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  • Possessing the Secret of Joy: A Novel

    by Alice Walker

    $16.95
    From the author the New York Times Book Review calls "a lavishly gifted writer," this is the searing story of Tashi, a tribal African woman first glimpsed in The Color Purple whose fateful decision to submit to the tsunga's knife and be genitally mutilated leads to a trauma that informs her life and fatefully alters her existence. Possessing the Secret of Joy, out of print for a number of years, was the first novel to deal with this controversial topic and managed to do so in a manner that Cosmopolitan called "masterful, honorable, and unforgettable storytelling." The New Press is proud to bring the book back into print with a new preface by the author addressing the book's initial reception and the changed attitudes toward female genital mutilation that have come about in part because of this book.
  • Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African American Identity

    by Ytasha L. Womack

    $16.95
    As a young journalist covering black life at large, author Ytasha L. Womack was caught unaware when she found herself straddling black culture’s rarely acknowledged generation gaps and cultural divides. Traditional images show blacks unified culturally, politically, and socially, united by race at venues such as churches and community meetings. But in the “post black” era, even though individuals define themselves first as black, they do not necessarily define themselves by tradition as much as by personal interests, points of view, and lifestyle.
     
    In Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African American Identity, Womack takes a fresh look at dynamics shaping the lives of contemporary African Americans. Although grateful to generations that have paved the way, many cannot relate to the rhetoric of pundits who speak as ambassadors of black life any more than they see themselves in exaggerated hip-hop images. Combining interviews, opinions of experts, and extensive research, Post Black will open the eyes of some, validate the lives of others, and provide a realistic picture of the expanding community.
  • Post Event Books Only
    $0.00

    This listing is for customers who could not attend an event and purchased a book with their registration.  Please add the number of "tickets with a book" in your order to the cart and include your original order number in the notes. 

    Due to the small size of our store, we are unable to hold books for more than two weeks.  If you do no pick up your book or pay for shipping within two weeks, your book will be donated.  Thank you for understanding!

  • Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

    by Dr. Joy DeGruy

    Sold out

    In the 16th century, the beginning of African enslavement in the Americas until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment and emancipation in 1865, Africans were hunted like animals, captured, sold, tortured, and raped. They experienced the worst kind of physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual abuse. Given such history, isn't it likely that many of the enslaved were severely traumatized? And did the trauma and the effects of such horrific abuse end with the abolition of slavery?

     

    Emancipation was followed by one hundred more years of institutionalized subjugation through the enactment of Black Codes and Jim Crow laws, peonage, convict leasing, domestic terrorism and lynching. Today the violations continue, and when combined with the crimes of the past, they result in yet unmeasured injury. What do repeated traumas, endured generation after generation by a people produce? What impact have these ordeals had on African Americans today?

     

    Dr. Joy DeGruy, answers these questions and more. With over thirty years of practical experience as a professional in the mental health field, Dr. DeGruy encourages African Americans to view their attitudes, assumptions, and behaviors through the lens of history and so gain a greater understanding of how centuries of slavery and oppression have impacted people of African descent in America.

     

    Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome helps to lay the necessary foundation to ensure the well-being and sustained health of future generations and provides a rare glimpse into the evolution of society's beliefs, feelings, attitudes and behavior concerning race in America.

  • Potty Party!

    by Dionna L Mann

    $7.99

    A potty party’s coming through! Celebrate the milestone of potty training with this energetic board book that features a diverse group of children as they ditch their diapers and flush like big kids do.

     
    Going potty can be a party for everyone! Perfect for all children, this book touches on the aspects of potty training, including feeling the need to go, sitting and waiting, and picking out underwear. Get down and celebrate at toilet time with this fun and imaginative board book.
  • Power Button Tote Bag
    $45.00
    Tote bag inspired by campaign and activist buttons in the archives of the National Museum of African American Culture and History. - 18" x 15" x 7" - 25" handle drop - Inside pocket - Heavyweight 16oz. Natural 100% Cotton Canvas - Made and printed in the USA - Designed in Washington DC - Limited edition
  • Power Button Tote Bag (Black)
    Sold out
    Tote bag inspired by campaign and activist buttons in the archives of the National Museum of African American Culture and History. - 18" x 15" x 7" - 25" handle drop - Inside pocket - Heavyweight 16oz. Natural 100% Cotton Canvas - Made and printed in the USA - Designed in Washington DC - Limited edition
  • Power Moves : Ignite Your Confidence and Become a Force

    by Sarah Jakes Roberts

    $29.99

    Unleash the superpower of being yourself. Sarah Jakes Roberts, bestselling author of Woman Evolve, will help you craft a language toward your issues with intentionality.

