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  • killing rage: Ending Racism

    by bell hooks

    $19.00

    One of our country's premier cultural and social critics, bell hooks has always maintained that eradicating racism and eradicating sexism must go hand in hand. But whereas many women have been recognized for their writing on gender politics, the female voice has been all but locked out of the public discourse on race.

    Killing Rage speaks to this imbalance. These twenty-three essays are written from a black and feminist perspective, and they tackle the bitter difficulties of racism by envisioning a world without it. They address a spectrum of topics having to do with race and racism in the United States: psychological trauma among African Americans; friendship between black women and white women; anti-Semitism and racism; and internalized racism in movies and the media. And in the title essay, hooks writes about the "killing rage"--the fierce anger of black people stung by repeated instances of everyday racism--finding in that rage a healing source of love and strength and a catalyst for positive change.

    bell hooks is Distinguished Professor of English at City College of New York. She is the author of the memoir Bone Black as well as eleven other books. She lives in New York City.

  • Textures: The History and Art of Black Hair by Tameka Ellington
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    Textures synthesizes research in history, fashion, art, and visual culture to reassess the “hair story” of peoples of African descent. Long a fraught topic for African Americans and others in the diaspora, Black hair is here addressed by artists, barbers, and activists in both its historical perceptions and its ramifications for self and society today. Combs, products, and implements from the collection of hair pioneer Willie Morrow are paired here with masterworks from artists like Sonya Clark, Lorna Simpson, Mickalene Thomas, and Alison Saar. Exploring topics such as the preferential treatment of straight hair, the social hierarchies of skin, and the power and politics of display, Textures is a landmark exploration of Black hair and its important, complicated place in the history of African American life and culture.
  • Black Skin, White Masks (Revised)

    by Frantz Fanon

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    Few modern voices have had as profound an impact on the black identity and critical race theory as Frantz Fanon, and Black Skin, White Masks  represents some of his most important work. Fanon’s masterwork is now available in a new translation that updates its language for a new generation of readers.

    A major influence on civil rights, anti-colonial, and black consciousness movements around the world, Black Skin, White Masks is the unsurpassed study of the black psyche in a white world. Hailed for its scientific analysis and poetic grace when it was first published in 1952, the book remains a vital force today from one of the most important theorists of revolutionary struggle, colonialism, and racial difference in history.
  • Addicted: A Novel

    by Zane

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    *ships in 7 - 10 business days*

    Before there was E.L. James’s 50 Shades of Grey, there was Zane’s Addicted. Once described as “the hottest paperback in the country” by the New York Times and now a major motion picture distributed by Lionsgate, this wildly popular novel by the Queen of Erotica follows one woman’s life as it spirals out of control when her three extramarital affairs lead her down a dark and twisted path.

    For successful African-American businesswoman Zoe Reynard, finding the pleasure she wants, the way she wants it, is not worth the risk of losing everything she has: marriage to the man she has loved since childhood, a thriving company, and three wonderful children. But Zoe feels helpless in the grip of an overpowering addiction…to sex.

    Finding a compassionate woman therapist to help her, Zoe finally summons the courage to tell her torrid story, a tale of guilt and desire as shocking as it is compelling. From the sensitive artist with whom she spends stolen hours on rumpled sheets to the rough and violent man who draws her toward destruction, Zoe is a woman desperately searching for fulfillment—and something darker, deeper, and perhaps deadly. As her life spins out of control and her sexual escapades carry her toward a dangerous choice, Zoe is racing against time to uncover the source of her “fatal attraction”—as chilling secrets tumble forth from the recesses of a woman's mind, and perilous temptations lead toward a climax that can threaten her sanity, her marriage…and her life.

  • PRE-ORDER: Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance

    by Moya Bailey

    $16.95

    PRE-ORDER:  On Sale Date: September 1, 2022

    Where racism and sexism meet—an understanding of anti-Black misogyny

    When Moya Bailey first coined the term misogynoir, she defined it as the ways anti-Black and misogynistic representation shape broader ideas about Black women, particularly in visual culture and digital spaces. She had no idea that the term would go viral, touching a cultural nerve and quickly entering into the lexicon. Misogynoir now has its own Wikipedia page and hashtag, and has been featured on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time. In Misogynoir Transformed, Bailey delves into her groundbreaking concept, highlighting Black women’s digital resistance to anti-Black misogyny on YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, and other platforms.

