Black Studies: Autobiography & Biography

Gay Guerrilla: Julius Eastman and his Music by Renée Levine Packer (Editor); Mary Jane Leach (Editor) The essays in Gay Guerrilla offer context on Eastman's life history and the era's social landscape, commentaries on the composer's personality and talents, and analyses of his music. The book presents an authentic portrait of a notable American artist that is compelling reading for the general reader as well as scholars interested in twentieth-century American music, American Studies, gay rights, and civil rights.

James Baldwin: The Legacy by Quincy Troupe A collection of tributes from the friends and colleagues of a great writer and social critic include the words of Toni Morrison, Amiri Baraka, William Styron, Alex Haley, and others, as well as key selections from his writings. Bibliog.

The Life of Langston Hughes, 1902-1941 by Arnold Rampersad In young adulthood Hughes possessed a nomadic but dedicated spirit that led him from Mexico to Africa and the Soviet Union to Japan, and countless other stops around the globe. Associating with political activists, patrons, and fellow artists, and drawing inspiration from both Walt Whitman and the vibrant Afro-American culture, Hughes soon became the most original and revered of black poets.

The Life of Langston Hughes, 1941-1967 by Arnold Rampersad The second volume in this masterful biography finds Hughes rooting himself in Harlem, receiving stimulation from his rich cultural surroundings. Here he rethought his view of art and radicalism, and cultivated relationships with younger, more militant writers such as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Amiri Bakara.

Alvin Ailey: A Life in Dance by Jennifer Dunning Alvin Ailey (1931–1989) was a choreographic giant in the modern dance world and a champion of African-American talent and culture. His interracial Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater provided opportunities to black dancers and choreographers when no one else would. His acclaimed “Revelations” remains one of the most performed modern dance pieces in the twentieth century. But he led a tortured life, filled with insecurity and self-loathing.

Countee Cullen and the Negro Renaissance by Blanch Ferguson

The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde Grief, terror, courage, the passion for survival and far more than survival, are here in the personal and political searchings of a great poet. Lorde is the Amazon warrior who knows how to tell the tale of battle: what happened, and why, what are the weapons, and who are the comrades she found. More than this, her book offers women a new and deeply feminist challenge.

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay Roxane Gay addresses the experience of living in a body that she calls 'wildly undisciplined.' She casts an insightful and critical eye over her childhood, teens, and twenties -- including the devastating act of violence that was a turning point at age 12 -- and brings readers into the present and the realities, pains, and joys of her daily life.

Josephine Baker in Art and Life by Bennetta Jules-Rosette Creating the image -- Touring with Baker's image -- Opening nights -- Celluloid projections -- Living the dream -- Dress rehearsals -- Baker's scripts -- Hues of the rainbow in a global village -- Changing the world -- Legendary legionnaire -- Echoes and influences -- Eternal comeback.

A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging by Dionne Brand A Map to the Door of No Return explores identity and belonging in a culturally diverse and rapidly changing world. Drawing on cartography, travels, politics and history Brand sketches the shifting borders of home and nation. The title, A Map to the Door of No Return, refers to both a place in imagination and a point in history -- the Middle Passage. The quest for identity and place has profound meaning and resonance in an age of heterogenous identities.

Officer Clemmons: A Memoir by Francois Clemmons When he created the role of Officer Clemmons on the television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, François Clemmons made history as the first African American actor to have a recurring role on a children's program. The role also required him to make painful personal choices and sacrifices. Here he details a life marked by family trauma and loss. During studies as a music major at Oberlin College, Clemmons began to investigate and embrace his homosexuality.

Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Forty Years of Movement Building with Barbara Smith by Barbara Smith: Alethia Jones (Editor); Virginia Eubanks (Editor); Reveals a remarkable woman's life and her contributions to social justice movements related to Civil Rights, feminism, lesbian and gay liberation, anti-racism, and Black feminism.

Some of Us Did Not Die: New and Selected Essays by June Jordan Essayist June Jordan presents this collection that follows the more than 40-year span of her writing career, which includes political essays about the incomplete legacy of the civil rights movement as well as more personal essays about her experience as a single mother, and also as a black feminist bisexual.

Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock A young woman recounts her coming-of-age as a transgender teen--a portrait of self-revelation, adversity, and heroism.

Last Night on Earth by Bill T. Jones In a book that is part memoir, part meditation, and part performance, 'today's most daring choreographer' (Newsweek) charts his dance's origins and development in the context of his remarkable life. And he brings to his account all of the honesty, dignity, and moral conviction that are the hallmarks of his work

Bessie by Chris Albertson

Jean-Michel Basquiat: 1960-1988: the Explosive Force of the Streets by Emmerling Leonhard Presents the life and career of the artist, including his childhood in Brooklyn, years as a graffiti artist, rise to stardom as a painter, collaborations with Andy Warhol, and death from a drug overdose at twenty-seven.

Eric Walrond: A Life in the Harlem Renaissance and the Transatlantic Caribbean by James Davis Eric Walrond (1898–1966) was a writer, journalist, caustic critic, and fixture of 1920s Harlem. His short story collection, Tropic Death, was one of the first efforts by a black author to depict Caribbean lives and voices in American fiction. Restoring Walrond to his proper place as a luminary of the Harlem Renaissance, this biography situates Tropic Death within the author's broader corpus and positions the work as a catalyst and driving force behind the New Negro literary movement in America

Angela Davis by Angela Davis The political activist reflects upon the people and incidents that have influenced her life and commitment to global liberation of the oppressed.

Hold Tight Gently: Michael Callen, Essex Hemphill, and the Battlefield of AIDS by Martin Duberman Meticulously researched and evocatively told, Two Lives, Two Deaths is historian Martin Duberman's poignant memorial to those lost to AIDS and to two of the great unsung heroes of the early years of the epidemic. Callen, a white gay Midwesterner who moved to New York, became a leading figure in the movement to increase awareness of AIDS in the face of willful neglect; Hemphill, an African American gay man, contributed to the black gay and lesbian flowering in Washington, D.C., with poetry of searing intensity and introspection.

Zami - A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde ZAMI is a fast-moving chronicle. From the author’s vivid childhood memories in Harlem to her coming of age in the late 1950s, the nature of Audre Lorde’s work is cyclical. It especially relates the linkage of women who have shaped her . . . Lorde brings into play her craft of lush description and characterization.

The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke by Jeffrey C. Stewart A tiny, fastidiously dressed man emerged from Black Philadelphia around the turn of the century to mentor a generation of young artists including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jacob Lawrence and call them the New Negro -- the creative African Americans whose art, literature, music, and drama would inspire Black people to greatness.

In Search of Nella Larsen: A Biography of the Color Line by George Hutchinson Born to a Danish seamstress and a black West Indian cook, Nella Larsen lived her life in the shadows of America's racial divide. Her writings about that life, briefly celebrated in her time, were lost to later generations--only to be rediscovered and hailed by many. In his search for Nella Larsen, George Hutchinson exposes the truths and half-truths surrounding her, as well as the complex reality they mask and mirror.