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Past featured works

Children's and Young Adult Titles

cover of Black & White Black & White: The Confrontation of Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene "Bull" Connor by Larry Dane Brimner
Honesdale, Penn. : Calkins Creek, 2011.
In the 1950s and early '60s, Birmingham, Alabama, became known as Bombingham. At the center of this violent time in the fight for civil rights, and standing at opposite ends, were Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene "Bull" Connor. From his pulpit, Shuttlesworth agitated for racial equality, while Commissioner Connor fought for the status quo. Relying on court documents, police and FBI reports, newspapers, interviews, and photographs, the author first covers each man's life and then brings them together to show how their confrontation brought about significant change to the southern city.
cover of Always Sisters Always Sisters: Becoming the Princess You Were Created to Be: Devotional and Guided Journal by CeCe Winans with Claudia Mair Burney
New York : Howard Books, 2007.
Becoming the princess God intended you to be has a lot to do with discovering who you are as His daughter and who you can be as a sister to those who walk beside you. Award-winning singer CeCe Winans has a heart for God and a heart for you and your future. And in the pages of this book, she shares her heart and her vision for you as a daughter of the King of Kings. Each day's devotional will help you grow more and more into the princess you were created to be: you'll find a message from CeCe's heart to yours, scriptures to guide you in your royal walk as a princess, journaling questions to help you look into yourself and into God's word, and an Always Sisters Sister Tip to help you be a sister to the princess beside you. It takes just 21 days to make a new habit. The 21 devotional messages in this book were designed to bring out the princess in you. They form a crown that you can wear again and again.
cover of Keisha Ann Can! Keisha Ann Can! by Daniel Kirk
New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2008.
An African American child and her classmates make their way through a day at school. Full of enthusiasm and smiles, Keisha Ann accomplishes all of her activities with élan, as the rhyming text asks a series of "Who can..." questions and reiterates, "Keisha Ann can!" Gouache paintings done in a striking, childlike style are filled with motion and color. The characters, who represent a variety of cultural backgrounds, are outlined in darker lines and set against brightly hued backgrounds. The images are clear and crisp, making the book ideal for sharing aloud. Although there are many positive picture books about school, this one is special because its heroine is shown ready to tackle anything with grace and confidence.

From School Library Journal, copyright © 2010 Library Journals LLC
cover of Of Thee I Sing Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2010.
In this tender, beautiful letter to his daughters, President Barack Obama has written a moving tribute to thirteen groundbreaking Americans and the ideals that have shaped our nation. From the artistry of Georgia O'Keeffe, to the courage of Jackie Robinson, to the patriotism of George Washington, President Obama sees the traits of these heroes within his own children, and within all of America's children. Breathtaking, evocative illustrations by award-winning artist Loren Long at once capture the personalities and achievements of these great Americans and the innocence and promise of childhood. This beautiful book celebrates the characteristics that unite all Americans, from its founders to generations to come. It is about the potential within each of us to pursue our dreams and forge our own paths. It is a treasure to cherish with your family forever.
cover of A Place Where Hurricanes Happen A Place Where Hurricanes Happen by Renée Watson
New York : Random House, 2010.
Natural and man-made disasters are becoming more commonplace in children's lives, and this touching free-verse picture book provides a straightforward account of Hurricane Katrina. In alternating voices, four friends describe their lives before, during and after the storm and how, even though the world can change in a heartbeat, people define the character of their community and offer one another comfort and hope even in the darkest hours. Adrienne, Keesha, Michael and Tommy have been friends forever. They live on the same street in New Orleans, a street where everyone knows everybody. They play together all day long, every chance they get. It's always been that way. But then people start talking about a storm headed straight for New Orleans. The kids must part ways, since each family deals with Hurricane Katrina in a different manner. And suddenly everything that felt like home is gone. Renée Watson's lyrical free verse is perfectly matched in Shadra Strickland's vivid mixed media art. Together they celebrate the spirit and resiliency of New Orleans, especially its children.
cover of The Newsy News Newsletter Nikki & Deja: The Newsy News Newsletter by Karen English
Boston : Clarion Books, 2010.
Nikki and Deja have a great idea: to start a newsletter about what's happening on Fulton Street and at Carver Elementary. Trouble comes, however, during a slow week, and the girls must figure out the difference between news and gossip if they want to be trusted as reliable reporters. English writes with wit, feeling, and a spot-on voice that acknowledges the realistic friendship and problems of the protagonists. These strong African-American characters are refreshing.

From School Library Journal, copyright © 2010 Reed Business Information.
cover of Child of the Civil Rights Movement Child of the Civil Rights Movement by Paula Young Shelton
New York : Schwartz & Wade Books, 2010.
Paula Young Shelton, daughter of Civil Rights activist Andrew Young, brings a child's unique perspective to an important chapter in America's history. Paula grew up in the deep south, in a world where whites had and blacks did not. With an activist father and a community of leaders surrounding her, Paula watched and listened to the struggles, eventually joining with her family — and thousands of others — in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery. Poignant, moving, and hopeful, this is an intimate look at the birth of the Civil Rights Movement.
cover of Princess Tiana and the Royal Ball Princess Tiana and the Royal Ball by Natasha Tarpley
New York : Disney Press, 2009.
When Princess Tiana receives an invitation to her first royal ball, her friend Charlotte is so excited she could burst. She wants to start looking for a ball gown and shoes right away. After all, this is Tiana's moment to shine.

But Tiana doesn't understand the fuss. She knows she's a princess — she doesn't have to prove it to anyone. That's when Charlotte pulls out her Princess Handbook and the fun begins.

Filled with exuberant art, this bighearted original story starring the two best friends from the hit film The Princess and the Frog redefines what being a princess is all about.
cover of The Blacker the Berry The Blacker the Berry: Poems by Joyce Carol Thomas
New York : HarperCollins, 2008.
In The Blacker the Berry, Joyce Carol Thomas presents a collection of 12 poems celebrating and affirming the variations in skin color and individuality of African American children. Resisting rigid, polarized constructions of racial identity, these poems and accompanying images reveal the often ignored varieties and complexities of African American ethnic heritage. By encouraging African American children to embrace their unique selves, this collection leads all children toward embracing whatever their heritage has made them.

Chosen by the Association for Library Services to Children as a Notable Book for middle readers, The Blacker the Berry also earned a 2009 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for Floyd Cooper.
cover of Yo, Little Brother Yo, Little Brother: Volume II: Basic Rules of Survival for Young African American Males by Anthony C. Davis and Jeffrey W. Jackson
Chicago : African American Images, 2006.
Aiming to improve the prospects of today's young African American male by helping him overcome obstacles such as racial profiling and incarceration, this book provides 100 new helpful techniques and strategies for adolescents. Advice on a variety of topics — including street smarts, driving, friends, education, emotional development, cultural differences, money, and health — will guide teachers and parents in leading youth to safety and success.
cover of Juneteenth Juneteenth: A Celebration of Freedom by Charles A. Taylor
Greensboro, N.C. : Open Hand Publishing, 2002.
This book by Charles A. Taylor offers a detailed explanation of the holiday commemorating General Order No. 3 of June 19, 1865, formally emancipating Texans of African descent. A frank history of slavery in the U.S. facilitates a fuller appreciation of Juneteenth, and Taylor clearly illustrates the day's meaning and gives examples of celebrations from 1866 to the present. The well-designed pages and enthusiastic writing are accompanied by informative images and additional material, such as the Emancipation Proclamation.
cover of Say a Little Prayer Say a Little Prayer by Dionne Warwick
Philadelphia : Running Press Kids, 2008.
American icon and international superstar Dionne Warwick presents an inspiring and entertaining children's picture book that encourages kids to find their best talent in life and embrace it. "Little D" is ambling through childhood like any other little kid — enjoying her family and neighbors, her pet dog, her hobbies, and school — when one day she discovers that she has a special talent. In her first-ever singing performance in front of an audience, Little D brings the house down! And she discovers, with her grandfather's encouragement, that everyone has a special talent and it's up to each person to find it, embrace it, perfect it, and enjoy it. The book includes an audio CD featuring an exclusive recording of the gospel song "Jesus Loves Me" (the first song young Dionne performed before an audience, as told in the book), as well as a reading of the book by Ms. Warwick.
cover of Elijah of Buxton Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
New York : Scholastic Press, 2007.
It's 1859, and 11-year-old Elijah Freeman is the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, a haven for slaves fleeing the American south. He must use his wits and skills to set things right and foil the lying preacher who has stolen money that was meant to be used to buy a family's freedom.
cover of Celebrate Kwanzaa Celebrate Kwanzaa by Linda Jacobs Altman
Berkeley Heights, NJ : Enslow Publishers, 2008.
Did you know Kwanzaa was started in 1966? Dr. Maulana Karenga created the holiday to offer African Americans an alternative for the Christmas and New Year season. Kwanzaa is based on seven principles, that over seven days, are discussed and celebrated. Learn about the seven principles and seven symbols of Kwanzaa and more. Join author Linda Jacobs Altman and learn about the history behind Kwanzaa, the symbols associated with the holiday, and how it is celebrated today.
cover of Game Game by Walter Dean Myers
New York : Harper Teen, 2008.
In this story of a teen who dreams of making it big in the NBA, Myers returns to the theme that has dominated much of his serious fiction: How can young black urban males negotiate the often-harsh landscape of their lives to establish a sense of identity and self-worth? Drew Lawson is a very good high school player who is staking his future on the wildly improbable chance that he will achieve professional stardom. He is not an outstanding student, and he feels that basketball is the only thing that lifts him above the ranks of the ordinary. As he surveys his Harlem neighborhood, he worries that if he does not succeed in sports, he will become like so many other young men he sees around him who continue to talk tough, but have stopped believing in themselves, and are betrayed by "the weakness in their eyes." Harlem itself is a looming presence in the novel: vibrant, exciting, dirty, dangerous, it is the only home that Drew has ever known and to a large extent it both defines and limits his outlook. Being no more or less insightful or articulate (or self-absorbed) than most 17-year-olds, he fails to connect with those adults who have overcome racism, bad luck, and their own missteps to find alternative ways to succeed. As always, Myers eschews easy answers, and readers are left with the question of whether or not Drew is prepared to deal with the challenges that life will inevitably hand him. (© 2008 School Library Journal, Reed Business Information.)

