An acclaimed poet reclaims her origin story as the queer daughter of a Muslim Nigerian immigrant and a Black American visual artist in this groundbreaking memoir, combining lyrical prose, biting criticism, and haunting visuals.

“Hafizah Augustus Geter is a genuine artist, not bound by genre or form. Her only loyalty is the harrowing beauty of the truth.”—Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage

“I say, ‘the Black Period,’ and mean ‘home’ in all its shapeshifting ways.” In The Black Period, Hafizah creates a space for the beauty of Blackness, Islam, disability, and queerness to flourish, celebrating the many layers of her existence that America has time and again sought to erase.

At nineteen, she lost her mother to a sudden stroke. Weeks later, her father became so heartsick that he needed a triple bypass. By her thirties, she was constantly in pain, pinballing between physical therapy appointments, her grief, and the grind that is the American Dream. Hafizah realized she'd spent years internalizing the narratives that white supremacy had fed her about herself. Suddenly, she says, I was standing at the cliff of my own life, remembering.

Recalling her parents’ lessons on the art of Black revision, and mixing history, political analysis, and cultural criticism, alongside stunning original artworks created by her father, renowned artist Tyrone Geter, Hafizah maps out her own narrative, weaving between a childhood populated with Southern and Nigerian relatives; her days in a small Catholic school; a loving but tragically short relationship with her mother; and the feelings of joy and community that the Black Lives Matter protests engendered in her as an adult. All throughout, she forms a new personal and collective history, addressing the systems of inequity that make life difficult for non-able-bodied persons, queer people, and communities of color while capturing a world brimming with potential, art, music, hope, and love.

A unique combination of gripping memoir and Afrofuturist thought, in The Black Period, Hafizah manages to sidestep shame, confront disability, embrace forgiveness, and emerge from the erasures

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Explores how Black Buddhist Teachers and Practitioners interpret Western Buddhism in unique spiritual and communal ways

In Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition, Rima Vesely-Flad examines the distinctive features of Black-identifying Buddhist practitioners, arguing that Black Buddhists interpret Buddhist teachings in ways that are congruent with Black radical thought. Indeed, the volume makes the case that given their experiences with racism—both in the larger society and also within largely white-oriented Buddhist organizations—Black cultural frameworks are necessary for illuminating the Buddha’s wisdom.

Drawing on interviews with forty Black Buddhist teachers and practitioners, Vesely-Flad argues that Buddhist teachings, through their focus on healing intergenerational trauma, provide a vitally important foundation for achieving Black liberation. She shows that Buddhist teachings as practiced by Black Americans emphasize different aspects of the religion than do those in white convert Buddhist communities, focusing more on devotional practices to ancestors and community uplift.

The book includes discussions of the Black Power movement, the Black feminist movement, and the Black prophetic tradition. It also offers a nuanced discussion of how the Black body, which has historically been reviled, is claimed as a vehicle for liberation. In so doing, the book explores how the experiences of non-binary, gender non-conforming, and transgender practitioners of African descent are validated within the tradition. The book also uplifts the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer Black Buddhists. This unique volume shows the importance of Black Buddhist teachers’ insights into Buddhist wisdom, and how they align Buddhism with Black radical teachings, helping to pull Buddhism away from dominant white cultural norms.

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

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

The voice of Bad Feminist meets the lessons of The Sum of Us in this timely and biting deep dive from the former Senior Campaign Director at Color of Change about the growing undercurrent of disillusionment in Black voters, culture, and even herself.

Brandi Collins-Dexter had spent her career fighting for racial justice, progressive politics, and the Democratic party. And so in the aftermath of the 2016 election, questions swirled in Brandi’s mind. How had it come to this? And, most pressing, Who had voted for him?

Many white voters, as we now know. But talking with loved ones, Brandi began to notice something baffling: dozens of them, all Black, had also voted for Trump. Brandi was shocked. She had always assumed that Black Americans would vote Democrat--an alliance she had long taken for granted.

