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Scenes from my life : a memoir / by Williams, Michael Kenneth,author.; Sternfeld, Jon,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."A moving, unflinching memoir of hard-won success, struggles with addiction, and a lifelong mission to give back--from the late iconic actor beloved for his roles in The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, and Lovecraft Country. When Michael K. Williams died on September 6, 2021, he left behind a career as one of the most electrifying actors of his generation. From his star turn as Omar Little in The Wire to Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire to Emmy-nominated roles in HBO's The Night Of and Lovecraft Country, Williams inhabited a slew of indelible roles that he portrayed with a rawness and vulnerability that leapt off the screen. Beyond the nominations and acclaim, Williams played characters who connected, whose humanity couldn't be denied, whose stories were too often left out of the main narrative. At the time of his death, Williams had nearly finished a memoir that tells the story of his past while looking to the future, a book that merges his life and his life's work. Mike, as his friends knew him, was so much more than an actor. In Scenes from My Life, he traces his life in whole, from his childhood in East Flatbush and his early years as a dancer to his battles with addiction and the bar fight that left his face with his distinguishing scar. He was a committed Brooklyn resident and activist who dedicated his life to working with social justice organizations and his community, especially in helping at-risk youth find their voice and carve out their future. Williams worked to keep the spotlight on those he fought for and with, whom he believed in with his whole heart. Imbued with poignance and raw honesty, Scenes from My Life is the story of a performer who gave his all to everything he did--in his own voice, in his own words, as only he could"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Williams, Michael Kenneth.; Actors; African American actors; African American dancers; Dancers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Fearless and free : a memoir / by Baker, Josephine,1906-1975,author.; translation of:Baker, Josephine,1906-1975.Memoires de Josephine Baker.English.;
"Published in English for the first time, this is the memoir of the fabulous, rule-breaking, one-of-a-kind Josephine Baker"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Baker, Josephine, 1906-1975.; Actresses, Black; African American entertainers; African American women civil rights workers; African American women dancers; African American women singers; Women spies;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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I am the dark that answers when you call / by Shea, Jamison,author.;
SERIES: I FEED HER TO THE BEAST AND THE BEAST IS ME - BOOK 2 (SEQUEL TO: ISBN 9781250909565) Jamison Shea's sharp and unflinching voice will bring readers to terrifying new heights in this vicious sequel to the "relentlessly gory and almost euphoric in its embrace of the horrific" (NPR) 'I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me'. Ages 14+ #DEI
Subjects: Horror fiction.; Young adult fiction.; Novels.; African American women; Ballet dancers; Black people; Secrecy; African American women; Ballet dancers; Black people; Secrets;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Wild women and the blues / by Bryce, Denny S.,author.;
"1925: Chicago is the jazz capital of the world, and the Dreamland Cafe is the ritziest black-and-tan club in town. Honoree Dalcour is a sharecropper's daughter, willing to work hard and dance every night on her way to the top. Dreamland offers a path to the good life, socializing with celebrities like Louis Armstrong and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. But Chicago is also awash in bootleg whiskey, gambling, and gangsters. And a young woman driven by ambition might risk more than she can stand to lose. 2015: Film student Sawyer Hayes arrives at the bedside of 110-year-old Honoree Dalcour, still reeling from a devastating loss that has taken him right to the brink. Sawyer has rested all his hope on this frail but formidable woman, the only living link to the legendary Oscar Micheaux. If he's right-if she can fill in the blanks in his research, perhaps he can complete his thesis and begin a new chapter in his life. But the links Honoree makes are not ones he's expecting ... Piece by piece, Honoree reveals her past and her secrets, while Sawyer fights tooth and nail to keep his. It's a story of courage and ambition, hot jazz and illicit passions"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; African Americans; Nightclubs; Nineteen twenties; Women dancers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Every body looking / by Iloh, Candice.;
Told entirely in verse, Ada's story encompasses her earliest memories as a child, including her abuse at the hands of a young cousin, her mother's rejection and descent into addiction, and her father's attempts to create a home for his American daughter more like the one he knew in Nigeria. The present-tense of the book is Ada's first year at Howard University in Washington DC, where she must finally confront the fundamental conflict between who her family says she should be and what her body tells her she must be.LSC
Subjects: Novels in verse.; African American universities and colleges; African American women college students; Dancers; Dysfunctional families; Nigerian Americans; Secrecy; Self-realization; Sex crimes;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Agent Josephine : American beauty, French hero, British spy / by Lewis, Damien,author.;
