Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, WWII's Forgotten Heroes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The six-time NBA most valuable player teams up with Mississippi author Walton, who co-authored Al Sharpton's Go and Tell Pharaoh. Their chronicle of Patton's Third Army stalwarts takes in the all-black tank battalion's 183 days on the front lines of the Battle of the Bulge, with casualty rates of almost 50%, an almost impossible supply situation, sometimes inept leadership and chronic racism that inflected nearly every move they made. The third-person narrative reflects the intimacy Jabbar has with Leonard "Smitty" Smith, the loader on a 761st tank crew, with episodes and anecdotes that feel immediate and a wealth of visual and tactical detail about what it was like to work and often live, on the inside of a tank. The authors widen the scope repeatedly to give a nuanced account of the 676 enlisted men and 36 officers of the battalion and its place in the Third Army. While it will leave aficionados satisfied, this is military history that will prove compelling to anyone with an interest in black men's experience during the 20th century. The group's liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp is covered in a few pages, but its heroism is on display throughout.
Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man? by Charles Barkley
This is the most personal and important book Charles Barkley has written. He lays himself open here and because he does, he brings the same straight talk out of everyone with whom he engages in his journey around America to talk about the things that matter most and are the hardest to say – things having to do with race and money and identity. Why is it that we can talk about all sorts of big issues, but when the subject of race is raised, we all freeze up?
African Americans by David Boyle
Africans arrived in North America as slaves of the first European settlers and their history is largely one of hardship and injustice. These brief, vivid sketches of important individuals are contained in this new series that documents and dramatizes the immigration experience of untold numbers of men, women and children who arrived in America from the four corners of the world.
Girl, Get Your Credit Straight: A Sister's Guide to Dithing Your Debt, Mending Your Credit and Building a Strong Financial Future by Glinda Bridgforth
Why we debt: the emotional and cultural factors at the root of your debt balance – Your credit report and score: what they mean and how they work – Pay off debts and know where your money goes – Establish a spending plan that meets needs and ditches debts – The secrets to boosting your creditworthiness – Couples in credithood – Increase your income: 101 ideas to raise extra revenue – Protecting your new financial health and financing your wildest dreams – Healing rituals for the spirit : prayer, affirmation, meditation and visualization.
On the Up and Up: A Survival Guide for Women Living With Men on the Down Low by Brenda Stone Browder
J.L. King's groundbreaking New York Times bestseller, On the Down Low, revealed the shocking truth about one man's secret life. Now, readers can discover the other side of the story in this inspiring, informative book by the one woman who can tell it right, the one woman who knows – his ex-wife.
What Mama Taught Me: The Seven Core Values of Life by Tony Brown
Accrediting his mother's teachings through his own individual life lessons, the author of Empower the People introduces seven core values designed as a personal guide to help readers achieve success, obtain happiness and enjoy prosperity, while arguing disloyalty to ourselves when such values are betrayed.
Uncommon Valor: A Story of Race, Patriotism and Glory in the Final Battles of the Civil War by Melvin Claxton
Christian Fleetwood had mixed feelings about America and America had mixed feelings about him. As a free 23-year-old black man living in Baltimore, with the Civil War raging, he understood well all that was worrisome and all that was inspiring in his war-torn country. A few days after Gettysburg, as his hometown was flooded with horribly wounded soldiers, Fleetwood made a momentous and patriotic decision. He enlisted.Uncommon Valor tells the powerful story of how Sergeant Fleetwood and his fellow "colored" troops overcame oppression, suspicion, derision and a ceaseless torrent of Confederate gunfire to overrun a heavily fortified rebel position against impossible odds.
A Piece of Cake: A Memoir by Cupcake Brown
The bestselling memoir of Cupcake Brown's harrowing and inspiring life from the streets to one of the nation's largest law firms, dazzles you with the amazing change that is possible in one lifetime.
Jubilee: The Emergence of African American Culture by Howard Dodson
Celebrating the development and emergence of a truly unique African-American culture out of the bonds of slavery, Jubilee delivers a poignant, hopeful and important message. 200 photos. Maps.
Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave by Jennifer Fleischner
This historical portrait set against the backdrop of the antebellum South and the Civil War explores the remarkable friendship between First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln and her dressmaker and confidante, Elizabeth Keckly, a former slave.
In Search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South by John Hope Franklin
The matriarch of a remarkable African-American family, Sally Thomas went from being a slave on a tobacco plantation to a "virtually free" slave who ran her own business and purchased one of her sons out of bondage. In Search of the Promised Land offers a vivid portrait of the extended Thomas-Rapier family and of slave life before the Civil War.Based on personal letters and an autobiography by one of Thomas's sons, this remarkable piece of detective work follows the family as they walk the boundary between slave and free, traveling across the country in search of a "promised land" where African-Americans would be treated with respect. Their record of these journeys provides a vibrant picture of antebellum America, ranging from New Orleans to St. Louis to the Overland Trail.
Dr. Gavin's Health Guide for African Americans by James R. Gavin
The time for hope and miracles is at hand. Inside this book are the secrets to good health, good looks, good moods and the good life. These secrets will work for you and for your children – and save you from the epidemic of obesity that is sweeping our land. Today we are right in its path and our risk of disease is growing right along with our waistlines. We share a multicultural heritage that we make unique in each of our lives. As a group, we embrace our love of family, church, food and music. These are our strengths. We must now embrace the challenges to our health that we share as a result of genes and lifestyle choices. This book shows you the way home. When you change your life, take baby steps and laugh when you fall down. Small acts translate to hope and miracles. Use Dr. Gavin's Guide as a stepping stone to the hope and miracles that can be yours.
Don't Play in the Sun: One Woman's Journey Through the Color Complex by Marita Golden
To be sure, this book is not a pity party – but, rather, a nuanced look at identity and the irrepressible and graceful will of the human spirit. Peppering her narrative with "Postcards from the Color Complex," reminiscences of some of the author's most powerful experiences, Golden takes us inside her world and inside her heart, to show what a half-century of intraracial and interracial personal politics looks like. We come to see the world through the eyes of the young Marita and the dualism that existed in her own home: the ebony-hued father, who cherished her and taught her to be "black and proud," and the lighter-skinned mother, who one summer afternoon admonished Marita while she was outside, "Come on in the house – it's too hot to be playing out there. I've told you don't play in the sun, 'cause as it is, you gonna have to get a light-skinned husband for the sake of your children." At every turn in her life – in high school, her black power college days, as a young married woman in Africa, as a college professor, as an accomplished author and even today – race and color are the inescapable veils through which Golden has been viewed.
The Senator and the Socialite: The True Story of America's First Black Dynasty by Lawrence Graham
In this detailed analysis, commentator and attorney Graham examines the achievements of a family whose fortunes were established by Blanche Kelso Bruce, the first African-American to serve a full term in the US Senate. Born a slave but eventually a wealthy man, Bruce and his wife Josephine Willson Bruce entered political life determined to succeed; and they did. Bruce served four presidents by appointment. Their son and grandson graduated from Harvard and their influence made significant strides for desegregation. However, after years of working as partners with such as the Rockefellers, members of the third generation were caught in scandals and applied for relief. Graham provides a vivid portrait of what happened.
Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas by Merida Kevin
Supreme Discomfort tracks the personal odyssey of perhaps the least understood man in Washington, from his poor childhood in Pin Point and Savannah, Georgia, to his educational experiences in a Catholic seminary and Holy Cross, to his law school years at Yale during the Black Power era, to his rise within the Republican political establishment. It offers a long-overdue window into a man who straddles two different worlds and is uneasy in both – and whose divided personality and conservative political philosophy will deeply influence American life for years to come.