Myers's novels for teenage readers have won high praise and several awards. Aside from telling good stories, Myers strives to convey what he learned while young. His message to black youth is that although growing up is not easy and reality can be harsh, young African Americans can succeed despite the odds against them. As he has said in an autobiographical essay, "I feel the need to show [black youngsters] the possibilities that exist for them that were never revealed to me as a youngster; possibilities that did not even exist for me then."
cover of Kwanzaa Kwanzaa by Trudi Strain Trueit
New York : Children's Press, 2007.
Through simple text and abundant color photographs, this recently published book provides a balanced introduction to Kwanzaa and gives children a sense of the holiday's purpose and traditions.
cover of Indigo Summer Indigo Summer by Monica McKayhan
New York : Kimani Tru, 2007.
Fifteen-year-old Indigo Summer's world finally seems to be going in the right direction: she starts dating the star forward of the basketball team and makes the high school dance squad all in the same week. But sometimes things are just too good to be true. After the basketball star abruptly dumps her for a girl who will put out, Indigo's popularity and self-esteem plummet. With her perfect world falling apart, she turns to the one person who seems to have his head on straight — her next door neighbor, Marcus. The trouble is, now that Indigo realizes what a great guy Marcus is, so does someone else.

Indigo Summer is the first book published this year by Kimani Tru, a new imprint focusing on high-interest books for African American teens. Click here to find more Kimani Tru books in the library's catalog.
cover of Black Cat Bone Black Cat Bone by J. Patrick Lewis
North Mankato, Minn. : Creative Editions, 2006.
The story of blues guitarist Robert Johnson — both the legend and the facts — hardly seems the stuff of a picture book. Johnson died young — in 1938, at 27, most likely poisoned in a dispute over a woman, or, as legend has it, the victim of a deal with the devil, who claimed Johnson's soul in exchange for mastery of the guitar. His influence on generations of blues, jazz, and rock musicians is unquestioned, however, and Lewis tells the story in evocative poems that use Johnson's lyrics to evoke the spirit of the blues and the hard times Johnson endured growing up in the Mississippi Delta. Although Lewis' imagery is probably too subtle for even middle-graders to grasp without help, older readers with an interest in Johnson and the blues will feel the rhythm and understand the message of living for the moment and the music. Illustrator Gary Kelley's striking paintings, heavy with multiple shades of blue and brown, capture all the emotions that swirl around the Johnson myth: loneliness, obsession, and melancholy, of course, but also the up-tempo electricity generated by a bluesman in full cry.

From BookList, January 1, 2007, Copyright © American Library Association.
cover of The Dear One The Dear One by Jacqueline Woodson
New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2004.
Feni has had her mother to herself for a long time. So when her mother takes in Rebecca, the pregnant fifteen-year-old daughter of an old friend, Feni is furious. Rebecca's just as unhappy; she feels like a charity case. But as much as they resist it, Feni and Rebecca might just become friends. After all, Rebecca needs someone to confide in, and Feni might discover she has room in her life for one more person--or even two. This is a touching story about families of all sorts, even the unrelated kinds, and the love that holds them together.
cover of Juneteenth Juneteenth by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and Drew Nelson
Minneapolis, MN : Millbrook Press, 2006.
As Juneteenth celebrations gain footing across much of the country, books on this grassroots holiday, which celebrates the belated arrival of emancipation news to Texas slaves on June 19, 1865, are sure to become increasingly popular. This book's understated narrative draws children in with a dramatization of Galveston slaves receiving the long-delayed news, followed by powerful accounts of the history of slavery, the Civil War, and the incremental emancipation process. Information about Juneteenth traditions — such as red velvet cake and red soda pop as symbols of bloodshed in the battle for freedom — will help young readers plan jubilees of their own.
cover of I lost my tooth in Africa I lost my tooth in Africa by Penda Diakité
New York : Scholastic Press, 2006.
Local artist Baba Wagué Diakité illustrates this book written by his teenage daughter, Penda Diakité. The author's younger sister actually did lose a tooth in Mali, while visiting their father's family. After she hides it under a gourd, she waits for the African Tooth Fairy to replace it with a chicken. With often whimsical touches, Baba Wagué Diakité illustrates a vibrant life among banana palms, birds and brightly dressed relatives and friends. Young readers will be intrigued by how universal a milestone it is to lose a tooth, while learning about the unique lifestyle of this warm and welcoming West African family. The book includes a recipe for African Onion Sauce and a glossary of Bambara words.

Adult Titles

cover of Walls of Pride Walls of Pride: A Tour of African American Public Art in Portland edited by Marc Moscato
Portland, Ore. : Dill Pickle Club, 2011.
Walls of Pride: A Tour of African American Public Art in Portland provides a self-guided tour to twenty of the city's African American public artworks through color photos, a detailed map, mural descriptions and artist bios. The book gives context to these vital works through interviews with artists Adriene Cruz, Henry Frison and Isaka Shamsud-Din, and and a transcribed conversation between history professor Reiko Hillyer and curator Robin Dunitz. Walls of Pride at once celebrates Portland's African American art, while underscoring the need to preserve these oft-overlooked cultural contributions.
cover of Seeking Salaam Seeking Salaam: Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis in the Pacific Northwest by Sandra M. Chait
Seattle : University of Washington Press, 2011.
Prolonged violence in the Horn of Africa, the north-eastern corner of the continent, has led growing numbers of Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis to flee to the United States. Despite the enmity created by centuries of conflict, they often find themselves living as neighbors in their adopted cities, with their children as classmates in school. In many ways, they are successfully navigating life in their new home; however, they continue to struggle to bridge old divisions and find salaam, or peace, with one another. News from home of continuing conflict continues to fuel historical grievances and perpetuates tensions within these communities, resulting in ongoing enmity that can delay acculturation and sabotage the opportunity to attain the American dream. In conversations with more than 40 East African immigrants living in Seattle and Portland, Chait captures the immigrants' struggle for identity in the face of competing stories, and she documents how some individuals have been able to transcend the ghosts from the past and extend a tentative hand to their former enemies.

Sandra Chait immigrated to the Unites States from South Africa. She received her doctorate in English from the University of Washington, where she taught African literature, and served as associate director of the university's Program on Africa.
cover of Transparent Transparent: CNN Anchor and Special Correspondent by Don Lemon
Las Vegas : Farrah Gray Publishing, 2011.
Multiple Emmy-winning CNN anchor Don Lemon opens up for the first time in this inspiring and riveting memoir. Transparent is a searingly candid and groundbreaking story that celebrates the virtues of hard work, perseverance and determination. Readers will view daily life in a new light that will enable them to engage challenges without fear. Transparent will motivate anyone discouraged by the adversities of life. Lemon is an expert in the art of overcoming the odds. Naysayers repeatedly discouraged a young Lemon, claiming he would never make it in broadcast journalism. He proved them wrong. Mr Lemon makes personal revelations about his past and future that will surprise many viewers and readers.
cover of My Soul to Keep My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due
New York : HarperCollins Publishers, 1997.
When Jessica marries David, he is everything she wants in a family man — brilliant, attentive, ever youthful. Yet she still feels something about him is just out of reach. Soon, as people close to Jessica begin to meet violent, mysterious deaths, David makes an unimaginable confession: more than 400 years ago, he and other members of an Ethiopian sect traded their humanity so they would never die, a secret he must protect at any cost. Now, his immortal brethren have decided David must return and leave his family in Miami. Instead, David vows to invoke a forbidden ritual to keep Jessica and his daughter with him forever. Harrowing, engrossing and skillfully rendered, My Soul to Keep traps Jessica between the desperation of immortals who want to rob her of her life and a husband who wants to rob her of her soul. With deft plotting and an unforgettable climax, this tour de force reminiscent of early Anne Rice will win Due a new legion of fans.
cover of NewsLady NewsLady by Carole Simpson
Bloomington, Ind. : AuthorHouse, 2011.
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.
cover of The Kid The Kid by Sapphire
New York : Penguin Press, 2011.
Fifteen years after the publication of Push, one year after the Academy Award-winning film adaptation, bestselling author Sapphire tells the electrifying story of Abdul Jones, the son of Push's unforgettable heroine, Precious. A story of body and spirit, rooted in the hungers of flesh and of the soul, The Kid brings us deep into the interior life of Abdul. We meet him at age 9, on the day of his mother's funeral. Left alone to navigate a world in which love and hate sometimes hideously masquerade, forced to confront unspeakable violence, his history and the dark corners of his own heart, Abdul claws his way toward adulthood and toward an identity he can stand behind. In a generational story that moves with the speed of thought from a Mississippi dirt farm to Harlem in its heyday; from a troubled Catholic orphanage to downtown artist's lofts, The Kid tells of a 21st-century young man's fight to find a way toward the future. A testament to the ferocity of the human spirit and the deep nourishing power of love and of art, The Kid chronicles a young man about to take flight. In the intimate, terrifying and deeply alive story of Abdul's journey, we are witness to an artist's birth by fire.
cover of Just Wanna Testify Just Wanna Testify: A Novel by Pearl Cleage
New York : One World Books, 2001.
Set in a fictional West End neighborhood of Atlanta, this book reprises familiar characters Blue and Regina Hamilton, Peachy and Aunt Abbie, Aretha and Joyce Ann. New to town are the "Too Fine Five," beautiful women determined to collect a debt owed them by five young men about to graduate from Morehouse. Tall, thin and strangely attracted to tomato juice, these women are not the high fashion models they seem to be. When these vamps are done with their men, the men are done — for good. Blue Hamilton, "godfather" of his peaceful neighborhood, is the only one who seems to know who they are. The question is, what's he going to do about it?
cover of Ebony Ebony

