On a hot summer night in August of 1973 DJ Kool Herc and his sister, Cindy, put on a 'back to school jam' in the recreation room of their apartment block at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the West Bronx. The rest is history. The birth of hip hop rippled out across the globe, influencing music and...

Longlist, National Book Awards 2021 for Nonfiction A stunning collection of stoic portraits and intimate ephemera from the lives of Black Civil War soldiers Though both the Union and Confederate armies excluded African American men from their initial calls...

2021 NAACP Image Award Nominee This definitive history is a celebration of the first African-American ballet company, from its 1960s origins in a Harlem basement, to the performances, community engagement, and education message of empowerment through the arts for all which the...

Erased. Ignored. Hidden. Lost. Underappreciated. No longer. Delve into the unique, inspiring, and world-changing history of Black people.  Black leaders, writers, civil rights activists, scientists, and more have influenced, inspired, and changed the societies we live in....

American pop music is arguably this country's greatest cultural contribution to the world, and its singular voice and virtuosity were created by a shining thread of Black women geniuses stretching back to the country's founding. This is their surprising, heartbreaking, soaring story--from ...

Alice Randall, award-winning professor, songwriter, and author presents "a celebration of all things country music" (Ken Burns) as she reflects on her search for the first family of Black country music. Country music had brought Alice Randall and her activist mother together and...

A look at Black History framed by those who made it. BLACK HISTORY MONTH IN ITS OWN WORDS presentsquotes of dozens of black luminaries with portraits & illustrations byRonald Wimberly. Featuring the memorable words and depictions of Angela...

This joy-filled collection of contributions from 52 cultural luminaries from around the world. Discover the joy of chess with Grandmaster Maurice Ashley, then learn the moves of the game. Find the joy in stories with award-winning author Patrice Lawrence, then gather the tools to write your own....

From the introduction of the game of basketball to Black communities on a wide scale in 1904 to the racial integration of the NBA in 1950, dozens of African American teams were founded and flourished. This period, known as the Black Fives Era (teams at the time were often called "fives"), was a...

Begin to delve into the largely overlooked footprint that Black punks have on the underground music scene in a new archival publication brought to you by Raeghan Buchanan and Silver Sprocket. The Secret History of Black Punk: Record Zero by Buchanan is an...

YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award Finalist ★  New York Times bestselling author Michael Eric Dyson and critically acclaimed author Marc Favreau show how racial inequality permeates every facet of American society, through the lens of...

A National Book Award Finalist A Coretta Scott King Author Award Honor Book A Michael L. Printz Honor Book A Walter Dean Myers Honor Book With passion and precision, Kekla Magoon relays an essential account of the Black...

*AWARD WINNER* of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Debut Author / and the NCBR Recognition Award A gorgeous collection of 145 original portraits that celebrates Black pioneers--famous and little-known--in politics, science, literature, music, and more-...

"An essential source on African American athletes and Olympic history." --Booklist, Starred Review, and Named a Booklist Top 10 Sports Book of 2023 The first book to fully chronicle the struggles and triumphs of African American athletes...