African American Families

In Clan MacKenzie, we fight for each other. We die for each other. And when I fell for Chevelle, those same rules applied to her. She loves me, but hates the family business. So, I hid the villain in me until today. Today, I need to do what must be done and that requires the help of the same people she would rather us keep our distance from.

The most any one of us can hope for is a good death, but what is a good death? It’s going in peace. Going without pain. Going without being a burden to the ones we love. Leaving some good behind. Many in the African American community don't like to think or talk about the end, good or otherwise. So we die and leave a mess or someone we love dies and leaves us a mess. This book is a guide to help African Americans deal with what we in the culture call “transitioning” or “homegoing”.

Much-heralded and long awaited, Terry McMillan's tour-de-force novel introduces the Price family matriarch Viola, her sometimes-husband Cecil, and their four adult kids, each of whom sees life—and one another—through thick and thin, and entirely on their own terms. With her hallmark...

In God Don't Like Ugly, she weaves a powerful tale of devastating abuse, the strength of friendship, and the burden of terrible secrets. Shy, overweight Annette Goode is only seven years old when Mr. Boatwright, a boarder in her house, begins sexually abusing her. She keeps this information to herself for years, until gorgeous, self-assured Rhoda Nelson becomes her new friend. Annette confides in Rhoda and finds the strength and courage to survive to adulthood.

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...

Tempting Fate Justice Manning is talked into a lingerie modeling job...and forgets her inhibitions after meeting the sinfully gorgeous photographer, Black Savoy. When the photo shoot turns hot and heavy, the last thing she pictures is that lust might turn to love. The Perfect Seduction College...

Carl Weber takes readers back to church in his latest drama-filled novel, the much-anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestseller, The Choir Director. It's been three years since Aaron Mackie succeeded in helping his friend and mentor, Bishop T.K. Wilson, dig his ministry out of financial...

A child's concept of race is quite different from that of an adult. Young children perceive skin color as magical - even changeable - and are incapable of understanding adult prejudices. Just as children learn to walk and talk, they likewise come to understand race in a series of predictable stages. Based on Marguerite A. Wright's research and clinical experience, I'm Chocolate, You're Vanilla teaches us that the color-blindness of early childhood can, and must, be taken advantage of in order to guide the positive development of a child's self-esteem.

For readers of Colson Whitehead, James McBride, Yaa Gyasi and Lawrence Hill, Up From Freedom is a powerful and emotional novel about the dangers that arise when we stay silent in the face of prejudice or are complicit in its development. As a young man, Virgil Moody vowed he would never be like...

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! An instant New York Times bestseller! A USA Today bestseller! Named a Best Book of 2021 by Amazon Esquire Marie Claire Refinery29 Kirkus Redbook Ms. Magazine The Millions Undomesticated Magazine Paperback Paris "A...

Amber, Carla and Brandy---known as the "ABCs"---are intelligent businesswomen who met in their business support group "The Savvy Sistahs Who Mean Business" and became the best of friends. They've bonded over lost loves, past hurts, and too many lonely nights. . . Amber Stuart escaped an abusive...

When Julie hears her favorite cousin is in town, she's ready for girly nights, glamor, and gossip. But when she learns her distant cousin Melina is also around, things don't seem as exciting. Melina is a conniving gold digger, and not the kind of woman you'd want to leave around your man! So how will the "too kind for his own good" Steven hold up?

ONE OF TIME’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF 2019 ONE OF BUZZFEED’S BEST BOOKS OF 2019 An electrifying, dazzlingly written reckoning and an essential addition to the national conversation about race and class, Survival Math takes its name from the calculations...

In the first in-depth history of the Obama family, Peter Firstbrook recounts a journey that starts in a mud hut by the White Nile and ends seven centuries later in the White House. Interweaving oral history and tribal lore, interviews with Obama family members and other Kenyans, the writings of...

In Trinidad, in 1796, teenage Rosa Rendon quietly but purposefully rebels against typical female roles and behavior. Bright, competitive, and opinionated, Rosa sees no reason she should learn to cook and keep house - it is obvious her talents lie in running the farm she expects to be her birthright, despite her two older siblings. But as her homeland goes from Spanish to British rule, it becomes increasingly unclear whether its free black property owners - Rosa's family among them - will be allowed to keep their assets, their land, and ultimately, their freedom.

When Beating the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Males appeared in 1998, it was hailed as "a crucial book" (Baltimore Sun) and "undoubtedly one of the most important tools the African American parent can possess" (Kweisi Mfume, President NAACP). Now, in response to enormous demand, the authors turn their attention to African American young women. Statistics indicate that African American females, as a group, fare poorly in the United States.

A proposal she had no choice but to accept . . . Though Eli Grayson is one of the most handsome, charming, and intelligent men in Grayson Grove, no one will take a chance on a confirmed bachelor. Unwilling to give up his dreams, Eli convinces his friend Jewel to pose as his wife. Their...

Caregiving is a core value in the African American culture. And African American women of faith often fill that role—for elderly parents, sick children, and other members of their community. Yet no one is fully prepared for the reality of disrupted schedules, unpredictable needs, and many sleepless nights that come with caregiving. Jeanne Porter King shares 90 devotions written from her own experience as a caregiver for her mother to encourage you to take time to care for your whole self.

Embark on an extraordinary journey through the segregated South of 1957 with Drunetta Brown, a woman determined to rewrite her story of struggle and heartbreak. Fleeing her shattered dreams and an alcoholic husband, Drunetta takes her children to New York City for a fresh start. There, she finds unexpected allies in Raycie, a talented bar singer, and Rose, a devoted church secretary. As Drunetta navigates the challenges of her new life, her friendships become her lifeline, offering the strength she needs to carve her own path in a changing world.

Most African Americans, in tracing their family’s past, encounter a series of daunting obstacles. Slavery was a brutally efficient nullifier of identity, willfully denying black men and women even their names. Here, scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., backed by an elite team of geneticists and...