"Prior to World War II, Josephine Baker was a music hall diva renowned for her singing and exotic dancing, her beauty and sexuality; she was the most highly-paid female performer in Europe. When the Nazis seized her adopted city, Paris, she was banned from the stage, along with all "negroes and Jews." Yet, instead of returning to America, she vowed to stay and to fight the Nazi evil. Overnight she went from performer to Resistance spy. Drawing on a plethora of new historical material and rigorous research, including previously undisclosed letters and journals, Agent Josephine transforms the scarcely known story of Josephine Baker in wartime. As a member of the French Nurse paratroopers, a cover for her spying work, Baker participated in numerous clandestine activities and became a formidable spy. In turn, she was a hero of the three countries in whose name she served: the US, the nation of her birth; France, the land that embraced her during her adult career; and Britain, the country from which she took her orders, as one of London's most closely-guarded secrets. Baker's secret war is a true story of unbounded courage, passion, devotion and sacrifice, and of deep and bitter tragedy, fueled by her own desire to combat the rise of Nazism and fight for a more just future"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Baker, Josephine, 1906-1975.; Dancers; African American entertainers; Spies; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The wind at my back : resilience, grace, and other gifts from my mentor, Raven Wilkinson / by Copeland, Misty,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Misty Copeland made history as the first African-American principal ballerina at the American Ballet Theatre. Her talent, passion, and perseverance enabled her to make strides no one had accomplished before. But as she will tell you, achievement never happens in a void. Behind her, supporting her rise was her mentor, Raven Wilkinson, who had been virtually alone in her quest to breach the all-white ballet world when she fought to be taken seriously as a black ballerina in the 1950s and 60s. A trailblazer in the world of ballet decades before Misty's time, Raven faced overt and casual racism, hostile crowds, and death threats for having the audacity to dance ballet. The Wind at My Back tells the story of two unapologetically Black ballerinas, their friendship, and how they changed each other--and the dance world--forever. Misty Copeland shares her own struggles with racism and exclusion in her pursuit of this dream career and honors the women like Raven who paved the way for her but whose contributions have gone unheralded. She celebrates the connection she made with Raven, the only teacher who could truly understand the obstacles she faced, beyond the technical or artistic demands. A beautiful and wise memoir of intergenerational friendship and the impressive journeys of two remarkable women, The Wind at My Back captures the importance of mentorship, of shared history, and of respecting the past to ensure a stronger future"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Copeland, Misty.; Wilkinson, Raven.; African American ballerinas; African American ballerinas; Ballerinas; Ballet dancers; Ballet; Mentoring in the arts; Racism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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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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Claudie finds her talent / by Alston, Bria.; Quartey, Amanda.;
Surrounded by artists, writers and dancers during the Harlem Renaissance in 1922, 9-year-old Claudie Wells longs to be good at something and sets out to find her true talent.
Subjects: Readers (Publications); American Girl dolls; Harlem Renaissance; African American girls; Ability;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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The other mother : a novel / by Harper, Rachel M.,1972-author.;
"Raised by a single mother in Miami, Florida, Jenry Castillo, newly arrived at Brown University on a music scholarship, finds himself searching for information about his late father Jasper Patterson, an internationally recognized principal ballet dancer who died tragically when Jenry was two. Jenry thinks his estranged grandfather, Winston Patterson, a professor of African American history at Brown and a titan in his field, might have the answers he seeks. Already more than a little intimidating, Winston explodes Jenry's world with one question: Why is the young man so interested in his son Jasper? It was Winston's daughter, Juliet, who was his mother's lover. Juliet is the parent he should be looking for--his other mother. Seamlessly moving between the past and the present to piece together the complicated web that has both bound this family together and kept them apart, The Other Mother is a profoundly moving and masterful exploration of the power of love and family; of the intersections of race, class, providence, and sexuality; the role of patriarchy in defining who belongs to whom; and of the relevance of biology in determining familial bonds and what it means to be related. Unfurling in the most surprising and satisfying of ways, revelation follows revelation as each member of Jenry's family peels back layers of a story that is at once deeply familiar-of first love, betrayal, and the selfishness of youth, of the beautiful, complicated love between parents and children-and also compelling in its centering of queer lives and people of color"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Birthfathers; Lesbian mothers; Motherhood; Music students; African Americans;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Results 1 to 10 of 12 |