Thus began the origins of BLACK SKINHEAD, as Brandi realized she needed to reconsider every assumption she had about Black political identity. In this eye-opening book, Brandi dives headfirst into the growing phenomenon of Black voters moving away from the Democratic party, embarking on a strange and unexpected journey to understand them. It’s a journey that takes her through niche subcultures, dark corners of the internet, and even Kanye West, and leads Brandi to uncover what she deems the Black Skinhead: disillusioned, Black outsiders in politics and culture who have turned from the political party they feel has failed them. It’s a journey that flips all of Brandi’s assumptions and eventually leads her to reconsider her own politics, history, and relationship to Blackness.

In BLACK SKINHEAD, through essays that span the political, cultural, and deeply personal, Brandi seeks to understand the fraying bonds between Black voters and the Democratic party, ultimately painting a portrait of decades of Black disillusionment that can be mapped as much through hip hop lyrics as it can through voting statistics.

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Reading this book is like having a cool older sister holding your hand through every curve that puberty throws your way. Funny, frank, and fully illustrated, it covers all of the physical, emotional and social changes going on inside and out.

Puberty is a time of tremendous change. Curves form, moods swing, socializing takes on a whole new look and feel. It can be intimidating and awesome, overwhelming and  liberating. 

In Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Puberty, author Andrea Davis tells girls what to expect as their bodies change—from how to handle acne, to how to choose a bra, to what to use when you get your period. Fully illustrated by Amelia Pinney, the book uses graphics, humor, and loads of anecdotes to explore relationships, sexual feelings, social media, and other pressing, contemporary issues. Engaging, no-holds-barred, and full of useful information, this is a must-read for curious middle school girls.

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The award-winning author of The Good Negress shares invaluable insights on the precarious journey toward creativity that is the writer’s life, and tells the compelling story of her relationship with Toni Morrison, painting an illuminating portrait of this towering yet enigmatic cultural icon.

With the publication of her debut novel The Good Negress in 1995, A. J. Verdelle became an overnight sensation, winning critical acclaim and competing for prestigious literature prizes. But for Verdelle, the most unexpected consequence was the friendship she formed with the legendary Toni Morrison. Receiving an advance copy of the book, the Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning author—notorious for never giving early praise—called The Good Negress, “Truly Extraordinary.” It was a writer’s dream come true—a dream that for Verdelle would become simultaneously exhilarating and challenging.

Now, twenty-five years later, Verdelle tells the story of that success and what came after. Miss Chloe begins with the story of young Verdelle’s persistent aim to become an author, spending countless pre-dawn hours writing the novel that became The Good Negress. Verdelle then turns to the heady period after publication, focusing on her relationship with Toni—a precious gift that was most of the time a grace and a blessing, and at other times, confusing and too separate from literature. While Morrison continued to rise as an icon, Verdelle’s writing career took a sharp turn. Verdelle’s next novel—a Western featuring Black characters—is quickly bought by a young editor who leaves for another job before the manuscript is finished. Searching for direction, Verdelle moves to another publisher. Yet this second book will languish for more than fifteen years. In chronicling her journey, Verdelle offers an honest assessment of what it means to be a writer, including the expectations and let downs that famous friendships do not defray.

Miss Chloe ends with the period after Morrison has passed away, when Verdelle is left to face the reality of her writing career, pondering what it means to have promise that is yet to materialize. She finds comfort in advice Morrison offered over the years, insight she shares in this wise book. “In order for Morrison to take you seriously, to have patience with you, to be interested, you had to be able to hear her,” Verdelle writes. “You had to be able to sit still and listen. You had to be able to pipe up in the pauses, and prove you understood. You needed demonstrate that language was a skill you had, that Black culture was known to you and respected by you.” 

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Deeply personal and powerfully moving, a short and timely series of reflective essays by one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers of our time.

Written during the early months of lockdown, Intimations explores ideas and questions prompted by an unprecedented situation. What does it mean to submit to a new reality--or to resist it? How do we compare relative sufferings? What is the relationship between time and work? In our isolation, what do other people mean to us? How do we think about them? What is the ratio of contempt to compassion in a crisis? When an unfamiliar world arrives, what does it reveal about the world that came before it?

Suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these extraordinary times, Intimations is a slim, suggestive volume with a wide scope, in which Zadie Smith clears a generous space for thought, open enough for each reader to reflect on what has happened--and what should come next.

The author will donate her royalties from the sale of Intimations to charity.

From the bestselling and Booker Prize–winning author of Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo’s memoir of her own life and writing, and her manifesto on unstoppability, creativity, and activism

Bernardine Evaristo’s 2019 Booker Prize win was a historic and revolutionary occasion, with Evaristo being the first Black woman and first Black British person ever to win the prize in its fifty-year history. Girl, Woman, Other was named a favorite book of the year by President Obama and Roxane Gay, was translated into thirty-five languages, and has now reached more than a million readers.

Evaristo’s astonishing nonfiction debut, Manifesto, is a vibrant and inspirational account of Evaristo’s life and career as she rebelled against the mainstream and fought over several decades to bring her creative work into the world. With her characteristic humor, Evaristo describes her childhood as one of eight siblings, with a Nigerian father and white Catholic mother, tells the story of how she helped set up Britain’s first Black women’s theatre company, remembers the queer relationships of her twenties, and recounts her determination to write books that were absent in the literary world around her. She provides a hugely powerful perspective to contemporary conversations around race, class, feminism, sexuality, and aging. She reminds us of how far we have come, and how far we still have to go. In Manifesto, Evaristo charts her theory of unstoppability, showing creative people how they too can visualize and find success in their work, ignoring the naysayers.

Both unconventional memoir and inspirational text, Manifesto is a unique reminder to us all to persist in doing work we believe in, even when we might feel overlooked or discounted. Evaristo shows us how we too can follow in her footsteps, from first vision, to insistent perseverance, to eventual triumph.

"This is a narrative that describes the urgency that compels me and millions more to push for a different American story than the one being told today. It's a story that is one part danger, one part action, and all true. It's a story about how and why we fight for our democracy and win."

Celebrated national leader and bestselling author Stacey Abrams offers an blueprint to end voter suppression, empower our citizens, and take back our country. A recognized expert on fair voting and civic engagement, Abrams chronicles a chilling account of how the right to vote and the principle of democracy have been and continue to be under attack. Abrams would have been the first African American woman governor, but experienced these effects firsthand, despite running the most innovative race in modern politics as the Democratic nominee in Georgia. Abrams didn’t win, but she has not conceded. The book compellingly argues for the importance of robust voter protections, an elevation of identity politics, engagement in the census, and a return to moral international leadership.

Our Time Is Now draws on extensive research from national organziations and renowned scholars, as well as anecdotes from her life and others’ who have fought throughout our country’s history for the power to be heard. The stakes could not be higher. Here are concrete solutions and inspiration to stand up for who we are—now.

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A window into a child's experience of the Great Migration from the award-winning creators of Before She Was Harriet and Finding Langston.

Climbing aboard the New York bound Silver Meteor train, Ruth Ellen embarks upon a journey toward a new life up North-- one she can't begin to imagine. Stop by stop, the perceptive young narrator tells her journey in poems, leaving behind the cotton fields and distant Blue Ridge mountains.

Each leg of the trip brings new revelations as scenes out the window of folks working in fields give way to the Delaware River, the curtain that separates the colored car is removed, and glimpses of the freedom and opportunity the family hopes to find come into view. As they travel, Ruth Ellen reads from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, reflecting on how her journey mirrors her own-- until finally the train arrives at its last stop, New York's Penn Station, and the family heads out into a night filled with bright lights, glimmering stars, and new possiblity.

James Ransome's mixed-media illustrations are full of bold color and texture, bringing Ruth Ellen's journey to life, from sprawling cotton fields to cramped train cars, the wary glances of other passengers and the dark forest through which Frederick Douglass traveled towards freedom. Overground Railroad is, as Lesa notes, a story "of people who were running from and running to at the same time," and it's a story that will stay with readers long after the final pages.

