The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration

by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Isabel Wilkerson

In The Warmth of Other Suns, Wilkerson tells a magnificent, extensively researched study of the "great migration," the exodus of six million black Southerners out of the terror of Jim Crow to an "uncertain existence" in the North, Midwest and West. The Warmth of Other Suns tells in unsparing, vivid detail why African-Americans migrated in huge numbers from the southern states to points north and west during the years 1915 to 1970.

Die Free
by Cheryl Wills

When award-winning television anchor Cheryl Wills discovers that her great-great-great grandfather, Sandy Wills, was a runaway slave who joined the fight for freedom in the Civil War, she embarks on a search to find out more about the ancestor who demonstrated the same spirit and heart that she knew in her beloved father, a remarkable but flawed man, who died when Cheryl was thirteen, and who never knew his family legacy.

News Lady
by Carol Simpson

NewsLady is the memoir of a trailblazing African American woman journalist whose life is about "firsts." Carole Simpson was the first woman to broadcast radio news in Chicago, the first African American woman to anchor a local newscast in the same city, the first African American woman national network television correspondent, the first African American woman to anchor a national network newscast and the first woman or minority to moderate a presidential debate.

One Day It'll All Make Sense

by Common

In One Day It’ll All Make Sense, Common holds nothing back. He tells what it was like for a boy with big dreams growing up on the South Side of Chicago. He reveals how he almost quit rapping after his first album, Can I Borrow a Dollar?, sold only two thousand copies. He recounts his rise to stardom, giving a behind-the-scenes look into the recording studios, concerts, movie sets, and after-parties of a hip-hop celebrity and movie star. He reflects on his controversial invitation to perform at the White House, a story that grabbed international headlines. And he talks about the challenges of balancing fame, love, and fatherhood. One Day It’ll All Make Sense is a gripping memoir, both provocative and funny. Common shares never-before-told stories about his encounters with everyone from Tupac to Biggie, Ice Cube to Lauryn Hill, Barack Obama to Nelson Mandela. Drawing upon his own lyrics for inspiration, he invites the reader to go behind the spotlight to see him as he really is—not just as Common but as Lonnie Rashid Lynn.

Searching for Tina Turner
by Jacqueline Luckett

On the surface, Lena Spencer appears to have it all. She and her wealthy husband Randall have two wonderful children, and they live a life of luxury. In reality, however, Lena finds that happiness is elusive. Randall is emotionally distant, her son has developed a drug habit, and her daughter is disgusted by her mother's "overbearing behavior." When Randall decides that he's had enough of marriage counseling, he offers his wife an ultimatum: "Be grateful for all I've done for you or leave." Lena, realizing that money can't solve her problems and that her husband is no longer the man she married, decides to choose the latter. Drawing strength from Tina Turner's life story, SEARCHING FOR TINA TURNER is Lena's struggle to find herself after 25 years of being a wife and mother.

Makeda
by Randall Robinson

Makeda Gee Florida Harris March is a proud matriarch, the anchor and emotional bellwether who holds together a hard-working African American family living in 1950s Richmond, Virginia. Lost in shadow is Makeda's grandson Gray, who begins escaping into the magical world of Makeda's tiny parlor.

Makeda, a woman blind since birth but who has always dreamed in color, begins to confide in Gray the things she "sees" and remembers from her dream state, and a story emerges that is layered with historical accuracy beyond the scope of Makeda's limited education. Gradually, Gray begins to make a connection between his grandmother's dreams and the epic life of an African queen described in the Bible.

Part coming-of-age story, part spiritual journey, and part love story, Makeda is a universal tale of family, heritage, and the ties that bind. Randall Robinson plumbs the hearts of Makeda and Gray and summons our collective blood memories, taking the reader on an unforgettable journey of the soul that will linger long after the last page has been turned.

12 Angry Men: True Stories of Being Black in America Today
eds. Gregory S. Parks and Matthew W. Hughey

Legal scholars Gregory S. Parks and Matthew W. Hughey offer a collection of essays by black men who have been victims of racial profiling. Contributors include journalists, federal prosecutors, and hip-hop artists; diverse in background, age, and education, they share one identity--being black--and one rite of passage--"the silent reality most black men have to live with," the frequency with which the police demand they produce identity papers; search their bodies, their cars, and their homes; and even maim or murder them for any perceived threat, imaginary and real.

A U.S. congressman from Illinois pulled over for a dubious traffic violation, an aspiring rap artist interrogated by police while in a park with his daughter, a New York Times reporter detained while on assignment in North Carolina. The congressman, with means, time, and "faith in the judicial system," fights back in court; the sports commentator brings a successful lawsuit. One says, perhaps for all, "In tolerating these transgressions day in and day out, I sometimes feel like my humanity is being chipped away."

Harvard law professor and former President Clinton’s first choice for U.S. Attorney General, Lani Guinier provides significant insight into the phenomenon of racial profiling. She also gives a helpful statistical and political context as well as a vigorous argument against the entrenched police practices that undergird the brief potent individual vignettes.