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Dick Gregory, Donna Hill, The Tulsa Race Massacre, New Books, and More - 2/9/2021


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No More Lies AALBC 1
 

History has been written almost exclusively from the white perspective. Written by the voice of Black consciousness, Dick Gregory the incomparable comedian and human rights activist, revisits history from the Black perspective. Originally published in 1972, Gregory examines numerous aspects of culture and history, from the slave trade, police brutality, to the 1968 Civil Rights Act. This essential classic continues to speak to us today. More about No More Lies 

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Please join GOG! for a conversation with Denise Williams author of How to Fail at Flirting, Edwina Martin Arnold author of the Chocolate Friday romance series and Donna Hill author of Confessions in B-Flat

Feb 13, 2021 05:00 PM in Eastern Time

Learn More ▶

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The Body Is Not an Apology, Second Edition: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor

The Body Is Not an Apology offers radical self-love as the balm to heal the wounds inflicted by these violent systems. World-renowned activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor invites us to reconnect with the radical origins of our minds and bodies and celebrate our collective, enduring strength. As we awaken to our own indoctrinated body shame, we feel inspired to awaken others and to interrupt the systems that perpetuate body shame and oppression against all bodies.

This second edition includes stories from Taylor’s travels around the world combating body terrorism and shines a light on the path toward liberation guided by love. In a brand new final chapter, she offers specific tools, actions, and resources for confronting racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia. And she provides a case study showing how radical self-love not only dismantles shame and self-loathing in us but has the power to dismantle entire systems of injustice. More ▶

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Your Name Is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, Illustrated by Luisa Uribe

Frustrated by a day full of teachers and classmates mispronouncing her beautiful name, a little girl tells her mother she never wants to come back to school. In response, the girl’s mother teaches her about the musicality of African, Asian, Black-American, Latinx, and Middle Eastern names on their lyrical walk home through the city. Empowered by this newfound understanding, the young girl is ready to return the next day to share her knowledge with her class. Your Name is a Song is a celebration to remind all of us about the beauty, history, and magic behind names.

Your Name is a Song includes back matter perfect for parents, educators, caregivers, and young readers who want to learn more about the names featured in the story. The “Glossary of Names” lists each name’s meaning, origin, and pronunciation. Additionally, readers can use a listed link to access an online video of the author pronouncing all the names in the book. More ▶

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Opal’s Greenwood Oasis by Quraysh Ali Lansana and Najah-Amatullah Hylton, Illustrated by Skip Hill

The year is 1921, and Opal Brown would like to show you around her beautiful neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Filled with busy stores and happy families, Opal also wants you to know that “everyone looks like me.”

In both words and illustrations, this carefully researched and historically accurate book allows children to experience the joys and success of Greenwood, one of the most prosperous Black communities of the early 20th Century, an area Booker T. Washington dubbed America’s Black Wall Street.

Soon after the day narrated by Opal, Greenwood would be lost in the Tulsa Race Massacre, the worst act of racial violence in American history. As we approach the centennial of that tragic event, children have the opportunity through this book to learn and celebrate all that was built in Greenwood. More ▶

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Vibrate Higher: A Rap Story by Talib Kweli

Before Talib Kweli became a world-renowned hip hop artist, he was a Brooklyn kid who liked to cut class, spit rhymes, and wander the streets of Greenwich Village with a motley crew of artists, rappers, and DJs who found hip hop more inspiring than their textbooks (much to the chagrin of the educator parents who had given their son an Afrocentric name in hope of securing for him a more traditional sense of pride and purpose).

Eventually, childhood friendships turned into collaborations and Kweli gained notoriety as a rapper in his own right. From collaborating with some of hip hop’s greatest—including Mos Def, Common, Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, and Kendrick Lamar—to selling books out of the oldest African-American bookstore in Brooklyn, and ultimately leaving his record label and taking control of his own recording career, Kweli tells the winding, always compelling story of the people and events that shaped his own life as well as the culture of hip hop which informs American culture at large. More ▶

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“They Cried I Am: The Life and Work of Paule Marshall and John A. Williams, Unsung Black Literary Voices”

Saturday, March 27, 2021, 11: 00 AM – 7:00 PM
Presented on Zoom

The 2021 National Black Writers Conference Biennial Symposium will celebrate the life and works of the late Paule Marshall and John A. Williams.

Featured program highlights will include a keynote address, roundtable discussions, and dramatic readings. Confirmed speakers include Carole Boyce-Davies, Edwidge Danticat, Keith Gilyard, Maryemma Graham, Michael Anthony Green, Lawrence Jackson, Evan Marshall, Liza Jessie Peterson, Ishmael Reed, Linda Villarosa, Mary Helen Washington, and Tulivu-Donna Cumberbatch.

For more information, visit The Center for Black Literature ▶

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Google controls the discoverability of websites in search, a favorable review helps 😉
Please send complaints directly to me troy@aalbc.com

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Dear Reader,

I currently work out of an office in the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of one of the most violent and destructive scenes of racial violence to take place in America, known today as the Tulsa Race Massacre. The 100th anniversary of this tragedy is May 31 – June 1, 2021.

For almost a century this event was deliberately hidden, but today this is no longer the case. It not about pointing out yet another injustice perpetuated against Black people in this country, it is about accurately telling our history, so that we can learn and heal from it. Books like Opal’s Greenwood Oasis can help prepare youngsters to begin to understand this history, for it is not just Tulsan history, it is American History. Part of AALBC’s mission is to use books to tell our stories, which are too often not told or distorted.

As always, you are why I’ve been able to make AALBC the premier platform for books by, or about, Black people. Your paid subscription, book purchases, suggestions, spreading the word, engagement on the site (commenting and social sharing), and advertisements helps support this effort to celebrate Black books and authors.

Peace and Love,
Troy Johnson
Founder & Webmaster, AALBC.com

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This Newsletter is Sponsored by Amistad

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★ AALBC.com eNewsletter – February 9, 2021 - Issue #317

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