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Through paintings, sculptures, drawings and more, John Wilson's work foregrounds the human experience and refuses invisibility

American artist John Wilson was not only a master draftsman, printmaker, painter and sculptor active for over seven decades, but he was also a keen observer and social activist. In his representations of Black Americans in particular, he sought to pay homage to the beauty and truths of ordinary Black people in such a way that all viewers, across race and culture, might see themselves reflected. His multidisciplinary works include unflinching representations of racial violence and war, tender family portraits, monumental bronze heads and landmark commissions such as the bust of Martin Luther King, Jr., which stands in the United States Capitol.
The first major retrospective of the artist’s work, Witnessing Humanity sheds light on Wilson’s life and artistic evolution. Reproductions of artworks and photographs accompany critical essays and personal reflections, including analyses by art historians, interviews with Wilson’s peers, remembrances from fellow Black creatives and a full chronology by the late artist’s gallerist. The varied voices which resonate through this catalog illustrate that it is long past time to recognize Wilson’s art―to celebrate his lifelong dedication to depicting what he described as the "reality of being Black in this impossible world."
John Woodrow Wilson (1922–2015) was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Tufts University. He lived in Mexico for five years and became a friend and colleague of artist Elizabeth Catlett. Wilson taught fine art at Boston University from 1964 until 1986.

Flip through hundreds of record sleeve artworks from Folkways, one of the most iconic independent record labels dedicated to global music

The Folkways Records and Service Corporation was founded in 1948 by Moses Asch, who was encouraged by Albert Einstein to document the “sounds of the world.” Between 1949 and 1987, before its acquisition by Smithsonian, the label released more than 2,000 records of jazz, folk, avant-garde, nature sounds, spoken word poetry, speeches and more. The company stood (and still stands) head and shoulders above all other “world music” record labels in its depth of representation and its understanding of the nature of sound itself.
Much of the success of Folkways’ unique yet cohesive identity is owed to Ronald Clyne, the primary designer at the record label. He gave Folkways record covers both an incredibly stylish look and an underlying seriousness of intent and vision. Dedicated to both Folkways itself and its design achievements, this book features hundreds of visually stunning record sleeve artworks from a plethora of voices and sounds, from albums by Duke Ellington, John Cage and Allen Ginsberg to The Music of Equatorial New Guinea, Sea Shanties and Loggers Songs and The Voices of the Civil Rights Movement.

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After the Rain is a graphic novel adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor’s short story “On the Road.” The drama takes place in a small Nigerian town during a violent and unexpected storm. A Nigerian-American woman named Chioma answers a knock at her door and is horrified to see a boy with a severe head wound standing at her doorstep. He reaches for her, and his touch burns like fire. Something is very wrong. Haunted and hunted, Chioma must embrace her heritage in order to survive.

John Jennings and David Brame’s graphic novel collaboration uses bold art and colors to powerfully tell this tale of identity and destiny.

CSK Steptoe winner Craig Kofi Farmer's middle grade horror novel follows a boy stuck at a Louisiana plantation during a field trip, only to discover the sinister secrets lurking within ― perfect for fans of THE MIDNIGHT CHILDREN and SMALL SPACES.

Winston has lived most of his life in silence―he has a stutter, and after one too many embarrassing moments at school, he's decided it's safer to keep quiet.

One day, his eighth grade class takes sets off for a field trip, only to become stranded at an old southern plantation when a strange storm hits. There, Winston comes face to face with something terrifying within its walls. It's another Black boy, except this one moves through the world as a spirit. He is an abiku―a child wronged centuries ago by the owners of the house.

As Winston and the Abiku forge an unlikely alliance, the dark history of the plantation unravels― to save his classmates, and the abiku, from an eternity of being trapped in the past, Winston will be forced to face his deepest insecurity head on. Will he find the courage to speak up, and make sure history is not forgotten?

Coretta Scott King John Steptoe award winner Craig Kofi Farmer's latest middle grade novel is a thought-provoking and page-turning tale of a lost boy, a wayward ghost, and the grim legacy of possession in America.

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Remember when talking about money was taboo? Times have changed and in our times, with so many radical and disruptive changes to the economy, the role of the entrepreneur now embedded at the centre of so much societal and technological change, and digital currencies changing the way we think about exchange, money has become a vital, insistent of conversation for everyone. All of us acknowledge it matters desperately; yet so few of us really understand it.