Chicago : Johnson Publishing Co.
Ebony magazine is one of a number of African-American oriented magazines in the Black Resource Collection. Published since Nov. 1, 1945, Ebony focuses on the achievements of blacks from "Harlem to Hollywood" and presents "positive images of blacks in a world of negative images."

Founded in 1945 by publisher John H. Johnson, the magazine tackled civil rights, education and black entrepreneurship, stories important to the black community that mainstream publications often ignored. In addition, Ebony featured elegant African-Americans in the fashion and beauty stories that continue to be Ebony mainstays.

Today, Ebony remains a standard for middle-class African Americans with a circulation in 2010 of 1.1 million. To see the current issue online, click here.
cover of A Place Out of Time A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School by Dave Davidson
[United States] : PBS Home Video, 2010.
Originally broadcast on public television in 2009, this film documents the little-known story of the last all-black, publicly funded coeducational boarding school north of the Mason-Dixon Line. In a segregated society, the Bordentown School was an educational utopia and cultural oasis for black citizens in the Northeast and beyond for more than 70 years. Founded in 1886, and forced to close in 1955 after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the story of Bordentown is also the story of black education in America across three centuries.
cover of Remembering the Power of Words Remembering the Power of Words: The Life of an Oregon Activist, Legislator, and Community Leader by Avel Louise Gordly with Patricia A. Schechter
Corvallis : Oregon State University Press, 2011.
Remembering the Power of Words recounts the personal and professional journey of Avel Gordly, the first African American woman elected to the Oregon State Senate. The book is a brave and honest telling of Gordly's life. She shares the challenges and struggles she faced growing up black in Portland in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as her determination to attend college, the dedication to activism that took her from Portland to Africa, and her eventual decision to run for a seat in the state legislature.

That words have power is a constant undercurrent in Gordly's account and a truth she learned early in life. "Growing up, finding my own voice," she writes, "was tied up with denying my voice or having it forcefully rejected and in all of that the memory of my father is very strong. To this day — and I am today a very experienced public speaker — preparation to speak takes a great deal of energy." That this memoir has its origins as an oral history is fitting, since Gordly has used her voice, out loud, to teach and inspire others for so many years.

Important as a biographical account of one significant Oregonian's story, the book also contributes "broader narratives touching on Black history (and Oregon's place within it), and most particularly the politics associated with being an African American woman," according to Melody Rose, series editor of the Women and Politics in the Pacific Northwest series, of which Remembering the Power of Words is the inaugural volume.
cover of It Is Well with My Soul It Is Well with My Soul: The Extraordinary Life of a 106-year-old Woman by Ella Mae Cheeks Johnson with Patricia Mulcahy
New York : Penguin Books, 2010.
An African American centenarian shares wisdom from a life well lived. An inspirational, dynamic and one-of-a-kind woman, Ella Mae Cheeks Johnson's ordinary life has been nothing less than extraordinary throughout the course of her 106 years. A child of former slaves and the oldest living black graduate of Case Western Reserve University, Johnson has experienced the best and worst of the past century, including the 2009 presidential inauguration, which she memorably attended last January. Through it all, she has endured — and thrived — by believing that compassion is the key to the good life. In It Is Well with My Soul, she shares her insights on living a long and enjoyable life and her hopes for the future.
cover of Say It Loud Say It Loud: Great Speeches on Civil Rights and African American Identity edited by Catherine Ellis and Stephen Drury Smith
New York : New Press, 2010.
Say It Loud adds new depth to the oral and audio history of the modern struggle for racial equality and civil rights — focusing directly on the pivotal questions black America grappled with during the past four decades of resistance. With recordings unearthed from libraries and sound archives, and made widely available here for the first time, Say It Loud includes powerful speeches by Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Martin Luther King Jr., James Cone, Toni Morrison, Colin Powell, and many others. Bringing the rich immediacy of the spoken word to a vital historical and intellectual tradition, Say It Loud illuminates the diversity of ideas and arguments pulsing through the black freedom movement.
cover of The Other Wes Moore The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
New York : Spiegel & Grau, 2010.
The Other Wes Moore is the story of two boys with similar backgrounds but very different destinies. It is an especially powerful story of hope, the influence of family and community, opportunity and the cultural and societal barriers to success. It is a story that transcends race and will resonate with anyone who is, or has ever been, at a crossroads.

The Other Wes Moore has been selected for Mutnomah County Library's ninth annual community reading project, Everybody Reads 2011, as well as the February 15 meeting of North Portland Library's Pageturners book discussion group.
cover of A Taste of Honey A Taste of Honey: Stories by Jabari Asim
New York : Broadway Books, 2010.
Asim established himself as a scholar of black culture with his nonfiction titles What Obama Means: For Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Future and The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, and Why. With his debut work of fiction, the Guggenheim Fellow proves himself to be a promising storyteller. Weaving together a collection of stories told from various perspectives, he eloquently captures the angst, upheaval, and confusion that defined 1968 black America. Although some characters are more appealing than others, Asim creates multifaceted and realistic personalities throughout. For instance, Big Mama provides a discriminate amount of love to her dark-skinned grandchildren during the "Black Is Beautiful" period, while a revolutionary who swears to protect the community ignorantly contributes to its destruction. Domestic violence, indissoluble bonds, and the pursuit of upward mobility saturate this collection. Exceptionally notable is his nostalgic recall of black culture, as Asim interweaves doo-wop and gospel music into his pages. ... This work captures the blistering experiences of Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place and will appeal to African American literature and cultural connoisseurs.

From Library Journal, copyright © 2010 Library Journals LLC.
cover of The Warmth of Other Suns The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
New York : Random House, 2010.
In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves. With stunning historical detail, Wilkerson tells this story through the lives of three unique individuals, brilliantly capturing their first treacherous and exhausting cross-country trips by car and train and their new lives in colonies that grew into ghettos, as well as how they changed these cities with Southern food, faith and culture and improved them with discipline, drive and hard work. Both a riveting microcosm and a major assessment, The Warmth of Other Suns is a bold, remarkable and riveting work, a superb account of an unrecognized immigration within our own land. Through the breadth of its narrative, the beauty of the writing, the depth of its research, and the fullness of the people and lives portrayed herein, this book is destined to become a classic.
cover of Street Shadows Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion and Redemption by Jerald Walker
New York : Bantam Books, 2010.
In this spectacular debut, Iowa Workshop grad Walker, an African American professor of English, contrasts his misspent youth in the Chicago projects with his adult life as a college professor and family man. Moving back and forth fluidly through time, Walker creates a vivid sense of character, his own and those around him, as well as the standard pitfalls of ghetto life he narrowly avoided. The result is a funny, poignant, thoughtful and exceptionally well-written memoir that follows Walker from Chicago to Africa and locations across the U.S., each of which is crisply, authentically captured. While delivering a thorough, personal take on race relations, opportunity, and privilege, Walker hooks readers with his prose and honesty, without plying for sympathy or playing to readers' preconceptions. With broad appeal and pertinent timing, Walker's first effort could be the pick-it-up and pass-it-on memoir of the season.

