All Books
- To Die for the People
To Die for the People
by Huey Newton
Sold outA fascinating, first-person account of a historic era in the struggle for black empowerment in America.A fascinating, first-person account of a historic era in the struggle for black empowerment in America.
Long an iconic figure for radicals, Huey Newton is now being discovered by those interested in the history of America's social movements. Was he a gifted leader of his people or a dangerous outlaw? Were the Black Panthers heroes or terrorists?
Whether Newton and the Panthers are remembered in a positive or a negative light, no one questions Newton's status as one of America's most important revolutionaries. To Die for the People is a recently issued classic collection of his writings and speeches, tracing the development of Newton's personal and political thinking, as well as the radical changes that took place in the formative years of the Black Panther Party.
With a rare and persuasive honesty, To Die for the People records the Party's internal struggles, rivalries and contradictions, and the result is a fascinating look back at a young revolutionary group determined to find ways to deal with the injustice it saw in American society. And, as a new foreword by Elaine Brown makes eminently clear, Newton's prescience and foresight make these documents strikingly pertinent today.Huey Newton was the founder, leader and chief theoretician of the Black Panther Party, and one of America’s most dynamic and important revolutionary philosophers.
"Huey P. Newton's To Die for the People represents one of the most important analyses of the politics of race, black radicalism, and democracy written during the civil rights-Black Power era. It remains a crucial and indispensible text in our contemporary efforts to understand the continuous legacy of social movements of the 1960s and 1970s."
—Peniel Joseph, author of Waiting Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America"Huey P. Newton's name, and more importantly, his history of resistance and struggle, is little more than a mystery for many younger people. The name of a third-rate rapper is more familiar to the average Black youth, and that's hardly surprising, for the public school system is invested in ignorance, and Huey P. Newton was a rebel — and more, a Black Revolutionary . . . who gave his best to the Black Freedom movement; who inspired millions of others to stand."
—Mumia Abu Jamal, political prisoner and author of Jailhouse Lawyers"Newton's ability to see theoretically, beyond most individuals of his time, is part of his genius. The opportunity to recognize that genius and see its applicability to our own times is what is most significant about this new edition."
—Robert Stanley Oden, former Panther, Professor of Government, California State University, Sacramento - The Rose That Grew From Concrete
The Rose That Grew From Concrete
by Tupac Shakur
$16.99Tupac Shakur's most intimate and honest thoughts were uncovered only after his death with the instant classic The Rose That Grew from Concrete.
His talent was unbounded a raw force that commanded attention and respect.
His death was tragic—a violent homage to the power of his voice.
His legacy is indomitable—as vibrant and alive today as it has ever been.
For the first time in paperback, this collection of deeply personal poetry is a mirror into the legendary artist's enigmatic world and its many contradictions.
Written in his own hand from the time he was nineteen, these seventy-two poems embrace his spirit, his energy—and his ultimate message of hope. - Trivia Queen, 3rd Grade Supreme (Ruby and the Booker Boys #2)
Trivia Queen, 3rd Grade Supreme (Ruby and the Booker Boys #2)
$5.99*ready for pick up or shipping in 7 - 10 business days*Eight-year-old ultra-fabulous Ruby Marigold Booker returns in this reissue of the Ruby and the Booker Boys series by Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor author Derrick Barnes!Eight-year-old ultra-fabulous Ruby Marigold Booker returns in this reissue of the Ruby and the Booker Boys series by Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor author Derrick Barnes!Brought to you by Newbery Honor author Derrick Barnes, eight-year-old Ruby Booker is the baby sis of Marcellus (11), Roosevelt (10), and Tyner (9), the most popular boys on Chill Brook Ave. When Ruby isn't hanging with her friend, Theresa Petticoat, she's finding out what kind of mischief her brothers are getting into. She's sweet and sassy and every bit as tough as her older siblings. And now, bring on the spotlight! Ruby Booker is ready to shine! Her chance is coming up: There's an animal trivia contest at her school, and the winner gets season passes to the Chill Brook Zoo for everyone in his or her grade! The problem is, she needs a little help... - Brand New School, Brave New Ruby (Ruby and the Booker Boys #1)
Brand New School, Brave New Ruby (Ruby and the Booker Boys #1)
by Derrick Barnes
$5.99*ships or ready for pick up in 7 - 10 business days*
Eight-year-old ultra-fabulous Ruby Marigold Booker returns in this reissue of the Ruby and the Booker Boys series by Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor author Derrick Barnes!Eight-year-old ultra-fabulous Ruby Marigold Booker returns in this reissue of the Ruby and the Booker Boys series by Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor author Derrick Barnes!Brought to you by Newbery Honor author Derrick Barnes, eight-year-old Ruby Booker is the baby sis of Marcellus (11), Roosevelt (10), and Tyner (9), the most popular boys on Chill Brook Ave. When Ruby isn't hanging with her friend, Theresa Petticoat, she's finding out what kind of mischief her brothers are getting into. She's sweet and sassy and every bit as tough as her older siblings. She sings like nobody's business; she has a pet iguana named Lady Love; her favorite color is grape-jelly purple; and when she grows up, she's going to be the most famous woman animal doctor on the planet. She's the fabulous, oh-so-spectacular Ruby Marigold Booker! - Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route
Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route
by Saidiya Hartman
$17.00In Lose Your Mother, Saidiya Hartman journeys along a slave route in Ghana, following the trail of captives from the hinterland to the Atlantic coast. She retraces the history of the Atlantic slave trade from the fifteenth to the twentieth century and reckons with the blank slate of her own genealogy.
