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  • Tending to Your Womb: Self-Care for Every Stage of Your Reproductive Journey, No Matter the Outcome
    $19.95

    "This is not another book telling you what to do with your body; it is an invitation to listen, to tend, and to reclaim your womb as a source of wisdom, resilience, and healing" --Pregnancy Magazine

    A heart-centered, science-based guide for women navigating fertility, pregnancy, loss, and what might come between and after

    Every reproductive journey has unexpected bumps along the way, small and sometimes big. Whether you’re preparing or trying to conceive, moving through pregnancy, processing loss or finding your footing afterward, or moving into menopause, caring for your reproductive health starts with connecting with your body. 

    From her work as a physical therapist specializing in pelvic health as well as her own lived experience with pregnancy loss and secondary infertility, Dr. “Tia” Anietie Ukpe-Wallace understands intimately the dysfunction that arises when we’re disconnected from our wombs. And so Tia empowers  women to get personal with their anatomy, learn what’s “normal” for them, and to trust their body’s signals so they can move forward with clarity, agency, and care, and become confident self-advocates in a challenging and impersonal medical system. With a frank, compassionate overview of the female reproductive system and the ways in which fertility and pregnancies can go awry, she offers advice about how to tend to your womb and all its connected systems to support the best outcomes possible.  

    Tia shares:

    * Exercises to connect you with your genitals
    * Self-massage techniques for the vulva and abdomen
    * Steps to identify your reproductive health “baseline”
    * The 5 S’s of fertility and womb health
    * Advice for navigating the fog of grief
    * Guidance for moving into menopause with vitality

    Anietie (Tia) Ukpe-Wallace  is a Doctor of Physical Therapy specializing in pelvic health, who provides a continuum of care and support from pregnancy loss to postpartum. Her own chronic struggles surrounding her pelvic floor, including multiple miscarriages, have inspired her personal interest in the womb, a rarely discussed and often misunderstood body part. A wife and mother, Tia lives in Oakland, CA, where she offers telehealth and clinic-based physical therapy services through her practice, Self-Care Physio.

  • Testimony Therapy: Decolonizing Mental Health for Black Therapists and Clients
    $28.99

    Centering Black culture and community for liberating, anti-racist therapeutic practice.

    This innovative book lays out the journey of family therapist Makungu Akinyela in developing testimony therapy―a healing practice rooted in Black cultural traditions of testifying and storytelling. This book argues that traditional Eurocentric approaches to therapy often perpetuate colonial oppression in the lives of Black clients, and that decolonizing mental health requires centering African American cultural knowledge, history, and community.

    Drawing from thinkers from the Black radical critical tradition like Frantz Fanon and W. E. B. Du Bois, Dr. Akinyela frames testimony therapy as a narrative practice grounded in Ubuntu (the African communal self) and the oral traditions of African diasporic peoples. Testimony Therapy maps out theory, practices, and supervision approaches that help therapists support clients in resisting internalized racism, reclaiming self-definition, and nurturing liberated Black identities. Ultimately, this work is a call for Black therapists and clients to engage therapy as cultural resistance―a pathway to repair our souls and build collective freedom beyond Eurocentric limitations.

  • Texas Trill
    Sold out
    Soft enamel double back pin with rubber black clutches.
  • Textures: The History and Art of Black Hair by Tameka Ellington
    $39.95
    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.
  • Thank You Bag
    $5.00
    Size: A2 4 3/8" x 5 3/4 folded card Includes matching envelope Blank on the inside for you to provide your own message.
  • Thank You Border Card
    $6.00
    DETAILS: - Each card is originally drawn, designed and/or illustrated. - Card measures 4” x 6” on smooth matte white card stock. - Blank Inside. - Envelope included.
  • Thank You for Being My Person Greeting Card
    $5.00
    Size: A2 4 3/8" x 5 3/4 folded card Includes matching envelope Blank on the inside for you to provide your own message.
  • Thank You for Everything You Do Seen & Unseen
    $5.00
    Size: A2 4 3/8" x 5 3/4 folded card and matching envelope Each card is blank on the inside for you to provide your own message.
  • Thanks a Million by Nikki Grimes
    $7.99

    Acclaimed poet Nikki Grimes and award-winning illustrator Cozbi A. Cabrera celebrate the joy of family, friends, and of feeling thankful. The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books says that Thanks a Million “offers a variety of reasons for giving thanks and feeling appreciation.” An inspirational and useful picture book that is perfect for educators, parents, and aspiring poets.