The New Negro (1925) is an anthology by Alain Locke. Expanded from a March issue of Survey Graphic magazine, The New Negro compiles writing from such figures as Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Toomer, and Locke himself. Recognized as a foundational text of the Harlem Renaissance, the collection is organized around Locke’s writing on the function of art in reorganizing the conception of African American life and culture. Through self-understanding, creation, and independence, Locke’s New Negro came to represent a break from an inhumane past, a means toward meaningful change for a people held down for far too long.

“[F]or generations in the mind of America, the Negro has been more of a formula than a human being—a something to be argued about, condemned or defended, to be ‘kept down,’ or ‘in his place,’ or ‘helped up,’ to be worried with or worried over, harassed or patronized, a social bogey or a social burden.” Identifying the representation of black Americans in the national imaginary as oppressive in nature, Locke suggests a way forward through his theory of the New Negro, who “wishes to be known for what he is, even in his faults and shortcomings, and scorns a craven and precarious survival at the price of seeming to be what he is not.” Throughout The New Negro, leading artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance offer their unique visions of who and what they are; voicing their concerns, portraying injustice, and illuminating the black experience, they provide a holistic vision of self-expression in all of its colors and forms.

With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Alain Locke’s The New Negro is a classic of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Stunning for her daring originality, the author of Negroland gives us what she calls “a temperamental autobiography,” comprised of visceral, intimate fragments that fuse criticism and memoir.

Margo Jefferson constructs a nervous system with pieces of different lengths and tone, conjoining arts writing (poem, song, performance) with life writing (history, psychology). The book’s structure is determined by signal moments of her life, those that trouble her as well as those that thrill and restore. In this nervous system:
  •  The sounds of a black spinning disc of a 1950s jazz LP as intimate and instructive as a parent’s voice.
  •  The muscles and movements of a ballerina, spliced with those of an Olympic runner: template for what a female body could be.
  •  Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Topsy finds her way into the art of Kara Walker and the songs of Cécile McLorin Salvant.
  •  Bing Crosby and Ike Turner become alter egos.
  •  W. E. B. DuBois and George Eliot meet illicitly, as he appropriates lines from her story The Lifted Veil to write his famous “behind the veil” passages in The Souls of Black Folk.
  •  The words of multiple others (writers, singers, film characters, friends, family) act as prompts and as dialogue.
 
The fragments of this brilliant book, while not neglecting family, race, and class, are informed by a kind of aesthetic drive: longing, ecstasy, or even acute ambivalence. Constructing a nervous system is Jefferson’s relentlessly galvanizing mise-en-scène for unconventional storytelling as well as a platform for unexpected dramatis personae.

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The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection of Abstract Art is widely recognized as one of the most significant collections of modern and contemporary work by artists of the African diaspora and from the continent of Africa itself. Four Generations: The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection of Abstract Art draws upon the collection's unparalleled holdings to explore the critical contributions made by Black artists to the evolution of visual art in the 20th and 21st centuries.

This revised and expanded edition updates Four Generations with several new texts and nearly 100 images of works that have been added to the collection since the initial publication of this influential and widely praised book. Lavishly illustrated and featuring important contributions by leading art historians, critics, and curators, Four Generations gives an essential overview of some of the most notable Black artists and movements of the past century, and their approaches to abstraction in its various forms. Filled with countless insights and visual treasures, Four Generations is a journey through the momentous legacy of postwar art of the African diaspora.

Artists include: Firelei Báez, Romare Bearden, Kevin Beasley, Zander Blom, Mark Bradford, Leonardo Drew, Sam Gilliam, David Hammons, Isaac Julien, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Glenn Ligon, Julie Mehretu, Oscar Murillo, Christina Quarles, Robin Rhode, Lorna Simpson, Shinique Smith, Alma Thomas, Kara Walker, Jack Whitten, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and many others.

