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  • You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience
    $17.00

    It started as a text between two friends. Tarana Burke, founder of the ’me too.’ Movement, texted researcher and writer, Brené Brown, to see if she was free to jump on a call. Brené assumed that Tarana wanted to talk about wallpaper. They had been trading home decorating inspiration boards in their last text conversation so Brené started scrolling to find her latest Pinterest pictures when the phone rang. But it was immediately clear to Brené that the conversation wasn’t going to be about wallpaper. Tarana’s hello was serious and she hesitated for a bit before saying, “Brené, you know your work affected me so deeply. It’s been a huge gift in my life. But as a Black woman, I’ve sometimes had to feel like I have to contort myself to fit into some of your words. The core of it rings so true for me, but the application has been harder.” Brené replied, “I’m so glad we’re talking about this. It makes sense to me. Especially in terms of vulnerability. How do you take the armor off in a country where you’re not physically or emotionally safe?” Long pause. “That’s why I’m calling,” said Tarana. “What do you think about a working together on a book about the Black experience with vulnerability and shame resilience?” There was no hesitation. Burke and Brown are the perfect pair to usher in this stark, potent collection of essays on Black shame and healing (and contribute their own introductions to the work). Along with the anthology contributors, they create a space to recognize and process the trauma of white supremacy, a space to be vulnerable and affirm the fullness of Black love and Black life.

  • You Can Be a Good Friend (No Matter What!) : A Lil TJ Book

    by Taraji P. Henson, (Illustrated by Paul Kellam

    $19.99

    In this debut picture book from Taraji P. Henson, quirky, stylish and a bit off-the-cuff Lil TJ is ready for her first day of school. But when she gets there, TJ finds that everything she does is a little different than everyone else and she’s standing out in all the wrong ways. Once TJ’s classmate Beau notices, he relentlessly teases her. TJ is filled with anxiety and doubt until she recalls some important words of wisdom from her Grandma Patsy. When she looks inside to her own creativity and personality, she figures out how to help herself make new friends! —and helps someone else too!

    You Can Be a Good Friend (No Matter What!) is the perfect read for:

    • Easing back-to-school jitters and setting a course for the new school year
    • Helping children ages 4-8 to overcome anxieties and embrace what makes them unique
    • Classroom and library story time, as well as bedtime reading
    • Promoting mental wellness and learning socialization skills, embracing the importance of standing in their own uniqueness, and promoting friendship over bullying.
  • You Can Have a Better Period: A Practical Guide to Pain-free and Calmer Periods

    by Le'Nise Brothers

    $18.95
    A practical guide to understanding your cycle and balancing your hormones with nutrition and yoga, for a calm and pain-free period. Written by Le’Nise Brothers, a nutritional therapist, yoga teacher and popular women’s health, hormone and wellbeing coach. 

    You Can Have A Better Period is a straight-talking resource to help women understand their  menstrual cycles and finally get answers to questions such as: “why am I so moody right before my period?”, “are periods supposed to be so painful?”, “why is my period so heavy?”, “is it normal to get headaches right before my period?”

    Le'Nise Brothers takes us through each phase of our cycle, including a clear programme of nutrition and lifestyle changes. The book explains which supplements work and the key stress management habits we can implement, to bring long-lasting and sustainable changes to our hormonal balance and menstrual health. 
     
    In Western society, we have accepted a cultural narrative that periods are supposed to be painful, emotional and messy. This book will be a practical guide that helps women change the way they look at their period, and finally harness the power of the fifth vital sign. 
  • You Don't Know Us Negroes

    Zora Neale Hurston

    $19.99

    Introduction by New York Times bestselling author Henry Louis Gates Jr. 

    Spanning more than 35 years of work, the first comprehensive collection of essays, criticism, and articles by the legendary author of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston, showcasing the evolution of her distinctive style as an archivist and author.

    “One of the greatest writers of our time.”—Toni Morrison

    One of the most acclaimed artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston was a gifted novelist, playwright, and essayist. Drawn from three decades of her work, this anthology showcases her development as a writer, from her early pieces expounding on the beauty and precision of African American art to some of her final published works, covering the sensational trial of Ruby McCollum, a wealthy Black woman convicted in 1952 for killing a white doctor. Among the selections are Hurston’s well-known works such as “How It Feels to be Colored Me” and “My Most Humiliating Jim Crow Experience.” 