    What does it mean to connect with someone? What does it mean to feel thankful? Award-winning poet Nikki Grimes and Caldecott Honor artist Cozbi A. Cabrera honor human relationships—from family to friendships to community bonds—and the moments that bring us together.

  • That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon

    by Kimberly Lemming

    Sold out

    *Ships in 7-10 business days*

    Spice trader Cinnamon’s quiet life is turned upside down when she ends up on a quest with a fiery demon, in this irreverently quirky rom-com fantasy that is sweet, steamy, and funny as hell.
     
    All she wanted to do was live her life in peace—maybe get a cat, expand the family spice farm. Really, anything that didn’t involve going on an adventure where an orc might rip her face off. But they say the goddess has favorites, and if so, Cin is clearly not one of them.
     
    After Cin saves the demon Fallon in a wine-drunk stupor, Fallon reveals that all he really wants to do is kill an evil witch enslaving his people. And who can blame him? But now he’s dragging Cinnamon along for the ride whether she like it or not. On the bright side, at least he keeps burning off his shirt.…

  • That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human

    Kimberly Lemming

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    *Ships in 7-10 business days*

    When a spirited young woman with a penchant for adventure finds herself locked away in a dragon’s tower, she realizes that fate has a peculiar sense of humor when it comes to her romantic prospects, in this laugh-out-loud fantasy rom-com.
     
    All children are told fairytales. Some are epic adventures with high stakes and exciting twists, while others are tales of pitiful princesses trapped in boring towers pining for their Prince Charmings to come and rescue them. Growing up, Cherry always hated those stories. Why didn’t the princesses just get up and rescue themselves? Little did she know that her own fate would take an ironically similar turn. Because now, here she is. Stuck. In a tower. Turns out, when a dragon holds you hostage, he doesn’t just let you get up and leave.
     
    Who knew?
     
    And just when Cherry thinks she sees hope on the horizon, that hope is smashed to bits by—you guessed it—another damn dragon.

  • That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf

    by Kimberly Lemming

    Sold out

    *Ships in 7-10 business days*

    Cheesemaker Brie has the world’s worst luck in love, which is how she ends up falling for a lactose intolerant werewolf, in this raunchy, laugh-out-loud rom-com fantasy by the genre’s freshest new voice, Kimberly Lemming.
     
    Brie’s never been particularly coordinated…or lucky. Who else would accidentally throw a drink at someone’s head only to miss entirely and hit a stranger behind them? And who else would have that stranger fall madly in love with them because it turns out that the drink she threw was a love potion? Yeah, probably just Brie.…
     
    Running her cheese business and dealing with a pirate ship full of demons that just moved into town was hard enough. Now on top of it, she has to convince a werewolf that she’s not really his fated mate. Though even she’s got to admit…having a gorgeous man show up and do all her chores while telling her she’s beautiful isn’t the worst thing to happen to a girl.

  • That's How They Get You: An Unruly Anthology of Black American Humor

    Damon Young

    from $18.00

    From the Thurber Prize-winning author of What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker comes a pioneering collection of Black humor from some of the most acclaimed writers and performers at work today

    A critic explores the paradox of finding community in “the dozens” while grieving. A violent town ritual causes an all-too-familiar moral panic. An email thread between friends on why we need an updated Green Book but for public toilets. All across the nation, “Karens” become illegal overnight. These are just a few of the hilarious worlds contained in Damon Young’s groundbreaking anthology featuring the best, funniest, and Blackest essays, short stories, letters, and rants.