There were no survivors of Hartman's lineage, nor far-flung relatives in Ghana of whom she had come in search. She traveled to Ghana in search of strangers. The most universal definition of the slave is a stranger—torn from kin and country. To lose your mother is to suffer the loss of kin, to forget your past, and to inhabit the world as a stranger. As both the offspring of slaves and an American in Africa, Hartman, too, was a stranger. Her reflections on history and memory unfold as an intimate encounter with places—a holding cell, a slave market, a walled town built
to repel slave raiders—and with people: an Akan prince who granted the Portuguese permission to build the first permanent trading fort in West Africa; an adolescent boy who was kidnapped while playing; a fourteen-year-old girl who was murdered aboard a slave ship.
Eloquent, thoughtful, and deeply affecting, Lose Your Mother is a powerful meditation on history, memory, and the Atlantic slave trade. - Mules and Men
Mules and Men
by Zora Neale Hurston
Sold outMules and Men is a treasury of black America's folklore as collected by a famous storyteller and anthropologist who grew up hearing the songs and sermons, sayings and tall tales that have formed an oral history of the South since the time of slavery. Returning to her hometown of Eatonville, Florida, to gather material, Zora Neale Hurston recalls "a hilarious night with a pinch of everything social mixed with the storytelling." Set intimately within the social context of black life, the stories, "big old lies," songs, Vodou customs, and superstitions recorded in these pages capture the imagination and bring back to life the humor and wisdom that is the unique heritage of African Americans. - Jonah's Gourd Vine
Jonah's Gourd Vine
By Zora Neale Hurston
Sold outJonah's Gourd Vine, Zora Neale Hurston's first novel, originally published in 1934, tells the story of John Buddy Pearson, "a living exultation" of a young man who loves too many women for his own good. Lucy, his long-suffering wife, is his true love, but there's also Mehaley and Big 'Oman, as well as the scheming Hattie, who conjures hoodoo spells to ensure his attentions. Even after becoming the popular pastor of Zion Hope, where his sermons and prayers for cleansing rouse the congregation's fervor, John has to confess that though he is a preacher on Sundays, he is a "natchel man" the rest of the week.
And so in this sympathetic portrait of a man and his community, Zora Neale Hurston shows that faith, tolerance, and good intentions cannot resolve the tension between the spiritual and the physical. That she makes this age-old dilemma come so alive is a tribute to her understanding of the vagaries of human nature.
- Sister Outsider
Sister Outsider
by Audre Lorde
$16.99In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change. Her prose is incisive, unflinching, and lyrical, reflecting struggle but ultimately offering messages of hope. This commemorative edition includes a new foreword by Lorde-scholar and poet Cheryl Clarke, who celebrates the ways in which Lorde’s philosophies resonate more than twenty years after they were first published. - No Name in the Street
No Name in the Street
by James Baldwin
$15.95An extraordinary history of the turbulent sixties and early seventies that displays James Baldwin's fury and despair more deeply than any of his other works, and powerfully speaks to contemporary conversations around racism.