    Stripping our minds of the expectations that inundate our world has never been more difficult. One quick scroll of our phones and we're consumed by other people's projections of how we should be feeling or responding.

    The ability to determine your truth without judgment is the beginning of harnessing authentic power in Christ. When we do the work of embracing where we are, we create space for God's love to meet us in our most raw form and then polish us to shine like never before. Power does not lie in success, achievement, or performance. Power rests in humility, honesty, and the commitment to continuous growth.

    Power Moves will help you to qualify whether you're living life authentically or if you've found a way to maintain status quo. It will reveal the principles required to tap into the most powerful version of who you are, then lead you in how to introduce your authentic self to the world around you. Sarah will help you

    • give language to your changing needs,
    • acknowledge and applaud your growth,
    • refuse to bear the weight all at once or all alone, and
    • release your power.

     Open your eyes to the way that God sees you and awaken your boldness to effect change in the world by living out the truth of who God says you are with confidence.

  • Power: A Woman's Guide to Living and Leading Without Apology

    by Kemi Nekvapil

    $21.00

    *ships in 7-10 business days*


    A transformative path for women to build their power in a world all too eager to strip it away


    We all know what it’s like to feel powerless. We have had power taken from us and used over us, and sometimes we have had to give it away for our own safety. In Power, renowned leadership coach Kemi Nekvapil reveals how power built internally is stronger and more enduring than that bestowed externally—and introduces a new framework for cultivating it from the inside out.

    When you tap into the power that comes from within, you have the capacity to rebuild yourself. You give yourself the opportunity to break free from chronic people-pleasing and start making choices that align with your needs and values. You stop living and leading with apology, and instead use your power as a force for good.

    Through the principles of Presence, Ownership, Wisdom, Equality, and Responsibility, Power invites you to stop waiting for power to be handed to you and instead choose it for yourself and on your own terms. Drawing on stories from her own life as a Black woman in a society where power is often used as a tool for fear and obedience, and from the lives of leaders, gamechangers, and everyday women who’ve learned to step into their power, Nekvapil shows you how to practice, build, and feel your inner force.

  • Powwow Day
    Sold out

    In this uplifting, contemporary Native American story, River is recovering from illness and can't dance at the powwow this year. Will she ever dance again?

    River wants so badly to dance at powwow day as she does every year. In this uplifting and contemporary picture book perfect for beginning readers, follow River's journey from feeling isolated after an illness to learning the healing power of community.

    Additional information explains the history and functions of powwows, which are commonplace across the United States and Canada and are open to both Native Americans and non-Native visitors. Author Traci Sorell is a member of the Cherokee Nation, and illustrator Madelyn Goodnight is a member of the Chickasaw Nation.

  • Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies

    by Andrea Ritchie & Alexis Pauline Gumbs

    $22.00

    An exploration of how emergent strategies can help us meet this moment, survive what is to come, and shape safer and more just futures.

    Practicing New Worlds
     explores how principles of emergence, adaptation, iteration, resilience, transformation, interdependence, decentralization and fractalization can shape organizing toward a world without the violence of surveillance, police, prisons, jails, or cages of any kind, in which we collectively have everything we need to survive and thrive.

    Drawing on decades of experience as an abolitionist organizer, policy advocate, and litigator in movements for racial, gender, economic, and environmental justice and the principles articulated by adrienne maree brown in 
    Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, Ritchie invites us to think beyond traditional legislative and policy change to create more possibilities for survival and resistance in the midst of the ongoing catastrophes of racial capitalism—and the cataclysms to come. Rooted in analysis of current abolitionist practices and interviews with on-the-ground organizers resisting state violence, building networks to support people in need of abortion care, and nurturing organizations and convergences that can grow transformative cities and movements, Practicing New Worlds takes readers on a journey of learning, unlearning, experimentation, and imagination to dream the worlds we long for into being. 

  • Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks

    by Crystal Wilkinson

    $30.00

    A lyrical culinary journey that explores the hidden legacy of Black Appalachians, through powerful storytelling alongside nearly forty comforting recipes, from the former poet laureate of Kentucky. “With Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, Crystal Wilkinson cements herself as one of the most dynamic book makers in our generation and a literary giant. Utter genius tastes like this.”—Kiese Laymon, author of the Carnegie Medal-winning Heavy People are always surprised that Black people reside in the hills of Appalachia. Those not surprised that we were there, are surprised that we stayed. Years ago, when O. Henry Prize-winning writer Crystal Wilkinson was baking a jam cake, she felt her late grandmother’s presence. She soon realized that she was not the only cook in her kitchen; there were her ancestors, too, stirring, measuring, and braising alongside her. These are her kitchen ghosts, five generations of Black women who settled in Appalachia and made a life, a legacy, and a cuisine. An expert cook, Wilkinson shares nearly forty family recipes rooted deep in the past, full of flavor—delicious favorites including Corn Pudding, Chicken and Dumplings, Granny Christine’s Jam Cake, and Praisesong Biscuits, brought to vivid life through stunning photography. Together, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts honors the mothers who came before, the land that provided for generations of her family, and the untold heritage of Black Appalachia. As the keeper of her family’s stories and treasured dishes, Wilkinson shares her inheritance in Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts. She found their stories in her apron pockets, floating inside the steam of hot mustard greens and tucked into the sweet scent of clove and cinnamon in her kitchen. Part memoir, part cookbook, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts weaves those stories together with recipes, family photos, and a lyrical imagination to present a culinary portrait of a family that has lived and worked the earth of the mountains for over a century.

  • Praisesong for the Widow

    by Paule Marshall

    $16.00
    From the acclaimed author of Daughters and Brown Girl, Brownstones comes a “work of exceptional wisdom, maturity, and generosity, one in which the palpable humanity of its characters transcends any considerations of race or sex”(Washington Post Book World).

    Avey Johnson—a black, middle-aged, middle-class widow given to hats, gloves, and pearls—has long since put behind her the Harlem of her childhood. Then on a cruise to the Caribbean with two friends, inspired by a troubling dream, she senses her life beginning to unravel—and in a panic packs her bag in the middle of the night and abandons her friends at the next port of call. The unexpected and beautiful adventure that follows provides Avey with the links to the culture and history she has so long disavowed.
  • PRE - ORDER: Cuba: A Brief History

    by Sergio Guerra Vilaboy

    $15.95

    PRE - ORDER: On Sale: December 10, 2024

    A Spanish-language edition of a concise, engaging, and thoroughly revised overview of Cuba written by Cubans for anyone interested in quickly understanding the island country’s turbulent history.

    Un conciso, ameno resumen de Cuba para cualquiera interesado en comprender rápidamente la turbulenta historia de este país insular.


    Cuba: A Brief History covers the pre-Hispanic period, through Cuba’s struggle to maintain the revolution in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, to the period after Fidel Castro’s decision to step down from office, to the 2014 opening to Cuba by the Obama Administration, the retirement of Raul Castro and his replacement as president in 2018 by Miguel Diaz Canal, and finally to the reversal of Washington’s engagement with Cuba under President Trump. This slim volume provides the reader with an overview of the history and politics of the tiny Caribbean island that continues to appear at the center of world events.

    Featuring a presentation and analysis of US intervention on the island, Cuba: A Brief History also includes footnotes and a bibliography for further reading. This is an essential introduction to Cuba for students, visitors, and others looking for a bird’s eye view of the turbulent history of the island that has captivated and enthralled its northern neighbors for decades.

    Cuba: Una Breve Historia abarca el período prehispánico, la lucha de Cuba por mantener viva la revolución en los años siguientes al colapso de la Unión Soviética, el período luego de la decisión de Fidel Castro de ceder su puesto, la apertura de Cuba en el 2014 a la Administración de Obama, la jubilación de Raúl Castro y su reemplazo por Miguel Díaz-Canel como presidente en el 2018, y la revocación de parte del presidente Trump del compromiso de Washington con Cuba. Este corto volumen provee al lector con un pantallazo de la historia y la política de la pequeña isla caribeña que continúa siendo el foco de sucesos mundiales.

    Incluye una presentación y análisis de la intervención estadounidense en la isla, Cuba: Una Breve Historia también incluye notas al pie y una bibliografía de lecturas complementarias. Esta es una introducción esencial a Cuba para estudiantes, turistas y todo aquel que desea un vistazo de pájaro de la turbulenta historia de la isla que ha cautivado y fascinado a sus vecinos del norte hace décadas.

  • PRE - ORDER: Matriarch

    by Tina Knowles

    $30.00

    PRE - ORDER. ON SALE DATE: April 22, 2025

    A glorious chronicle of a life like none other—enlightening, entertaining, surprising, empowering—and a testament to the world-changing power of Black motherhood

    “You are Celestine,” she said. She squatted to push the hair off my face and pull leaves off my pajama legs. “Like my sister and my grandmother.” And there under the pecan tree, as she did countless times, that day my mother told me stories of the mothers and daughters that went before me.