    With words that roast, ignite, and burn while connecting to and coalescing around a singular thesis, That's How They Get You emphasizes how and why Black American humor is uniquely transfixing. This is a mixture of not just observational anxieties and stream-of-consciousness lucidities but also acute political clarity about America. Edited and with an introduction by Damon Young, the critically acclaimed author of What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker, the collection features new material from an all-star roster of contributors, including Hanif Abdurraqib, Mahogany L. Browne, Wyatt Cenac, Kiese Laymon, Deesha Philyaw, Roy Wood Jr., and Nicola Yoon.

  • The (Young) Antiracist's Workbook: Questions for Changemakers by Ibram X. Kendi
    $15.00

    Kids 12 and up can discover ways to work toward a better future in this illustrated workbook guiding them to reflect on their understanding of race—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist.

    Antiracism is not a destination but a journey—one that takes deliberate, consistent work. Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's concept of antiracism has changed the way we talk about race, equality, and justice in America, pointing us toward new ways of thinking about ourselves and our society. Young people must be included in conversations on race, which is why Dr. Kendi has created this workbook with bestselling YA author Nic Stone for readers age twelve and up.

    Reflection questions include:  

    • Have you ever tried to change something about yourself to fit in? Did it work? Why or why not?
    • How does the word racist feel when you hear or say it? Is it a weapon or a descriptor? Why?
    • Why is empathy an important tool for any antiracist's toolbox?

    Whether or not you've read How to Be a (Young) Antiracist, this workbook offers the opportunity to reflect on your personal commitment to antiracism and is a log of your journey toward a better future.
  • The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

    by Nikole Hannah-Jones

    from $25.00

    One World is proud to present THE 1619 PROJECT: A New Origin Story, a book that dramatically builds on the vision of the original magazine project with major expansions of the original essays, seven new essays by historians, and dozens of new poems and pieces of fiction. The book includes a significant elaboration of the project’s Pulitzer Prize-winning lead essay by Nikole Hannah-Jones and a new introduction that together offer a stirring rebuttal to critics. Hannah-Jones has also written a third essay that makes the case for reparative solutions to the legacy of injustice the project documents.

    Edited by Hannah-Jones, along with New York Times Magazine editor-in-chief Jake Silverstein, features editor Ilena Silverman, and New York Times executive producer Caitlin Roper, the book offers work from some of the country’s most outstanding journalists, thinkers, historians and scholars, including: Michelle Alexander, Leslie Alexander, Carol Anderson, Jamelle Bouie, Anthea Butler, Matthew Desmond, Martha Jones, Ibram Kendi, Kevin Kruse, Trymaine Lee, Tiya Miles, Wesley Morris, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Dorothy Roberts, Jeneen Interlandi, Bryan Stevenson, and Linda Villarosa.

    Woven throughout the book are works of fiction and poetry that bring to life four hundred years of history with imaginative writing by Joshua Bennett, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Rita Dove, Camille Dungy, Cornelius Eady, Eve L. Ewing, Nikky Finney, Vievee Francis, Yaa Gyasi, Forrest Hamer, Terrance Hayes, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Barry Jenkins, Tyehimba Jess, Robert Jones, Jr., A. Van Jordan, Yusef Komunyakaa, Kiese Laymon, Jasmine Mans, Terry McMillan, Lynn Nottage, ZZ Packer, Gregory Pardlo, Darryl Pinckney, Claudia Rankine, Jason Reynolds, Evie Shockley, Tim Siebles, Clint Smith, Danez Smith, Patricia Smith, Tracy K. Smith, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Natasha Trethewey, Jesmyn Ward and Sonia Sanchez.

    The book also includes archival portrait photography of Black Americans paired with each essay, curated by Kimberly Annece Henderson.

     

  • The 1619 Project: A Visual Experience

    by Nikole Hannah-Jones

    $65.00

    An illustrated edition of The 1619 Project, with newly commissioned artwork and archival images, The New York Times Magazine's award-winning reframing of the American founding and its contemporary echoes, placing slavery and resistance at the center of the American story.