    At a time when Black women are depicted as more ugly, deficient, hypersexual, and unhealthy than their non-Black counterparts, Bailey explores how Black women have bravely used social-media platforms to confront misogynoir in a number of courageous—and, most importantly, effective—ways. Focusing on queer and trans Black women, she shows us the importance of carving out digital spaces, where communities are built around queer Black webshows and hashtags like #GirlsLikeUs.

    Bailey shows how Black women actively reimagine the world by engaging in powerful forms of digital resistance at a time when anti-Black misogyny is thriving on social media. A groundbreaking work, Misogynoir Transformed highlights Black women’s remarkable efforts to disrupt mainstream narratives, subvert negative stereotypes, and reclaim their lives.

  • Creole Religions of the Caribbean, Third Edition: An Introduction

    by Margarite Fernández Olmos & Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert

    $30.00

    An updated introduction to the religions developed in the Caribbean region

    Creole Religions of the Caribbean offers a comprehensive introduction to the overlapping religions that have developed as a result of the creolization process. Caribbean peoples drew on the variants of Christianity brought by European colonizers, as well as on African religious and healing traditions and the remnants of Amerindian practices, to fashion new systems of belief. From Vodou, Santería, Regla de Palo, the Abakuá Secret Society, and Obeah to Quimbois and Espiritismo, the volume traces the historical–cultural origins of the major Creole religions, as well as the newer traditions such as Rastafari.

    This third edition updates the scholarship by featuring new critical approaches that have been brought to bear on the study of religion, such as queer studies, environmental studies, and diasporic studies. The third edition also expands the regional considerations of the diaspora to the US Latinx communities that are influenced by Creole spiritual practices, taking into account the increased significance of material culture?art, music, literature, and healing practices influenced by Creole religions.

  • Freedom Dreams (TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY EDITION): The Black Radical Imagination

    by Robin D.G. Kelley

    $19.95

    *ships in 7 - 10 business days*

    The 20th-anniversary edition of Kelley’s influential history of 20th-century Black radicalism, with new reflections on current movements and their impact on the author, and a foreword by poet Aja Monet

    First published in 2002, Freedom Dreams is a staple in the study of the Black radical tradition. Unearthing the thrilling history of grassroots movements and renegade intellectuals and artists, Kelley recovers the dreams of the future worlds Black radicals struggled to achieve.

    Focusing on the insights of activists, from the Revolutionary Action Movement to the insurgent poetics of Aimé and Suzanne Césaire, Kelley chronicles the quest for a homeland, the hope that communism offered, the politics of surrealism, the transformative potential of Black feminism, and the long dream of reparations for slavery and Jim Crow.

    In this edition, Kelley includes a new introduction reflecting on how movements of the past 20 years have expanded his own vision of freedom to include mutual care, disability justice, abolition, and decolonization, and a new epilogue exploring the visionary organizing of today’s freedom dreamers.

    This classic history of the power of the Black radical imagination is as timely as when it was first published.

  • Scenes from My Life: A Memoir

    by Michael K. Williams

    $18.00

    A moving, unflinching memoir of hard-won success, struggles with addiction, and a lifelong mission to give back—from the late, iconic actor beloved for his roles in The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, and Lovecraft Country

    When Michael K. Williams died on September 6, 2021, he left behind a career as one of the most electrifying actors of his generation. From his star turn as Omar Little in The Wire to Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire to Emmy-nominated roles in HBO’s The Night Of and Lovecraft County, Williams created a slew of indelible characters that he portrayed with a rawness and vulnerability that leapt off the screen. Beyond the nominations and acclaim, Williams played characters who connected, whose humanity couldn’t be denied, whose stories were too often left out of the main narrative.
     
    At the time of his death, Williams had nearly finished a memoir that told the story of his past while looking to the future, a book that merged his life and his life’s work. Mike, as his friends knew him, was so much more than an actor. In Scenes from My Life, he traces his life in whole, from his childhood in East Flatbush, his battles with addiction, and his early years as a dancer to the bar fight that left his face with his distinguishing scar. He was a committed Brooklyn resident and activist who dedicated his life to working with community and social justice organizations, especially at-risk youth, to find their voice and carve out their future. Williams worked to keep the spotlight on those he fought for and with, whom he believed in and committed to with his whole heart.
     
    With poignance and raw honesty, Scenes from My Life is the story of a performer who gave his all to everything he did—in his own voice, in his own words, as only he could.

  • Spice Kitchen: Healthy Latin and Caribbean Cuisine by Ariel Fox
    $35.00

    This compilation of 110 recipes from a Hell's Kitchen winner and award-winning chef takes a healthier approach to cuisines that are often underrepresented in cookbooks.