    Tina Knowles, the mother of iconic singer-songwriters Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Solange Knowles, and bonus daughter Kelly Rowland, is known the world over as a Matriarch with a capital M: a determined, self-possessed, self-aware, and wise woman who raised and inspired some of the great artists of our time. But this story is about so much more than that.

    Matriarch begins with a precocious, if unruly, little girl growing up in 1950s Galveston, the youngest of seven. She is in love with her world, with extended family on every other porch and the sounds of Motown and the lapping beach always within earshot. But as the realities of race and the limitations of girlhood set in, she begins to dream of the world beyond. Her instincts and impulsive nature drive her far beyond the shores of Texas to discover the life awaiting her on the other side of childhood.

    That life’s journey—through grief and tragedy, creative and romantic risks and turmoil, the nurturing of superstar offspring and of her own special gifts—is the remarkable story she shares with readers here. This is a page-turning chronicle of family love and heartbreak, of loss and perseverance, and of the kind of creativity, audacity, and will it takes for a girl from Galveston to change the world. It’s one brilliant woman’s intimate and revealing story, and a multigenerational family saga that carries within it the story of America—and the wisdom that women pass on to each other, mothers to daughters, across generations.

  • PRE - ORDER: No Place to Bury the Dead: A Novel

    by Karina Sainz Borgo and Elizabeth Bryer

    $26.00

    PRE - ORDER: On Sale: December 10, 2024

    Winner of the 2023 Jan Michalski Prize, a searing novel of loss and resilience that illuminates the often-overlooked human dimension of the migrant crisis, re-imagining the border as a dreamlike purgatory bridging life and death.

     In an unnamed Latin American country, a mysterious plague quickly spreads, erasing the memory of anyone infected. Angustias Romero flees with her family, but their flight is tragically cut short when she loses both her children. Consumed by grief, she finds herself within the hallucinatory expanse of Mezquitte––a town corrupted by greed and populated by storytellers, refugees, and violent, predatory gangs.

    Here, Angustias is finally able to lay her children to rest at the Third Country, a cemetery run by the larger-than-life Visitación Salazar and a refuge beyond suffering and fear. While Visitación remains defiant in her mission to care for the dead, the cemetery she oversees is the focal point of a bitter land dispute with Alcides Abundio, the most feared landowner of the border. Caught in this power struggle, Angustias and Visitación–friends and sometimes rivals– stand their ground on a frontier where the law is dictated by violence; a surreal territory whose very nature blurs the boundaries between life and death.

    Exploring what we are capable of and how far we will go when we have nothing to lose, No Place to Bury the Dead confirms Karina Sainz Borgo’s importance amongst the voices of modern Latin American literature, merging thriller, western, and classic tragedy in an unforgettable and urgent novel that won the 2023 Jan Michalski Prize.

    Translated from the Spanish by Elizabeth Bryer

  • PRE - ORDER: The Theater of Refusal: Black Art and Mainstream Criticism

    by Rhea Anastas

    $40.00

    PRE-ORDER: On Sale: November 26, 2024

    Updated documentation of The Theater of Refusal on the exhibition's 30th anniversary

    In 1993, at the University of California, Irvine, Charles Gaines and Catherine Lord mounted a category-breaking exhibition of Black artists from different generations, working across Fluxus, Conceptualism, assemblage, photography and installation. Challenging the racializing of Black artists’ work, the exhibition confronted the discourse around race difference in the United States by including excerpts of writing by art critics who had discussed the featured artists. On the 30th anniversary of this event, this publication reprints the eponymous 1993 volume documenting the show, which contained essays by Gaines, Lord and Berger, and the transcript of a roundtable of artists and writers. Reproducing images of the exhibition in color for the first time, this new edition augments the original publication with an essay by poet and scholar Fred Moten; recent conversations between Lord and Gaines; an interview with Gaines by Moten; and a new roundtable discussion moderated and edited by curator Jamillah James and Thomas (T.) Jean Lax.
    Artists include: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Renée Green, David Hammons, Ben Patterson, Sandra Rowe, Gary Simmons, Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems.

  • PRE-ORDER: (S)Kin

    Ibi Zoboi

    $19.99

    PRE-ORDER.  ON SALE DATE: February 11, 2025

    From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Ibi Zoboi comes her groundbreaking contemporary fantasy debut—a novel in verse based on Caribbean folklore—about the power of inherited magic and the price we must pay to live the life we yearn for.