    Here, in these pages, Black art provides refuge. The marriage of beautiful, haunting and profound words and imagery creates an experience for the reader, a wanting to reflect, to sit in both the discomfort and the joy, to contemplate what a nation owes a people who have contributed so much and yet received so little, and maybe even, to act. --Nikole Hannah-Jones, from the Preface

    Curated by the editors of The New York Times Magazine, led by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, this illustrated edition of The 1619 Project features seven chapters from the original book that lend themselves to beautiful, engaging visuals, deepening the experience of the content. The 1619 Project: A Visual Experience offers the same revolutionary idea as the original book, an argument for a new national origin story that begins in late August of 1619, when a cargo ship of enslaved people from Africa arrived on the shores of Jamestown, Virginia. Only by reckoning with this difficult history and understanding its powerful influence on our present can we prepare ourselves for a more just future.

    Filled with original art by thirteen Black artists like Carrie Mae Weems, Calida Rawles, Vitus Shell, Xaviera Simmons, on the themes of resistance and freedom, a brand-new photo essay about slave auction sites, vivid photos of Black Americans celebrating their own forms of patriotism, and a collection of archival images of Black families by Black photographers, this gorgeous volume offers readers a dynamic new way of experiencing the impact of The 1619 Project.

    Complete with many of the powerful essays and vignettes from the original edition, written by some of the most brilliant journalists, scholars, and thinkers of our time, The 1619 Project: A Visual Experience brings to life a fuller, more comprehensive understanding of American history and culture.

  • The 1619 Project: Born on the Water

    by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson

    $18.99

    The 1619 Project’s lyrical picture book in verse chronicles the consequences of slavery and the history of Black resistance in the United States, thoughtfully rendered by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and Newbery honor-winning author Renée Watson. 


  • The 360 Mama Guide to C-Section Recovery

    The 360 Mama

    $19.99

    Have you recently had a c-section?
    Are you struggling with recovery - but want to come back stronger?
    Looking for advice on your scar, your pelvic floor health, or a return to exercise?

    The 360 Mama Guide to C-Section Recovery gives everything you need to fully heal from your c-section, answering all your questions and offering practical, expert-led advice at a time when you may feel lost or unsupported.
     
    Written by the hugely successful 360 Mama postnatal recovery team, this expert-led book leaves nothing out. From how to prepare for a c-section, to strategies you can put in place from the earliest moments to support the healing process, to guidance on wound care and scar massage, there is practical guidance for every new mama. You will find exercises to strengthen and rehabilitate your core, improve any overhang, and help you return to full physical activity. Featuring real-life birth stories and experiences, as well as advice on coping with birth trauma and managing your mental health post-birth, this empowering guide will help you to reclaim the narrative and to fully enjoy motherhood.

  • The 48 Laws of Black Empowerment by Dante Fortson
    $14.99

    *ships in 7-10 business days*

    The 48 Laws of Power was written by Robert Greene and first published in 1998. It is often praised as one of the best books to read if you want to get ahead in life. This got me to thinking, “why isn’t there anything like this for our community?”

    We have a lot of people talking about what we need to do, what we should do, and what we could do as a community, but nothing con-crete that we could all sit down with, learn from, and relate to on an individual level. The 48 Laws of Black Empowerment was written to bridge the gap between individual action and a united black community. This book is broken down into six areas of importance to the black community.

    1.Personal
    2.Family
    3.Finance
    4.Community
    5.Philanthropy
    6.Activism

    Working to individually improve ourselves in these areas will automati-cally result in a shift in black community consciousness. While The 48 Laws of Power is a great book, it just wasn’t written with our community or needs in mind. The 48 Laws of Black Empowerment is about cultivating success in business and life, while also helping our friends, family and community succeed with us.

  • The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life
    $30.00

    Reject the default path, define your priorities, and achieve lasting happiness with this transformative guide to your dream life—a life centered around the five types of wealth.

