African Art

Designer, activist, and educator Cheryl D. Holmes-Miller is legendary for her decades of scholarship and advocacy, and as a touchstone and conscience for the design profession. In HERE: Where the Black Designers Are, Holmes-Miller documents the history of—and answers to—the question she has been asking for decades: “Where are the Black designers?” Holmes-Miller explores this essential question through the lens of her own development as a designer and leader, beginning with her own family and its rich multiethnic history.

The first book of its kind, A Quick Ting on Afrobeats chronicles the social and cultural development of the eponymous music genre, tracing its rich history from the African continent all the way to the musical centre of the Western world.

Melanin in Movies examines how Hollywood shapes the perception of Black Americans. This book challenges the idea that Hollywood is just about entertainment, exploring how the film industry actively influences society's view of Black people. By analyzing key examples and trends in Black representation, Melanin in Movies reveals how film can be both a tool for liberation and a means of oppression.

At once the most lucrative, popular, and culturally oppositional musical force in the United States, hip-hop demands the kind of interpretation Imani Perry provides here: criticism engaged with this vibrant musical form on its own terms. A scholar and a fan, Perry considers the art, politics, and culture of hip-hop through an analysis of song lyrics, the words of the prophets of the hood.

The figure of the horse, at once earthly and transcendent, represented the contradictions of freedom and captivity that enabled young Octavia to develop her nuanced sense of voice and place. Drawing on previously unknown archival research, this volume illustrates how Butler's development as a writer was tied to her extraordinary resourcefulness and self-awareness growing up as an awkward, bookish Black girl in segregated, Cold War Pasadena.

Explore the life and career of writer and poet Jerry Pinkney, author of Soapstone Signs.

Explore the life and career of Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King-awarded author and illustrator Kadir Nelson.

Award-winning civil rights historian Ray Arsenault describes the dramatic story behind Marian Anderson’s concert at the Lincoln Memorial - an early milestone in civil rights history - on the 70th anniversary of her performance. On Easter Sunday 1939, the brilliant vocalist Marian Anderson sang before a throng of 75,000 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington - an electrifying moment and an underappreciated milestone in civil rights history.

Through sublime landscapes and warm images of a boy and his family, this adaptation of the beloved folk song creates a dazzling, intimate interpretation that rejoices in the connectedness of people and nature.

Accompanying Dan Dana's unique haiku quintets are 179 traditional haiku composed by 61 poets in 21 countries. The result is a browsable world tour of the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Some may make you cry and some may make you laugh. All will help you understand how humanity survived that momentous year.

Experience an enchanting reunion and a life-altering journey in Zanzibar City and then on to Rome with Vanmeter, Dr. Frieda, and 'Birdy' Wire in this offbeat and fast paced tale. Life as they know it will forever change in unimaginable ways when Vanmeter's charisma and ludicrous scheme draw them in. With exotic backdrops, this novel take you on an incredible journey of friendship, love, and renewal. If you enjoyed The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, you'll love this captivating story.

Actress, activist, and now Dancing with the Stars competitor Skai Jackson is a star! Her rise to fame started on the popular Disney Channel shows Bunk'd and Jessie. Her cool sense of style led her to create her own fashion line. And her success has made her a major influencer, with millions of followers on Instagram, who isn't afraid to stand up for what she believes in.

A careful snip, a delicate fold. Fabric the color of new petals. Skirts that flare like upside-down blossoms. A garden bursts into bloom! There is no "good enough." For Ann, only the best will do. Award-winning author Kate Messner and costume historian Margaret E. Powell tell the powerful story of the ground-breaking Ann Lowe, who grew up in a small Alabama dress shop and became the first nationally known African American fashion designer.

Written in the tradition of works by Joan Didion, bell hooks, Toni Morrison, and Eve Ensler, this “profoundly insightful and brilliantly inciting” (Dominique Morisseau, Obie Award-winning playwright) exploration of the soul of the United States - the past, the present, and the future Kevin Powell wants for us all, through the lens and lives of three major figures: his mother, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump.

Alastair Niven has plied a career as a writer, a lecturer and an administrator, including as director of literature at both the Arts Council and the British Council. He was president of English PEN during an epoch of controversial change and has had a special interest in Africa dating from his university years. Dedication to public service finally led him to Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park, where he headed its royal foundation for discussion of educational and ethical issues.

Jordan Rose is a new high school graduate preparing to study archeology at the University of Michigan. She receives an unexpected invitation from a mysterious Oxford professor to join him on a fantastical quest in search of the ancient lost city of Azcar, and its mythic princess, Nadaya. What begins as a chance to earn extra college credits on the adventure of a lifetime, soon turns into a nightmare for the ages. Jordan Rose and the Tomb of Resurrection is a young adult action adventure by James J. Caterino, the author of The Anti-Matter Girl, Dreams, True Stories, To Meghan, Ghost Stories,...

Who Are We Anymore? Book of Poems, by author Reneé Drummond-Brown, will leave the reader pondering how did we arrive at this turbulent crossroad? One thing for sure, two for certain, we know, that we know, cellphones and trends hold our attention at bay from the global catastrophes that detain our mind. Distractions are the new norm, that for certain we do know. Societies present condition and these norms leaves one questioning who, what, where, when, why, and how?

As the first Black woman to consistently write and publish in the field of science fiction, Octavia Butler was a trailblazer. With her deft pen, she created stories speculating the devolution of the American empire, using it as an apt metaphor for the best and worst of humanity—our innovation and ingenuity, our naked greed and ambition, our propensity for violence and hierarchy. In this outstanding work, Susana M. Morris places Butler’s story firmly within the cultural, social, and historical context that shaped her life.

Born into slavery in Kentucky, raised on the Western frontier on the farm adjacent to Daniel Boone’s, “rented” out in adolescence to a succession of steamboat captains on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, the young man known as “Sandy” reinvented himself as “William Wells” Brown after escaping to freedom. He lifted himself out of illiteracy and soon became an innovative, widely admired, and hugely popular speaker on antislavery circuits (both American and British) and went on to write the earliest African American works in a plethora of genres....

When The Flip Wilson Show debuted in 1970, Black faces were still rare on television, Black hosts nonexistent. So how did Clerow “Flip” Wilson go from Jersey City grade-school dropout to national celebrity, heralded on the cover of Time as “TV’s first black superstar”? Flip is a candid, entertaining biography of a consummate comedian who changed the face of American popular culture.