    The essays in this essential collection are grouped thematically and cover a panoply of topics, including politics, race and gender, and folkloric study from the height of the Harlem Renaissance to the early years of the Civil Rights movement. Demonstrating the breadth of this revered and influential writer’s work, You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays is an invaluable chronicle of a writer’s development and a window into her world and time.

  • You Dreamed of Empires: A Novel

    by Alvaro Enrigue

    from $18.00

    Paperback On Sale: January 7, 2024

    From the visionary author of Sudden Death, a hallucinatory, revelatory, colonial revenge story.

    One morning in 1519, conquistador Hernán Cortés entered the city of Tenochtitlan – today's Mexico City. Later that day, he would meet the emperor Moctezuma in a collision of two worlds, two empires, two languages, two possible futures.

    Cortés was accompanied by his nine captains, his troops, and his two translators: Friar Aguilar, a taciturn, former slave, and Malinalli, a strategic, former princess. Greeted at a ceremonial welcome meal by the steely princess Atotoxli, sister and wife of Moctezuma, the Spanish nearly bungle their entrance to the city. As they await their meeting with Moctezuma – who is at a political, spiritual, and physical crossroads, and relies on hallucinogens to get himself through the day and in quest for any kind of answer from the gods – the Spanish are ensconced in the labyrinthine palace. Soon, one of Cortés’s captains, Jazmín Caldera, overwhelmed by the grandeur of the city, begins to question the ease with which they were welcomed into the city, and wonders at the risks of getting out alive, much less conquering the empire.

    You Dreamed of Empires brings to life Tenochtitlan at its height, and reimagines its destiny. The incomparably original Alvaro Enrigue sets afire the moment of conquest and turns it into a moment of revolution, a restitutive, fantastical counter-attack, in a novel so electric and so unique that it feels like a dream.

  • You Get What You Pay For: Essays

    by Morgan Parker

    $28.00

    *ships in 7 - 10 business days*

    The award-winning author of Magical Negro traces the difficulty and beauty of existing as a Black woman through American history, from the foundational trauma of the slave trade all the way up to Serena Williams and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina Dubbed a voice of her generation, poet and writer Morgan Parker has spent much of her adulthood in therapy, trying to square the resonance of her writing with the alienation she feels in nearly every aspect of life, from her lifelong singleness to a battle with depression. She traces this loneliness to an inability to feel truly safe with others and a historic hyperawareness stemming from the effects of slavery. In a collection of essays as intimate as being in the room with Parker and her therapist, Parker examines America’s cultural history and relationship to Black Americans through the ages. She touches on such topics as the ubiquity of beauty standards that exclude Black women, the implications of Bill Cosby’s fall from grace in a culture predicated on acceptance through respectability, and the pitfalls of visibility as seen through the mischaracterizations of Serena Williams as alternately iconic and too ambitious. With piercing wit and incisive observations, You Get What You Pay For is ultimately a portal into a deeper examination of racial consciousness and its effects on mental well-being in America today. Weaving unflinching criticism with intimate anecdotes, this devastating memoir-in-essays paints a portrait of one Black woman’s psyche—and of the writer’s search to both tell the truth and deconstruct it.

  • You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty: A Novel

    by Akwaeke Emezi

    from $17.00

    *ships in 7 -10 business days*

    Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again.

    It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she’s almost a new person now—an artist with her own studio, and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career.

    She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the dangerous thrill Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits. This new life she asked for just got a lot more complicated, and Feyi must begin her search for real answers. Who is she ready to become? Can she release her past and honor her grief while still embracing her future? And, of course, there’s the biggest question of all—how far is she willing to go for a second chance at love? ​

    Akwaeke Emezi’s vivid and passionate writing takes us deep into a world of possibility and healing, and the constant bravery of choosing love against all odds.

  • You Make It Feel Like Christmas

    Francis Ray & Donna Hill

    $14.99
    A 2-in-1 bindup of two novellas filled with holiday magic by Francis Ray and Donna Hill!

    Denise has always been the faithful wife and dutiful mother. As a matter of fact, it seems that is all she has been in the twenty-plus years she and her husband, Edward, have been married. But the kids are grown and out of the house, and she's ready to live a few dreams of her own. Edward, however, would like to keep things just the way they are, and Denise realizes that if she doesn't do something drastic, then all she will ever be is a mother and wife.

