The Life and Thought of Henry Odera Oruka (Bloomsbury Introductions to World Philosophies)
Henry Odera Oruka was one of the most influential figures in 20th-Century African philosophy. During the early years of the decolonization of African countries, as universities worked to redefine themselves, Odera drove changes to curricula and research. A tireless advocate for democracy and human rights in Africa, he repeatedly intervened in the political debates of his time. This is the first critical biography of both the man himself and African philosophy in the context of changing times, t...
De massa call me and tell me, "Woman, I's pay big money for you, and I's done dat 'cause I wants you to raise me chillum. I's put you to live with Rufus for dat purpose. Now, if you doesn't want whippin' at de stake, you do what I wants." I thinks 'bout Massa buyin' me off de block and savin' me from bein' separated from my folks, and 'bout bein' whipped at de stake. Dere it am. What am I to do? So asks Rose Williams of Bell County, Texas, whose long-ago forced cohabitation remains as bitter at...
The Shrinking Sands of an African American Beach
by Annette McCollough Myers
A tiny, fastidiously dressed man emerged from Black Philadelphia around the turn of the twentieth century to mentor a generation of young artists like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jacob Lawrence and call them the New Negro—the gender ambiguous, transformative, artistic African Americans whose art would subjectivize Black people and embolden greatness. Alain Locke (1885-1954) believed Black Americans were sleeping giant that could transform America into a truly humanistic and plural...
As an adult, I learned this: persist. Work hard. Face rejection, weather the setbacks, until you meet the gatekeeper who will open a door for you. Jesmyn Ward grew up in a poor, rural community in Mississippi. Today, as the first woman to win the National Book Award twice, she is celebrated as one of America's greatest living writers. Navigate Your Stars is a stirring reflection on the value of hard work and the importance of respect for oneself and others. First delivered as a 2018 commenc...
Edwidge Danticat's Writing JourneyToday, Edwidge Danticat is an award-winning writer. But how did she get here? Follow her literary journey from her childhood in Haiti to her relationships-both on the page and in the flesh-with other writing greats in Beginnings, Endings, and Salt. Dive into this prolific fiction writer's stories of her childhood in Haiti without her parents, who had to work an ocean away to make a better life for their family, and explore some of her lyrical creations, such as...
Finding Francis, finding family, freeing historyFrancis is found. Beyond Francis, a family is found-in archival material that barely deigned to notice their existence. This is the story of Francis Sistrunk and her children, from enslavement into forced migration across South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. It spans decades before the Civil War and continues into post-emancipation America. A family story full of twists and turns, Finding Francis reclaims and honors those women who pl...
As John Wideman was building a reputation as one of our finest writers, his brother Robby went from the streets of Philadelphia to a life sentence in prison for murder. As it weighs their shared bonds of blood, tenderness, and guilt, Brothers and Keepers yields an unsparing analysis of America's racial contract.