    “Our new home with its

    thick walls and locked doors

    wants me to stay trapped in my skin—

    but I am fury and flame.”

    Fifteen-year-old Marisol is the daughter of a soucouyant. Every new moon, she sheds her skin like the many women before her, shifting into a fireball witch who must fly into the night and slowly sip from the lives of others to sustain her own. But Brooklyn is no place for fireball witches with all its bright lights, shut windows, and bolt-locked doors.… While Marisol hoped they would leave their old traditions behind when they emigrated from the islands, she knows this will never happen while she remains ensnared by the one person who keeps her chained to her magical past—her mother.

    Seventeen-year-old Genevieve is the daughter of a college professor and a newly minted older half sister of twins. Her worsening skin condition and the babies’ constant wailing keep her up at night, when she stares at the dark sky with a deep longing to inhale it all. She hopes to quench the hunger that gnaws at her, one that seems to reach for some memory of her estranged mother. When a new nanny arrives to help with the twins, a family secret connecting her to Marisol is revealed, and Gen begins to find answers to questions she hasn’t even thought to ask.

    But the girls soon discover that the very skin keeping their flames locked beneath the surface may be more explosive to the relationships around them than any ancient magic.

  • PRE-ORDER: 2025 New Beginnings Yearly 12 Month Planner

    Be Rooted

    $24.00

    PRE-ORDER ONLY.  THIS ITEM WILL SHIP IN LATE OCTOBER.

    Stay organized this year with Be Rooted yearly planner. This 12-month classic planner runs from January 2025-December 2025. It has a monthly/weekly view with horizontal pages to plan your weekly needs. Stay organized at home, school, and worth and never miss a task with this planner. Perfect for keeping track of appointments, improving productivity, and staying motivating motivated to achieve your dreams. Add a little decoration and sparkle to your planner with our stickers to make planning even more fun. • Planner 2025 Yearly Overview– Our beautiful Annual Calendar/Planner includes 12 months, from January 2025 to December 2025. It is a useful size for daily planning and scheduling at 7x 9 inches. • Monthly Page - Our 2025 planner monthly planning pages contain 12 months calendar view pages. This page view also gives you the prior and upcoming month for easy reference. There are also additional blocks

  • PRE-ORDER: A Jazzman's Blues: A Novel

    by Tyler Perry and Echo Brown

    $17.00

    PRE-ORDER: On Sale February 01, 2025

    A moving and unforgettable tale of love and family secrets set in Georgia in the 1940s from visionary Tyler Perry and acclaimed author Echo Brown, based on Perry’s original screenplay and Netflix film of the same name.

    1947, Georgia. Bayou, a precocious teen with big dreams of escaping the oppressive South, hopes the music running through his blood can save him from him his daunting circumstances. First, he’ll have to survive the rage of his alcoholic father, Buster, and the searing criticism of his jealous brother, Willie Earl. Despite these challenges, there lurks a golden voice behind Bayou’s bashful demeanor, ready to escape. Leanne, a clever, pretty girl who Bayou grew up with, left last summer a child and returned a woman now desired by every man in town. Troubled by their lives at home, Bayou and Leanne are drawn together, meeting in secret in the sweltering, star-filled Georgia nights. They see something in each other that no one else in their small town can, and they protect each other, until the cruel racism of the South forces Bayou and Leanne to separate and flee the place they call home.

    What follows is the extraordinary story of two lovers fated to be together but compelled to take different paths. Bayou journeys to Chicago where he follows his dreams of becoming a musician, his love for Leanne never far from his mind. Leanne is caught between the white and black worlds in Boston and eventually marries a white man and passes as a white woman in order to survive. When Bayou and Leanne return to Georgia and reunite, changed to the core by their experiences, they must decide if they can ever be together again and discover if that’s even possible in a society bent on keeping them apart.

  • PRE-ORDER: A Kids Book About Israel & Palestine

    Reza Aslan

    $19.99

    PRE-ORDER.  ON SALE DATE: DECEMBER 10, 2024

    Open the door to understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the path to peace.

    What is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Why is it happening? Is peace possible? When kids ask questions like these, are grownups prepared to answer? This book was created to provide context for this conflict, open the door to conversation, and lay a path for understanding, peace, and compassion for our shared future.