    When Denise drops the bomb at Thanksgiving dinner that she is leaving Edward and selling the house, everyone is stunned, and her announcement opens the door to Morrison Family Dysfunction 101. Edward moves in with his crazy Aunt Etta, their daughter Christine moves back home when she suspects her husband is cheating on her, and their son Anthony is simply dazed and confused. In the midst of it all, Edward hatches a plan to get his wife back. Not only does he plan to be back at home and in their bed, but he also knows that, come Christmas, he and Denise will be... Rockin' Around That Christmas Tree.

    The Wish—previously published in the anthology Gettin' Merry.

    Be careful what you wish for. That's the lesson a fine brother with a wounded heart learns when an eccentric old woman grants him a wish for true love—if he's not too blind to see it.

  • You Make It Feel like Christmas

    by Toni Shiloh

    $14.99

    Starr Lewis returns home for the holidays, jobless and single, to attend her sister's wedding to Starr's ex-boyfriend. But when her brother's best friend offers to go with her to the wedding activities and she gives his struggling Christmas shop a makeover, she wonders if the holidays could bring her a love to keep all year long.

    It's the most wonderful time of the year--for everyone except Starr Lewis.

    As if going home for the holidays jobless and single wasn't bad enough, she's dragged into a holiday season full of activities leading up to her sister's uber-romantic Christmas Eve wedding--to Starr's ex-boyfriend. But when her brother's best friend, Waylon Emmerson, attends their family Thanksgiving, she starts to wonder if maybe coming home for Christmas isn't so bad after all.

    As Starr finds the perfect distraction in helping Waylon make over his late mother's Christmas shop, the most wonderful time of the year works its magic and the spark between them grows. But with the holidays fast approaching, Starr must decide what she wants out of life after the gifts are unwrapped and the ornaments are put away--to go back to New York City or to open her heart to a love that will last beyond Christmas Day?

  • You Only Live Once, David Bravo

    by Mark Oshiro

    $9.99

    Coco meets Sliding Doors in this laugh-out-loud, heartwarming middle grade novel from Schneider Family Book Award winner and Lambda Literary Award finalist Mark Oshiro.

    Middle school is the worst, especially for David Bravo. He doesn’t have a single class with his best (and only) friend, Antoine. He has to give a presentation in social studies about his heritage, but he’s not sure how, or even if, he wants to explain to his new classmates that he’s adopted. And after he injures Antoine in a cross-country accident, he just wishes he could do it all over.

    He doesn’t expect his wish to summon a talking, annoying dog, Fea, who claims that a choice in David’s past did set him on the wrong timeline…and she can take him back to fix it.

    But when their first try (and the second, and the third) is a total disaster, David and Fea are left scrambling through timeline after timeline, trying to figure out what she’s really here to fix—a quest that may lead them to answers in the most unexpected places.

    Perfect for fans of Sal and Gabi Break the Universe and When You Reach Me, this time-bending adventure from the author of The Insiders is a surprising and delightful story of identity, family, and the choices that make us who we are.

  • You Owe You : Ignite Your Power, Your Purpose, and Your Why by Eric Thomas, PhD
    $27.00
    You owe it to yourself to recognize your gifts, your power, and your place in the world, no matter your story or your struggle, and Eric Thomas—celebrated motivational guru, educator, and problem-solver to many of the top athletes and business leaders—has the blueprint to get you there.

    If you feel like success is for others, that only certain people get to have their dreams fulfilled, Eric Thomas’s You Owe You is your wake-up call. His urgent message to stop waiting for inspiration to strike and take control of your life is one he wishes someone had given him when he was a teenager—lost, homeless, failing in school, and dealing with the challenges of being a young Black man in America.

    Once he was able to break free from thinking of himself as a victim and truly understand his strengths, he switched the script. And now, with this book, Thomas reveals how you, too, can rewrite your life's script. With support, he recognized that his unique gift is being able to capture the attention of all kinds of people in all kinds of settings—boardrooms, locker rooms, churches, classrooms, even the streets—thanks to his wealth of experiences and command of language. Today, Thomas considers himself blessed to speak to an audience that is as large as it is diverse, from the rich and famous to kids struggling in school to young men in prison hoping for a new start.