From Publisher's Weekly copyright © 2010 Reed Business Information.
cover of Nobody Turn Me Around Nobody Turn Me Around : A People's History of the 1963 March on Washington by Charles C. Euchner
Boston : Beacon Press, 2010.
On August 28, 1963, more than a quarter-million people — about two-thirds black and one-third white — held the greatest civil rights demonstration ever. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" oration while, just blocks away, President Kennedy and Congress skirmished over landmark civil rights legislation. As Charles Euchner reveals, the importance of the march is more profound and complex than standard treatments of the 1963 March on Washington allow. In this major reinterpretation, Euchner brings back the tension and promise of that day. Building on countless interviews, archives, FBI files and private recordings, Euchner shows freedom fighters as complex, often conflicted characters. He explores the lives of Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, the march organizers who worked tirelessly to make mass demonstrations and nonviolence the cornerstone of the movement. He also reveals the many behind-the-scenes battles, including the effort to get women speakers onto the platform, John Lewis' damning speech about the federal government, Malcolm X's biting criticisms and secret vows to help the movement, and the devastating undercurrents involving political powerhouses Kennedy and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. For the first time, Euchner tells the story behind King's "Dream" images. Euchner's hour-by-hour account offers intimate glimpses of the masses on the National Mall, ordinary people who bore the scars of physical violence and jailings for fighting for basic civil rights. Nobody Turn Me Around will challenge your understanding of the March on Washington, both in terms of what happened but also regarding what it ultimately set in motion. The result was a day that remains the apex of the Civil Rights Movement and the beginning of its decline.
cover of Secrets of a Soap Opera Diva Secrets of a Soap Opera Diva: A Novel by Victoria Rowell
New York : Atria Books, 2010.
Real-life soap star Victoria Rowell's funny debut novel is filled with glitz, glamour and juicy (fictional) gossip. When daytime diva Calysta Jeffries once again loses the coveted Sudsy award to her longtime on- and off-screen rival, she rashly reveals her true feelings to a journalist, unleashing a torrent of drama.
cover of Obamistan! Obamistan! Land Without Racism: Your Guide to the New America by Damali Ayo
Chicago : Lawrence Hill Books, 2010.
On November 4, 2008, the citizens of the United States gave prejudice and discrimination a boot to the backside. The pride of this accomplishment was echoed from mountaintops to bus stops as Americans ran through the streets with tears streaming down their faces, crying, "Racism is over!" What does this dramatic evolution mean for you? This satirical guide will help you familiarize yourself with the exciting postracist America — a land its loyal citizens now call Obamistan — through user-friendly explanations of new sights, sounds, and policies, along with eyewitness testimonials, news clippings, pop quizzes, and tips for those who miss the old America. From hot-button issues like immigration, foreclosure, gentrification, reparations and health care to holidays, toilet paper, pronouncing people's names and Dick Cheney's cozy new digs in Guantánamo Bay, this indispensible guide is guaranteed to help all Obamistanis feel right at home.
cover of Visible Lives Visible Lives: Three Stories in Tribute to E. Lynn Harris by Terrance Dean, James Earl Hardy and Stanley Bennett Clay
New York : Dafina Books, 2010.
In a powerful tribute to the late literary icon E. Lynn Harris, bestselling authors and friends Terrance Dean, James Earl Hardy, and Stanley Bennett Clay honor him with sexy, original novellas in the genre he helped create: groundbreaking stories of black, gay men searching for love in a taboo world.
cover of Remember Tomorrow Remember Tomorrow by Gabrielle Goldsby
Chicago : Bold Strokes, 2008.
Local author and Lambda Literary Award winner Gabrielle Goldsby delivers solid storytelling and engaging characters written with deep emotion. In Remember Tomorrow, successful television personality Cees Bannigan finds that creating a successful relationship rests in remembering the mistakes of the past. Torn between the love of a new woman and an ailing ex-lover, she must decide if past betrayals can ever be forgiven, even for the promise that tomorrow might hold.
cover of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
New York : Crown Publishers, 2010.
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, but her cells — taken without her knowledge — became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than 60 years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks is buried in an unmarked grave. Her family did not learn of her immortality until more than 20 years after her death, when scientists began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. The story of the Lacks family is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics and the legal battles over who controls our genetic material.
cover of In the Heart of the Beat In the Heart of the Beat: the Poetry of Hip Hop by Alexs Pate
Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2010.
A professor of African American and African studies at the University of Minnesota, Alexs Pate describes rap and hip hop music in terms of their powerful and effective poetry rather than their negative cultural impression, and encourages readers to see the literary and poetic dimensions of the music. Through a variety of songs, he examines rap poetry's construction, saturation, elements, language, flow, imagery, texture, durability and meaning, and demonstrates how it is a link in the evolution of African American literature and black consciousness.
cover of I'm Still Standing I'm Still Standing: from Captive U.S. Soldier to Free Citizen — My Journey Home by Shoshana Johnson with M.L. Doyle
New York : Simon & Schuster, 2010.
In March 2003, world headlines were made when an army convoy was attacked in the city of An-Nasiriyah en route to Baghdad. Several soldiers were killed and others were taken prisoner. Wounded and captured in the ambush, Shoshana Johnson became the first black female prisoner of war in United States history. After being held and interrogated for 22 days, she received numerous awards upon her return to U.S. soil, including the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Prisoner of War medals. Although she appeared on news networks and national television shows, Johnson was bound by a military gag order and unable to discuss what really happened in Iraq — until now. Holding nothing back in this harrowing account, she describes her personal emotions and frustrations while raising fresh political issues. I'm Still Standing is the unprecedented and unabridged story of the headline-making ambush, capture and rescue, told with exceptional bravery and candor by a single mother and soldier who became an American hero.
cover of A Peculiar Paradise A Peculiar Paradise: A History of Blacks in Oregon, 1788-1940 by Elizabeth McLagan
Portland, Ore. : Georgian Press, 1980.
Under the auspices of the Oregon Black History Project, Elizabeth McLagan was hired in 1977 to direct a year-long research project that culminated in this volume exploring the history of the black people of Oregon to the beginning of World War II. Funded by a grant from the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, the project inherited a number of oral history tapes and photographs from a previous phase of the project, funded by a grant from the Bicentennial Commission.

In her preface to the book, McLagan writes:

"It quickly became evident that the history of a small minority had to be placed in the larger context of the history of the attitudes of the white community of Oregon in an attempt to uncover, if not fully explain, the peculiar and persistent prejudice against black people that existed in Oregon. Because of the nature of much of the material concerning the lives of individual blacks, especially in the nineteenth century when family records are meager and public attention was turned away from the small black community, much of the information is episodic.

"The first chapter considers the role of black people in the settlement of Oregon from the appearance of Marcus Lopez in 1788 to 1850. The next four chapters describe the attitudes toward blacks and other minorities evident in exclusion laws, the slavery controversy, and various anti-black legislation considered and passed between 1843 and 1875. The next two chapters deal with the experience of rural black people in the nineteenth century, and the founding and development of the black community of Portland from 1850 to 1940. A chapter is then devoted to a description of the kinds of prejudice black people faced in Oregon, followed by a chapter dealing with attempts to pass civil rights legislation and to repeal existing anti-black legislation, including a brief comparison of anti-black legislation and attitudes in the neighboring states of California and Washington. The final chapter is an epilogue briefly describing the period after 1940."
cover of Vancouver Avenue Vancouver Avenue: Yesterday, Today, & Forever: Celebrating 65 Years as a Spiritual Landmark by Raymond Burell III
Portland, Ore. : Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church, 2009.
This celebratory anthology and pictorial history commemorates the 65 year history of Portland's Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church and the African American community that has coalesced around the church, with particular focus on personal biographies and family histories of longtime local residents involved in the founding and continuing vitality of the landmark church.
cover of Black Panther Black Panther: The Deadliest of the Species by Reginald Hudlin
New York : Marvel Publishing, 2009.
Since time immemorial, the African nation of Wakanda has repelled any invading force and every would-be colonist, fiercely defending its independence. With its advanced society and bountiful natural resources, Wakanda has always been a formidable nation, a realm ruled and defended by none other than the Black Panther.

T'Challa, the current Black Panther and ruler of Wakanda, is deep in a coma, brutally injured by unknown assailants, leaving the proud nation susceptible to its many enemies. With Wakanda's foes gathering and the country's protector debilitated, Queen Ororo chooses the next Black Panther ¡ but will her nomination be capable of completing the requisite trials?
cover of Mama Dearest Mama Dearest: A Novel by E. Lynn Harris
New York : Pocket Books : Karen Hunter Publishing, 2009.
The late Harris' final novel brings back femme fatale Yancey Harrington Braxton (Any Way the Wind Blows), who is determined to get back on top of her game after suffering setbacks in her acting career. She reminds herself that she had been taught by the best diva of them all, Ms. Ava Middlebrook, Yancey's show biz mother and longtime rival. It looks as if Yancey has hit pay dirt when she meets the handsome and successful S. Marcus, who shows a genuine interest in her career. But then her narcissistic mother comes back into her life, seeking payback for Ava's role in getting her locked down for seven years. At the same time, a younger, more beautiful starlet appears on the scene: Miss Maddison B., the daughter that Yancey gave up for adoption when she was in college — or so she thought. Harris offers something for everyone: mystery, romance, betrayal, intrigue, and revenge. He also brings back some old characters and introduces a few new ones to make this a great read.