"It contains truth that cannot be denied.” — The Atlantic Monthly
In this stunningly personal document, James Baldwin remembers in vivid details the Harlem childhood that shaped his early conciousness and the later events that scored his heart with pain—the murders of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, his sojourns in Europe and in Hollywood, and his retum to the American South to confront a violent America face-to-face. - The Quest for Environmental Justice
The Quest for Environmental Justice
by Robert D. Bullard
$18.95*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*
This much anticipated follow-up to Dr. Robert D. Bullard's highly acclaimed Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color captures the voices of frontline warriors who are battling environmental injustice and human rights abuses at the grassroots level around the world, and challenging government and industry. policies and globalization trends that place people of color and the poor at special risk.
Part I presents an overview of the early environmental justice movement and highlights key leadership roles assumed by women activists. Part II examines the lives of people living in "sacrifice zones"-toxic corridors (such as Louisiana's infamous "Cancer Alley") where high concentrations of polluting industries are found. Part III explores land use, land rights, resource extraction, and sustainable development conflicts, including Chicano struggles in America's Southwest. Part IV examines human rights and global justice issues, including an analysis of South Africa's legacy of environmental racism and the corruption and continuing violence plaguing the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Together, the diverse contributors to this much-anticipated follow-up anthology present an inspiring and illuminating picture of the environmental justice movement in the first decade of the twenty-first century. - Native Son
Native Son
by Richard Wright
$18.00“Native Son declares Richard Wright’s importance, not merely as the best Negro writer, but as an American author as distinctive as any of those writing today.”—New York Times This edition of Native Son reprints the original edition in which Wright omitted several passages which book club editors feared would prove offensive to readers in 1940 and which were restored to the book in later editions.
Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright’s powerful novel is just as meaningful today as when it was written, both in its unsparing reflection of the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and in what it means to be black in America. An undisputed classic since it was first published, Native Son has sold close to three million copies.
This abridged edition—the original 1940 text—includes an afterword by John Reilly and contains an introduction, “How ‘Bigger’ was Born” by Richard Wright.
- Rootwork
Rootwork
by Tayannah Lee McQuillar
$11.99A reader-friendly, fun, and practical guide to improving one's love life, career, health, and overall happiness with African American folk magick.
In this groundbreaking book that places Rootwork in its rightful spot among other magickal traditions, Tayannah Lee McQuillar offers a fun and practical guide to improving your life with the help of African American folk magick. Rootwork begins with the basics, from explanations about the magickal powers of the four elements (air, earth, fire, and water) to instructions on creating talismans, charms, and mojo bags. Also included are spells to help you:
-Find your soul mate
-Spice up your sex life
-Get a new job
-Improve your health
-Discover your inner muse
Accessible and easy to use, Rootwork offers the insights of a time-honored tradition as a means of self-empowerment and spiritual growth. - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou
$18.00Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters.
Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.
Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read.
“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity.”—James Baldwin - Shake Loose My Skin
Shake Loose My Skin
Sonia Sanchez
$16.00An extraordinary retrospective covering over thirty years of work, From a leading writer of the Black Arts Movement and the American Poetry Society’s 2018 Wallace Stevens Award–winner.
Shake Loose My Skin is a stunning testament to the literary, sensual, and political powers of the award-winning Sonia Sanchez. - The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde
The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde
by Audre Lorde
Sold outA complete collection—over 300 poems—from one of this country's most influential poets.
"These are poems which blaze and pulse on the page."—Adrienne Rich "The first declaration of a black, lesbian feminist identity took place in these poems, and set the terms—beautifully, forcefully—for contemporary multicultural and pluralist debate."—Publishers Weekly "This is an amazing collection of poetry by . . . one of our best contemporary poets. . . . Her poems are powerful, often political, always lyrical and profoundly moving."—Chuckanut Reader Magazine "What a deep pleasure to encounter Audre Lorde's most potent genius . . . you will welcome the sheer accessibility and the force and beauty of this volume."—Out Magazine - Assata
Assata
by Assata Shakur
Sold outOn May 2, 1973, Black Panther Assata Shakur (aka JoAnne Chesimard) lay in a hospital, close to death, handcuffed to her bed, while local, state, and federal police attempted to question her about the shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike that had claimed the life of a white state trooper. Long a target of J. Edgar Hoover's campaign to defame, infiltrate, and criminalize Black nationalist organizations and their leaders, Shakur was incarcerated for four years prior to her conviction on flimsy evidence in 1977 as an accomplice to murder.