    Thomas’s secrets of success have already helped hundreds of thousands on their journey, but this is his first guide to show you how to start today, right now. These critical first steps include deeply understanding yourself and the world around you, finding your why, accepting that you may have to give up something good for something great, and constantly stretching toward your potential. No matter where you are on your journey toward greatness, you owe it to yourself to become fully, authentically you. And Eric Thomas’s You Owe You can help get you there.
  • You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
    $10.99

    Liz Lighty has always believed she's too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it's okay -- Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz's plans come crashing down . . . until she's reminded of her school's scholarship for prom king and queen. There's nothing Liz wants to do less than endure a gauntlet of social media trolls, catty competitors, and humiliating public events, but despite her devastating fear of the spotlight she's willing to do whatever it takes to get to Pennington.The only thing that makes it halfway bearable is the new girl in school, Mack. She's smart, funny, and just as much of an outsider as Liz. But Mack is also in the running for queen. Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams . . . or make them come true?

  • You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation

    by Julissa Arce

    $18.99

    Bestselling author Julissa Arce calls for a celebration of our uniqueness, our origins, our heritage, and the beauty of the differences that make us Americans in this powerful polemic against the myth that assimilation leads to happiness and belonging for immigrants.

    "You sound like a white girl." These were the words spoken to Julissa by a high school crush as she struggled to find her place in America. As a brown immigrant from Mexico, assimilation had been demanded of her since the moment she set foot in San Antonio, Texas, in 1994. She'd spent so much time getting rid of her accent so no one could tell English was her second language that in that moment she felt those words--you sound like a white girl?--were a compliment. As a child, she didn't yet understand that assimilating to "American" culture really meant imitating "white" America--that sounding like a white girl was a racist idea meant to tame her, change her, and make her small. She ran the race, completing each stage, but never quite fit in, until she stopped running altogether.

    In this dual polemic and manifesto, Julissa dives into and tears apart the lie that assimilation leads to belonging. She combs through history and her own story to break down this myth, arguing that assimilation is a moving finish line designed to keep Black and brown Americans and immigrants chasing racist American ideals. She talks about the Lie of Success, the Lie of Legality, the Lie of Whiteness, and the Lie of English--each promising that if you obtain these things, you will reach acceptance and won't be an outsider anymore. Julissa deftly argues that these demands leave her and those like her in a purgatory--neither able to secure the power and belonging within whiteness nor find it in the community and cultures whiteness demands immigrants and people of color leave behind.

    In You Sound Like a White Girl, Julissa offers a bold new promise: Belonging only comes through celebrating yourself, your history, your culture, and everything that makes you uniquely you. Only in turning away from the white gaze can we truly make America beautiful. An America where difference is celebrated, heritage is shared and embraced, and belonging is for everyone. Through unearthing veiled history and reclaiming her own identity, Julissa shows us how to do this.

  • You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen
    $18.99

    *Ships in 7-10 business days

    "You Truly Assumed is a beautiful portrayal of the multitude of ways to be Black and Muslim while navigating our contemporary world. A must-read for everyone."—Adiba Jaigirdar, author of The Henna Wars

     
    In this compelling and thought-provoking debut novel, after a terrorist attack rocks the country and anti-Islamic sentiment stirs, three Black Muslim girls create a space where they can shatter assumptions and share truths.

    Sabriya has her whole summer planned out in color-coded glory, but those plans go out the window after a terrorist attack near her home. When the terrorist is assumed to be Muslim and Islamophobia grows, Sabriya turns to her online journal for comfort. You Truly Assumed was never meant to be anything more than an outlet, but the blog goes viral as fellow Muslim teens around the country flock to it and find solace and a sense of community.

    Soon two more teens, Zakat and Farah, join Bri to run You Truly Assumed and the three quickly form a strong friendship. But as the blog’s popularity grows, so do the pushback and hateful comments. When one of them is threatened, the search to find out who is behind it all begins, and their friendship is put to the test when all three must decide whether to shut down the blog and lose what they’ve worked for…or take a stand and risk everything to make their voices heard.