Rarely is a monograph on a private collection as revelatory as this—what an extraordinary, rich body of work is packed into these pages. The achievements of the artists, as well as their conceptual and formal daring, leave no doubt that a new page on American art is about to be opened." –Okwui Enwezor

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Better Not Bitter is the first time that one of the now Exonerated Five is telling his individual story, in his own words. Yusef writes his narrative: growing up Black in central Harlem in the '80s, being raised by a strong, fierce mother and grandmother, his years of incarceration, his reentry, and exoneration. Yusef connects these stories to lessons and principles he learned that gave him the power to survive through the worst of life's experiences.

Bold, unflinching, and urgent—a pioneering guide to dismantling racist stereotypes and creating real change.

From Black Lives Matter to the stark inequities exposed by COVID-19, America's history of racial bias demands a new approach to understanding and action. Award-winning diversity expert Dr. Omekongo Dibinga reveals how even seemingly "innocent" stereotypes are rooted in hatred and continue to harm Black communities today.

In Lies About Black People: How to Combat Racist Stereotypes and Why It Matters, Dr. Dibinga combines powerful personal narratives, historical context, and contemporary analysis to expose the real-world impact of racist myths. Through intimate interviews, compelling research, and interactive exercises, readers will:

* Identify and confront their own hidden biases
* Master essential vocabulary for meaningful discussions about race
* Learn concrete ways to use privilege as a force for positive change
* Understand how common stereotypes—from "natural athletic ability" to "can't swim"—perpetuate systemic racism

This transformative guide goes beyond theory to provide practical tools for lasting change. Whether you're beginning your journey in anti-racism work or seeking deeper insights for advocacy, Dr. Dibinga offers a clear path forward.

"Dr. Dibinga is his generation's Dr. Carter G. Woodson... [it] rises above the banalities of lies and racist platitudes that have existed for centuries. I predict it will be read and studied for generations to come." —Joe Madison, "The Black Eagle" on SiriusXM Urban View

Perfect for:
- Educators and diversity professionals
- Corporate leaders and team managers
- Anyone committed to creating a more equitable society
- Book clubs and community discussion groups

We're meeting to discuss Nasty Work by Ericka Hart!

BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS

When: Tuesday, June 16 @ 7PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you plan to attend! Support the Non-Fiction Book Club by purchasing a copy of the book from Kindred Stories here!

ABOUT NASTY WORK

An award-winning sexuality educator takes down society’s deeply entrenched colonial views on sex and gender throughout history in this accessible, candid, and revolutionary exploration of how we can—and should—reclaim our minds and bodies for a more pleasurable existence for all.

When you think about sex ed, your mind likely goes back to those uncomfortable school desks and the stifled laughs of your teenage years. But what we’ve been socialized to believe about sexuality actually hinders our own pleasure well into adulthood. Whether we know it or not, even the most progressive among us are often using 400-year-old inherited thoughts and belief systems in the twenty-first century. Why are we still carrying forth these ancient values that have never served the vast majority?

As a Black, queer, non-binary, disabled femme, Ericka Hart believes that sex ed done right can actually be a tool for liberation. In Nasty Work, she breaks down the ways that social implications keep us from experiencing pleasure, particularly for marginalized communities across race, gender, sexuality, and ability, and how we can dismantle these oppressive myths. From examining what guides our attraction to others to the history of consent, Ericka Hart takes the blinders off and reveals a more empowering view of sex and sexuality.

Nasty Work blends eye-opening research with powerful, poignant personal narrative that disrupts everything you thought you knew about sex and society, offering a liberatory framework that makes pleasure accessible for all.

“A sumptuous tapestry of magic spells and memories.”—Los Angeles Times

A stunning collection of spells and stories to infuse our lives with ritual, history, and magic from the visionary artist and infamous witch Bri Luna, founder and creative director of “The Hoodwitch”

Blood Sex Magic is an invitation and an awakening—a guide to a life of connection to self and spirit, to seen and unseen realms, and to magical traditions past and future. Born with both Mexican/Indigenous and African roots, Bri Luna honors the traditions of tarot, nature, and root working, and celebrates magic that is “from dirt and blood, jewels and bones, moon and sun.”