This intensely personal and political autobiography belies the fearsome image of JoAnne Chesimard long projected by the media and the state. With wit and candor, Assata Shakur recounts the experiences that led her to a life of activism and portrays the strengths, weaknesses, and eventual demise of Black and White revolutionary groups at the hand of government officials. The result is a signal contribution to the literature about growing up Black in America that has already taken its place alongside The Autobiography of Malcolm X and the works of Maya Angelou.
Two years after her conviction, Assata Shakur escaped from prison. She was given political asylum by Cuba, where she now resides.
- Critical Race Theory
Critical Race Theory
by Kimberle Crenshaw
Sold outWhat is Critical Race Theory and why is it under fire from the political right? This foundational essay collection, which defines key terms and includes case studies, is the essential work to understand the intellectual movement
Why did the president of the United States, in the midst of a pandemic and an economic crisis, take it upon himself to attack Critical Race Theory? Perhaps Donald Trump appreciated the power of this groundbreaking intellectual movement to change the world.
In recent years, Critical Race Theory has vaulted out of the academy and into courtrooms, newsrooms, and onto the streets. And no wonder: as intersectionality theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw recently told Time magazine, "It's an approach to grappling with a history of white supremacy that rejects the belief that what's in the past is in the past, and that the laws and systems that grow from that past are detached from it." The panicked denunciations from the right notwithstanding, CRT has changed the way millions of people interpret our troubled world.
Edited by its principal founders and leading theoreticians, Critical Race Theory was the first book to gather the movement's most important essays. This groundbreaking book includes contributions from scholars including Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Patricia Williams, Dorothy Roberts, Lani Guinier, Duncan Kennedy, and many others. It is essential reading in an age of acute racial injustice.
- Ida B Wells, Voice of Truth
Ida B Wells, Voice of Truth
by Michelle Duster
$18.99*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*
An inspiring picture book biography of groundbreaking journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells, as told by her great-granddaughter, Michelle Duster.
Ida B. Wells was an educator, journalist, feminist, businesswoman, newspaper owner, public speaker, suffragist, civil rights activist, and women’s club leader. She was a founder of the NAACP, the National Association of Colored Women, the Alpha Suffrage Club, and the Negro Fellowship League. Born in 1862, Ida challenged the racist and sexist norms of the late nineteenth and early twenthieth centuries through her writing and speaking. Faced with criticism and threats to her life, she never gave up.
Long overlooked, Ida's life and work shine in this picture book, timed for the 160th anniversary of her birth. This extraordinary true story is told by her great-granddaughter, Michelle Duster, who has been recognized for her activism and fight for contemporary racial justice, and is beautifully brought to life by Coretta Scott King Award Honoree artist Laura Freeman. - The Tradition: Civic Dialogue Edition
The Tradition: Civic Dialogue Edition
by Jericho Brown
$18.00Ships in 7-10 business days
In this special edition of Jericho Brown’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Tradition,you are invited to participate in an urgent dialogue—sparked by poetry—about what it means to be human. Including a discussion guide and an interview with the author, The Tradition: Civic Dialogue Editionis meant to catalyze and inspire deep and engaging community conversations.
In 2021, the Free Library of Philadelphia selected The Traditionfor their annual city-wide reading program, choosing a book of poetry for the first time ever. The vision was for neighbor to meet neighbor and discuss—in profound and transformative ways—the difficult subjects confronted so powerfully by the poems: racism, homophobia, violence, and the human resolve to compose a joyful life. To encourage other communities—cities, schools, book groups—to follow Philadelphia’s lead, Copper Canyon Press collaborated with the Free Library to create The Tradition: Civic Dialogue Edition. The dream is to tap the power of poetry to open hearts, clarify vision, spark conversation, and help make the world a more just and equitable place. And, if we’re fortunate, to laugh as freely and share as openly as the poet himself. - Secrets & Lies
Secrets & Lies
by Selena Montgomery
$15.99*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*
New York Times bestselling author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Stacey Abrams, writing under her pen name Selena Montgomery, delivers a “sexy thriller” that is deliciously “twisty and satisfying” (Publishers Weekly).
Tell me no lies . . .