From Library Journal, Copyright © 2009 Reed Business Information
cover of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment by Steve Harvey
New York : Amistad, 2009.
From the host of the popular Steve Harvey Morning Show comes a funny, honest, and foolproof guide for all women that takes them inside the heads of men and shows how men think about love, sex, and commitment.
cover of Jet Jet
Chicago : Johnson Publishing Co.
Jet is the leading weekly African American newsmagazine. A sister publication to Ebony, Jet provides a cover story; national and international news items pertaining to black people living in the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean; sports and entertainment news; regular columns on health, education, labor, parenting, and fashion; "This Week in Black History"; the "Week's Best Photos"; obituaries and wedding announcements; and the "Jet Beauty of the Week." It also includes film and music reviews, top music sales, and a television schedule.
cover of Shotgun Seamstress Shotgun Seamstress [No. 1] by Osa Atoe
Portland, OR : O. Atoe, [2006].
A zine by and for black punks, Shotgun Seamstress presents interviews, reviews, articles, and essays about African Americans in punk rock music and culture locally, nationally, and internationally. It presents unique information and points of view that are not well covered by materials in other parts of the library's collection. Readers may also be interested in Afro-punk, a documentary film exploring race identity within the punk rock scene.
cover of A Mercy A Mercy by Toni Morrison
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.
Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison's A Mercy is a powerful tragedy distilled into a jewel of a masterpiece. In the 1680s the slave trade was still in its infancy. In the Americas, virulent religious and class divisions, prejudice and oppression were rife, providing the fertile soil in which slavery and race hatred were planted and took root. Jacob, an Anglo-Dutch trader and adventurer, reluctantly takes a small slave girl in payment for a bad debt from a plantation owner. The young girl, Florens, looks for love, first from Lina, an older servant woman at her new master's house, but later from a handsome free African blacksmith. A Mercy reveals what lies beneath the surface of slavery, but at its heart it is the ambivalent, disturbing story of a mother who casts off her daughter in order to save her, and of a daughter who may never exorcise that abandonment.
cover of New News Out of Africa New News Out of Africa: Uncovering Africa's Renaissance by Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Oxford; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.
For twenty years, Charlayne Hunter-Gault was an acclaimed correspondent on PBS's The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and more recently she has been the Johannesburg Bureau Chief for CNN. Her work has garnered numerous awards, including two Peabody Awards for her coverage of Africa. In New News Out of Africa, this eminent reporter offers a fresh and surprisingly optimistic assessment of modern Africa, revealing that there is more to the continent than the bad news of disease, disaster, and despair.

Blending personal memoir with sterling reportage and astute analysis, Hunter-Gault presents an Africa we rarely see. She looks first at South Africa, contrasting the country she first encountered as a young reporter — when she personally witnessed the brutality of apartheid — with the black-led, multiracial society of today, a nation undergoing one of the most radical social and economic experiments in modern times. She acknowledges the great imbalance in income in modern South Africa (where upwards of 30 to 40 percent of blacks are unemployed) and describes the ravaging effect of AIDS on the nation, but she also underscores the nation's commitment to affirmative action, describes how South African universities have opened their doors to black students, and debunks many of the myths about the violence of South African society. Likewise, Hunter-Gault looks at the continent-wide efforts to promote "an African Renaissance," illuminating the political and economic conditions in Rwanda, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Angola, and Sierra Leone. Finally, the book describes the challenges of reporting on the much-maligned continent and the efforts of African journalists to tell their own story.

A compelling book on a topic of vital importance, New News Out of Africa promises to re-define what is news about this vast and complex continent.
cover of The Audacity of Hope The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama
New York : Crown Publishers, 2006.
In July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. One phrase in particular anchored itself in listeners' minds, a reminder that for all the discord and struggle to be found in our history as a nation, we have always been guided by a dogged optimism in the future — what he called "the audacity of hope." In this book, President Obama calls for a different brand of politics, one rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of "our improbable experiment in democracy." He also writes, with surprising intimacy and self-deprecating humor, about settling in as a senator, seeking to balance the demands of public service and family life, and his own deepening religious commitment. At the heart of this book is Obama's vision of how we can move beyond our divisions to tackle concrete problems and a vigorous search for connection: the foundation for a radically hopeful political consensus. Only by returning to the principles that gave birth to our Constitution, he says, can Americans repair a political process that is broken, and restore to working order a government that has fallen dangerously out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans.
cover of Dreams from my father Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
New York : Three Rivers Press, 2004.
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father — a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man — has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey: first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother's family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father's life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.
cover of Pathfinders Travel Pathfinders Travel: The Travel Magazine for People of Color
Philadelphia : Pathfinders Inc., [1997-
For those planning their winter getaway, we offer Pathfinders Travel, developed especially for black travelers. The magazine's reviews and recommendations are from an African American cultural perspective. Features have included black Paris and the original black diva, Josephine Baker, and a firsthand look at life in South Africa after apartheid. The magazine has covered the openings of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (Detroit), the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati), and the Reginald H. Lewis Museum of African American History (Baltimore). Published six times a year, the magazine offers special features, such as the Black List and the annual Year in Black America. The Black List is similar to Condé Nast's annual Gold List, which features the best destinations selected by its readers. The Year in Black America is an annual guide that highlights heritage sites and cultural experiences of special interest to black Americans.

Published since 1997, Pathfinders has introduced readers to unforgettable stories such as the sailing of the Amistad, the Gullah culture along the Sea Islands, black jockeys of the Kentucky Derby, photographers of the Civil Rights Movement, and black golfing pioneers, to name a few.
cover of The Message The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop's Greatest Songs by Felicia Pride
New York : Thunder's Mouth Press, 2007.
Inspired by their positive influences in her own life, the author uses lyrics found in one hundred hip-hop songs to show how the tactics described by noted artists can be applied for greater creativity, professional success, and positive relationships.
cover of Passing for Black Passing for Black by Linda Villarosa
New York : Kensington Publishing Corp., 2008.
Being black, the right kind of black, was difficult. It was like being in a cult, a secret society with rules as fluid as waves. In the six years that Angela Wright has been with her fiancé Keith Redfield, her life has settled neatly into place. Keith, a professor of African-American history, has helped her become comfortable in her own skin, and Angela's career is thriving. She's got nothing to worry about — or so she thinks. Angela's best friend Mae is always there to ground her, whether they're joking about the importance of good hair or gossiping about their rival. Mae reminds Angela how lucky she is to have found a successful, single brother. But when a chance meeting leaves Angela consumed with desire for an intriguing stranger, she impulsively decides to follow wherever it may lead — from outrageous underground sex parties to intimate encounters that are both torrid and tender. Now everything Angela has come to believe about sex, love, identity, and race is called into question as this explosive new passion blows her world wide open.
cover of Blood Colony Blood Colony by Tananarive Due
New York : Atria Books, 2008.
This profoundly moving third Blood book (after 2001's The Living Blood), set in 2015, finds that beneath the seemingly endless conflict in the Middle East is another, secret war waged over the drug Glow, made from magical blood that can heal any illness and even bestow eternal life. Psychic teen Fana Wolde, the daughter of 500-year-old assassin Dawit Wolde, was born with this living blood running through her veins. The Life Brothers, Ethiopian immortals who believe the living blood first came from Christ, think Fana is a deity. When she escapes their American compound, wanting to control her destiny and dispense her healing blood via a complex underground railroad, the Life Brothers and her parents race to protect her from the Italian immortals of the Sanctus Cruor, false priests who want Fana to fulfill a terrible prophecy. Due brings Fana's complex and passionate story to life with her trademark flair.

Starred review in Publishers Weekly, April 28, 2008. Copyright © Reed Business Information.
cover of When the Church Becomes Your Party When the Church Becomes Your Party: Contemporary Gospel Music by Deborah Smith Pollard
Detroit : Wayne State University Press, 2008.
In When the Church Becomes Your Party, author Deborah Smith Pollard assesses contemporary gospel music as the genre enters the 21st century. Pollard uses her academic training and insider's knowledge to examine some of contemporary gospel's most popular and controversial elements, including praise and worship in the urban church, the gospel musical stage play, the changing dress code, women gospel announcers, and holy hip hop. She argues that although the flashy clothing, informal language, and elaborate stage presentation found in some of the newest gospel music might not be what some worshippers expect, this new aesthetic rests on the same Christian principles as more traditional forms and actually extends its message to a wider and younger audience.
cover of Black Pain Black Pain: it just looks like we're not hurting: real talk for when there's nowhere to go but up by Terrie M. Williams
New York : Scribner, 2008.
Terrie Williams is a trained social worker turned high-powered publicist who has represented everyone from Eddie Murphy and Miles Davis to Johnnie Cochran and Janet Jackson. In Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting, she outlines her battle with depression. Further, she shares the stories of the famous and the ordinary who have battled mental illness.

Black people, especially, says Williams, have a specific historical context that makes our relationship with mental illness unique:

"Can you imagine how heavy the weight of all that trauma must have been in the hearts, minds, and souls of our ancestors?" she asks. "They had no outlet in which to express it and no proper means of processing it. Instead of airing our dirty laundry and getting help for our issues, we engage in behaviors that are harmful to ourselves or others such as crime, violence, promiscuous sex, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, workaholism, shopaholism, gambling, in order to cope, and it's killing us."