    Chef Ariel Fox introduces you to both classic recipes as well as innovative new dishes in Spice KitchenHealthy Latin and Caribbean Cuisine in a way that works for all lifestyles. This book has something for everyone, including information on how to maximize your pantry, simple recipes, and useful suggestions for adapting the dishes to any diet

    Ariel made the decision to change her lifestyle, learn about nutrition, and get in the greatest shape of her life while still maintaining a connection to the foods she grew up eating. Now she's here to share her decades of experience and knowledge with you.

    This cookbook will be a fantastic addition to your kitchen, whether you are looking for healthier alternatives to the nostalgic flavors of your childhood or are new to Latin and Caribbean foods.

  • The Mamas: What I Learned About Kids, Class, and Race from Moms Not Like Me

    by Helena Andrews-Dyer

    $27.00

    *ship in 7-10 business days

    A Washington Post culture writer chronicles the challenges she faces as a Black mother in a mostly white mommy group in a time of gentrification, racial reckoning, and a global pandemic.

    “Can white moms and Black moms ever truly be friends, not just mom friends, like really real friends?”
     
    Helena Andrews-Dyer lives in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, D.C., a picturesque collection of rowhouses near the center of the city that has become increasingly gentrified in the last decade. After having her first child a few years ago, she joined the local motherhood support group—“the Mamas”—and was surprised to find she was one of the only Black mothers. The racial, cultural, and socio-economic differences were made clear almost immediately. Then George Floyd happened. A man was murdered. A man who called out for his mama. And suddenly, the Mamas felt even more different. Though they were alike in some ways—they want their kids to be safe, they think their husbands are lazy, they work too much and they feel guilty about it—Helena realized she had an entirely different set of problems her neighborhood mom friends could never truly understand.
     
    In The Mamas, Helena chronicles the particular challenges she faces in a group where a reading list is the first step to solving systemic racism and where she, a Black, professional, Ivy League-educated mom, is overcompensating with every move. And Helena grapples with her own inner tensions like, “Why do I never leave the house with the baby and without my wedding ring?” and “Why did every name we considered for our kids have to pass the résumé test?” Throw in a pandemic and a nationwide movement for social justice and follow Helena as she ultimately tries to find out if moms from different backgrounds can truly understand one another.
     
    With sharp wit and refreshing honesty, The Mamas explores the contradictions and community of motherhood—white and Black and everything—against the backdrop of the rapidly changing world.

  • The Blood Gift

    by N.E. Davenport

    from $19.99

    In this stunning conclusion to N. E. Davenport’s fast-paced, action-packed sci-fantasy duology, elite warrior Ikenna and her rogue cohort must outrun bounty hunters, their former comrades, and a megalomaniacal demi-god, all in the hopes of saving their friends and enemies from the racist and misogynistic oppression that threatens the continents from all sides.

    After discovering the depth of betrayal, treachery, and violence perpetrated against her by Mareen’s Tribunal Council and exposing her illegal blood-gift to save her Praetorian squad, Ikenna becomes a fugitive with a colossal bounty on her head.

    Yet, somehow, that’s the least of her worries.

    Her grandfather’s longtime allies refuse to offer help, and the Blood Emperor’s Warlord is tracking her. She’s also struggling to control the enormous power she was granted by the Goddess of Blood Rites…and come to terms with the promises she made to get such power.

    Amidst all of this, the Blood Emperor wages a full-scale invasion against Mareen and leaves a trail of decimated cities, war crimes, and untold death in his wake. As the horrors increase, Ikenna and her team realize they must assassinate the Blood Emperor and quickly end the war. But the price to do so is steep and has planet-shattering consequences.

    The price to do nothing, though, is annihilation.

    War has erupted. Alliances are fracturing. And Ikenna is torn between her loyalties, her desires for revenge, and the power threatening to consume her. With the world aflame, only one thing is certain: blood will be spilled.


  • The Many Dates of Indigo

    by Amber Samuel

    $16.99

    Hair done. Nails too. Make-up flawless. Indigo knows she looks good . . . now if she could only find someone who could see her as she saw herself: fearless, strong, sexy

    Indigo has most of her life figured out. She’s a successful business owner. She’s got a lovely family and wonderful friends–who are totally invested in her finding a partner as amazing as Indigo is. It’s the last part of the equation for the happy life she knows she deserves. But you have to kiss a lot of frogs until you find your prince--from hotshot lawyers to looks-great-on-paper types, Indigo’s dating life is red hot! But if it is long-lasting love she wants . . . she may need to look no further than right in front of her.