She just witnessed her uncle’s murder, she’s running for her life, and now Dr. Katelyn Lyda is face-to-face with a man who could be her salvation. It’s too bad Sebastian Caine is one of the bad guys . . .
A “recovery specialist” skilled at separating prized possessions from their owners, Sebastian is after an ancient relic. But he reconsiders the job when he finds himself staring at the wrong end of a gun. The lady with her finger on the trigger seems to have everything he needs—and not just the artifact.
In a race against time, Sebastian and Kat must learn to trust each other if they’re going to survive.
- PRE-ORDER: Athlete Activists
PRE-ORDER: Athlete Activists
by Stephanie Ready
$16.99PRE-ORDER: Item will ship on 11/15/2022
From Muhammad Ali and Billie Jean King to Colin Kaepernick and Lebron James, superstar athletes have leveraged their fame and platforms to make the world a better place.
This compulsively readable book explores dozens of incredible men and women whose astonishing athleticism is matched by their bravery and selflessness. Icons like Roberto Clemente, Bruce Lee and Jackie Robinson, as well as contemporary trailblazers including Venus Williams, Maya Moore, and Patrick Mahomes represent every sport and a broad range of causes. A section on Fearless Firsts provides a parallel history of civil and women's rights. And special sections explore organized group efforts—such as the NBA bubble protest in support of Black Lives Matter. Packed with graphic novel-style illustrations and thoroughly researched and reported, this is a must-read for young sports fans, activists—and anyone who appreciates a powerful story.
Stephanie Ready hosts The Warmup on NBA TV and The Bounce on the Yahoo sports app and has served as a sideline reporter for TNT and ESPN. She was the first woman to serve as a full-time NBA game analyst and the first female coach of a men's professional league team. - Torn Apart
Torn Apart
by Dorothy Roberts
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An award-winning scholar exposes the foundational racism of the child welfare system and calls for radical change
Many believe the child welfare system protects children from abuse. But as Torn Apart uncovers, this system is designed to punish Black families. Drawing on decades of research, legal scholar and sociologist Dorothy Roberts reveals that the child welfare system is better understood as a “family policing system” that collaborates with law enforcement and prisons to oppress Black communities. Child protection investigations ensnare a majority of Black children, putting their families under intense state surveillance and regulation. Black children are disproportionately likely to be torn from their families and placed in foster care, driving many to juvenile detention and imprisonment.
The only way to stop the destruction caused by family policing, Torn Apart argues, is to abolish the child welfare system and liberate Black communities.
- Stakes Is High
Stakes Is High
by Mychal Denzel Smith
$16.99*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*
Brave, clear-eyed, and passionate, Stakes Is High is the book we need to guide us past crisis mode and through an uncertain future.
The events of the past decade have forced us to reckon with who we are and who we want to be. We have been invested in a set of beliefs about our American identity: our exceptionalism, the inevitable rightness of our path, the promise that hard work and determination will carry us to freedom. But in Stakes Is High, Mychal Denzel Smith confronts the shortcomings of these stories -- and with the American Dream itself -- and calls on us to live up to the principles we profess but fail to realize.In a series of incisive essays, Smith exposes the stark contradictions at the heart of American life, holding all of us, individually and as a nation, to account. We've gotten used to looking away, but the fissures and casual violence of institutional oppression are ever-present.There is a future that is not as grim as our past. In this profound work, Smith helps us envision it with care, honesty, and imagination. - Nobody's Magic
Nobody's Magic
by Destiny O. Birdsong
$28.00*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*
"With Nobody's Magic, Destiny Birdsong has given us a devastatingly beautiful, sexy, searing gift. These are stunning, irresistible stories of Southern Black womanhood that I will return to again and again."—Deesha Philyaw, National Book Award finalist for The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
In this glittering triptych novel, Suzette, Maple and Agnes, three Black women with albinism, call Shreveport, Louisiana home. At the bustling crossroads of the American South and Southwest, these three women find themselves at the crossroads of their own lives.
Suzette, a pampered twenty-year‑old, has been sheltered from the outside world since a dangerous childhood encounter. Now, a budding romance with a sweet mechanic allows Suzette to seek independence, which unleashes dark reactions in those closest to her. In discovering her autonomy, Suzette is forced to decide what she is willing to sacrifice in order to make her own way in the world.