    “I reached the ending with tears in my eyes—tears cued not by sadness but hope and elation.” —S. K. Ali, New York Times bestselling author of The Proudest Blue and Love from A to Z

  • You Were Always Mine: A Novel

    by Christine Pride & Jo Piazza

    $28.00

    Ships in 7-10 business days

    The acclaimed authors of the “emotional literary roller coaster” (The Washington Post) and Good Morning America book club pick We Are Not Like Them return with this moving and provocative novel about a Black woman who finds an abandoned white baby, sending her on a collision course with her past, her family, and a birth mother who doesn’t want to be found.

    Cinnamon Haynes has fought hard for a life she never thought was possible—a good man by her side, a steady job as a career counselor at a local community college, and a cozy house in a quaint little beach town. It may not look like much, but it’s more than she ever dreamed of or what her difficult childhood promised. Her life’s mantra is to be good, quiet, grateful. Until something shifts and Cinnamon is suddenly haunted by a terrifying question: “Is this all there is?”

    Daisy Dunlap has had her own share of problems in her nineteen years on earth—she also has her own big dreams for a life that’s barely begun. Her hopes for her future are threatened when she gets unexpectedly pregnant. Desperate, broke, and alone, she hides this development from everyone close to her and then makes a drastic decision with devastating consequences.

    Daisy isn’t the only one with something to hide. When Cinnamon finds an abandoned baby in a park and takes the blonde-haired, blue-eyed newborn into her home, the ripple effects of this decision risk exposing the truth about Cinnamon’s own past, which she’s gone to great pains to portray as idyllic to everyone…even herself.

    As Cinnamon struggles to contain old demons, navigate the fault lines that erupt in her marriage, and deal with the shocking judgments from friends and strangers alike about why a woman like her has a baby like this, her one goal is to do right by the child she grows more attached to with each passing day. It’s the exact same conviction that drives Daisy as she tries to outrun her heartache and reckon with her choices.

    These two women, unlikely friends and kindred spirits must face down their secrets and trauma and unite for the sake of the baby they both love in their own unique way when Daisy’s grandparents, who would rather die than see one of their own raised by a Black woman, threaten to take custody.

    Once again, these authors bring their “empathetic, riveting, and authentic” (Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author) storytelling to an unforgettable novel that revolves around provocative and timely questions about race, class, and motherhood. Is being a mother a right, an obligation, or a privilege? Who gets to be a mother? And to whom? And what are we willing to sacrifice for the sake of marriage, friendship, and our dreams?

  • You Were Watching from the Sand

    by Juliana Lamy

    $16.95

    A stylistically and conceptually daring collection that winds from fantastical horror to mischievous domestic realism and always keeps in its sharp, compassionate view the material, spiritual, and emotional lives of Haitian people.

    Playful, kinetic, and devastating in turn, You Were Watching from the Sand is a collection in which Haitian men, women, and children who find their lives cleaved by the interminably strange bite back at the bizarre with their own oddities. In “belly,” a young woman abandoned by her only living relative makes a person from the mud beside her backyard creek. In “We Feel it in Punta Cana,” a domestic child servant in the Dominican Republic tours through his own lush imagination to make his material conditions more bearable. In “The Oldest Sensation is Anger,” a teenager invites a same-aged family friend into her apartment and uncovers a spate of disturbing secrets about her. Written in a mixture of high lyricism, absurdist comedy, and Haitian cultural witticisms, this is a collection whose dynamism matches that of its characters at every beat and turn.

  • Young Adult Subscription
    $18.00

    A subscription for teens and young adults!  Expect frontlist contemporary fiction novels with coming-of-age, identity, and friendship themes, plus a little romance every now and then.

    What you get: Hardcover frontlist books from traditional publishers.

    Ordering deadline:  Subscription orders placed before the 17th of the month are guaranteed to ship on the first Tuesday of the following month when all subscriptions are shipped.

    Ordering Instructions:  Please select your subscription frequency (monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly) and proceed to checkout.

    Gift subscriptions:  Subscriptions make really great gifts.  Please make sure the shipping address is the correct address for the gift recipient.

    All subscriptions ship via media mail and will arrive within 3-8 business days of the ship date.

  • Young Gifted & Black: A New Generation of Artists

    edited by Antwaun Sargent

    $49.95

    What’s new, now and next from contemporary Black artists

    This book surveys the work of a new generation of Black artists, and also features the voices of a diverse group of curators who are on the cutting edge of contemporary art. As mission-driven collectors, Bernard I. Lumpkin and Carmine D. Boccuzzi have championed emerging artists of African descent through museum loans and institutional support. But there has never been an opportunity to consider their acclaimed collection as a whole until now.