    “A powerful call to action to think deeply about what lights you up—and a guide for how to build a life of meaning and purpose.”—Tim Cook, CEO of Apple

    Throughout your life, you’ve been slowly indoctrinated to believe that money is the only type of wealth. In reality, your wealthy life may involve money, but in the end, it will be defined by everything else.

    After three years of research, personal experimentation, and thousands of interviews across the globe, Sahil Bloom has created a groundbreaking blueprint to build your life around five types of wealth: Time Wealth, Social Wealth, Mental Wealth, Physical Wealth, and Financial Wealth. A life of true fulfillment engages all five types—working dynamically, in concert across the seasons of your journey.

    Through powerful storytelling, science-backed practices, and actionable insights, in The 5 Types of Wealth, you’ll learn:

    • How to prioritize energy-creating tasks to unlock more time in your day
    • How to create deeper bonds and build a powerful network
    • How to engage your purpose to spark continuous growth
    • How to maximize health and vitality through three simple principles
    • How to achieve financial independence and define your version of “enough”

    No matter where you are on your path—a recent graduate, new parent, midlife warrior, retiree, or anything in between—The 5 Types of Wealth will help you act on your priorities to create an instant positive impact in your daily life, make better decisions, and design the life you’ve always dreamed of.

  • The 90's Incense
    $18.00
    The 90's is an original incense designed to spark nostalgia and/or transport you back in time. The scent brings unisex vibes with notes of cardamom, amber and bergamot. Incense sticks per pack - 20 Incense can be used in many ways including aromatherapy, aesthetics, meditation, clearing and more.
  • The ABCs of Baby's Needs: A Sign Language Book for Babies

    by Little Bee Books

    Sold out

    Teach your baby to communicate their basic wants and needs (with words and sign language), all as they easily learn the letters of the alphabet.

    Help your baby express themselves! This adorable board book teaches your little one the letters of the alphabet while also reinforcing phrases that communicate their basic needs. A is for All Done. B is for Bath. C is for cold. Beautiful illustrations are accompanied by a sign language guide to help non-verbal babies, making this the perfect gift for any family.

  • The ABCs of Black History

    by Rio Cortez

    $17.99

    Ages 5 and up

    It’s a story of big ideas––P is for Power, S is for Science and Soul. Of significant moments––G is for Great Migration. Of iconic figures––H is for Zora Neale Hurston, X is for Malcolm X. It’s an ABC book like no other, and a story of hope and love.

  • The ABCs of Women's History (The ABCs of History)

    Rio Cortez & Lauren Semmer

    Sold out

    From the New York Times bestselling creative team behind The ABCs of Black History comes a statement-making follow-up that celebrates women, their history, and their future by centering the diversity of the disruptors who blazed a path forward for everyone.

    In a beautiful picture book brimming with G for Groundbreaking women, National Book Award nominee Rio Cortez and illustrator Lauren Semmer celebrate all the joys, challenges, and historic forward movement of women’s history in the United States, with a special focus on the Black women, brown women, transwomen, and others who make change happen. This is a book about Artists, Activists and Allies, about Civil Rights and Choice, about Freedom Fighters, Headliners, Labor -- and Librarians! It’s about historic moments—Kamala Harris being sworn in as the first African-American and first Asian-American Vice President of the United States; Title IX passing through Congress; Seneca Falls, where the first women’s rights convention was held; the Riot Grrrls movement; and so much more. 

    The ABCs of Women’s History is a story of persistence. It’s a story of pride. And it’s a story of progress. This book celebrates the disruptors, the dreamers, the determined, and the do-it-yourself-ers who continue to inspire the next generation of women to build a brighter, better tomorrow.

  • The Accidental Pinup

    by Danielle Jackson

    $17.00

    Rival Chicago photographers are forced to collaborate on a body-positive lingerie campaign, but they might have to readjust their focus when sparks fly.

