet Miriam Decosta-Willis Book Review Rudolph Lewis In his lyrical Mockingbirds at Jerusalem: A Poetic Memoir, poet, editor, and former professor and l...
The Culinary Art Portfolio of Josephine E. Jones
The Culinary Art Portfolio of Josephine E. Jones Carol Taylor Book Review The Culinary Art Portfolio is neither a cookbook nor a how-to-book. It’s a portfolio, with ready- to-frame prints of th...
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...
America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments
America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments Kam Williams images/america_the_beautiful_2_movie_poster.jpg Film Review Darryl Roberts Stars in Sequel Again Exploring Body Image America t...
Shooting Stars
Shooting Stars Kam Williams Book Review ’I was born in December 1984 in a house on Hickory St. that was mostly maintained by my mother’s mother. But when I was three, my...
A House Is Not a Home
A House Is Not a Home Thumper Book Review The song says it’s hard to say goodbye’humph, not when the guests have overstayed their welcome it Ain't. At that time, saying goodbye is th...
The Adventures of Sasha & Malia at the White House
The Adventures of Sasha & Malia at the White House Kam Williams Book Review "[This] story came to me in a dream one night not long after the inauguration of President Barack Obama… I d...
Safe House
Safe House Kam Williams safehouse_movieposter.jpg Film Review Rookie and Rogue Agents Make Strange Bedfellows in High Body-Count Spy Thriller Safe House In Theaters: Feb 10, 2012 Wide Rated R fo...
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...
Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern
Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern Kam Williams Book Review “From his humble beginnings in Sumter, South Carolina to his prominence on the Washington, D.C. political scene as the third...
Wench
Wench Thumper Book Review I had a feeling that even though we are educated enough in the institution of slavery, there are still aspects that take me by surprise. Dolen Perkins-Valdez debut...
The First: President Barack Obama’s Road to the White House
The First: President Barack Obama’s Road to the White House Kam Williams Book Review "On February 10, 2007, Barack Hussein Obama stood before thousands waiting in the cold in front of the Old Stat...
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 ...
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...
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, ...
In The House Of The Interpreter: A Memoir
In The House Of The Interpreter: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review This stunning second memoir by noted Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, In The House Of The Interpreter, cover...
White House Diary
White House Diary Kam Williams Book Review "During my four years in the White House, I kept a personal diary by dictating my thoughts and observations several times each day… When dictatin...
Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom
Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom Kam Williams Book Review “Elected six times to the House from the state of Georgia, Cynthia McKinney cut a trail through Congressional deceit like a hot ember throug...
This Is Herman Cain: My Journey to the White House
This Is Herman Cain: My Journey to the White House Kam Williams Book Review "I didn’t grow up wanting to be President of the United States. I grew up po', which is even worse than be...
Not Easily Broken
Not Easily Broken Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Can This Marriage Be Saved? Dave and Clarice have been married forever; yet the things that they do not know about one another could fill up a small house...
A Woman’s Worth
A Woman’s Worth Thumper Book Review I’m forewarning everyone, if…no, when I see Tracy Price-Thompson, whoever is closest to me, grab me, because I’m going to try my best to slap h...
Why I Sued the Bible Publishers
Why I Sued the Bible Publishers Robert Fleming Book Review If there was ever a book title that yelled its intentions, this is it. The book’s author, Bradley Fowler, one of the faithful of Presb...
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...
Uncle Tom: A Oral History of the American Black Conservative
Uncle Tom: A Oral History of the American Black Conservative Troy Johnson https://aalbc.com/reviews/images/Uncle-tom-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Rating: NR Genre: Documentary Directed By: Just...
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 ...
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise Kam Williams /reviews/images/maya-angelou-older.jpg Film Review An Intimate Look at the Life of Iconic Poet, Writer, and Activist Excellent (4 stars) In Theaters...
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...
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...
The Future Has a Past
The Future Has a Past Thumper Book Review The Future Has A Past is the latest short story collection by author J. California Cooper. In case you don’t know, I adore J. California Cooper! I&rs...