    Edited by writer Antwaun Sargent (author of The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion), Young, Gifted and Black draws from this collection to shed new light on works by contemporary artists of African descent. At a moment when debates about the politics of visibility within the art world have taken on renewed urgency, and establishment voices such as the New York Times are declaring that “it has become undeniable that African American artists are making much of the best American art today,” Young, Gifted and Black takes stock of how these new voices are impacting the way we think about identity, politics and art history itself.

    Young, Gifted and Black contextualizes artworks with contributions from artists, curators and other experts. It features a wide-ranging interview with Bernard Lumpkin and Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem; and an in-depth essay by Antwaun Sargent situating Lumpkin in a long lineage of Black art patrons. A landmark publication, this book illustrates what it means (in the words of Nina Simone) to be young, gifted and Black in contemporary art.

    Artists include: Mark Bradford, David Hammons, Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Adam Pendleton, Pope.L, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Henry Taylor, Mickalene Thomas, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Sadie Barnette, Kevin Beasley, Jordan Casteel, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Bethany Collins, Noah Davis, Cy Gavin, Allison Janae Hamilton, Tomashi Jackson, Samuel Levi Jones, Deana Lawson, Norman Lewis, Eric N. Mack, Arcmanoro Niles, Jennifer Packer, Christina Quarles, Jacolby Satterwhite, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Sable Elyse Smith, Chanel Thomas, Stacy Lynn Waddell, D’Angelo Lovell Williams, Brenna Youngblood, and more.

  • Young Gifted and Black

    by Jamia Wilson

    Sold out

    *Ships in 7-10 business days*

    Meet 52 icons of color from the past and present in this celebration of inspirational achievement- a collection of stories about changemakers to encourage, inspire, and empower the next generation of changemakers. Jamia Wilson has carefully curated this range of black icons and the book is stylishly brought together by Andrea Pippins' colorful and celebratory illustrations.

     

  • Young, Black, Rich, and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion, and the Transformation of American Culture

    Todd Boyd

    $18.95

    In Young, Black, Rich, and Famous, Todd Boyd chronicles how basketball and hip hop have gone from being reviled by the American mainstream in the 1970s to being embraced and imitated globally today. For young black men, he argues, they represent a new version of the American dream, one embodying the hopes and desires of those excluded from the original version.

     

    Shedding light on both perception and reality, Boyd shows that the NBA has been at the forefront of recognizing and incorporating cultural shifts—from the initial image of 1970s basketball players as overpaid black drug addicts, to Michael Jordan’s spectacular rise as a universally admired icon, to the 1990s, when the hip hop aesthetic (for example, Allen Iverson’s cornrows, multiple tattoos, and defiant, in-your-face attitude) appeared on the basketball court. Hip hop lyrics, with their emphasis on “keepin’ it real” and marked by a colossal indifference to mainstream taste, became an equally powerful influence on young black men. These two influences have created a brand-new, brand-name generation that refuses to assimilate but is nonetheless an important part of mainstream American culture. This Bison Books edition includes a new introduction by the author.

  • Your First Million: Why You Don’t Have to Be Born into a Legacy of Wealth to Leave One Behind

    by Arlan Hamilton with Rachel L. Nelson

    Sold out

    *ships in 5-7 business days

    Build lasting wealth and impact with lessons from the “bold and relentless disruptor” changing the face of entrepreneurship in America (Black Enterprise).

    Having lived nearly her entire life below the poverty line before going on to attain wealth and success as an entrepreneur and investor, Arlan Hamilton knows that entrepreneurship is the quickest path to money and power—particularly for those who haven’t had much of it in the past. In Your First Million,  she shows how anyone—no matter what they look like or how much money they have—can tap into all the new tools they already have at their disposal to get their million-dollar idea off the ground.

    Readers will learn: how to identify unmet needs, raise money, choose the right collaborators, create multiple income streams, and turn their unique knowledge and experience into a profitable businesses—while reinvesting in their communities and empowering others to do the same.