The press and social media are awash with rags to riches stories, stories of kitchen table businesses that become multi-million-pound enterprises. Stories of teenagers and young adults investing in digital currencies from their bedrooms. On the flip side of these aspirational stories there is the reality of the everyday person who simply wants to understand what to and what not to do with their money. Should they save or invest, if they invest - what in, if they save - what for? Should they buy a home or rent, should they live for the moment or live for retirement. How does having credit provide more credit and would insurance be the best bet if all falls around you and what the hell is APR anyway?

Finance and money are topics we all wish we learnt at school but instead we find ourselves having to 'learn on the job', having to do deep investigations and 'trust' the advice from online experts. There must be a better way and a better place to go to for this insight and here we have it, courtesy of two authors who have known hardship and huge success - "What they should have taught you about money, finance and investment at school' to fill that void.

*ZOOM LINK*

The success of John Henrik Clarke's American Negro Short Stories, first published in 1966, affirmed the vitality and importance of black fiction. Now this expanded edition of that best-selling book, with a new title, offers the reader thirty-one stories included in the original―from Charles W. Chesnutt and Paul Laurence Dunbar in the late nineteenth century to the rich and productive work of the Harlem Renaissance: writers like Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Richard Wright; the World War II accomplishments of Chester Himes, Frank Yerby, and many others; and the later fiction of James Baldwin, Paule Marshall, and LeRoi Jones (Imamu Amiri Baraka). Seven additional contributions round out a century of great stories with the work of Maya Angelou, Toni Cade Bambara, Eugenia Collier, Jennifer Jordan, James Allan McPherson, Rosemarie Robotham, and Alice Walker. Dr. Clarke has included a new introduction to this 1993 edition, and a short biography of each contributor.

Fifteen years after his career-defining case against Cole Oil, Jay Porter is broke and tired. That victory might have won the environmental lawyer fame, but thanks to a string of appeals, he hasn’t seen a dime. His latest case—representing Pleasantville in the wake of a chemical fire—is dragging on, shaking his confidence and raising doubts about him within this upwardly mobile black community on Houston’s north side. Though Jay still believes in doing what’s right, he is done fighting other people’s battles. Once he has his piece of the settlement, the single father is going to devote himself to what matters most-his children.

His plans are abruptly derailed when a female campaign volunteer vanishes on the night of Houston’s mayoral election, throwing an already contentious campaign into chaos. The accused is none other than the nephew and campaign manager of one of the leading candidates—a scion of a prominent Houston family headed by the formidable Sam Hathorne. Despite all the signs suggesting that his client is guilty—and his own misgivings—Jay can’t refuse when a man as wealthy and connected as Sam asks him to head up the defense. Not if he wants that new life with his kids. But he has to win.

Plunging into a shadowy world of ambitious enemies and treacherous allies armed with money, lies, and secrets, Jay reluctantly takes on his first murder trial—a case that will put him and his client, and an entire political process, on trial.

“Provocative and engaging ... indispensable for those seeking to understand the malignancy and toxicity of US imperialism” Gerald Horne, author of The Counter-Revolution of 1776

“Skillfully details how radicalism and Black freedom struggles have been betrayed and diminished. This insightful book offers a clarity that is desperately needed in these times” Joy James, editor of Confronting Counterinsurgency

“Tells the story of a Black radical archive as it dismantles the perpetual counterinsurgency of US nation-building” Dylan Rodríguez, author of Counterinsurgency Machine

Since the founding of the United States, the white power structure has engaged in an unceasing effort to disorganize and sedate its Black population through incremental concessions and symbolic gestures.

Joshua Briond shows how these “colonial lullabies” have shaped the course of American history. Recontextualizing major historical events—from the Civil War through to the civil rights movement, the expansion of the carceral state and even the Obama presidency—he argues that each period produced distinct types of reform, all deployed to neutralize Black struggles and sustain white hegemony.

Taming the Revolution builds a schematic genealogy of the white power structures and their shapeshifting capacities. By addressing the political and cultural technologies of present-day neoliberal reformism—an ever-evolving toolkit of pacification, domestication and cooptation—Briond demystifies different forms of state and extra-state adaptation to the insurgencies of oppressed peoples.

Joshua Briond is a writer, and the co-founder and co-host of the podcast Millennials Are Killing Capitalism. He is a PhD student based between New York, Charlotte, and Chicago.