Full of stunning photography and color illustrations, and brimming with incantations, spells, stories, vignettes, and warnings, Blood Sex Magic is divided into three sections:

* BLOOD uncovers Bri’s roots, with guides on setting boundaries, protection, and honoring the dead
* SEX reveals the art of love magic and celebrates the goddess, lust, and femininity, with spells for seduction and reclaiming your power
* MAGIC offers meaningful daily rituals, including those for self-love, peace, beauty, and prosperity

An instant classic and timeless resource for both new and experienced witches alike, this beautiful collection shows us how to access the untapped magic within and encourages us to see and channel that same magic in the world around us.

The pioneering book that exposed the intergenerational health impacts of systemic racism is back—with 50 percent new content to meet the demands of our post-2020 reality.

This updated edition delivers urgent tools for survival, including four new chapters, updated research, case studies, and real-world examples.

Black people are exhausted. The toll of living within systems designed to exclude them devastates minds, bodies, and spirits. Award-winning diversity, equity, and inclusion leader Mary-Frances Winters—now joined by Mareisha Winters Reese—addresses this ongoing crisis with an urgent update to her bestselling book.

Winters and Reese incorporate new data, fresh case studies, and expanded tools to reflect today’s realities. This edition, with 50 percent new content, includes the following:

* Four new chapters on current challenges facing Black communities
* Updated research on racism’s health impacts in a post-COVID world
* New stories and case studies that illuminate lived experience
* Updated models reflecting today’s most relevant findings

With unflinching honesty and a practical lens, Winters and Reese document the enduring toll of “living while Black” while also equipping readers with strategies for personal healing and organizational transformation. The research is current, the case studies are real, and the tools are designed to create lasting systemic change.

Arsenio Hall, America’s beloved late-night TV host, reveals the ups and downs of his remarkable career as a trailblazing pioneer with this behind-the-scenes, star-studded, no-holds-barred memoir of celebrity, race, and show business.

Arsenio Hall holds a uniquely prominent place in American culture—celebrated late-night host and comedic actor, famed for starring roles in the cultural touchstones Coming to America and Harlem Nights.

Now, he pulls back the curtain and takes us to a different time in Hollywood. Iconic scenes include: starting out as a young magician in Cleveland; hosting his first talk show in the basement of his apartment building when he was in elementary school; cutting his teeth at the world-famous Comedy Store in Hollywood, learning about comedy and life from legendary comedian Richard Pryor; forming lifelong bonds with legendary icons Muhammad Ali, Luther Vandross, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Eddie Murphy; tasting superstar success with Coming to America, the film that preceded The Arsenio Hall Show; conducting unforgettable, groundbreaking interviews with Magic Johnson, Bill Clinton, Tupac Shakur, Maya Angelou, Madonna, and Minister Louis Farrakhan; rescuing a family from a home-fire with Jay Leno; sharing hot sauces and blackjack with Patti LaBelle; and chilling with Prince.

And then, he made the difficult decision to walk away.

This bracingly candid memoir offers a new appreciation for this raw talent and gifted storyteller, who nightly, for six years, hosted what felt like a televised “party” that changed the landscape of late-night television and brought Black culture into living rooms across America.

With this book, he does it one more time.

Galveston was the birthplace of Juneteenth.

Issued in Galveston on June 19, 1865, General Orders, No. 3 announced to the people of Texas that all slaves were free. It is one of the Island's most important historical moments. Although Juneteenth has now become the basis for a national holiday, many Americans wonder how and why this date emerged as the basis for the oldest continually celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery. To even begin to answer these questions, it is necessary to return to the historic roots of the event itself. The Galveston Historical Foundation's African American Heritage Committee tracks Emancipation Day observances through previously unknown images and untold stories which are also part of an interactive exhibit experience at Ashton Villa, the site of Galveston's city-wide Juneteenth celebration.