  • Stepmotherland

    by Darrel Alejandro Holnes

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    *ships in 7-10 business days

    Stepmotherland is a tour-de-force debut collection about coming of age, coming out, and coming to America.

    Winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, Stepmotherland, Darrel Alejandro Holnes’s first full-length collection, is filled with poems that chronicle and question identity, family, and allegiance. This Central American love song is in constant motion as it takes us on a lyrical and sometimes narrative journey from Panamá to the USA and beyond. The driving force behind Holnes’s work is a pursuit for a new home, and as he searches, he takes the reader on a wild ride through the most pressing political issues of our time and the most intimate and transformative personal experiences of his life. Exploring a complex range of emotions, this collection is a celebration of the discovery of America, the discovery of self, and the ways they may be one and the same.

    Holnes’s poems experiment with macaronic language, literary forms, and prosody. In their inventiveness, they create a new tradition that blurs the borders between poetry, visual art, and dramatic text. The new legacy he creates is one with significant reverence for the past, which informs a central desire of immigrants and native-born citizens alike: the desire for a better life. Stepmotherland documents an artist’s evolution into manhood and heralds the arrival of a stunning new poetic voice.

  • Building Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power

    by Psyche A. Williams-Forson

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    Building Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power Williams-Forson examines the complexity of black women's legacies with food as a form of cultural work. While acknowledging the negative interpretations of black culture associated with chicken imagery, Williams-Forson focuses her analysis on the ways black women have forged their own self-definitions and relationships to the "gospel bird." From personal interviews to the comedy of Chris Rock, from commercial advertisements to the art of Kara Walker, and from cookbooks to literature, Williams-Forson considers how black women defy conventional representations of blackness in relationship to these foods and exercise influence through food preparation and distribution.
    Chicken--both the bird and the food--has played multiple roles in the lives of African American women from the slavery era to the present. It has provided food and a source of income for their families, shaped a distinctive culture, and helped women define and exert themselves in racist and hostile environments. Psyche A. Williams-Forson examines the complexity of black women's legacies using food as a form of cultural work. While acknowledging the negative interpretations of black culture associated with chicken imagery, Williams-Forson focuses her analysis on the ways black women have forged their own self-definitions and relationships to the "gospel bird."

    Exploring material ranging from personal interviews to the comedy of Chris Rock, from commercial advertisements to the art of Kara Walker, and from cookbooks to literature, Williams-Forson considers how black women arrive at degrees of self-definition and self-reliance using certain foods. She demonstrates how they defy conventional representations of blackness and exercise influence through food preparation and distribution. Understanding these complex relationships clarifies how present associations of blacks and chicken are rooted in a past that is fraught with both racism and agency. The traditions and practices of feminism, Williams-Forson argues, are inherent in the foods women prepare and serve.
  • The Unfolding: An Invitation to Come Home to Yourself

    by Arielle Estoria

    $27.99

    A wise and beautifully designed collection of poetry, essays, and meditations meant to guide the reader into reflecting on the periods of unfolding in their own lives.

    In order to let something in,

    you have to let some things go


    In order to heal, you must hurt,

    In order to grow, you will experience discomfort

    and all of this is to make more room for hope

    less room for perfectionism and more room for simply being.


    Less room for answers,

    more room for questions with integrity

    for mystery and wonder that leads you somewhere new

    not right or wrong, good or bad


    This is the Unfolding

    The Unfolding is a gateway to change that gives you permission to breathe, change, and grow. Arielle Estoria shares the story of her own transformation in poems that were birthed from seasons of hurt and discomfort—from single to engaged, from Baptist pastor’s kid to student and explorer of the wonder and unanswered aspects of faith, from broken to restored—as she became the person she was meant to be.

    The process of unfolding happens over and over again, helping you to grow, to expand, to peel away the layers of who you’ve been, mesh them with who you will be, and step into the fullness and wholeness of who you are.

  • Lone Women: A Novel

    by Victor LaValle

    $18.00

    Blue skies, empty land—and enough room to hide away a horrifying secret. Or is there? Discover a haunting new vision of the American West from the award-winning author of The Changeling.

    Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk is opened, people around her start to disappear...

    The year is 1914, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, and forced her to flee her hometown of Redondo, California, in a hellfire rush, ready to make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will be one of the "lone women" taking advantage of the government's offer of free land for those who can cultivate it—except that Adelaide isn't alone. And the secret she's tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing keeping her alive.