More than a book of testimonials, Black Pain offers solutions — suggestions from mental health professionals and a resource list of books, articles, websites, films, inspirational art, and even "cards with a stay-strong feel."
cover of Risks of Faith Risks of Faith: the emergence of a Black theology of liberation, 1968-1998 by James H. Cone
Boston, Mass. : Beacon Press, 1999.
In a series of essays, Cone, a black theologian, evaluates the gospel of Jesus Christ and the black liberation struggle over a 30-year period. He reflects on the shortcomings of white theologians and their theoretical focus at the expense of engaging real-world concerns and on the black church for conceding too much in hopes of garnering white acceptance. Nonetheless, the black church provides the foundation for what he calls black theology, from which he draws. He also notes the black church's long history of supporting activists. In one essay, he critiques the activist theology of Martin Luther King Jr. and assesses King's use of Christian gospel in addressing the needs of the poor and the oppressed, placing King as an important, if not the most important, theologian in the U.S. Cone further asserts that no critique of King and black theology is complete without examining Malcolm X, who provided a sharper critique of white America. In this absorbing book, Cone also examines the deeper spiritual side of black theology, which allows practitioners to stand against innumerable odds.

From BookList, November, 1999. Copyright © American Library Association.
cover of Heart and Head Heart and Head: black theology, past, present, and future by Dwight N. Hopkins
New York : Palgrave, 2002.
Ordained Baptist minister, prolific writer, and University of Chicago theology instructor Dwight N. Hopkins presents black theology of the liberation of the poor as a vision, and a way of life, growing out of the best that African American communities of faith have to offer. It emerges from the parables and lessons of the Jesus story that call out the sacred parts of the human condition, judging a community not by the fortunes of its wealthiest but by the well-being of the most broken and vulnerable.

Annotation copyright © Book News Inc., Portland, Ore.
cover of Song Yet Sung Song Yet Sung by James McBride
New York : Riverhead Books, 2008.
Adventure and danger abound when escaped slaves, free blacks, slave-catchers and plantation owners clash in this complex and challenging novel by bestselling memoirist James McBride. After a serious head injury, a beautiful young runaway slave awakes to find that she can see the future — from the near-future to Martin Luther King to hip-hop — in her dreams. The visions help her and fellow slaves escape, but trouble is never far behind. Meanwhile, her visions also lead the reader to explore the meaning of freedom and question the values of contemporary American society.
cover of Them Them by Nathan McCall
New York : Atria Books, 2007.
Nathan McCall's debut novel, Them, tells a story set in a downtown Atlanta neighborhood just a stone's throw from the historic birth home of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The story centers around Barlowe Reed, a single, forty-something African American who rents a ramshackle house, works as a printer, and otherwise passes the time reading and hanging out with other men at the corner store. He shares his home and loner existence with a streetwise, twenty-something nephew who is struggling to get his troubled life back on track. When Sean and Sandy Gilmore, a young white couple, move in next door, Barlowe and Sandy develop a reluctant, complex friendship as they hold probing — often frustrating — conversations over the backyard fence. Members of both households, and their neighbors as well, try to go about their business, tending to their homes and jobs. Fear and suspicion build, however, and clashes ensue as more and more new whites move in and once-familiar people and places disappear.
cover of Life on the Color Line Life on the Color Line: the True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black by Gregory Howard Williams
New York : Dutton, 1995.
A stunning journey to the heart of the racial dilemma in this country. Everyone will be enriched by reading the unforgettable tale.
cover of Native Guard Native Guard by Natasha D. Trethewey
Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Trethewey won a 2007 Pulitzer Prize for her third volume of poetry, Native Guard, a collection that pays homage to the Louisiana Native Guards, a regiment of black Civil War soldiers who served at a Union prison housing Confederate captives on Ship Island, near the author's hometown of Gulfport, Mississippi. The title poem imagines the life of a former slave who is charged with writing letters home for the illiterate or invalid POWs and his fellow soldiers. Just as he becomes the guard of Ship Island's memory, so Trethewey recalls her own childhood as the daughter of a black woman and a white man whose marriage was still illegal in 1966 Mississippi. The racial legacy of the Civil War echoes through elegiac poems that honor her own mother and the forgotten history of the South. Native Guard is haunted by the intersection of national and personal experience.
cover of On Beauty On Beauty by Zadie Smith
New York : Penguin Press, 2005.
Howard Belsey is an Englishman abroad, an academic teaching in a college town in New England. Married young, 30 years later he is struggling to revive his love for his African American wife Kiki. After Howard has a disastrous affair with a colleague, his sensitive older son escapes to England for the holidays, and defies everything the Belseys represent by going to work for a right-wing academic.
cover of Joy Joy by Victoria Christopher Murray
New York : Walk Worthy Press/Warner Books, 2001.
On the surface, Anya Mitchell has it all. She owns and operates a successful financial services company, has a handsomely-packaged, successful author as a fiance, and an unshakeable faith in God. One scratch of the veneer, however, and readers see a very different Anya — one who was orphaned by her parents in a car accident and raised by a color-conscious grandmother. Joy touches on contentious issues such as color conflicts in the African American community, traditional versus contemporary familial roles, and sexuality.
cover of Sanctified Blues Sanctified Blues by Mable John and David Ritz
New York : Harlem Moon/Broadway Books, 2006.
Albertina Merci, 70-year-old R&B singer turned minister, has a level head, a love of God, and a way of bringing out the best in the people around her. In Sanctified Blues, Albertina meets Maggie Clay, queen of daytime television, in the midst of a nervous breakdown. As the tabloids are abuzz with the star's escapades and eagerly awaiting her self-destruction, it is only with infinite patience that Albertina can navigate her rocky relationship with Maggie in hopes of helping her get back on the right path.
cover of We Gotta Have It We Gotta Have It: Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies by Esther Iverem
New York : Thunder's Mouth Press, 2007.
Esther Iverem, an admired journalist, poet, and visual arts critic for BET.com and SeeingBlack.com, has collected her many movie reviews, film festival summations, and interviews with black actors and filmmakers of the past 20 years into an entertaining and enlightening reference book. The entries are arranged in chronological order across what Iverem refers to as the third black arts renaissance (after Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s and the resurgence of pride and artistic expression of the 1960s). From her thought-provoking lead-in chapter to her final review of 2006, Iverem takes a no-apologies approach on the behalf of the African American community as treated by Hollywood, representing a gifted, socially conscious mind. Her analyses of the performances and character choices of contemporary actors like Wesley Snipes and Eddie Murphy are tenacious yet fair. Iverem's reviews express real concern about how African American images are being stripped, reprocessed, and sold back to Americans and the global audience.

From Library Journal, April 1, 2007, Copyright © Reed Business Information
cover of Do You Do You: 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success by Russell Simmons
New York : Gotham, 2007.
Powerful and inspired, Do You! is a rare blend of business acumen, fierce spiritual faith, and priceless advice. Since rising out of the New York City streets over 25 years ago, Russell Simmons has helped create such ground breaking ventures as Def Jam Records, Phat Farm and Def Comedy Jam, in the process becoming known the world over as the "CEO of Hip Hop." He credits his success to his belief in a strong set of principles, which he shares for the first time in this book. In 12 straightforward steps, Simmons reveals a path toward success that can be followed not only by those looking to duplicate his professional success, but by anyone struggling to realize his or her dreams.
cover of The Women Who Raised Me The Women Who Raised Me: A Memoir by Victoria Rowell
New York : William Morrow & Company, 2007.
The story of a remarkable woman's rise out of the foster-care system to attain the American dream, and of the unlikely series of women who lifted her up in marvelous and distinctive ways.

Born as a ward of the state of Maine — the child of an unmarried Yankee blueblood mother and an unknown black father — Victoria Rowell beat the odds. Unlike so many other children who fall through the cracks of our overburdened foster-care system, her experience was nothing short of miraculous, thanks to several extraordinary women who stepped forward to love, nurture, guide, teach, and challenge her to become the accomplished actress, philanthropist, and mother that she is today.
cover of The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry edited by Arnold Rampersad
Oxford; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.
For over two centuries, black poets have created verse that reflects the sorrows, joys, and triumphs of the African-American experience. Reflecting their variety of visions and styles, The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry aims to offer nothing less than a definitive literary portrait of a people.

Here are poems by writers as different as Paul Laurence Dunbar and W.E.B. Du Bois; Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes; Gwendolyn Brooks and Amiri Baraka; Rita Dove and Harryette Mullen; Yusef Komunyakaa and Nathaniel Mackey. Acclaimed as a biographer and editor, Arnold Rampersad groups these poems as meditations on key issues in black culture, including the idea of Africa; the South; slavery; protest, and resistance; the black man, woman, and child; sexuality and love; music and religion; spirituality; death, and transcendence.

With their often starkly contrasting visions and styles, these poets illuminate some of the more controversial and intimate aspects of the black American experience. Poetry here is not only or mainly a vehicle of protest but also an exploration of the more complex and tender subtleties of black culture. One section offers tributes to celebrated leaders such as Sojourner Truth and Malcolm X, but many more reflect the heroism compelled by everyday black life. The variety of poetic forms and language captures the brilliant essence of English as mastered by black Americans dedicated to the art of poetry.