Coming Up From the Down Low: The Journey to Acceptance, Healing and Honest Love by J.L. King
King's earlier book, On the Down Low, told of his "straight" married life and covert sex with men. A media feeding frenzy followed, with consternation in black churches, anxiety and hostility among black women and serious criticism from gay black writer Keith Boykin. King has since identified himself as bisexual, and his second book is more nuanced and grounded, drawing on conversations with hundreds of men and women who had reportedly read or heard his message.
Patti LaBelle's Lite Cuisine by Patti LaBelle
The acclaimed singer and author of LaBelle Cuisine describes her recent diagnosis of diabetes. She details the changes the ailment has meant in her dietary habits and food choices and presents more than one hundred original recipes for healthy dishes.
Launching Our Black Children For Success: A Guide for Parents of Kids From Three to Eighteen by Joyce Ladner
Offers advice to African-American parents on how to prepare their children for success from their earliest development stages. This book explains how to make the most of a parent's own experiences while outlining a plan to provide children with necessary strengths and strategies.
Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism by James W. Loewen
Loewen exposes the history and persistence of "sundown towns," so named for the signs often found at their corporate limits warning African-Americans and other minorities not to be found in the town after dusk. He historically situates the rise of the sundown town movement in the years following the Civil War; describes the mechanisms of violence, threats, law and policy that were used to force minorities out of Northern and Western towns into the big cities; and charts the continued existence of such communities. In considering the sociology of sundown towns he investigates the causes that underlie the existence of sundown towns and discusses why the phenomena has remained largely hidden. The social costs of sundown towns on whites, blacks and the social system are then detailed and recommendations for fixing this blight on the body politic are proffered.
Cuttin' Up: Wit and Wisdom from Black Barber Shops by Craig Mayberry
The author of Crowns returns with an unforgettable collection of narratives, quotes and photographs from the most sacred of spaces, the black barber shop.
Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America by John H. McWhorter
John McWhorter returns to the explosive dialogue begun in his New York Times bestseller Losing the Race and raises the stakes in a provocative new book where he argues that a renewed commitment to achievement and integration is the only cure for the crisis in the African-American community.
Another Day at the Front: Dispatches From the Race War by Ishmael Reed
A collection of essays by the author of Airing Dirty Laundry is a social criticism of the perpetuators of what he identifies as America's war on the black population. He cites historical and ongoing conflicts while noting areas of responsibility in governmental, media and public arenas.
The $40 Million Slaves: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Black Slave by William C. Rhoden
Renowned New York Times columnist Rhoden deconstructs the black athlete in this explosive and absorbing discussion of race, politics and the history of American sports. He argues that for all their money and fame, black athletes are no better off than slaves whose masters forced them to race and fight.
Longing to Tell: Black Women Talk About Sexuality and Intimacy by Tricia Rose
Seeking to dispel commonly held perceptions about intimacy in African-American women, a study drawn from the testimonies of 20 women from a broad range of ages, education levels and backgrounds reveals their experiences of sex, love, family, relationships and intimacy.
A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey From the Inner City to the Ivy League by Ron Suskind
Suskind follows Cedric Jennings through his last year at an all-black high school in Washington, D.C., and his first, eye-opening year as a scholarship student at exclusive (and mostly white) Brown University. This sociological case study provides fascinating insight into issues of race, class, economics and religion.
The Thunder of Angels: The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the People Who Broke the Back of Jim Crow by Donnie Williams
2006 marked the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her seat on public bus #2857 in Montgomery, Ala., prompting the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955–56. Williams's father purchased the bus in the 1970s to ensure its preservation. He and coauthor Greenhaw aim not simply to tell the story of the protest but also to cast light upon E.D. Nixon, an organizer in Montgomery for many years before the boycott. They contend that the boycott does not owe its beginnings simply to Rosa Parks or to Martin Luther King Jr. but to Nixon's tenacity, explaining that it was Nixon who picked King to lead the protest.
This Far by Faith: Stories From the African American Religious Experience by Juan Williams
Combines historical research, interviews and commentary by some of America's foremost clergy to explore African-American religious life and its impact. A history that molded not only the Black American experience, but also the identity of the United States.