    Told in Victor LaValle's signature style, blending historical fiction, shimmering prose, and inventive horror, Lone Women is the gripping story of a woman desperate to bury her past—and a portrait of early twentieth-century America like you've never seen.

  • The Sugar Jar: Create Boundaries, Embrace Self-Healing, and Enjoy the Sweet Things in Life by Yasmine Cheyenne
    $24.99

    A radical approach to setting boundaries and protecting your energy, rich with tools for self-healing.

    “With calm and compassionate power, Yasmine is helping us to find our way back home—back to our own selves.” —Layla Saad, New York Times bestselling author of Me & White Supremacy

    “Yasmine’s work is monumental, and I am in much better holistic alignment because of her dedicated and helpful offerings to the world.”—Alex Elle, author of After the Rain

    Imagine a glass jar filled with sugar on a kitchen counter. You are the jar, and the sugar is your energy. If the jar has no lid, people can come in and take as much sugar as they want. Sometimes, they spill that sugar all over. You may try to refill your jar—replenish your energy—through self-care, but because there is no a lid—no protective boundary—you cannot control how much of your vital life force is being drained.

    The Sugar Jar metaphor is a powerful teaching tool that wellness advocate and coach Yasmine Cheyenne has successfully used with her clients. Now, in her debut book, she makes it available to everyone. Combining stories, exercises, and prompts, The Sugar Jar lets you see just how much energy you have and how much is being used by others. It helps you identify what depletes you, what restores you, and how to recognize destructive patterns. It empowers you to free yourself from performing for and serving others, teaching you to set boundaries to help you heal and recharge. The Sugar Jar frees you from the excess stress and exhaustion that wears you down. It allows you to unleash your authentic self, choose joy, and find lasting balance.

    A compassionate teacher, Cheyenne offers a unique and much needed perspective. A former member of the Air Force working with victims of domestic violence, she has specifically designed her approach and questions about boundaries, self-care, and self-healing for readers of all backgrounds, and especially readers of color, whose stressors and life challenges have too often been excluded and overlooked. Cheyenne herself has felt unwelcome as a Black woman in predominantly white wellness groups and retreats. Her inclusive message speaks to the needs of BIPOC readers, and accepts them where they are.

    Warm and honest, featuring a beautiful and inviting two-color design, The Sugar Jar shows you how to make small adjustments that can lead to big changes in your life.

  • Aniana del Mar Jumps In

    by Jasminne Mendez

    from $10.99

    A powerful and expertly told novel in verse by an award-winning poet, about a 12-year-old Dominican American swimmer who is diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis.

    Aniana del Mar belongs in the water like a dolphin belongs to the sea. But she and Papi keep her swim practices and meets hidden from Mami, who has never recovered from losing someone she loves to the water years ago. That is, until the day Ani’s stiffness and swollen joints mean she can no longer get out of bed, and Ani is forced to reveal just how important swimming is to her. Mami forbids her from returning to the water but Ani and her doctor believe that swimming along with medication will help Ani manage her disease. What follows is the journey of a girl who must grieve who she once was in order to rise like the tide and become the young woman she is meant to be. Aniana Del Mar Jumps In is a poignant story about chronic illness and disability, the secrets between mothers and daughters, the harm we do to the ones we love the most—and all the triumphs, big and small, that keep us afloat.

  • When Trying to Return Home: Stories

    by Jennifer Maritza McCauley

    $16.95

    A dazzling debut collection spanning a century of Black American and Afro-Latino life in Puerto Rico, Pittsburgh, Louisiana, Miami, and beyond—and an evocative meditation on belonging, the meaning of home, and how we secure freedom on our own terms

    Profoundly moving and powerful, the stories in When Trying to Return Home dig deeply into the question of belonging. A young woman is torn between overwhelming love for her mother and the need to break free from her damaging influence during a desperate and disastrous attempt to rescue her brother from foster care. A man, his wife, and his mistress each confront the borders separating love and hate, obligation and longing, on the eve of a flight to San Juan. A college student grapples with the space between chivalry and machismo in a tense encounter involving a nun. And in 1930s Louisiana, a woman attempting to find a place to call her own chances upon an old friend at a bar and must reckon with her troubled past.

    Forming a web of desires and consequences that span generations, McCauley’s Black American and Afro–Puerto Rican characters remind us that these voices have always been here, occupying the very center of American life—even if we haven’t always been willing to listen.

  • Drama Free: A Guide to Managing Unhealthy Family Relationships

    by Nedra Glover Tawwab

    $27.00

    From the bestselling author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace, a road map for understanding and moving past family struggles—and living your life, your way.