    If we can change who gets to decide what new ideas are worthy, and who gets to turn those ideas into reality, not only can we change our own circumstances—we can change the world.

  • Your Name Is a Song

    by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow

    $16.99

    Frustrated by a day full of teachers and classmates mispronouncing her beautiful name, a little girl tells her mother she never wants to come back to school. In response, the girl's mother teaches her about the musicality of African, Asian, Black-American, Latinx, and Middle Eastern names on their lyrical walk home through the city. Empowered by this newfound understanding, the young girl is ready to return the next day to share her knowledge with her class. Your Name is a Song is a celebration to remind all of us about the beauty, history, and magic behind names.

  • Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

    by Aude Lorde

    $17.99
    ZAMI is a fast-moving chronicle. From the author’s vivid childhood memories in Harlem to her coming of age in the late 1950s, the nature of Audre Lorde’s work is cyclical. It especially relates the linkage of women who have shaped her . . . Lorde brings into play her craft of lush description and characterization. It keeps unfolding page after page.
  • Zandi's Song

    by Zandile Ndhlovu

    $17.99

    Zandi is a girl on a mission: to bring a message of conservation to the world.

    Zandi was always thinking and dreaming about the ocean. Then, one special day, the ocean calls for her. Zandi tentatively approaches the water—and that’s when her adventure begins! She soon finds herself transformed into a mermaid and on an unforgettable underwater journey, where she hears the song of the ocean.

    But there is something threatening this magical world. Is the key to protecting it buried in stories from the past? Join Zandi in her mission to protect our beloved oceans, in this inspiring story written by South Africa’s first Black female free diving instructor.

  • Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness

    by Zanele Muholi

    $85.00

    “These feel like images you might have dreamed, both of the kind that slip away and the ones you manage to keep tenuously in your grasp, slippery, otherworldly. . . . Before our eyes, Zanele Muholi transforms into a mother, a domestic worker, an Afrofuturist, an oracle. It’s fiction and it is not.”―Yrsa Daley-Ward, The New York Times Book Review

    Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness is the long-awaited monograph from one of the most powerful visual activists of our time. The book features over ninety of Muholi’s evocative self-portraits, each image drafted from material props in Muholi’s immediate environment. A powerfully arresting collection of work, Muholi’s radical statements of identity, race, and resistance are a direct response to contemporary and historical racisms. As Muholi states, “I am producing this photographic document to encourage individuals in my community to be brave enough to occupy spaces―brave enough to create without fear of being vilified. . . . To teach people about our history, to rethink what history is all about, to reclaim it for ourselves―to encourage people to use artistic tools such as cameras as weapons to fight back.”

    With more than twenty written contributions from curators, poets, and authors, alongside luxurious tritone reproductions of Muholi’s images, Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness is as much a manifesto of resistance as it is an autobiographical, artistic statement.

  • Zetas Till We Die

    by Amber and Danielle Brown

    $18.99

    SISTERS…FOR LIFE.

    It’s been ten years since Priscilla and her Zeta Phi Zeta sorority sisters graduated college. Ten years since they were all in the same room together. Ten years since one of them died. And now Lupe’s killer has been released from prison on a technicality, days before their ten-year reunion.

    Priscilla decides that the party must go on; Lupe would have wanted it to. And besides, an epic reunion bash might be the perfect distraction. Back together, the Zetas party like it’s 2012, and it’s wild, just the way it used to be. Maybe too wild. At least everyone makes it out alive this time…or so they think.

    When one of them doesn’t return home after the party, Priscilla begins to realize that there might be more to Lupe’s murder and that someone is out for blood. With the murderer in their midst circling closer and closer, the Zetas are forced to confront what really happened the night Lupe died—and the secrets each of them swore to keep.

  • Zora Books Her Happy Ever After: A Rom-Com Novel

    by Taj McCoy

    Sold out

    An Indie bookstore owner finds herself in a love triangle when she meets the author she's had a crush on for years...and his best friend.

    Zora has committed every inch of her life to establishing her thriving DC bookstore, making it into a pillar of the community, and she just hasn’t had time for romance. But when a mystery author she’s been crushing on for years agrees to have an event at her store, she starts to rethink her priorities. Lawrence is every bit as charming as she imagined, even if his understanding of his own books seems just a bit shallow. When he asks her out after his reading, she’s almost elated enough to forget about the grumpy guy who sat next to her making snide comments all evening. Apparently the grouch is Lawrence’s best friend, Reid, but she can’t imagine what kind of friendship that must be. They couldn’t be more different.

