African American Families

For Dana, what should be the happiest day of her life becomes the day her world falls apart. Her daughter is born beautiful and healthy, but no one can help noticing the African-American traits in her appearance. Dana's husband, to her great shock and dismay, begins to worry that people will think she has had an affair. Now Dana has to track down the father she never knew and explore the possibility of African-American lineage in his family history.

In this moving book from multi-award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson, a young girl and her grandmother prepare for a very special day - the one day a month they get to visit the girl's father in prison. "Only on visiting day is there chicken frying in the kitchen at 6 a.m., and Grandma in her Sunday dress, humming soft and low".

When her best friend lucks up and marries an NFL superstar, college senior Racquel Spencer sets out on a mission to find and wed a Mr. Money Bags of her own. Racquel is not above breaking rules, or hearts, to get what she desires. But she will learn that even the best laid plans have a tendency to backfire, and they will inadvertently explode in her M.A.C. powdered face. 18-year old Harmony Eubanks feels that college is a waste of time and just wants to become Houston's next R&B singing sensation. But when an opportunity at a life of stardom presents itself she will find that it also ...

"Your daddy killed Chris!" When Nikki heard her little cousin utter these four words, she had no idea they would change the course of her young life forever. Had no idea that her beloved father would be ripped away from her, drawn into a protracted legal battle. Had no idea that she would be forced to flee her home and go into hiding with her mother and siblings.

When Grandma Mimi comes to visit, she always brings warm hugs, sweet treats...and her purse. You never know what she'll have in there - fancy jewelry, tokens from around the world, or something special just for her granddaughter. It might look like a normal bag from the outside, but Mimi and her granddaughter know that it's pure magic! In this adorable, energetic ode to visits from grandma, Vanessa Brantley Newton shows how an ordinary day can become extraordinary.

Birdwild, shares excerpts from the award-winning poem, Black Cotton, the 2018 Author’s Pick for the “Colorism Healing Anthology of Essays and Poems, Volume 2.” It is a heartwarming story about the true meaning of family and togetherness from the author and educator, Bobbi Simmons. What the main character and protagonist Bree uncovers is that in her own family, skeletal enigmas from the past run deeper than the roots of the tall pine trees that stand along the side of the pastured fields of the Breeze farm, and that all will be unveiled.

Over the course of more than twenty years, James D. Richardson and his wife, Lori, retraced the steps of his ancestor, George Richardson (1824-1911), across nine states, uncovering letters, diaries, and more memoirs hidden away. Their journey brought them to the brink of the racial divide in America, revealing how his great-great-grandfather Richardson played a role in the Underground Railroad, served as a chaplain to a Black Union regiment in the Civil War, and founded a college in Texas for the formerly enslaved.

A READERS' FAVORITE GOLD MEDAL BOOK AWARD WINNER Fans of Junie B. Jones, Ivy and Bean, and Jada Jones love reading the entertaining, illustrated Sophie Washington book series. "I think any child reading this book would gain the confidence to be themselves and not feel pressured to follow the crowd."- Readers' Favorite YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME Sophie and Chloe have been best friends since they met in kindergarten. They get along like chips and salsa and do everything together from playing tennis to cheering on the school cheer squad. Lately, Chloe’s been leaving Sophie out, and she ...

"I started reading Blinders on Sunday afternoon and literally couldn't put it down until I finished it at almost midnight that night. The story grabbed me in the very first chapter and kept me turning the pages all day." —Amazon Review (5 Stars) —Blinders, Volume 1 (book club edition) in The Blinders Trilogy by Kristy Shelton, portrays a beautiful relationship between a former slave couple and a boy who wanders onto their farm, as well as the redeeming forgiveness of the heavenly Father. In this inspirational novel, Eugene, an eleven-year-old boy growing up in Kentucky in 1912, is drawn...

Trinidad-born Justin Peters is a Harvard-educated literature professor, whose focus on the works of "Dead White Men" receives little professional respect at the public Brooklyn college where he teaches. But whatever troubles he might have at work are eclipsed when he realizes his wife, Sally, is no longer certain about their life together.

