No literary genre speaks as directly and as eloquently to the brutal contradictions in American history as the slave narrative. The works collected in this volume present unflinching portrayals of the cruelty and degradation of slavery while testifying to
An international anthology of words and writings by women of African descent--from the ancient oral tradition to the present. A monumental literary enterprise, it is the most inclusive anthology ever attempted of oral and written literature--in every conc
African-American Classics presents great stories and poems from America's earliest Black writers, illustrated by contemporary African-American artists. Featured are "Two Americans" by Florence Lewis Bentley, "The Goophered Grapevine" by Charles W. Chesnut
A compilation of some of The Atlantic’s most important writings on race and society over the past century and a half, featuring W. E. B. Du Bois, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and m
On May 2, 1973, Black Panther Assata Shakur (aka JoAnne Chesimard) lay in a hospital, close to death, handcuffed to her bed, while local, state, and federal police attempted to question her about the shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike that had claimed th
"Rotten English" spans the globe to offer an overview of the best non-standard English writing of the past two centuries, with a focus on the most recent decades. During the last twelve years, half of the Man Booker awards went to novels written in non-st
Rich treasury of verse from the 19th and 20th centuries, selected for popularity and literary quality, includes Poe's "The Raven," Whitman's "I Hear America Singing," as well as poems by Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot, Mariann
In Death Blossoms: Reflections from a Prisoner of Conscience Mumia Abu-Jamal, America’s best known political prisoner, offers poetic observations and reflections on life on this planet and on death row. In this collection of short essays and personal vi