Loving and yet also honest and unsparing, The Oxford Book of African-American Poetry is for readers who treasure both poetry and the genius of black America.
cover of Baby Love Baby Love by Rebecca Walker
New York : Riverhead Books, 2007.
In this memoir, the author of Black, White and Jewish chronicles her physical and emotional journey toward motherhood, reflecting on the ambivalence about partnership and parenthood that is characteristic of many in her generation. Navigating through conflicts with her mother (well-known author and activist Alice Walker), through difficult medical decisions as well as mundane, practial choices, the author experiences personal transformation in this complex, accessible, and witty narrative.
cover of Exodus: Journey to the Promise Land Exodus: Journey to the Promise Land: African American Migration, Settlement, and Activity in Clark County and Vancouver, Washington, 1825-2000 by Joseph Franklin
Fairfield, Wash. : Ye Galleon Press, 2004.
Several years ago, the Clark County Historical Museum accepted a grant from American Association of Retired Persons to stage a Black History exhibit. Someone said to me that it would be a very small exhibit as there was not Black history in Clark County.

They were most definitely proved wrong. Members of the community stepped forward to help, and stories were gathered. Although the exhibit turned out to be extensive, I realized that we had only touched the surface of the wealth of knowledge that was to be uncovered.

Joe Franklin has devoted himself to that task. Over the last several years I have worked with Mr. Franklin as he doggedly tracked down leads and conducted interviews with many who had lived the history of our community.

From the days of the earliest explorers to the high-tech world of today, citizens of African heritage have contributed to the tapestry of our lives in Clark County. That history could easily be lost. Without the dedication of people like Joe Franklin, future generations would grow up oblivious to the contributions of their forebears. Never before have all of the stories been gathered together in one book.

This book opens the vista of the years of African American experience in Clark County, which gives us a clearer view of all of our experience.

From the foreword by Pat Jollota, Curator, Clark County Historical Museum.
cover of How to Rent a Negro How to Rent a Negro by Damali Ayo
Chicago, Ill. : Lawrence Hill Books, 2005.
A hilarious and satirical look at race relations that is almost too close for comfort, this pseudo-guidebook gives both renters and rentals "much-needed" advice and tips on technique. This text shocks and amuses, presenting a strikingly stark mirror of human relationships.
cover of What Is the What What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng by Dave Eggers
San Francisco : McSweeney's Books, 2006.
Valentino Achak Deng, real-life hero of this engrossing epic, was a refugee from the Sudanese civil war — the bloodbath before the current Darfur bloodbath — of the 1980s and '90s. In this fictionalized memoir, author Dave Eggers makes him an icon of globalization. Separated from his family when Arab militia destroy his village, Valentino joins thousands of other "Lost Boys," beset by starvation, thirst and man-eating lions on their march to squalid refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, where Valentino pieces together a new life. He eventually reaches America, but finds his quest for safety, community and fulfillment in many ways even more difficult there than in the camps: he recalls, for instance, being robbed, beaten and held captive in his Atlanta apartment. Eggers's limpid prose gives Valentino an unaffected, compelling voice and makes his narrative by turns harrowing, funny, bleak and lyrical. The result is a horrific account of the Sudanese tragedy, but also an emblematic saga of modernity — of the search for home and self in a world of unending upheaval.

From Publisher's Weekly, © Reed Business Information.
cover of The Covenant with Black America The Covenant with Black America introduction by Tavis Smiley
Chicago : Third World Press, 2006.
Established publishing house Third World Press joins noted author and broadcaster Tavis Smiley to create The Covenant with Black America, a step-by-step how-to manual for taking action against the political, economical, physiological and medical issues threatening black society. The Covenant addresses 10 of the most pressing issues facing black America, providing provocative breakdowns of each issue, as well as specific directions on how politicians, corporations and individuals can make important changes necessary for the survival of black people.
cover of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing by Joyce DeGruy Leary
Milwaukie, Oregon : Uptone Press, 2005.
While African Americans managed to emerge from chattel slavery and the oppressive decades that followed with great strength and resiliency, they did not emerge unscathed. Slavery produced centuries of physical, psychological and spiritual injury. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing lays the groundwork for understanding how the past has influenced the present, and opens up the discussion of how we can use the strengths we have gained to heal.
cover of Blake Blake; or, The huts of America, a novel by Martin Robison Delany
Boston : Beacon Press, 1970.
Born in 1812 to a free mother and slave father, Martin Robison Delany was a man of many interests and talents. He co-edited The North Star with Frederick Douglass for several years; advocated the migration of blacks to Central or South America; practiced medicine in Pittsburgh; attacked the concept of Liberia in 1859, and in 1860 urged the establishment of a state by black Americans in the Niger Valley; and was the first black major in the United States Army. After the Civil War he lived in the South, supported black political participation, and made one last unsuccessful effort with a plan for emigration to Africa.