An estimated one in four women and one in six men is abused by age 18, most often by someone they know. Most of these sexual assaults are never disclosed, much less reported to the police. No Secrets, No Lies demystifies the cultural taboos and social dynamics that keep Black families silent and enable abuse to continue for generations. Through compelling personal accounts from everyday people, Robin D. Stone, a sexual abuse survivor herself, illuminates the emotional, psychological and hidden consequences of remaining silent.

Michael's wife Dahlia seems to have it all - a successful career, a devoted husband, and a loving daughter. But something sinister troubles her tortured mind. When Michael encounters her eccentric mortician father and the other bizarre characters on the plantation of her estranged family, he becomes convinced that Dahlia's past hides the key to her unstable present.

Warm morning sunlight and love fill the Neal home. And on one quiet day, playtime leads to an important realization: Trinity wants long hair like her dolls. She needs it to express who she truly is. So her family decides to take a trip to the beauty supply store, but none of the wigs is the perfect fit. Determined, Mom leaves with bundles of hair in hand, ready to craft a wig as colorful and vibrant as her daughter is.

Black women are at higher risk of developing postnatal depression but are the least likely to be identified as depressed. Sharing the voices of other mothers, Sandra examines how culture, racism, stigma and a lack of trust in services prevent women getting the help they need. Breaking open the conversation on motherhood, race, and mental health, she demands that Black women are listened to, believed and understood.

Book #4 in the crime-fighting Reed Family mystery romance series. Crime Scene Investigator Cori Reed is a certified geek who thinks he’s finally found the one. He’s been dating Geneva Sanchez for almost a year but is sensing some distance in the relationship. Not sure why, Cori gives Geneva her space. After Cori is called to investigate a homicide crime scene, he soon realizes that Geneva could become a suspect. He’s determined to find evidence to prove her innocence, but Geneva is keeping secrets. Cori knows that science doesn’t lie, but when the evidence continues to point towards...

In Our Auntie Rosa, Mrs. Parks' loved ones share their remembrances and reflections to create a previously unpainted picture of the real woman behind the legend. Rosa Parks largely disappeared from the public when she and her husband, Raymond, relocated to Detroit in 1957, escaping the violently racist South. It was in Detroit where Mrs. Parks reconnected with her only sibling, Sylvester McCauley, whom she affectionately called "Brother", and her 13 nieces and nephews.

Joe Massengale grew up a poor African-American boy in Depression-era Texas, never imagining that he would one day be a successful businessman, race-horse owner, and father. In this book, Massengale distills his success into six learned principles: confidence, fortitude, persistence, pride, fearlessness, and focus.

The Mince Family Saga Continues D.Q. Enterprises has become a Fortune 500 Company. Darrell ('Rell) Mince has managed to follow his father's blueprint in building a family empire. The Mince men -- Darryl, 'Rell, and Derek are set in the wealth D.Q. Mince envisioned before his death. Life changing events have caused them to become cautious. Darryl and Derek have partnered to manage Quintech Designs, while 'Rell continues to be the President of D.Q. Enterprises. Just as it seems that all the family secrets have been revealed and the lies have been dispelled, revenge finds them as targets. ...

The Names of All the Flowers connects one tragic death to a collective grief for all Black people who die too young. A lyrical recounting of a life lost, Melissa Valentine’s debut memoir is an intimate portrait of a family fractured by the school-to-prison pipeline and an enduring love letter to an adored older brother. It is a call for justice amid endless cycles of violence, grief, and trauma, declaring: “We are all witness and therefore no one is spared from this loss.”

Structured as a triptych, Africaville chronicles the lives of three generations of the Sebolt family - Kath Ella, her son Omar/Etienne, and her grandson Warner - whose lives unfold against the tumultuous events of the 20th century from the Great Depression of the 1930s, through the social protests of the 1960s to the economic upheavals in the 1980s.