    But as she starts seeing Lawrence, and spending more and more time with Reid, Zora finds first impressions can be deceiving. Reid is smart and thoughtful. And interested. After years of avoiding dating, she suddenly has two handsome men competing for her affection. But even as she struggles to choose between them, she can’t shake the feeling that they’re both hiding something. A mystery she’s determined to solve before she can find her HEA.

  • Zora Neale Art Sticker
    $3.50
    Product Description: Celebrate empowerment and creativity with our "Inspirational Black Literary Icons Vinyl Sticker Collection," featuring ten vibrant pop art renditions of influential activists and writers. Perfect as stocking stuffers, Christmas gifts, or tokens of motivation year-round, these stickers bring a touch of inspiration to laptops, notebooks, water bottles, stationery and more. Each sticker in this exclusive collection showcases a bold, colorful portrait of an iconic figure, crafted by talented Black artists. From the revolutionary spirit of Angela Davis to the literary genius of Toni Morrison, these stickers not only decorate but also honor the legacies of these trailblazers.
  • Zora Neale Hurston - Iconic Black Author Art Card, Book Lovers
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    Inside Message: "Those that don't got it, can't show it. Those that got it, can't hide it." Zora Neale Hurston Card Details: Dimensions - (A7) 5" x 7"  Printed on thick, premium quality cover stock, paired with matching envelope. Card comes in a protective sleeve. By Cody B., Founder of Cody Burt Creative  Harrisburg, Pennsylvania CODETURE by CODY BURT CREATIVE is a Black Pop Culture inspired Lifestyle Brand founded in 2020.
  • Zora Neale Hurston Boxed Set
    $156.90

    *Ships in 7-10 business days*

    Zora Neale Hurston’s work brilliantly captured the experience of American Black life in the early twentieth century and transformed the boundaries of modern literature. This boxed set features the best of her fiction and nonfiction in one extraordinary, giftable package. 

    Zora Neale Hurston Boxed Set includes:

    Dust Tracks on a Road—an intimate and insightful memoir of Zora’s childhood in the rural South and her rise to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance 

    Jonah’s Gourd Vine—a novel about a young man who loves too many women 

    Mules and Men—an oral history of Black American folklore featuring sermons, songs, sayings, and tall tales since the days of enslavement

    Tell My Horse—an insider look at the voodoo culture of Haiti and Jamaica of the 1930s 

    The Complete Stories—a collection of Zora’s most popular short fiction

    Every Tongue Got to Confess—an anthology of folktales that recounts the voices of ordinary people and celebrates the richness of Black vernacular 

    Moses, Man of the Mountain—a compelling allegory of power, redemption, and faith that blends the Moses of the Old Testament with the Moses of black folklore and song 

    Seraph on the Suwanee—a novel examining a complicated marriage

    Mule Bone—a three-act play written with Langston Hughes that explores life in a rural Southern black community 

    Their Eyes Were Watching God—the Southern love story that is the most highly acclaimed novel in the African-American literary canon 

    A tribute to one of our greatest writers and a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston Boxed Set is essential for devoted collectors of her writing, an opportunity for fans to rediscover her genius, and a rich wellspring for readers new to her canon. 

  • Zora Neale Hurston Lapel Pin
    Sold out

    Zora Neale Hurston

    Soft enamel pin with black plating

    1.25 inches tall

    Pin has 2 posts and comes with 2 rubber pin backs

  • Zora Neale Hurston on Florida Food: Recipes, Remedies & Simple Pleasures

    by Frederick Douglass Opie

    $19.99

    *ships in 7-10 business days

    Florida native Zora Neale Hurston's early twentieth-century ethnographic research and writing emphasizes the essentials of food in Florida through simple dishes and recipes.


    It considers foods prepared for everyday meals as well as special occasions and looks at what shaped people's eating traditions in early twentieth-century Florida. Hurston did for Florida what William Faulkner did for Mississippi - provided insight into a state's history and culture through various styles of writing. Her collected food stories, folklore and remedies, and the related recipes food professor Fred Opie pairs with them, are essential reading for those who love to cook and eat.

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