Category: African American Literature

March 25, 2024

Rough Crossings by Simon Schama *** (of 4)

How did we not know this? In the 1760s, a court case in England suggested that any person of African descent living in Great Britain...

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October 27, 2023

All the Sinners Bleed *** (of 4)

Nobody captures underlying racial tension in the contemporary south, wrapped in a crime thriller, as well as S.A. Cosby. His leads–this is Cosby’s fourth in...

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October 7, 2023

How to Make a Slave by Jerald Walker **** (of 4)

Jerald Walker is a Black professor at a prestigious Boston college. He lives in an overwhelmingly upscale Boston-adjacent community, and on the surface would appear...

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September 19, 2023

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride **** (of 4)

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is a one-room general store owned by Moshe, but run, at a loss, by his warm-hearted, open-minded, club-footed (polio),...

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September 30, 2022

The Last Slave Ship by Ben Raines *** (of 4)

On the face of it, the story of 100 enslaved Africans smuggled into Mobile, Alabama does not feel that significant among the 12.5 million Africans...

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September 16, 2022

How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith *** (of 4)

Clint Smith educates white Americans who likely never learned the true extent and depth of slavery in the foundation and enduring legacy of the country....

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September 4, 2022

Black Cloud Rising by David Wright Falade *** (of 4)

As the Civil War dragged on and Union troops made advances across the south, formerly enslaved people fled bondage to take up refuge behind northern...

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July 12, 2022

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw *** (of 4)

A series of loosely connected short stories about the inner thoughts and external actions of younger Black women whose wants and desires are not so...

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May 10, 2022

The Queen by Josh Levin ** (of 4)

In principle, the story of Linda Taylor, the woman stuck with the appellation of America’s Welfare Queen, upon whom so much political scorn has been...

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February 17, 2022