    Photographer Cassie Harris loves her job—her company Buxom Boudoir makes people look beautiful and feel empowered with her modern twist on classic pinup photography. Cassie’s best friend, Dana, is about to launch her own dangerously dreamy lingerie line and wants Cassie to shoot and direct the career-changing national campaign. But company politics and Dana’s complicated pregnancy interfere, and Cassie finds herself—a proud plus size Black woman—not behind the camera but in front of it.

    Though she’s never modeled herself, Cassie’s pretty sure she can handle the sheer underwear and caution tape bralettes. She’s not sure she can work so intimately with the chosen photographer, her long-time competitor in the Chicago photography scene, Reid Montgomery. Their chemistry is undeniable on set, however, and feelings can develop faster than film…

  • The Adventures of Qai Qai by Serena Williams
    $18.99

    *ships in 7-10 business days*

    From superstar athlete, record breaker, entrepreneur, philanthropist (and mama) Serena Williams, comes a magical picture book in which a little girl learns to believe in herself with the help of her doll and best friend, Qai Qai.

    “Don’t be scared, Best Friend! I’m right here with you, always!”

    “But what if I’m not good enough?”

    “Girl!” Qai Qai answered. “You’re already good enough when you walk in the door! Come on, let me show you.”

    Baby Girl has a dance recital coming up, and she can't help but worry. She's practiced and practiced, but what if something goes wrong? What if she forgets the steps or freezes up during her solo?

    Luckily, her best friend Qai Qai the doll has her back! When Qai Qai comes to life, they go on a magical journey that shows Baby Girl that she’s ready for the stage.

    This heartwarming picture book from beloved athlete Serena Williams shows readers the power of believing -in your best friend and in yourself.

  • The African Ancestors Garden: History and Memory at the International African American Museum
    $59.95

    ‘[Walter Hood is] one of the great American landscape artists.’ – Former President Joseph R. Biden

    The first publication to document the International African American Museum’s landscape design by Hood Design Studio, illuminating its mission and historic site

    The African Ancestors Garden is the first book to be published in conjunction with the International African American Museum (IAAM) in Charleston, South Carolina. The museum’s landscape design by Hood Design Studio, led by award-winning Walter Hood, exemplifies the museum’s mission to reflect on its location at Gadsden’s Wharf, the point at which nearly half of all enslaved Africans arrived in North America.

    With contributions by figures critical to the realization of the International African American Museum, this significant book presents the intensive site research and concepts that went into the distinct spaces at the museum, including an infinity reflecting pool and an ethnobotanical showcase of African plants brought to North America though that landing. Hood’s design response to these historic grounds addresses memory, tragedy, and culture, a moving homage to the living Charleston community and the African diaspora at large.

    Hood Design Studio, led by MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant-winner Walter Hood, is at the forefront of the expanding field of social activism through design, and this book allows us a detailed overview of the conceptualization and creation of a remarkable and deeply meaningful landscape, proposing a way of designing public spaces and cultural institutions that embody the African American experience.

  • The African Decor Edit: Collecting and Decorating with Heritage Objects

    by Nasozi Kakembo

    $45.00

    Travel with Ugandan American designer Nasozi Kakembo as she explores iconic home goods—from Malian mudcloth to Moroccan rugs—at the source and offers thoughtful guidance on collecting and decorating with traditional African treasures

    In The African Decor Edit, author Nasozi Kakembo shares her deep knowledge of ethically sourced and aesthetically elevated heritage wares. Through xN Studio, her interior design and product design practice, Nasozi collaborates with artisans throughout Africa, and hers is the rare design book that delves into the origin and meaning behind the furnishings and accessories shown. Each chapter presents artisans in their home countries, telling their stories in their own words. The book also demonstrates the beauty of African decor, with a collection of inspiring, layered interiors from all over the world. The African Decor Edit is a must-have for all who admire African wares and wish to decorate with them in a thoughtful and ethical way.