Maple is reeling from the unsolved murder of her free‑spirited mother. She flees the media circus and her judgmental grandmother by shutting herself off from the world in a spare room of the motel where she works. One night, at a party, Maple connects with Chad, someone who may understand her pain more than she realizes, and she discovers that the key to her mother's death may be within her reach.
Agnes is far from home, working yet another mind‑numbing job. She attracts the interest of a lonely security guard and army veteran who’s looking for a traditional life for himself and his young son. He’s convinced that she wields a certain “magic,” but Agnes soon unleashes a power within herself that will shock them both and send her on a trip to confront not only her family and her past, but also herself.
This novel, told in three parts, is a searing meditation on grief, female strength, and self‑discovery set against a backdrop of complicated social and racial histories. Nobody's Magic is a testament to the power of family—the ones you're born in and the ones you choose. And in these three narratives, among the yearning and loss, each of these women may find a seed of hope for the future. - Grief Is Love
Grief Is Love
by Marisa Renee Lee
Sold outGrief expert Marisa Renee Lee’s incisive and compassionate guide on how to manage grief after the loss of a loved one, with special insight for women and African American communities, which also provides timely wisdom and care for the millions who have suffered loss during the pandemic
In Grief is Love, author Marisa Renee Lee reveals that healing does not mean moving on—healing means learning to acknowledge and create space for your grief. She guides you through the pain of early grief and shows you how to to honor your loss. It’s common to plow through our feelings in the name of being “OK,” but grief is so inextricably tied to love that you don’t just “get over it.” Grief is Love is about making space for the transformation that this constant state of learning requires. It is about learning to love yourself and the one you lost with the same depth, passion, joy, and commitment you did when they were alive, perhaps even more.
Lee shows that there isn’t only one way to grieve, and so your expression of it should be unique. She shepherds you through your grief as it arises and falls again and again. The transformation we each undergo after loss is the indelible imprint of the people we love on our lives, which is the true meaning of legacy. Healing after loss is not about burying pain but about acknowledging it and allowing grief to move through you in order to be whole. How do you manage the holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries? How do you get through the next year or even tomorrow?
In beautiful, compassionate prose, Lee elegantly offers wisdom about what it means to authentically and defiantly claim space for these complicated feelings and emotions. And Lee is no stranger to grief herself, after losing her mother, her fertility, a pregnancy, and, most recently, a cousin to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this book, she also explores the unique impact of grief on Black people, Black women in particular, and reveals the key factors that proper healing requires: acknowledgement, rest, community, reflection, support, care and more.
At its core, Grief is Love explores what comes after death, and shows us that if we are able to own and honor what we’ve lost, we can have a beautiful and joyful life in the midst of grief. - Astrology for Black Girls
Astrology for Black Girls
by Jordannah Elizabeth
$14.99*ships in 7-10 business days*
Astrology for Black Girls is a charming introduction to the wonders of self-discovery and empowerment through the Zodiac.
Astrology for Black Girls gives young girls information and context for the core foundations of the Zodiac. This book provides the perfect introduction to the sun, moon, rising signs, and more. Speaking directly to black girls, author and life-long astrology practitioner Jordannah Elizabeth address:- Practicing both Faith and Astrology
- Talking to Family and Friends about the stars
- Using the Zodiac for discovery and understanding
Complete with four-color illustrations by Chellie Carroll throughout, this beautiful book will capture the imagination of middle-grade Black girls for years to come.
- Life Doesn't Frighten Me (25th Anniversary Edition)
Life Doesn't Frighten Me (25th Anniversary Edition)
by Maya Angelou
Sold outMaya Angelou’s poetry pairs with Jean-Michel Basquiat’s paintings to create this gorgeous celebration
Maya Angelou’s unforgettable poem is matched with the daring art of Jean-Michel Basquiat in this powerful ode to courage
Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Maya Angelou's brave, defiant poem celebrates the courage within each of us, young and old. From the scary thought of panthers in the park to the unsettling scene of a new classroom, fearsome images are summoned and dispelled by the power of faith in ourselves.
Angelou's strong words are matched by the daring vision of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose childlike style reveals the powerful emotions and fanciful imaginings of childhood. Together, Angelou's words and Basquiat's paintings create a place where every child, indeed every person, may experience his or her own fearlessness.
