Fiction : African American

In 1865, The Christian Recorder, the national newspaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, serialized The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride, a novel written by Mrs. Julia C. Collins, an African American woman living in the small town of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The first novel ever published by a black American woman, it is set in antebellum Louisiana and Connecticut, and focuses on the lives of a beautiful mixed-race mother and daughter whose opportunities for fulfillment through love and marriage are threatened by slavery and caste prejudice. The text shares much with popular nineteenth-century women's fiction, while its dominant themes of interracial romance, hidden African ancestry, and ambiguous racial identity have parallels in the writings of both black and white authors from the period. Begun in the waning months of the Civil War, the novel was near its conclusion when Julia Collins died of tuberculosis in November of 1865. In this first-ever book publication of The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride, the editors have composed a hopeful and a tragic ending, reflecting two alternatives Collins almost certainly would have considered for the closing of her unprecedented novel. In their introduction, the editors offer the most complete and current research on the life and community of an author who left few traces in the historical record, and provide extensive discussion of her novel's literary and historical significance. Collins's published essays, which provide intriguing glimpses into the mind of this gifted but overlooked writer, are included in what will prove to be the definitive edition of a major new discovery in African American literature. Its publication contributes immensely to our understanding of black American literature, religion, women's history, community life, and race relations during the era of United States emancipation. more...

Price: $9.95

Charles Johnson's innovative and richly imagined collection is full of stories -- sly, witty, and insightful -- that bring the world into focus. Each is a vivid cultural and philosophical portrait that deftly explores issues of identity and race. "Kwoon" follows the spiritual journey of a martial arts teacher on Chicago's South Side. "Sweet Dreams" is a Kafkaesque tale set in a world where dreams are taxed and a man and his dreamlife are being audited. "The Gift of the Osuo" is a fable about the dangers of getting what you wish for. In "Cultural Relativity," a young woman falls in love with the son of the president of an African nation but is forbidden to ever kiss him. The title story is an illuminating and deeply human tale about pre-Montgomery Martin Luther King Jr. and a revelation he had when he looked into his refrigerator late one night. Provocative, engaging, and compassionate, Dr. King's Refrigerator is a superb and important collection from a major American voice. more...

Price: $20.00

E-Book Extra: Oral Tradition: A Reading Group Guide An extensive volume of nearly 500 folktales celebrating African American oral tradition, community, and faith, collected by Zora Neale Hurston on her travels through the Gulf States in the late 1920s. The New York Times calls these bitter and often hilarious tales “splendidly vivid and true”. Every .. more...

Price: $10.99

The members of the Moore clan come together to celebrate the recent marriage of Myles and Marisa, while Kenya and Amir cope with their rambunctious seven-year-old twins, and Jasmine, Myles's and Amir's teenage cousin, rebels against everything her family believes, until a dark secret from the past threatens to tear the family apart. Reprint. more...

Price: $13.95

Like most of us, Paris Minton is a man who would just as soon walk away from trouble as stand up to it. But in 1950s Los Angeles, sometimes trouble just comes and gets you. Bartholomew “BB” Perry is missing and wanted for murder-and the reputation of his very proper and influential aunt, Winifred L. Nice, is at stake. She uses her connections to get tough cop Jefferson T. Hill on the case, and when he goes missing too, Paris and Fearless Jones are .... more...

Price: $7.99