  • PRE-ORDER: A Legend in the Baking: A Novel
    $18.00

    PRE-ORDER: On Sale Date: November 19, 2024

    After accidentally going viral on social media, a cupcake-baking football player gets assistance from a social media maven―and his best friend's little sister―to help promote his new bakery.

    August Hodges was supposed to be the silent partner in Sugar Blitz Cupcakes. Emphasis on silent. That is until his impromptu feminist rant about how women bakers are the backbone of the industry and baking cupcakes isn’t a threat to masculinity goes viral, making him the hottest bachelor in town. With a new location in the works, August and his partners decide to capitalize on this perfect opportunity to help cement their place in the community. But the hiring of his best friend’s younger sister, the woman who has haunted some of his best dreams for years, was as much of a shock as his new-found fame.

    Social media manager Sloane Dell fell hard for her brother’s best friend the moment she met him more than a decade ago, but that teenage infatuation cost her dearly. Still, she accepts her brother’s request to revamp the bakery’s social media presence to take advantage of August’s newfound popularity, knowing it’s the big break her fledgling career needs. She’ll just ignore the fact that August is still August, i.e. sexier and sweeter than any man has a right to be. And that he drives her crazy with his resistance to all her ideas.

    They vow to leave the past in the past. But when an explosive make-out session makes it clear their attraction burns hotter than ever, Sloane and August are forced to reconsider what it means to take a risk and chase your dreams.

    As they’re both about to find out, all’s fair in love and cupcakes.

  • PRE-ORDER: A Misrepresented People : Manhood in Black Religious Thought

    by Darrius D'Wayne Hills

    $30.00

    PRE-ORDER. ON SALE DATE: January 21, 2025

    Although much Black religious scholarship has engaged with feminist theory and womanist thought, a gap remains where little work has been done in religious studies to investigate the Black male experience. A Misrepresented People explores how African American men grapple with identity and masculinity in relation to Black religious thought. This book counters the dominant portrayal of Black men in American society as suspicious, morally defective, and irredeemable, and showcases the strength and relevance of Black religious thought in developing alternative notions of Black manhood.

    Drawing on womanist discourses, African American religious thought, literature, and Black male studies, as well as an examination of the writings and sermons of Howard Thurman and Martin Luther King Jr., Darrius D’wayne Hills offers a vision of Black male identity that is grounded in interpersonal relationships and connection. Positioning identity formation as a religious concern, Hills expands the application of religious scholarship toward the complex social and material realities faced by Black men. In doing so, this volume offers a much-needed new model for understanding Black male gender identity, illustrating how religious thought fosters more holistic and livable futures for African American men.

  • PRE-ORDER: A More Perfect Party: The Night Shirley Chisholm and Diahann Carroll Reshaped Politics

    Juanita Tolliver

    $29.00

    PRE-ORDER.  ON SALE DATE: January 14, 2025

    From an MSNBC Political Analyst, a riveting account of the legendary party hosted by Diahann Carroll for Shirley Chisholm's 1972 presidential campaign, which changed the playing field for Black women in politics.

    In 1972, New York Representative Shirley Chisholm broke the ice in American politics when she became the first Black woman to run for president of the United States. Chisholm left behind a coalition-building model personified by a once-in-an-era Hollywood party hosted by legendary actress and singer Diahann Carroll, and attended by the likes of Huey P. Newton, Barbara Lee, Berry Gordy, David Frost, Flip Wilson, Goldie Hawn and others. In A More Perfect Party, MSNBC political analyst Juanita Tolliver presents a path to people-centered politics through the lens of this soiree, with surprising parallels to our current electoral reality.

    Chisholm worked the crowd of movie stars, media moguls, music executives and activists gathered at Carroll's opulent Beverly Hills home, forging relationships with laughter as she urged guests to unify behind her campaign. With the feminist movement on the rise and eighteen- to twenty-year-olds voting for the first time in American history, the Democratic Party and the nation were on the cusp of long-overdue change.

    Zooming in on one party attendee per chapter, A More Perfect Party brings this whimsical event out of the margins of history to demonstrate that there is an opportunity for all of us to fight for a better nation and return power to the people.

  • PRE-ORDER: A Season of Light

    Julie Iromuanya

    $29.00

    PRE-ORDER.  ON SALE DATE: February 4, 2025

    For fans of Behold the Dreamers, comes a compelling novel about a tightly bound Nigerian family living in Florida and the wounds that get passed down from generation to generation, from the author of the acclaimed Mr. and Mrs. Doctor.