  • The African Gaze: Photography, Cinema and Power

    edited by Amy Sall

    $65.00

    An accessible and popular introduction to African photography and film from the mid-twentieth century to the present day

    Drawing from archival imagery and documents, interviews with the photographers and filmmakers (in some cases family members and/ or close associates), and with contributions from writers, scholars, and curators, The African Gaze is a mapping of and an introduction to the postcolonial African moving and still image.

    In The African Gaze, based on the university course of the same title, author Amy Sall looks at ways in which artistic expression in photography and cinema engendered discourses concerning identity, power, and self-determination.

    Colonial photography deprived Africans of agency, rendered them voiceless, and classified them as subaltern. In colonial photography, African people were subjected to a physical positioning and gaze which took away their autonomy and allowed western viewers to perceive them as primitive. African photographers and filmmakers from just before independence and onward (and in some cases even earlier), were able to reclaim this power and allow their communities to see themselves as they were, and explore their social, economic, and political conditions from their own perspective.

    This is a timely publication as engagement with Black and African histories is stronger than ever before (and long overdue). The major names of African photography, such as Malick Sidibé, Sanlé Sory, and Seydou Keita have become highly collectible in the art market and African cinema, pioneered by Ousmane Sembene in 1960s Senegal, is now recognized for its creative innovation and storytelling.

  • The African Samurai: A Novel

    by Craig Shreve

    $17.99

    *ships in 7-10 business days*

    Set in late 16th-century Africa, India, Portugal, and Japan, The African Samurai is a powerful historical novel based on the true story of Yasuke, Japan’s first foreign-born samurai and the only samurai of African descent—for readers of Esi Edugyan and Lawrence Hill.

    In 1579, a Portuguese trade ship sails into port at Kuchinotsu, Japan, loaded with European wares and weapons. On board is Father Alessandro Valignano, an Italian priest and Jesuit missionary whose authority in central and east Asia is second only to the pope’s. Beside him is his protector, a large and imposing East African man. Taken from his village as a boy, sold as a slave to Portuguese mercenaries, and forced to fight in wars in India, the young but experienced soldier is haunted by memories of his past.

    From Kuchinotsu, Father Valignano leads an expedition pushing inland toward the capital city of Kyoto. A riot brings his protector in front of the land’s most powerful warlord, Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga is preparing a campaign to complete the unification of a nation that’s been torn apart by over one hundred years of civil war. In exchange for permission to build a church, Valignano “gifts” his protector to Nobunaga, and the young East African man is reminded once again that he is less of a human and more of a thing to be traded and sold.

    After pledging his allegiance to the Japanese warlord, the two men from vastly different worlds develop a trust and respect for one another. The young soldier is granted the role of samurai, a title that has never been given to a foreigner; he is also given a new name: Yasuke. Not all are happy with Yasuke’s ascension. There are whispers that he may soon be given his own fief, his own servants, his own samurai to command. But all of his dreams hinge on his ability to protect his new lord from threats both military and political, and from enemies both without and within.

    A magnificent reconstruction and moving study of a lost historical figure, The African Samurai is an enthralling narrative about the tensions between the East and the West and the making of modern Japan, from which rises the most unlikely hero.

  • The African Trilogy: Things Fall Apart; Arrow of God; No Longer at Ease

    by Chinua Achebe

    $25.00

    *Ships in 7-10 Business Days*

    Chinua Achebe is considered the father of modern African literature, the writer who "opened the magic casements of African fiction." The African Trilogy--comprised of Things Fall ApartArrow of God, and No Longer at Ease--is his magnum opus. In these masterly novels, Achebe brilliantly imagines the lives of three generations of an African community as their world is upended by the forces of colonialism from the first arrival of the British to the waning days of empire.

    The trilogy opens with the groundbreaking Things Fall Apart, the tale of Okonkwo, a hero in his village, whose clashes with missionaries--coupled with his own tragic pride--lead to his fall from grace. Arrow of God takes up the ongoing conflict between continuity and change as Ezeulu, the headstrong chief priest, finds his authority is under threat from rivals and colonial functionaries. But he believes himself to be untouchable and is determined to lead his people, even if it is towards their own destruction. Finally, in No Longer at Ease, Okonkwo's grandson, educated in England, returns to a civil-service job in Lagos, only to see his morality erode as he clings to his membership in the ruling elite. 