        Every family has a story. For some of us, our family of origin is a solid foundation that feeds our confidence and helps us navigate life’s challenges. For others, it’s a source of pain, hurt, and conflict that can feel like a lifelong burden. In this empowering guide, licensed therapist and bestselling relationship expert Nedra Glover Tawwab offers clear advice for identifying dysfunctional family patterns and choosing the best path to breaking the cycle and moving forward.
        Covering topics ranging from the trauma of emotional neglect, to the legacy of addicted or absent parents, to mental health struggles in siblings and other relatives, and more, this clear and compassionate guide will help you take control of your own life—and honor the person you truly are.

  • The Body Liberation Project: How Understanding Racism and Diet Culture Helps Cultivate Joy and Build Collective Freedom by Chrissy King
    $28.00

    *Ships in 7-10 business days*

    From author and Instagram personality Chrissy King, an exciting, genre-redefining narrative mix of memoir, inspiration, and specific exercises and prompts, with timely messages about social and racial justice, and how the world needs to move beyond body positivity to something even more exciting and revolutionary—body liberation.

    Simply said, diet culture is rooted in white supremacy. The notion that those who fall outside of Eurocentric standards of beauty (think Black, fat, trans, etc.) are less attractive is a message that is transmitted daily from multiple external forces or social institutions (e.g., church, government, business industries, media, and family/peer groups). Body image and beauty standards can only be truly understood within a framework of interlocking systems of “isms” – (e.g., racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism).

    While it’s challenging for everyone, it’s even more complicated for those living in marginalized bodies. That being said, the solution isn’t body acceptance or even body positivity. Those may be an important part of the journey, but the answer is . . . body liberation, with the recognition that none of us are free unless all of us are free.

    The Body Liberation Project is about just that. It’s about finding actual freedom in our bodies, through finding strength and the aspects of fitness that work for YOU. It’s about understanding that the goal is not to look at our bodies and love everything that we see. It’s to understand that at our essence we are so much more than our bodies. But it’s also about recognizing the harsh realities that prohibit some people from being able to do that.

  • Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen
    $11.99
    A way to survive.
    A way to serve.
    A way to save.

    Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata—a mermaid—collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home.

    But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi does the unthinkable—she saves his life, going against an ancient decree. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy it.

    To protect the other Mami Wata, Simi must journey to the Supreme Creator to make amends. But all is not as it seems. There's the boy she rescued, who knows more than he should. And something is shadowing Simi, something that would rather see her fail. . . .

    Danger lurks at every turn, and as Simi draws closer, she must brave vengeful gods, treacherous lands, and legendary creatures. Because if she doesn't, then she risks not only the fate of all Mami Wata, but also the world as she knows it.
  • Of One Blood

    by Pauline Hopkins

    $19.95
    A mixed-race Harvard medical student stumbles upon a hidden Ethiopian city, the inhabitants of which possess both advanced technologies and mystical powers.

    Long before Marvel Comics gave us Wakanda, a high-tech African country that has never been colonized, this 1903 novel gave readers Reuel Briggs—a mixed-race Harvard medical student, passing as white, who stumbles upon Telassar. In this long-hidden Ethiopian city, the wise, peaceful inhabitants of which possess both advanced technologies and mystical powers, Reuel discovers the incredible secret of his own birth. Now, he must decide whether to return to the life he’s built, and the woman he loves, back in America—or play a role in helping Telassar take its rightful place on the world stage. Considered one of the earliest articulations of Black internationalism, Of One Blood takes as its theme the notion that race is a social construct perpetuated by racists. 
     
    Minister Faust is best known as author of The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad (2004) and 2007’s Kindred Award-winning From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain (retitled Shrinking the Heroes, it also received the Philip K. Dick Award Special Citation). An award-winning journalist, community organizer, teacher, and workshop designer, Faust is also a former television host and producer, radio broadcaster, and podcaster. His 2011 TEDx talk, “The Cure For Death by Smalltalk,” has been viewed more than 840,000 times.
  • Ratchetdemic: Reimagining Academic Success

    by Christopher Emdin

    $16.95

    *ships in 7-10 business days

    A revolutionary new educational model that encourages educators to provide spaces for students to display their academic brilliance without sacrificing their identities

    Building on the ideas introduced in his New York Times best-selling book, For White Folks Who Teach in the HoodChristopher Emdin introduces an alternative educational model that will help students (and teachers) celebrate ratchet identity in the classroom. Ratchetdemic advocates for a new kind of student identity—one that bridges the seemingly disparate worlds of the ivory tower and the urban classroom.

