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Sing, unburied, sing : a novel / by Ward, Jesmyn,author.;
"A searing and profound Southern odyssey by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward. In Jesmyn Ward's first novel since her National Book Award-winning Salvage the Bones, this singular American writer brings the archetypal road novel into rural twenty-first-century America. Drawing on Morrison and Faulkner, The Odyssey and the Old Testament, Ward gives us an epochal story, a journey through Mississippi's past and present that is both an intimate portrait of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle. Ward is a major American writer, multiply awarded and universally lauded, and in Sing, Unburied, Sing she is at the height of her powers. Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the occasional presence of their drug-addicted mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Leonie is simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she's high; Mam is dying of cancer; and quiet, steady Pop tries to run the household and teach Jojo how to be a man. When the white father of Leonie's children is released from prison, she packs her kids and a friend into her car and sets out across the state for Parchman farm, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, on a journey rife with danger and promise. Sing, Unburied, Sing grapples with the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power, and limitations, of the bonds of family. Rich with Ward's distinctive, musical language, Sing, Unburied, Sing is a majestic new work and an essential contribution to American literature"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; African American families;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Finding your African American ancestors : a beginner's guide / by Thackery, David T.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references.Although the search for African American ancestry prior to the Civil War is challenging, the difficulties are not always insurmountable. Finding Your African American Ancestors takes you through your ancestors' transition from slavery to freedom, and helps you find them using the federal census, plantation records, and other helpful sources. The book also considers ways to locate runaway slave advertisements, to identify an ancestor's military regiment, and to access the valuable information from The Freedman's Savings and Trust records.
Subjects: Handbooks and manuals.; Directories.; African Americans; African Americans; African Americans;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Ella A Novel [electronic resource] : by Richards, Diane.aut; cloudLibrary;
In the vein of The Paris Wife and The Personal Librarian comes this debut novel, a magnificent work of “biographical fiction” that reimagines the turbulent and triumphant early years of Ella Fitzgerald, arguably the greatest singer of the twentieth century. When fifteen-year-old Ella Fitzgerald’s mother dies at the height of the Depression in 1932, the teenager goes to work for the mob to support herself and her family. When the law finally catches up, the “ungovernable” adolescent is incarcerated in the New York Training School for Girls in upstate New York—a wicked prison infamous for its harsh treatment of inmates, especially Black ones. Determined to be free, Ella escapes and makes her way back to Harlem, where she is forced to dance for pennies on the street. Looking for a break into show business, Ella draws straws to appear at the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night on November 21, 1934. Rather than perform a dance routine directly after “The World Famous Edwards Sisters” number, the homeless Ella, wearing men’s galoshes a size too big, risks everything when she decides to sing Judy instead. Four years later, at barely twenty-one, Ella Fitzgerald has become the bestselling female vocalist in America. Diane Richards’ Ella Fitzgerald is inspiring and intriguing—an emotionally rich, psychologically complex character, a flawed mother and wife who struggles with deep emotional scars and trauma and battles racism, sexism, and colorism as she learns to find her voice on the stage. Ella takes us from the brothels, speakeasys, and streets of Depression-era New York City to the grand hotel suites where Ella, now older and wiser, looks back on her life and finally confronts the demons from childhood that torment her. Compelling and rich in historical detail, Ella is a remarkable debut novel about an extraordinary woman.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Contemporary Women; Biographical; Historical; Contemporary Women;
© 2024., HarperCollins,
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The love songs of W.E.B. Du Bois : a novel / by Jeffers, Honorée Fanonne,1967-author.;
The 2020 National Book Awardnominated poet makes her fiction debut with this magisterial epic - an intimate yet sweeping novel with all the luminescence and force of 'Homegoing', 'Sing, Unburied, Sing', and 'The Water Dancer' - that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our own tumultuous era. A Dewey Diva Pick. #OwnVoices.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; African American women; African American families; African Americans; Identity (Psychology);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Josephine Baker's last dance / by Jones, Sherry,1961-author.;
