Category: Books

“What exactly is Blackness and what does it mean to be Black? Is Blackness a matter of biology or consciousness? Who determines who is Black and who is not—the state, the society, or the individual? Who is Black, who is not, and who cares? In the U.S., historically a Black person has come to be […]

“Law enforcement isn’t about the white man out to get the black man, as so many in the media and social leadership would have us believe…. In most cases, the person riding in the police cruiser isn’t out to get you because of your race or because of how you look.  As a police officer, […]

     “People want to know how a youngster from poverty, who failed his way through public school, got caught up in the 80’s crack epidemic, got indicted and sent to federal prison… wound up working for five-star hotels. They want to know how he became the author of four books, a celebrity chef, a […]

“Life for many Black boys is akin to a war. Wars on their minds, souls, spirits and yes, even their bodies take place on a daily basis. It is my desire that our sons become equipped with an artillery of excellence, weapons of mass knowledge/information and a navigation/GPS system that will help them avoid life’s […]

“With a population of nearly half a million people, Harlem is America’s most celebrated African-American neighborhood. Its rich past and historical importance have made a unique contribution to our national popular culture… Photographer Harvey Stein documents the humanity and spirit of the people of Harlem in 166 beautiful photographs taken over 22 years…. The images […]

“…As you read through the following pages and get a sense of my journey and the lessons I’ve learned, I believe you will come to understand why I’ve not been unsettled or slowed down by the attempts over the years to paint me with a broad brush as some kind of troublemaker or self-interested hustler. […]

By and large, history books have marginalized the African-American community by either omitting or minimizing its cornucopia of contributions to the country. Similarly, the African-American psyche has been trivialized by a host of harmful stereotypes which suggest that we aren’t as diverse or as capable of experiencing the same full range of emotions as Caucasians. […]

“There have been many marches since, and several before, but no other march to the nation’s capital captured our collective imagination like the March on Washington of August 28, 1963… The momentous pilgrimage showcased an inspired… Martin Luther King Jr., the celebrated leader of black America who hadn’t yet delivered an entire speech that the […]

“A great speech is both timely and timeless. First and foremost, it must touch and move its immediate audience… But it must also simultaneously reach over the heads of the assembled to posterity. The ‘I Have a Dream’ speech qualified on both counts. It was delivered in a year that started with Alabama Governor George […]

“I was raised in poverty, surrounded by drug dealers, gangs and community violence. My mother was addicted to crack cocaine and alcohol. I rarely went to church… somehow God’s grace found and saved me when no one and nothing else could… God’s Graffiti takes a look at young men and women in the Bible who […]

The writing team of Ashley and JaQuavis Coleman continues to dominate the paperback fiction bestseller list with four titles in the top ten, according to the latest Power List, a compilation of three websites that have published African American literature for more than a decade. Ashley & Jaquavis’s Cartel 4, the latest in the duo’s […]

“Elected six times to the House from the state of Georgia, Cynthia McKinney cut a trail through Congressional deceit like a hot ember through ash. She discovered legislators who passed laws without reading them… black-skinned individuals shilling for the white status quo. She excoriated government lassitude over Hurricane Katrina… held the only critical Congressional briefing […]