A gift-worthy hardcover edition reexamining Kahlo's most subversive yet heart-wrenching self-portrait

In 1940, in the wake of a divorce from her husband Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo (1907–54) turned to self-portraiture to express her deepest emotional and psychological impulses, and completed a painting inscribed with the lyrics of a popular folk song, "La Pelona": "Look, if I loved you it was for your hair. Now that you're without it, I no longer love you." In Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, Kahlo's usual lively and saturated palette is supplanted by neutral hues, her Tehuana dress by a man's suit and her plaited hair by shorn locks that appear to wriggle up from the floor and around her chair, strangely alive. Nevertheless, the painting remains unmistakably Kahlo's, intensely felt, dreamlike and displaying references that encompass both popular culture and details from the artist's private life. In this richly illustrated volume, which includes the artist's most celebrated self-portraits and other related images, art historian Jodi Roberts situates the painting in the context of the Mexican Revolution, the Surrealist tradition and Kahlo's own changing of her artistic identity. This expanded hardcover edition includes additional illustrations and photographs, and features a die-cut on the front cover.

A groundbreaking guide to understanding-and transforming-the psychological impact of being Black in America.

Despite centuries of systemic trauma, Black communities continue to demonstrate unmatched resilience, creativity, and strength. Yet the emotional burden of navigating race, identity, and survival in modern America remains one of the most overlooked public health issues of our time.

Healing While Black offers a compelling, research-informed look at how trauma shows up-and how to heal from it. Combining modern psychology, historical analysis, and culturally grounded practices, this book provides a practical roadmap for improving mental health, building resilience, and strengthening overall well-being.

Inside, readers will learn:

* How generational trauma affects the brain, body, and behavior
*
* The psychological effects of racism and systemic inequity
*
* Evidence-based tools for emotional regulation and stress recovery
*
* Culturally relevant healing practices backed by science
*
* How to transform personal healing into empowerment and legacy
*

Engaging, accessible, and deeply relevant, this book is designed for individuals, families, educators, therapists, and organizations committed to supporting Black mental health.

Whether you're looking to understand your own healing, support a loved one, or build healthier communities, this book delivers clear insights and actionable strategies for long-lasting change.

This work reminds you of one truth: Healing is your birthright - and reclaiming it is revolutionary.

Begun by Donald Barthelme and Phillip Lopate, Gulf Coast is the nationally-distributed journal housed within the University of Houston's English Department, home to one of the US's top ranked creative writing programs. The journal spent its nascent years (1982-1985) as Domestic Crude, a name that nodded to the major industry of the Houston area. It was a 64-page (magazine-formatted) student-run publication, with editorial advising coming from Mr. Lopate, who also contributed work to the first issues.

In 1986, the name Gulf Coast premiered. It stuck. After some experimenting, the journal found its dimensions and, eventually, its audience. The journal has since moved beyond the student body of the University of Houston and into the larger world. Our readership of the print journal currently exceeds 3,000, with more and more coming to our ever-expanding website. The print journal comes out each April and October.

Gulf Coast is still student-run. We seek to promote and publish quality literature in our local and national communities while simultaneously teaching excellence in literary publishing to graduate and undergraduate students. While we are committed to providing a balanced combination of literary approaches and voices, all of the editorial positions are two-year terms, thus ensuring a regular turnover in the specific personality and style of the journal.

In addition, Gulf Coast differs from many other literary journals in its commitment to exploring visual art and critical art writing. The journal has always featured portfolios by two artists, along with short introductions from critics familiar with their work. Since October 2013, Gulf Coast commits sixteen pages to full-color visual art features and twenty-four pages to critical art writing in each issue. This expansion was made possible by Gulf Coast's merger with Texas art journal Art Lies, a publication with a respected history of putting artists, curators, scholars, and critics in dialogue with their colleagues around the world.

The journal has enhanced its community presence thanks to the Gulf Coast Reading Series, a monthly gathering at Lawndale Art Center in the Museum District neighborhood of Houston, as well as with its annual Spring Issue Release Party. These events continue to bring esteemed writers, editors, publishers and, of course, readers to the Houston area.

Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, generously funded by grants from the Brown Foundation, Inc.; theThe Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts; Inprint, Inc.; Houston Endowment, Inc.; the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; theTexas Commission on the Arts; the University of Houston English Department; and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as through the support of individual contributions.