    Because modern schooling often centers whiteness, Emdin argues, it dismisses ratchet identity (the embodying of “negative” characteristics associated with lowbrow culture, often thought to be possessed by people of a particular ethnic, racial, or socioeconomic status) as anti-intellectual and punishes young people for straying from these alleged “academic norms,” leaving young people in classrooms frustrated and uninspired. These deviations, Emdin explains, include so-called “disruptive behavior” and a celebration of hip-hop music and culture.

    Emdin argues that being “ratchetdemic,” or both ratchet and academic (like having rap battles about science, for example), can empower students to embrace themselves, their backgrounds, and their education as parts of a whole, not disparate identities. This means celebrating protest, disrupting the status quo, and reclaiming the genius of youth in the classroom.

  • Remote Control

    by Nnedi Okorafor

    $19.99
    An alien artifact turns a young girl into Death's adopted daughter in this tale of community and female empowerment by Binti's Nnedi Okorafor

    “She’s the adopted daughter of the Angel of Death. Beware of her. Mind her. Death guards her like one of its own.”

    The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. From here on in she would be known as Sankofa­­—a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past.

    Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. And she walks—alone, except for her fox companion—searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers.

    But is there a greater purpose for Sankofa, now that Death is her constant companion?

  • Self-Love Workbook for Black Women: Empowering Exercises to Build Self-Compassion and Nurture Your True Self by Rachel Johnson, LMSW, MFT
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    *ships in 7-10 business days*

    An engaging, compassionate, encouraging, and empowering workbook that embraces the essence of today's Black woman and promotes self-love through prompts, exercises, and affirmation that offer guidance on nurturing her true self.

    Show yourself a little TLC with self-love exercises for Black women

    As a Black woman, the many roles you fill can leave little room to take care of yourself. Prioritize your own joy, healing, and growth with this self-care workbook for Black women, filled with empowering exercises and affirmations that help you nurture your authentic self and thrive.

    • Embrace self-love—Lay the foundation for self-love as you reflect on your identity, explore experiences many modern Black women share, and learn what loving yourself truly means.
    • Put it into practice—Discover writing prompts, affirmations, and other simple exercises that help you find inner peace and self-confidence.
    • Explore key themes—Learn to love where you're at, practice self-compassion, let go of self-doubt, foster your self-worth, and build a community that empowers you.

    Give yourself the gift of self-compassion with this uplifting choice in self-care books for Black women.

  • A Healing Journal for Black Men: Prompts to Help You Reflect, Grow, and Live With Pride

    by Danny Angelo Fluker Jr.

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    This is a healing journal for Black men-by a Black man-with prompts and practices to help readers reflect on their identity, practice self-care, and process their emotions.

    Create space for reflection and self-care with healing prompts for Black men

    Journaling is a powerful tool for healing that has been used by many great Black men. This guided journal is filled with prompts and practices that encourage you to reflect, heal, and live authentically in your Black manhood. You'll learn to root yourself in self-care and cultivate greater peace in your life so you can truly thrive.

    • Evidence-based methods—This self-care journal offers guidance for your healing journey through research-supported, trauma-informed therapeutic modalities.
    • Tools for healing—Discover a mix of journal prompts, affirmations, quotes, and other calming exercises to help you reflect and heal a little bit every day.
    • Meaningful themes—Awaken your spirit as you explore practices centered on identity, emotions, self-compassion, positive thinking, self-confidence, and pride.

    Celebrate your Blackness and uncover a sense of wholeness with this healing journal for men.

  • Journal of Radical Permission

    by adrienne maree brown and Sonya Renee Taylor

    $16.95

    *ships in 7-10 business days* 

     

    It’s time to claim our permission to live out our purpose.
     
    Based on the bestselling philosophies of radical self-love, emergent strategy, and pleasure activism, this journal gives you permission to love yourself, deeply, as you are. Journaling to these prompts will help you surrender to your body’s needs instead of forcing yourself into cramped disciplines. It will encourage you to become awed by the natural beauty of your divine self instead of being rampantly self-critical. It will aid you in embracing your shadows and accepting responsibility for your impact all while liberating you to just be.
     
    Taylor and brown have designed a twelve-week course called the Institute of Radical Permission where participants uproot old patterns and create new conditions for claiming miraculous potential. This structured journal, based on the course, provides six key practices, with prompts for each practice that center on curiosity, surrender, grace, and satisfaction. The daily prompts for self-inquiry and words of wisdom from the authors can be used in conjunction with the course (which can be accessed at radicalpermission.org) or on its own as part of your journey toward healing.
  • Patternmaster

    by Octavia E. Butler

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    *Ships in 7-10 business days*

    An all-powerful ruler's son vies for control over the human race in this brilliant conclusion to the Patternist saga, from the critically acclaimed author of Parable of the Sower.