    When 276 schoolgirls are abducted from their school in Nigeria, Fidelis Ewerike, a Florida-based barrister, poet, and former POW of the Nigerian Civil War, begins to go mad, consumed by memories of his younger sister Ugochi, who went missing during that conflict. Consumed by survivor’s guilt and fearful that the same fate awaits Amara, his sixteen-year-old daughter who bears an uncanny resemblance to Ugochi, Fidelis locks her in her bedroom, offering no words of explanation, only lovingly—if poorly—made meals and sweets.

    Amid that singular action, the Ewerike family spirals into chaos: After unsuccessful attempts to free her daughter from her room, his wife Adaobi seeks the counsel of a preacher, praying for spiritual liberation from the curse she is certain has plagued her family since leaving Nigeria. Fourteen-year-old Chuk, beset by his own war with the neighborhood boys, receives a painful education on force, masculinity, and his tenuous position within his family. And rebellious, resentful Amara is hungry for her life to be hers, so the moment she is able to escape her imprisonment, she falls in love—not with the Aba-born engineer-in-training her mother envisages, but with Maksym Kostyk, the son of the town drunk. Before long, the two have concocted a plan to run away from the trappings of their familial traumas.

    Perfect for readers of Sing, Unburied, Sing, Julie Iromuanya's A Season of Light is an all-consuming masterpiece. To peer into the window of the Ewerike family’s lives is a gift.

  • PRE-ORDER: Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold

    P. Djèlí Clark

    $19.99

    PRE-ORDER: On Sale August 25, 2025

    The action-packed fantasy sequel to P. Djèlí Clark's astonishing middle grade debut, Abeni's Song.

    Praise for Abeni’s Song: “Lush and magical.” ―KWAME MBALIA • “Astonishing.” ―MARK OSHIRO • “Abeni's story will sweep you away.” ―AMANDA FOODY • “Witches, magic, and an incredibly brave protagonist.” ―RENA BARRON • “What an adventure!” ―MARGARET PETERSON HADDIX

  • PRE-ORDER: Accidentally on Purpose

    Kristen Kish

    $30.00

    PRE-ORDER.  ON SALE DATE: April 22, 2025

    Accidentally on Purpose dives into Kristen Kish’s childhood as a Korean adoptee in the Midwest, finding purpose in kitchens, and becoming the season 10 winner of—and now host—of Top Chef all the while navigating life in the spotlight, coming out in her adult years, and all the life lessons in between.

    Kristen Kish never set out to live a public life—not when she was a carefree softball-tossing kid, not in high school working at a pretzel stand, not even, briefly, as a working model. And definitely not when she finally landed her true calling as a chef. But in those early days, becoming a chef meant tethering oneself to a restaurant, not a television set. But it happened naturally (or as naturally as possible, given all the technology and TV magic involved), even if it was totally unanticipated.
     
    Of course, like most things in life, the road to this full circle moment—from Top Chef season 10 winner to now hosting—was so much more winding and complicated than it may have appeared from the outside. From growing up as an adoptee in the Midwest, to trying to fit in with all the other girls who were busy dating boys, to coming out and finding love when she least expected it, Kristen learned that, unlike a map, no set of plans or definitions can dictate or explain a life. In fact, accidents happen. That curveballs will come. And they will often be consequential to one’s path.
     
    In Accidentally on Purpose, what defines Kristen’s story aren’t the missteps or even the pleasant surprises that crop up. It’s how to respond when they do, and the decisions made at those intersections. Because while accidents may be unexpected, they don’t have to be at odds with purpose. And as Kristen approaches life’s milestones, big and small, with intention—the ones she expected, and those she didn’t—she realizes she can write her own definitions and chart her own course.

  • PRE-ORDER: African History of Africa, An: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence

    Zeinab Badawi

    $32.50

    PRE-ORDER.  ON SALE DATE: January 14, 2025

    Already a major international bestseller, Zeinab Badawi’s sweeping and much-needed survey of African history traces the continent’s extraordinary legacy from prehistory to the present from the African perspective.

    “Equal parts gripping and galvanizing. . . . Researched across more than 30 countries, it brings the dazzling civilizations of pre-colonial Africa vividly to life. A book that feels both long-overdue—and wholly worth the wait.” —British Vogue

    Everyone is originally from Africa, and this book is therefore for everyone.

    For too long, Africa’s history has been dominated by western narratives of slavery and colonialism, or simply ignored. Now, Zeinab Badawi sets the record straight.

