New this week: Jan. 18, 2022, nonfiction releases
This week’s new releases include Bernardine Evaristo’s unconventional memoir Manifesto: On Never Giving Up; Angela Y. Davis’s collaboration with others speaking on abolition feminism in Abolition. Feminism. Now; Kimberly Jones’ breakdown of economic and social injustices in How We Can Win; and Zora Neale Hurston’s comprehensive collection of essays in You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other […]
‘Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo’ by Zora Neale Hurston
In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston went to Plateau, Alabama to interview eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis. Of the millions of men, women, and children transported from Africa to America as slaves, Cudjo was the only person alive to tell the story of this integral part of the nation’s history. Hurston was there to record Cudjo’s firsthand account […]
5 classic books that explore race and feminism
Black women are criminally unrepresented in the publishing world. Despite this, Black women have written some of the most influential works of literature in American history. Here are five classic books by Black women that you’ve got to read or reread before the end of Black History Month.Passing by Nella Larsen Nella Larsen’s Passing follows Irene Redfield […]
Capturing a moment in time: Black artists asking questions, seeking answers
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer,” said author and cultural anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. When we look back at 2020, it will be hard to tell which that year was. The long-simmering cauldron of Black anger and resentment toward an America that has ignored grievances from Black Americans came to a […]
Veronica R. Wells pens ‘Bettah Days’; self-publishing was worth the effort
Veronica R. Wells penned Bettah Days to tell her “grandmother’s story.” In her new book, the Indianapolis-born and raised writer tells the story of Constantine who “knew she didn’t want a marriage like the dried up one her parents had. Instead, she wanted it to mimic the sweet, American love songs her father played from his phonograph. […]
‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ returns to New York City at the Wow Theatre
Their Eyes Were Watching God is as necessary now as it ever was, and in New York City, this stage play is much-needed presentation and a stellar production.
The state of black theater and black pain, a talk with director Nate Jacobs
Nate Jacobs is the director of the West Coast Black Theater Troupe, a professional theater troupe founded in 1999 in Sarasota, Fl. The city is known as the cultural home of Florida with ballet and opera companies. Jacob’s saw the extreme lack of diversity in the theater scene and realized in order for diversity to […]
Najee talks Zora! Festival, new album
Najee, the internationally renowned smooth jazz saxophonist and flautist, will be performing on Feb. 1 at the 26th annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of Arts and Humanities (Zora! Festival). The festival will run from Jan. 24 to Feb. 1 in Eatonville, Florida, (near Orlando). The nine-day festival will feature art, literature, film and music.The festival’s […]
Valentine’s Day 2014 quotes
Valentine’s Day is here, and if you are having a hard time expressing or confessing your love to your loved one try using one or a few of these quotes for inspiration. –joi pearson “Love is not finding someone to live with; it’s finding someone you can’t live without.” — Rafael Ortiz “I want to […]
Influential black female writers
Zora Neale Hurston Vixens and baby mommas were not the representations of black femininity and womanhood that authors like Zora Neale Hurston, Angela Davis and Audre Lorde imagined for the future. These authors were literary pioneers who paid the price for setting their rebellious spirits free on paper. One of the great female authors to come out of the Harlem Renaissance, […]
Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, and Kris Humphries: 20 Crazy Celebrity Look-a-Likes!
Twenty notables who were definitely separated at birth.