    Drawing on the traditional Igbo tales of Achebe's youth, The African Trilogy is a literary landmark, a mythic and universal tale of modern Africa. As Toni Morrison wrote, "African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe. For passion, intellect and crystalline prose, he is unsurpassed."

  • The Afro-Latin@ Reader: History and Culture in the United States (a John Hope Franklin Center Book)

    Miriam Jiménez Román

    $35.95

    The Afro-Latin@ Reader focuses attention on a large, vibrant, yet oddly invisible community in the United States: people of African descent from Latin America and the Caribbean. The presence of Afro-Latin@s in the United States (and throughout the Americas) belies the notion that Blacks and Latin@s are two distinct categories or cultures. Afro-Latin@s are uniquely situated to bridge the widening social divide between Latin@s and African Americans; at the same time, their experiences reveal pervasive racism among Latin@s and ethnocentrism among African Americans. Offering insight into Afro-Latin@ life and new ways to understand culture, ethnicity, nation, identity, and antiracist politics, The Afro-Latin@ Reader presents a kaleidoscopic view of Black Latin@s in the United States. It addresses history, music, gender, class, and media representations in more than sixty selections, including scholarly essays, memoirs, newspaper and magazine articles, poetry, short stories, and interviews.

    While the selections cover centuries of Afro-Latin@ history, since the arrival of Spanish-speaking Africans in North America in the mid-sixteenth-century, most of them focus on the past fifty years. The central question of how Afro-Latin@s relate to and experience U.S. and Latin American racial ideologies is engaged throughout, in first-person accounts of growing up Afro-Latin@, a classic essay by a leader of the Young Lords, and analyses of U.S. census data on race and ethnicity, as well as in pieces on gender and sexuality, major-league baseball, and religion. The contributions that Afro-Latin@s have made to U.S. culture are highlighted in essays on the illustrious Afro-Puerto Rican bibliophile Arturo Alfonso Schomburg and music and dance genres from salsa to mambo, and from boogaloo to hip hop. Taken together, these and many more selections help to bring Afro-Latin@s in the United States into critical view.

    Contributors: Afro–Puerto Rican Testimonies Project, Josefina Baéz, Ejima Baker, Luis Barrios, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Adrian Burgos Jr., Ginetta E. B. Candelario, Adrián Castro, Jesús Colón, Marta I. Cruz-Janzen, William A. Darity Jr., Milca Esdaille, Sandra María Esteves, María Teresa Fernández (Mariposa), Carlos Flores, Juan Flores, Jack D. Forbes, David F. Garcia, Ruth Glasser, Virginia Meecham Gould, Susan D. Greenbaum, Evelio Grillo, Pablo “Yoruba” Guzmán, Gabriel Haslip-Viera, Tanya K. Hernández, Victor Hernández Cruz, Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, Lisa Hoppenjans, Vielka Cecilia Hoy, Alan J. Hughes, María Rosario Jackson, James Jennings, Miriam Jiménez Román, Angela Jorge, David Lamb, Aida Lambert, Ana M. Lara, Evelyne Laurent-Perrault, Tato Laviera, John Logan, Antonio López, Felipe Luciano, Louis Pancho McFarland, Ryan Mann-Hamilton, Wayne Marshall, Marianela Medrano, Nancy Raquel Mirabal, Yvette Modestin, Ed Morales, Jairo Moreno, Marta Moreno Vega, Willie Perdomo, Graciela Pérez Gutiérrez, Sofia Quintero, Ted Richardson, Louis Reyes Rivera, Pedro R. Rivera , Raquel Z. Rivera, Yeidy Rivero, Mark Q. Sawyer, Piri Thomas, Silvio Torres-Saillant, Nilaja Sun, Sherezada “Chiqui” Vicioso, Peter H. Wood

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