Twelve Years a Slave (1853) is considered to be one of the most riveting and important documents recounting slavery in the United States. It is the heart-rending memoir of a free black man who is taken hostage and sold into slavery in a Louisiana plantation, his twelve years of bondage, and his remarkable escape to freedom. Since its publication, this classic has become a historical reference for its salient of depiction of life as a slave in the...

Introduction to the life and accomplishments of famed African-American writer and essayist, James Baldwin. The most highly recognized series on African Americans celebrates Black History Month all year long! Journey to Freedom: The African American Library provides fascinating information on the heroic stories of African Americans who have played leading roles in shaping world history. Packed with vintage photographs that bring both the subjects'...

Profiles Zora Neale Hurston, whose childhood love of stories led her to a successful career as a folklorist and author of poems, novels, short stories, and plays.

"Jackie Robinson's story is not only a compelling drama of heroism, but also as a template of the African American freedom struggle. A towering athletic talent, Robinson's greater impact was on preparing the way for the civil rights reform wave following WWII. But Robinson's story has always been far more complex than the public perception has allowed. Brooklyn Dodgers executive Branch Rickey famously told the young Robinson that he was "looking for...

"Madam C. J. Walker--reputed to be America's first self-made woman millionaire--has long been celebrated for her rags-to-riches story. Born to former slaves in the Louisiana Delta in the aftermath of the Civil War, married at fourteen, and widowed at twenty, Walker spent the first decades of her life as a laundress, laboring in conditions that paralleled the lives of countless poor and working-class African American women. By the time of her death...

“The Freedmen's Book”, written by Lydia Maria Child, is an important socio-cultural phenomenon of the nineteenth century. It is a text that exemplifies the rich intellectual and discursive history of the African American experience within a predominantly white society. This work provides valuable insight into the struggles experienced by freedmen during this period and offers readers an understanding of how African American culture adapted to...

A member of the African elite groping his way out of the background of slavery and colonialism, Baako sees his education as preparation for the lifework of a socially innovative artist. His family, more pragmatic, expects an elite resume to convert into power and wealth in the real world here and now. Unable to harmonize contervailing needs with wider social aspirations, both family and individual drift toward confrontation and inexorable loss.

The poetry of Langston Hughes pulses with the rhythms of jazz and blues, and the language of the streets. In describing the everyday lives of African Americans, he became the leading African-American poet of the world. Jodie A. Shull s insightful and highly readable new biography sheds light on one of the most important figures of the Harlem Renaissance and introduces another generation to his extraordinary outpouring of poetry, short stories, novels,...

The story is riveting and legendary: At a time when segregation ruled American life, a sports experiment changed history. Did Jackie Robinson have enough talent, courage, and tolerance to break the color line in major league baseball? The world watched as Robinson signed his contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Racist taunts and jeers exploded from the stands, but Robinson kept his focus on the game. For the rest of his life, Robinson continued to...