-
28 Days of Literary Blackness With VSB | Day 9: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Publisher Synopsis: Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family’s struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice. And it is also Cassie’s story—Cassie Logan, an independent girl who discovers over the course of an important year why having…
-
28 Days of Literary Blackness With VSB | Day 8: The Autobiography of Malcolm X (As Told to Alex Haley)
Publisher Synopsis: In the searing pages of this classic autobiography, originally published in 1965, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and anti-integrationist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Black Muslim movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American Dream, and the inherent racism in a…
-
28 Days of Literary Blackness With VSB | Day 6: Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member by Sanyika Shakur
Publisher Synopsis: Written in solitary confinement, Kody Scott’s memoir of 16 years as a gang banger in Los Angeles was a searing best-seller and became a classic, published in 10 languages, with more than 300,000 copies in print in the United States alone. After pumping eight blasts from a sawed-off shotgun at a group of…
-
28 Days of Literary Blackness With VSB | Day 5: Every Little Step: My Story by Bobby Brown With Nick Chiles
Publisher Synopsis: In Every Little Step, Brown will for the first time tell the full story of his life and set the record straight, particularly about his relationship with Whitney Houston. Bobby Brown has been one of the most compelling American artists of the past 30 years, a magnetic and talented figure who successfully crossed…
-
28 Days of Literary Blackness With VSB | Day 4: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Publisher synopsis: Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with…
-
28 Days of Literary Blackness With VSB | Day 3: Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class by Lawrence Otis Graham
Publisher Synopsis: Debutante cotillions. Million-dollar homes. Summers in Martha’s Vineyard. Membership in the Links, Jack & Jill, Deltas, Boule, and AKAs. An obsession with the right schools, families, social clubs, and skin complexion. This is the world of the black upper class and the focus of the first book written about the black elite by…
-
28 Days of Literary Blackness With VSB | Day 2: Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
Publisher Synopsis: Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable—more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn’t turn up for the first day of school, Claudia’s worried. When she doesn’t show for the second day, or second week, Claudia knows that something is wrong. Monday wouldn’t…
-
28 Days of Literary Blackness With VSB | Day 1: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Today is the first day of Black History Month, the annual celebration in these here United States of America where schools make kids learn about Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. Sprinkle in a few facts about a black person being the first person to do this or that, and before you know it,…
-
Hampton University Put a Statue of Former President George H.W. Bush on Campus Because …?
For some odd reason (more on this later), the folks in positions of authority at Hampton University saw fit to erect a state of George H.W. Bush on the storied campus in Hampton, Va. Two things of note here: 1) George H.W. Bush did not go to Hampton; and 2) Hampton is an HBCU, or…