A beautifully illustrated look at the work of one of today’s most exciting artists
 
Bisa Butler (b. 1973) is an American artist who creates arresting and psychologically nuanced portraits composed entirely of vibrantly colored and patterned fabrics that she cuts, layers, and stitches together. Often depicting scenes from African American life and history, Butler invites viewers to invest in the lives of the people she represents while simultaneously expanding art-historical narratives about American quiltmaking. Situating her interdisciplinary work within the broader history of textiles, photography, and contemporary art, contributions by a group of scholars—and entries by the artist herself—illuminate Butler’s approach to color, use of African-print fabrics, and wide-ranging sources of inspiration. Offering an in-depth exploration of one of America’s most innovative contemporary artists, this volume will serve as a primary resource that both introduces Butler’s work and establishes a scholarly foundation for future research.
 
Distributed for the Art Institute of Chicago
 
Exhibition Schedule:
  Katonah Museum of Art, New York
(March 15–October 4, 2020)
 
Art Institute of Chicago
(November 14, 2020–September 6, 2021)

An in-depth look at the innovative career of an artist renowned for his multimedia explorations of colonial and postcolonial power
 
For the past thirty years, Guyanese British artist Hew Locke (b. 1959) has used strategies of appropriation to reveal and upend the visual codes of imperialism. Incorporating sculpture, photography, drawing, and found objects, Locke’s oeuvre has been described as a “postcolonial baroque” that deconstructs and reimagines deeply entrenched iconographies of British sovereignty. This richly illustrated catalogue showcases the full spectrum of Locke’s practice, bringing together distinct bodies of work that scrutinize the visual language of empire and colonialism’s present-day legacies of global market capitalism, migration, and diaspora. Essays from leading curators, critics, and scholars of contemporary art situate Locke’s work within the context of colonial and postcolonial history and theory, reveal how his use of nontraditional materials―including cardboard, fabric, beads, sequins, and readymade toys―enables the artist to reflect on his Guyanese-British heritage, and consider how the artist’s dense, highly textured, and multilayered works fuse vernacular and formal traditions.
 
Published by the Yale Center for British Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
 
Exhibition Schedule:
 
Yale Center for British Art
(October 2, 2025–January 11, 2026)
 
Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
(February 13–May 24, 2026)
 
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
(June 21–September 13, 2026)

A path-breaking work of biography of two American giants, Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson, whose lives would forever be altered by the Cold War, and would explosively intersect before its most notorious weapon, the House Un-American Activities Committee — from one of the best sports and culture writers working today. 

Kings and Pawns is the untold story of sports and fame, Black America and the promise of integration through the Cold War lens of two transformative events. The first occurred July 18, 1949 in Washington, D.C., when a reluctant Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball star who integrated the game and at the time was the most famous Black man in America, appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee to discredit Paul Robeson, the legendary athlete, baritone, and actor — himself once the most famous Black man in America. The testimony would be a defining moment in Robinson’s life and contribute heavily to the destruction of Robeson’s iconic reputation in the eyes of America.

The second occurred June 12, 1956, in the midst of the last, demagogic roar of McCarthyism, when a battered, defiant Robeson – prohibited from leaving the United States – faced off in a final showdown with HUAC in the same setting Robinson appeared in seven years earlier. These two moments would epitomize the ongoing Black American conflict between patriotism and protest. On the cusp of a nascent civil rights movement, Robinson and Robeson would represent two poles of a people pitted against itself by forces that demanded loyalty without equality in return – one man testifying in conflicted service to and the other in ferocious critique of a country that would ultimately and decisively wound both.

In a time of great division, with America in the midst of a new era of retrenchment and Black athletes again chilled into silence advocating for civil rights, the story of these two titans reverberates today within and beyond Black America. From the revival of government overreach to curb civil liberties to the Cold War-era rhetoric of “the enemy within” levied against fellow citizens, Kings and Pawns is a story of a moment that remains hauntingly present.