Who performed the first open-heart surgery? What was the first university for black students? Who was first to reach the North Pole? Who was the first African-American woman sheriff? What was the first "real McCoy"? Who was the first African-American woman to receive the French Legion of Honor? Who was the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby three times? AFRICAN-AMERICAN FIRSTS explores the lives & achievements of over 400 men & women who made...

A collection of fifty-two poems by African-American poet Nikki Giovanni.

"A stunning, all-new collection of prayers, poetry, and spiritual practice centering the Black interior world, from the New York Times bestselling author of This Here Flesh and creator of Black Liturgies. In the summer of 2020, Cole Arthur Riley was desperate for a spirituality she could trust. Amidst ongoing national racial violence, the isolation of the pandemic, and a surge of anti-Black rhetoric in many Christian spaces, she began dreaming of...

Overview: With the publication of his first book of poems, The Weary Blues, in 1926, Langston Hughes electrified readers and launched a renaissance in black writing in America. The poems Hughes wrote celebrated the experience of invisible men and women: of slaves who "rushed the boots of Washington"; of musicians on Lenox Avenue; of the poor and the lovesick; of losers in "the raffle of night." They conveyed that experience in a voice that blended...

"A gorgeous collection of 145 original portraits that celebrates Black pioneers--famous and little-known--in politics, science, literature, music, and more--with biographical reflections, all created and curated by an award-winning graphic designer. Illustrated Black History is a breathtaking collection of original portraits depicting black heroes--both famous and unsung--who made their mark on activism, science, politics, business, medicine, technology,...

A treasury of dozens of African-American folktales discusses their role in a broader cultural heritage, sharing such classics as the Brer Rabbit stories, the African trickster Anansi, and tales from the late nineteenth-century's "Southern Workman." "Drawing from the great folklorists of the past while expanding African American lore with dozens of tales rarely seen before, The Annotated African American Folktales revolutionizes the canon like no...

"From Philip K. Dick Award finalist Elwin Cotman, an irresistibly unnerving collection of stories that explore the anxieties of living while Black--a high-wire act of literary-fantastical hybrid fiction. A rural town finds itself under the authoritarian sway of a tree that punishes children. A pair of old friends navigate their fraught history as strange happenings escalate in a Mexican restaurant. A pair of narcissistic friends wreak havoc on an...

"The first of its kind, this illustrated gift book, written by veteran Washington Post TV reporter Bethonie Butler, is a comprehensive look at the rich history of groundbreaking--and often underappreciated--television shows with leading Black characters from the last fifty years"--

Bored with his reputation as a ladies' man, Marcel "Casanova" Brown meets his match when he encounters a mysterious seductress calling herself "Mayte" at a masquerade ball.

As an elderly woman, Lillian recalls that her great-great-grandparents were sold as slaves in front of a courthouse where only rich white men were allowed to vote, then the long fight that led to her right--and determination--to cast her ballot since the Voting Rights Act gave every American the right to vote.