    In the far future, the human race is divided into two groups striving for power. The Patternmaster rules over all, the leader of the telepathic Patternist race whose thoughts can destroy or heal at his whim. The only threat to his power are the Clayarks, mutant humans created by an alien pandemic, who now live either enslaved by the Patternists or in the wild.

    Coransee, son of the ruling Patternmaster, wants the throne and will stop at nothing to get it, even if it means venturing into the wild mutant-infested hills to destroy a young apprentice -- his equal and his brother.
  • Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech

    edited by Michael Darling

    $79.95

    The essential volume on the great fashion designer, entrepreneur and Louis Vuitton artistic director, back in print

    This authoritative Virgil Abloh compendium, created by the designer himself, accompanies his acclaimed landmark 2019–23 touring exhibition and offers in-depth analysis of his career and his inspirations. More than a catalog, Figures of Speech is a 500-page user’s manual to Abloh's genre-bending work in art, fashion and design.
    The first section features essays and an interview that examine Abloh’s oeuvre through the lenses of contemporary art history, architecture, streetwear, high fashion and race, to provide insight into a prolific and impactful career that cuts across mediums, connecting visual artists, musicians, graphic designers, fashion designers, major brands and architects. The book also contains a massive archive of images culled from Abloh’s personal files on major projects, revealing behind-the-scenes snapshots, prototypes, inspirations and more—accompanied by intimate commentary from the artist. Finally, a gorgeous full-color plate section offers a detailed view of Abloh’s work across disciplines.

    Virgil Abloh (1980–2021) was a fashion designer and entrepreneur, and the artistic director of Louis Vuitton's men's wear collection from 2018 to 2021. He was also CEO of the Milan-based label Off-White, a fashion house he founded in 2013. Born in Rockford, Illinois, to Ghanaian parents, he entered the world of fashion with an internship at Fendi in 2009 alongside rapper Kanye West. The two began an artistic collaboration that would launch Abloh's career with the founding of Off-White. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.

  • Cistem Failure: Essays on Blackness and Cisgender

    by Marquis Bey

    $24.95

    *ships in 7-10 business days

    Marquis Bey meditates on the antagonistic relationship between blackness and cisgender, showing that as a category, cisgender cannot capture how people depart from gender alignment and its coding as white.

    In Cistem Failure Marquis Bey meditates on the antagonistic relationship between blackness and cisgender. Bey asks, What does it mean to have a gender that “matches” one’s sex---that is, to be cisgender---when decades of feminist theory have destroyed the belief that there is some natural way to be a sex? Moving from the The Powerpuff Girls to the greeting “How ya mama’n’em?” to their own gender identity, Bey finds that cisgender is too flat as a category to hold the myriad ways that people who may or may not have undergone gender-affirmative interventions depart from gender alignment. At the same time, blackness, they contend, strikes at the heart of cisgender’s invariable coding as white: just as transness names a non-cis space, blackness implies a non-cis space. By showing how blackness opens up a way to subvert the hegemonic power of the gender binary, Bey makes a case for an antiracist gender abolition project that rejects cisgender as a regulatory apparatus.

  • A Taste for Brown Sugar: Black Women in Pornography

    by Mireille Miller-Young

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    Based on extensive archival and ethnographic research on dozens of women who have worked in adult entertainment since the 1980s, A Taste for Brown Sugar boldly takes on representations of black women’s sexuality in the porn industry.

    A Taste for Brown Sugar boldly takes on representations of black women's sexuality in the porn industry. It is based on Mireille Miller-Young's extensive archival research and her interviews with dozens of women who have worked in the adult entertainment industry since the 1980s. The women share their thoughts about desire and eroticism, black women's sexuality and representation, and ambition and the need to make ends meet. Miller-Young documents their interventions into the complicated history of black women's sexuality, looking at individual choices, however small—a costume, a gesture, an improvised line—as small acts of resistance, of what she calls "illicit eroticism." Building on the work of other black feminist theorists, and contributing to the field of sex work studies, she seeks to expand discussion of black women's sexuality to include their eroticism and desires, as well as their participation and representation in the adult entertainment industry. Miller-Young wants the voices of black women sex workers heard, and the decisions they make, albeit often within material and industrial constraints, recognized as their own.

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