This brilliant introduction to poetry and contemporary art features brief biographies of Angelou and Basquiat and an afterword from the editor. A selected bibliography of Angelou's books and a selected museum listing of Basquiat's works open the door to further inspiration through the fine arts. - Stones by Kevin Young
Stones by Kevin Young
$27.00A book of loss, looking back, and what binds us to life, by a towering poetic talent, called “one of the poetry stars of his generation” (Los Angeles Times).
“We sleep long, / if not sound,” Kevin Young writes early on in this exquisite gathering of poems, “Till the end/ we sing / into the wind.” In scenes and settings that circle family and the generations in the American South—one poem, “Kith,” exploring that strange bedfellow of “kin”—the speaker and his young son wander among the stones of their ancestors. “Like heat he seeks them, / my son, thirsting / to learn those / he don’t know / are his dead.”
Whether it’s the fireflies of a Louisiana summer caught in a mason jar (doomed by their collection), or his grandmother, Mama Annie, who latches the screen door when someone steps out for just a moment, all that makes up our flickering precarious joy, all that we want to protect, is lifted into the light in this moving book. Stones becomes an ode to Young’s home places and his dear departed, and to what of them—of us—poetry can save. - The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
$30.00Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, Alice Walker’s iconic modern classic, now in a beautiful 40th anniversary Penguin Vitae edition with a foreword by Kiese Laymon
A Penguin Classic Hardcover
A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker’s epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey toward redemption and love. - We Are the Ones We Have Been Looking For
We Are the Ones We Have Been Looking For
by Alice Walker
$16.99When the United States recently exploded with unprecedented demonstrations challenging racial violence and hatred, Alice Walker’s New York Times bestselling We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For was one of the books to which people turned for inspiration and solace. Called “stunningly insightful” and “a book that will inspire hope” by Publishers Weekly, this work by the author of The Color Purple is a clarion call to activism—spiritual ruminations with a progressive political edge, that offer a moment of care and solace.
Walker encourages readers to take faith in the fact that, despite our daunting predicaments, we are uniquely prepared to create positive change. Drawing on Walker’s spiritual grounding and her progressive political convictions, the book offers a cornucopia of the Pulitzer Prize winner’s writings and speeches on advocacy, struggle, and hope. Each chapter concludes with a recommended meditation to teach patience, compassion, and forgiveness.
Walker’s clear vision and calm meditative voice—truly “a light in darkness”—has struck a deep chord among a large and devoted readership. In her new introduction, Walker reflects on the contemporary political and spiritual crises in the post–Trump era United States, making this classic book relevant for the current moment.
- The Dead Are Arising
The Dead Are Arising
by Les Payne
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An epic, award-winning biography of Malcolm X that draws on hundreds of hours of personal interviews and rewrites much of the known narrative.
Les Payne, the renowned Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist, embarked in 1990 on a nearly thirty-year-long quest to create an unprecedented portrait of Malcolm X, one that would separate fact from fiction. The result is this historic, National Book Award–winning biography, which interweaves previously unknown details of Malcolm X’s life—from harrowing Depression-era vignettes to a moment-by-moment retelling of the 1965 assassination—into an extraordinary account that contextualizes Malcolm X’s life against the wider currents of American history. Bookended by essays from Tamara Payne, Payne’s daughter and primary researcher, who heroically completed the biography after her father’s death in 2018, The Dead Are Arising affirms the centrality of Malcolm X to the African American freedom struggle. - Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head
by Warsan Shire
$17.00Poems of migration, womanhood, trauma, and resilience from the celebrated collaborator on Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Black Is King, award-winning Somali British poet Warsan Shire.
Mama, I made it/out of your home/alive, raised by the/voices in my head.
With her first full-length poetry collection, Warsan Shire introduces us to a young girl, who, in the absence of a nurturing guide, makes her own stumbling way towards womanhood. Drawing from her own life, as well as pop culture and news headlines, Shire finds vivid, unique details in the experiences of refugees and immigrants, mothers and daughters, Black women, and teenage girls. In Shire’s hands, lives spring into fullness. This is noisy life: full of music and weeping and surahs and sirens and birds. This is fragrant life: full of blood and perfume and shisha smoke and jasmine and incense. This is polychrome life: full of henna and moonlight and lipstick and turmeric and kohl. The long-awaited collection from one of our most exciting contemporary poets, this book is a blessing, an incantatory celebration of resilience and survival. Each reader will come away changed.
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