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March Kam Williams Book Review “Jailed nine times before her 15th birthday, Lynda Blackmon Lowery refused to give u...
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...
Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me
Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me Jesse Washington Book Review Let’s get this out of the way up front: R. Kelly’s autobiography does not discuss what really happened with the sex tape th...
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...
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...
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. ...
That Mean Old Yesterday: A Memoir
That Mean Old Yesterday: A Memoir Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Paint a picture of a little brown girl who walks in fear and sadness. Her dark story is told in Stacey Patton’s memoir, Tha...
Secrets and Lies
Secrets and Lies Idrissa Uqdah Book Review For Better or For Worse Rhonda McKnight's debut novel, Secrets and Lies is about a married couple who despite their comfortable financial situation a...
Phenomenally Me
Phenomenally Me Chris Hayden Book Review In a dark room with a blue light In the basement, music just right Nothing going down but the Mellow sounds of Mr. DJ’s turntables Going round" Boyz...
Insignificant Others: Erotic Novellas
Insignificant Others: Erotic Novellas Anita Doreen Diggs Book Review Award winning authors, Pynk and Carol Taylor have written two original tales for Insignificant Others. Fans will love both sto...
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 ...
Chasing The 400
Chasing The 400 Idrissa Uqdah Book Review The African American Caste System When you think about the caste system you think of the poor in countries like India where there is a division of society ...
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...
Sinking Saints
Sinking Saints Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Author Etta Harbin outlines the ten most important reasons that the 21st century church is on the brink of self-destruction while offering real solution...
Do Me Twice: My Life after Islam
Do Me Twice: My Life after Islam Kam Williams Book Review "The story I must tell in order to be transformed is the story of my coming out — out of Islam, out of my parents’ hous...
Down Home with the Neelys
Down Home with the Neelys Kam Williams Book Review ’Hey, everyone, first of all, I want to thank you for reading our book and watching our show. We had no idea what we were g...
Free Lunch
Free Lunch Kam Williams Book Review ’The evidence of a growing divide between the superrich and everyone else in America is so overwhelming that all but the few lightweight ideologues amo...
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...
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...
Sundown Towns
Sundown Towns Kam Williams Book Review ’Beginning in about 1890 and continuing until 1968, white Americans established thousands of towns across the United States for whites only. A &rsqu...
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...
Big Enough to Be Inconsistent
Big Enough to Be Inconsistent Thumper Book Review There is a great chance that my review of Big Enough to Be Inconsistent: Abraham Lincoln Confronts Slavery and Race by George M. Fredrickso...
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&...
Daddy Interrupted
Daddy Interrupted Thumper Book Review Van Whitfield has made me a happy man with his new novel, Dad Interrupted because Shawn Wayne is back in the house! I am crazy about Shawn Wayne. I am not a bi...
Devil’s Dream: A Novel about Nathan Bedford Forrest by Madison
Devil’s Dream: A Novel about Nathan Bedford Forrest by Madison Thumper Book Review It is safe to say, I began this book in complete and total ignorance. I had not read any of Madison Smartt Bell&rs...
Spiritual Shackles
Spiritual Shackles Tiffany M. Davis Book Review Who burned the churches? This is a question that kicks off the historically mystic journey that is Spiritual Shackles. Set primarily in Pasadena...
Genesis Begins Again
Genesis Begins Again Shafika Burke Book Review Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams is a powerful, poignant, and ultimately empowering middle-grade novel that highlights issues sure to interest...
The Third Verse
The Third Verse Robert Fleming Book Review America is a glorious idea founded on democracy and equality for all. When Jerry Canada, a former trial lawyer and New Yorker, chooses one of the most famou...
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...
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...
The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation
The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation Robert Fleming Book Review South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn’s The First Eight: A Personal Histo...
Book Review: Them That Are Called: An Epic
Book Review: Them That Are Called: An Epic Robert Fleming Book Review This truly epic science-fiction novel, Them That Are Called, took its author more than sixteen years to complete this hefty narra...