"From the author of The Jewel of Medina, a moving and insightful novel based on the life of legendary performer and activist Josephine Baker, perfect for fans of The Paris Wife and Hidden Figures. Discover the fascinating and singular life story of Josephine Baker -- actress, singer, dancer, Civil Rights activist, member of the French Resistance during WWII, and a woman dedicated to erasing prejudice and creating a more equitable world -- in Josephine Baker's Last Dance. In this illuminating biographical novel, Sherry Jones spans Josephine's early years in servitude and poverty in America, to her rise to fame as a showgirl in her famous banana skirt, to her activism against discrimination, and her many loves and losses. From 1920s Paris to 1960s Washington, to her final, triumphant performance, one of the most extraordinary lives of the twentieth century comes to stunning life on the page. With intimate prose and comprehensive research, Sherry Jones brings this remarkable and compelling public figure into focus for the first time in a joyous celebration of a life lived in technicolor, a powerful woman who continues to inspire today"--
Subjects: Biographical fiction.; Historical fiction.; Baker, Josephine, 1906-1975; African American entertainers; African American women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Life upon these shores : looking at African American history, 1513-2008 / by Gates, Henry Louis.;
Includes bibliographical references (p. 443-455) and index.LSC
Subjects: African Americans;
© 2011., Knopf,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Black AF history : the un-whitewashed story of America / by Harriot, Michael,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From acclaimed columnist and political commentator Michael Harriot, a searingly smart and bitingly hilarious retelling of American history that corrects the record and showcases the perspectives and experiences of Black Americans. America's backstory is a whitewashed mythology implanted in our collective memory. It is the story of the pilgrims on the Mayflower building a new nation. It is George Washington's cherry tree and Abraham Lincoln's log cabin. It is the fantastic tale of slaves that spontaneously teleported themselves here with nothing but strong backs and negro spirituals. It is a sugarcoated legend based on an almost true story. It should come as no surprise that the dominant narrative of American history is blighted with errors and oversights--after all, history books were written by white men with their perspectives at the forefront. It could even be said that the devaluation and erasure of the Black experience is as American as apple pie. In Black AF History, Michael Harriot presents a more accurate version of American history. Combining unapologetically provocative storytelling with meticulous research based on primary sources as well as the work of pioneering Black historians, scholars, and journalists, Harriot removes the white sugarcoating from the American story, placing Black people squarely at the center. With incisive wit, Harriot speaks hilarious truth to oppressive power, subverting conventional historical narratives with little-known stories about the experiences of Black Americans. From the African Americans who arrived before 1619 to the unenslavable bandit who inspired America's first police force, this long overdue corrective provides a revealing look into our past that is as urgent as it is necessary. For too long, we have refused to acknowledge that American history is white history. Not this one. This history is Black AF."--
Subjects: African Americans; Africans;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Life and other love songs / by Gray, Anissa,author.;
"A father's sudden disappearance exposes the private fears, dreams, longings, and joys of a Black American family in the late decades of the twentieth century, in this page-turning and intimate new novel from the author of The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls. It's a warm, bright October afternoon, and Ozro Armstead walks out into the brilliant sunshine on his thirty-seventh birthday. At home, his wife Deborah and daughter Trinity prepare a surprise celebration; down the street, his brother waves as Oz heads back to his office after having lunch together. But he won't make it to the party or even to his briefcase back at his desk. He's about to disappear. In the days, months, and years to follow, Deborah and Trinity look backward and forward as they piece together the life of the man they love, but whom they come to realize they might never have truly known. In a gripping narrative that moves from the Great Migration to 1970s Detroit and 1990s New York, we follow the hopes, triumphs, losses, and secrets that build up and tear apart an American family"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; African American families; African Americans; Missing persons;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Gilda stories / by Gomez, Jewelle,1948-author.; Gumbs, Alexis Pauline,1982-writer of afterword.;
This remarkable novel begins in 1850s Louisiana, where Gilda escapes slavery and learns about freedom while working in a brothel. After being initiated into eternal life as one who "shares the blood" by two women there, Gilda spends the next two hundred years searching for a place to call home. An instant lesbian classic when it was first published in 1991, The Gilda Stories has endured as an auspiciously prescient book in its explorations of blackness, radical ecology, re-definitions of family, and yes, the erotic potential of the vampire story.
Subjects: Paranormal fiction.; African Americans; Lesbian vampires;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 3
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Home / by Morrison, Toni.;
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; African American veterans; African Americans; Brothers and sisters;
© 2012., Knopf Canada,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Results 41 to 50 of 1,151 | « previous |