    In this fascinating book, Badawi guides us through Africa’s spectacular history—from the very origins of our species, through ancient civilizations and medieval empires with remarkable queens and kings, to the miseries of conquest and the elation of independence. Visiting more than thirty African countries to interview countless historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and local storytellers, she unearths buried histories from across the continent and gives Africa its rightful place in our global story.

    The result is a gripping new account of Africa: an epic, sweeping history of the oldest inhabited continent on the planet, told through the voices of Africans themselves.

  • PRE-ORDER: Afro Sheen: How I Revolutionized an Industry with the Golden Rule, from Soul Train to Wall Street

    George E Johnson

    $30.00

    PRE-ORDER.  ON SALE DATE: February 4, 2025

    From the creator of the iconic hair product, Afro Sheen, and the first Black company to be traded on Wall Street comes the story of multi-millionaire George E. Johnson

    You might already be familiar with Afro Sheen and Ultra Sheen, but have you heard of the man behind the company that produced those products? George Ellis Johnson the acclaimed self-made businessman—along with Hilary Beard—reveals his inspiring and captivating rise from humble beginnings to the top of the haircare industry.

    At just 27 years old, Johnson created the Johnson Products Company. After years of hard work, traveling the country and going from barbershop to barbershop to sell his products, JPC became the first Black-owned company to trade on a major stock exchange, the financial sponsor of Soul Train, and once considered the largest Black-owned manufacturing company in the world. At the height of its success, JPC was worth $37M. In this coming-of-age story, Johnson uses the life skills and strong character built from working odd jobs as a teenager and practicing the golden rule to create a business that would both nurture and advance the Black community. Without a formal education, he filled a gap in the Black haircare industry and created a high-quality formula for straightening hair and the iconic Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen products that supported Black people in expressing their authentic beauty.

    For decades, Johnson has been an inspiration to Black entrepreneurs, setting an example of Black wealth and providing a safe space for Black people to work. 

    Afro Sheen is a timely, impassioned look at both an industry and cultural moment; Johnson’s impact is finally on full display, as he brilliantly highlights how having perseverance and a daring vision can create both change and a lasting legacy.

  • PRE-ORDER: Akeem Keeps Bees!: A Close-Up Look at the Honey Makers and Pollinators of Sankofa Farms

    Kamal Eugene William Bell

    $18.99

    PRE-ORDER.  ON SALE DATE: February 4, 2025

    Young readers will learn the basics of beekeeping with this vibrantly illustrated book that takes place on the Sankofa Farms apiary.

    Told from Akeem's perspective, Akeem Keeps Bees! begins with the arrival and installation of a package of bees and follows Akeem and his Dad throughout the year as they inspect the hive, find the queen, deal with a swarm, harvest honey, and prepare for winter. 

    Every part of the process is illustrated for young readers, teaching them the special role that bees play on a farm. The author, Kamal Bell, is a leading voice among Black farmers educating and inspiring Black youth about farming and beekeeping. Perfect for children ages 6 through 10.

  • PRE-ORDER: Alchemy of the Spirit: An Oracle Deck to Guide Your Journey Into the Self

    by Cristina González

    $29.99

    PRE-ORDER.  ON SALE DATE: December 3, 2024

    Embark on a journey of self-discovery through the secret spiritual symbols of the universe. In her debut oracle deck, artist Cristina Gonzáles presents gorgeously hand-illustrated artwork representing three types of motifs―Situations, Spirits and Symbols. Infused with ancient wisdom, the hidden messages within the artwork will help you tap into aspects of yourself you’ve forgotten or repressed, as you learn to parse the patterns of the world around you. Embrace change. Awaken your heart’s innermost desires. Become who you were meant to be.

  • PRE-ORDER: All the Blues in the Sky

    Renée Watson

    $17.99

    PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: February 4, 2025.

    # 1 New York Times bestselling and Newbery Honor author Renée Watson explores friendship, loss, and life with grief in this poignant novel in verse and vignettes.

    Sage's thirteenth birthday was supposed to be about movies and treats, staying up late with her best friend and watching the sunrise together. Instead, it was the day her best friend died. Without the person she had to hold her secrets and dream with, Sage is lost. In a counseling group with other girls who have lost someone close to them, she learns that not all losses are the same, and healing isn't predictable. There is sadness, loneliness, anxiety, guilt, pain, love. And even as Sage grieves, new, good things enter her life-and she just may find a way to know that she can feel it all.

    In accessible, engaging verse and prose, this is a story of a girl's journey to heal, grow, and forgive herself. To read it is to see how many shades there are in grief, and to know that someone understands.

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