Perhaps the most important black novel of its period, Blake focuses sharply on the political and social issues of the 1850s: slavery as an institution, Cuba as the prime interest of Southern expansionists, the practicality of militant slave revolution, and the psychological liberation possible through collective action. Although he never claimed Blake to be an answer to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Delany's hero — a pure black West Indian slave who advocates revolution in the United States and later becomes the general of a black revolutionary force in Cuba — is in many ways the antithesis to her protagonist.
cover of We speak your names We speak your names: a celebration by Pearl Cleage with Zaron W. Burnett, Jr.
New York : One World/Ballantine Books, 2005.
For three days — from May 13 to 15, 2005 — a distinguished group of women was invited to celebrate the enduring achievements of twenty-five of their mentors and role models — and in the process pay tribute to the long, glorious tradition of African American accomplishment. The centerpiece of the weekend was the reading aloud of Pearl Cleage's poem "We Speak Your Names," written especially for the occasion and appearing here for the first time in this keepsake book. The poem names each of the women honored: Dr. Maya Angelou, Coretta Scott King, Diahann Carroll, Toni Morrison, Nikki Giovanni, Rosa Parks, Katherine Dunham, and other legends of the brightest magnitude. Pearl Cleage celebrates her distinguished elders' strength, their magic, their sensuality, their loving kindness, their faith in themselves, and the priceless example of their lives.
cover of Kaiso Kaiso! : writings by and about Katherine Dunham edited by VèVè A. Clark and Sara E. Johnson
Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, 2005.
Trained as an anthropologist at the University of Chicago, Katherine Dunham combined her interest in dance and anthropology by linking the form and function of Caribbean dance and ritual to their African sources. This collection of Dunham's essays on dance and anthropology, press reviews, interviews and chapters from her unpublished memoir has been revised and expanded with recent scholarly articles.
From Book News, Inc., Portland, OR ©2006.
cover of Marley legend Marley legend: an illustrated life of Bob Marley by James Henke
New York : Scholastic Press, 2006.
Henke, curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, has put together a true collector's item: an illustrated and interactive biography with rare photographs and a 50-minute CD of Bob Marley interviews.
cover of On Michael Jackson On Michael Jackson by Margo Jefferson
New York : Pantheon Books, 2006.
Prize-winning journalist and culture critic Margo Jefferson's first book explores the life, and the larger-than-life myth, of the King of Pop — and, in the process, exposes the public's obsession with celebrity.
cover of Rise up singing Rise up singing: Black women writers on motherhood edited by Cecelie S. Berry
New York : Doubleday, 2004.
In short fiction, poems, and personal essays, a dazzling array of well-known African-American women describe with warmth and humor their experiences as mothers and as daughters. Includes contributions from Alice Walker, Faith Ringgold, Marita Golden, Martha Southgate, Tananarive Due, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Rita Dove, and others.
cover of African American vernacular photography African American vernacular photography: selections from the Daniel Cowin Collection essays by Brian Wallis and Deborah Willis
New York : International Center of Photography ; Gottingen : Steidl, 2005.
This exhibition catalogue explores the International Center of Photography's Daniel Cowin Collection of African American History, a trove of more than two thousand postcards, stereographs, cartes-de-visite, tintypes, albumen prints, and gelatin silver prints. Taken together, these ephemeral images provide an important window into African American cultural life from 1860 to about 1930.
cover of Apex hides the hurt Apex hides the hurt by Colson Whitehead
New York : Doubleday, 2006.
When the citizens of Winthrop needed a new name for their town, they did what anyone would do — they hired a consultant. The protagonist of Apex Hides the Hurt is a nomenclature consultant. If you want just the right name for your new product, whether it be automobile or antidepressant, sneaker or spoon, he's the man to get the job done. Wardrobe lack pizzazz? Come to the Outfit Outlet. Always the wallflower at social gatherings? Try Loquacia. And of course, whenever you take a fall, reach for Apex, because Apex Hides the Hurt. Apex is his crowning achievement, the multicultural bandage that has revolutionized the adhesive bandage industry. "Flesh-colored" be damned — no matter what your skin tone is — Apex will match it, or your money back. After leaving his job (following a mysterious misfortune), his expertise is called upon by the town of Winthrop. Once there, he meets the town council, who will try to sway his opinion over the coming days. Lucky Aberdeen, the millionaire software pioneer and hometown-boy-made-good, wants the name changed to something that will reflect the town's capitalist aspirations, attracting new businesses and revitalizing the community. Who could argue with that? Albie Winthrop, beloved son of the town's aristocracy, thinks Winthrop is a perfectly good name, and can't imagine what the fuss is about. Regina Goode, the mayor, is a descendent of the black settlers who founded the town, and has her own secret agenda for what the name should be. Our expert must decide the outcome, with all its implications for the town's future. Which name will he choose? Or perhaps he will devise his own? And what's with his limp, anyway? Apex Hides the Hurt satirizes our contemporary culture, where memory and history are subsumed by the tides of marketing.
I woke up and put my crown on I woke up and put my crown on : the project of 76 voices by Rochell (Ro-deezy) Hart
Baltimore : PublishAmerica, 2005.
Through direct interviews, Rochell D. (Ro Deezy) Hart explores life for today's African-American woman. For three years, Hart talked to an extraordinary group of women from around the United States about their realities, their struggles and their methods of survival. The conclusion is a remarkable novel of biographies that empowers, enlightens and positively redefines the perception of the black woman. Maria Dowd, author of Journey to Empowerment (BET Books), the author's mother, Vickie D. Hart, Tracy Price-Thompson (Essence best-selling author) and Jacquelyn Hughes Mooney, whose work has appeared on Oprah, are included within the '76 voices'. Author Shellie R. Warren, whose novel Inside of Me has a foreword written by Grammy-nominated artist India Arie, Stacey R. Tolbert, Darlene Solomon-Rogers and more are also celebrated within this significant collection.
cover of Giovanni's Room Giovanni's Room: a novel by James Baldwin
New York : Dial Press, 1956.
Set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality. With a sharp, probing imagination, James Baldwin's now-classic narrative delves into the mystery of loving and creates a moving, highly controversial story of death and passion that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart.
cover of Come Hell or High Water Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster by Michael Eric Dyson
New York : Three Rivers Press, 2004.
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, the "hip-hop intellectual," champions the issues plaguing the disenfranchised of America in Come Hell or High Water. In this book, Dr. Dyson examines what happened to the black poor in New Orleans following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Readers will discover what Hurricane Katrina revealed about the fault lines of race and poverty in America. If you like this book, check out other titles by Michael Eric Dyson.
cover of The Good House The Good House: a novel by Tananarive Due
Chicago : Agate, 2005.
After her 15-year-old son Corey's suicide, Angela Toussaint spent several months in a mental hospital. Now, divorced and focused on her work, she receives word of potential buyers of her grandmother's house in Sacajawea, Washington, in which Corey died. Realizing that she must put the tragedy to rest, Angela decides to go to the house to try to understand exactly what happened. Sacajawea is, however, a town beset by evil, in which stomachaches lead to suicide in apparently healthy, well-balanced persons. Indeed, it seems that a ravenous spirit there is hell-bent on killing everything in its path. Further, that spirit seems somehow connected with the history of Angela's family. Flashbacks explore the events leading up to Corey's death, and Angela's learning about her son's experiences enables her to connect with the spirit of her beloved, long-dead grandmother, who then exerts a fiercely protective and positive influence on her. Angela's relationship with her ancestry ultimately affords her true healing and redemption from the wound of Corey's suicide, and also an unexpected miracle.
cover of Freshwater road Freshwater road by Denise Nicholas.
Chicago : Agate, 2005.
Freshwater Road is the story of one young woman's journey into adulthood via the political and social upheavals of the civil rights movement. A young black collegian, Celeste Tyree, leaves Ann Arbor to go to Pineyville, Mississippi, in the summer of 1964 to help found a Freedom School and a voter registration project as part of Freedom Summer. As the summer unfolds, she confronts not only the political realities of race and poverty in this tiny town, but also truths about herself and her own family.
cover of I Got Somebody in Staunton I Got Somebody in Staunton by William Henry Lewis
New York : Amistad, 2005.
I Got Somebody in Staunton presents 10 finely honed tales that maintain a delicate balance between politics and art. It is a slim volume, but one with deep roots in America, each story reflecting a specific time and place and capturing a unique vernacular voice from a cross section of experience: a young boy, a nurse, a cleaning woman, an insurance agent, a cabbie, a social worker, a history professor, an NAACP executive and a restless college graduate washing dishes in a tourist restaurant in the Bahamas. What surprises in these stories is the changing face of resistance in turn-of-century America, the subtle shifts in behavior that reflect the African American community's resilience and dignity.
From The Oregonian, Sunday, May 25, 2005.
cover of Things Fall Apart Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
New York : Knopf : Distributed by Random House, 1992.
First novel by Chinua Achebe, written in English and published in 1958. The novel chronicles the life of Okonkwo, the leader of an Igbo (Ibo) community, from the events leading up to his banishment from the community for accidentally killing a clansman, through the seven years of his exile, to his return. The novel addresses the problem of the intrusion in the 1890s of white missionaries and colonial government into tribal Igbo society. It describes the simultaneous disintegration of its protagonist Okonkwo and of his village. The novel was praised for its intelligent and realistic treatment of tribal beliefs and of psychological disintegration coincident with social unraveling. Things Fall Apart helped create the Nigerian literary renaissance of the 1960s.
From The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature.
cover of On American Soil On American Soil: How Justice Became a Casualty of WWII by Jack Hamann
Chapel Hill, N.C. : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005.
On American Soil is the first comprehensive book about one of the most compelling events in the military and civil rights history of the United States. In 1944, forty-three soldiers, all of them African American, were accused of rioting; three of them faced the death penalty, charged with the murder of an Italian prisoner of war three months earlier at Fort Lawton, a military installation north of Seattle.
cover of The Journal of Negro History The Journal of Negro History by Woodson, Carter G., editor., Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1916-2000.
[PERIODICAL] and [R-050 J86n fiche v.55-74]
Author, editor, publisher and historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson wrote: "Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history." Dr. Woodson's belief that African Americans should know their past in order to participate intelligently in the affairs in our country led to the creation of The Journal of Negro History in 1916 and the inauguration of Negro History Week (precursor of Black History Month) in 1926. Woodson's beliefs also fueled his numerous other contributions to the organization, education and historical awareness of the African American community. Commonly considered the primogenitor of black scholarly publications, Woodson's periodical still exists today as the Journal of African American History. North Portland Library's Black Resource Collection includes bound copies of the journal for most years from 1917 to 1970 and microfiche covering the years 1970 to 1989.
bookjacket for A Lesson Before Dying A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.
From the author of A Gathering of Old Men and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman comes a deep and compassionate novel. A young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to teach visits a black youth on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Together they come to understand the heroism of resisting.
Bookjacket for My Brother Martin My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up With the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Christine King Farris
New York : Simon & Schuster, 2003.
Farris's stirring memoir of her younger brother "M.L." focuses on a pivotal moment in their childhood in Atlanta. The conversational narrative easily and convincingly draws readers into the daily life of Christine and her two brothers, M.L. and A.D., as they listen to their grandmother's stories, stage pranks and romp in the backyard with two white brothers from across the street. The adults in the King family — Daddy, a minister; Mother Dear, a musician; maternal grandparents (the grandfather is also a minister) and a great-aunt — try to shield the children from the overt racism of the times; the family rarely took streetcars, for example, because of "those laws [segregation], and the indignity that went with them." When the white boys announce one day that they cannot play with M.L. and A.D. because they are "Negroes," the young Kings are hurt and baffled. Mother Dear explains, "[Whites] just don't understand that everyone is the same, but someday, it will be better." M.L. replies, "Mother Dear, one day I'm going to turn this world upside down." Soentpiet (Dear Santa, Please Come to the 19th Floor) illustrates this exchange with a powerful watercolor portrait of mother and son that encapsulates many emotions, including hope, pain and love. Unfortunately, in other paintings, the characters often seem frozen in exaggerated poses, or minor figures are rendered with less skill than demonstrated elsewhere. These inconsistencies detract from an otherwise gripping volume that makes the audience aware that heroes were once children, too.
From Publishers Weekly, © 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
bookjacket for Emporer of Ocean Park The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter
New York : Alfred A. Knopf : Distributed by Random House, 2002.
A complex, smart mystery filled with intrigue, drama, and more than a little danger, awaits in Stephen L. Carter's engaging debut novel, The Emperor of Ocean Park. After the funeral of his powerful father (a federal judge whose nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court became a public scandal), Talcott Garland, an African-American law professor at an Ivy League university, is left to unravel the meaning of a cryptic note and carry out "the arrangements" his father left behind. Armed with fortitude and familial devotion (though paranoid of his wife's fidelity), Talcott soon finds himself in an investigation that entangles him with a number of questionable Washington, D.C., denizens, including attorneys and government officials, law professors, the FBI, shady underworld figures, chess masters, and friends and family. All the while, Talcott tries not to hurt his attorney-wife's chance for a judicial nomination, and their fragile arriage, but the closer he comes to unraveling his father's dark secrets, the more dangerous things become.
From Amazon.com
Bookjacket for Bad Boy Brawly Brown Bad Boy Brawly Brown by Walter Mosley
Boston : Little, Brown, and Co., 2002.
Here is an excerpt from Black Issues Book Reviews:

In Los Angles in the early sixties, Easy Rawlins is asked by a friend to find his stepson. Easy, who is depressed because his close friend, Mouse, mysteriously died, eventually decides to take the case. His one caveat, as always, is that it's not a case. In Easy Rawlin's world, he only does favors for people in return for other favors. In fact, his whole livelihood has been based on exchanging favors. Mosley does an excellent job of capturing the day-to-day life of a black man growing up in inner city Los Angeles in the 1960s. As expected, Mosley gives readers more than one mystery to solve. Aside from the main plot, there are several subplots as well.

For more information about any of these titles, contact North Portland Librarian Patricia Welch at 503.988.5394.