Award Winning Books: African American Studies

African Intellectual Heritage

A Book of Sources

edited by Molefi Kete Asante and Abu S. Abarry

Philadelphia Book Clinic Certificate of Award, 1997
Molefi Kete Asante, recipient of the 2019 Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Communication Association

This comprehensive volume brings together documents from the richly textured intellectual history of Africa and the diaspora

848 pages | 7 x 10

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The Afrocentric Idea

Revised and Expanded Edition

Molefi Kete Asante

Molefi Kete Asante, recipient of the 2019 Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Communication Association

Asante's spirited engagement with culture warriors, neocons, and postmodernists updates this classic

256 pages | 5.5 x 8.2

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The Black Female Body

A Photographic History

Deborah Willis and Carla Williams

Finalist for the Publishers Marketing Association's Ben Franklin Award, Reference Category, 2003
Outstanding Academic Title, Choice, 2002
National Gold Ink Bronze Award, 2002

Recovering a photographic legacy

240 pages | 9 x 12 | 26 color illustrations, 185 duotones

[OUT OF PRINT]

Black Identity Viewed from a Barber's Chair

Nigrescence and Eudaimonia

William E. Cross Jr.

William E. Cross Jr., recipient of the 2020 Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Applications of Psychology, American Psychological Association
Choice Outstanding Academic Titles for 2022

On Blackness, identity formation, and the deconstruction of the deficit perspective on Black life

200 pages | 5.5 x 8.25 | 4 tables, 2 figures

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Black Theatre

Ritual Performance in the African Diaspora

edited by Paul Carter Harrison, Victor Leo Walker II and Gus Edwards

Finalist for the George Freedley Memorial Award for an outstanding book in theatre or another area of live performance from the Theatre Library Association, 2002

An insider's view of Black theatres of the world and how they reflect their culture, concerns, and history

432 pages | 7 x 10 | 1 table

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Black Venus 2010

They Called Her "Hottentot"

Edited by Deborah Willis

Susan Koppelman Award for the Best Edited Volume in Women's Studies by the Popular Culture/American Culture Association, 2011

Analyzing contemporaneous and contemporary works that re-imagine the “Hottentot Venus”

288 pages | 7 x 10 | 42 duotones

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Body Language

Sisters in Shape, Black Women's Fitness, and Feminist Identity Politics

Kimberly J. Lau

Elli Köngäs-Maranda Professional Prize, American Folklore Society, 2011

How Black women's engagement in improving health and fitness raises questions about feminism and the construction of black female identity

204 pages | 5.5 x 8.25

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The City on the Hill from Below

The Crisis of Prophetic Black Politics

Stephen H. Marshall

American Political Science Association's Foundations of Political Theory First Book Award, 2012

A compelling conversation between African American political intellectuals and the canon of western political philosophy

250 pages | 6 x 9

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A City within a City

The Black Freedom Struggle in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Todd E Robinson

Outstanding Academic Title, Choice, 2013

A view of the civil rights movement in the crucible of the North

248 pages | 6 x 9 | 3 tables, 12 halftones

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The Coolie Speaks

Chinese Indentured Laborers and African Slaves in Cuba

Lisa Yun

Outstanding Academic Title, Choice, 2008

A remarkable examination of bondage in Cuba that probes questions of slavery, freedom, and race

336 pages | 6 x 9 | 6 tables, 3 figures, 1 halftone

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Critical White Studies

Looking Behind the Mirror

Edited by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic

Honorable Mention for Outstanding Books Awards, Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America, 1997

Over 100 closely edited selections critically examine the notion of whiteness and its relation to social power

704 pages | 7 x 10

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The Disenfranchisement of Ex-Felons

Elizabeth A. Hull

Honorable Mention at the 2006 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Awards

A thought-provoking look at one population's loss of voting rights in the United States

232 pages | 5.5 x 8.25 | 3 tables

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The End of White World Supremacy

Black Internationalism and the Problem of the Color Line

Roderick D. Bush

Paul Sweezy Marxist Sociology Award from the American Sociological Association conference, 2010

How the marginalization of African Americans turned into a social phenomenon for the nation and world

264 pages | 6 x 9

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Envisioning Emancipation

Black Americans and the End of Slavery

Deborah Willis and Barbara Krauthamer

Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work—Non-Fiction, 2014
One of the Top 25 Outstanding Academic Titles, Choice, 2013

What freedom looked like for black Americans in the Civil War era

240 pages | 7 x 10 | 150 halftones

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From Black Power to Hip Hop

Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism

Patricia Hill Collins

Honorable Mention at the 2006 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Awards

A provocative analysis of the new contours of black nationalism and feminism in America

256 pages | 6 x 9

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The Great Migration and the Democratic Party

Black Voters and the Realignment of American Politics in the 20th Century

Keneshia N. Grant

W.E. B. DuBois Book Awardee, National Conference of Black Political Scientists, 2021

Examining the political impact of Black migration on politics in three northern cities from 1915 to 1965

214 pages | 5.25 x 8.5 | 12 tables, 1 figures, 3 halftones, 1 map

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It Was Always a Choice

Picking Up the Baton of Athlete Activism

David Steele

2023 Outstanding Book Award from the National Association of Black Journalists
one of the Best Books of 2022 in the Arts and Humanities category by Library Journal

Examining American athletes' activism for racial and social justice, on and off the field

218 pages | 5.5 x 8.25

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A Life in the Struggle

Ivory Perry and the Culture of Opposition

George Lipsitz

Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Race Relations, 1989

The life story of a grassroots, civil rights activist

320 pages | 6 x 9

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The Man-Not

Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood

Tommy J. Curry

The Before Columbus Foundation 2018 Winner of the Thirty-Ninth Annual AMERICAN BOOK AWARD

Introduces the conceptual foundations for Black Male Studies, going beyond gender theories that cast the Black Male as a pathological aspiring patriarch

298 pages | 6 x 9

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No More Invisible Man

Race and Gender in Men's Work

Adia Harvey Wingfield

Adia Harvey Wingfield, recipient of the Cox-Johnson-Frazier Award, American Sociological Association, 2022
Distinguished Book Award from the American Sociological Association's section on Race, Gender and Class, 2014
Richard A. Lester Prize from the Industrial Relations Section at Princeton University, 2014

Making visible the experiences of black professional men in white male-dominated occupations

212 pages | 5.5 x 8.25 | 3 tables

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Savoring the Salt

The Legacy of Toni Cade Bambara

Edited by Linda Janet Holmes and Cheryl A. Wall

Selected as “‘The Best of the Best’ from the University Presses” Books You Should Know About” for the ALA Annual Conference, 2008

An anthology that celebrates the life and work of a major African American writer

320 pages | 6 x 9 | 16 halftones

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Shades of Black

Diversity in African American Identity

William E. Cross, Jr.

William E. Cross Jr., recipient of the 2020 Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Applications of Psychology, American Psychological Association

Presents the diversity that has always been the hallmark of Black psychology, exploding the myth that self-hatred is the dominant theme in Black identity

296 pages | 6 x 9

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Silent Gesture

The Autobiography of Tommie Smith

Tommie Smith and David Steele

Author Tommie Smith received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs, 2008
Named one of two “Adult Nonfiction Honor Books” by The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA)., 2008
Nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the category “Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Autobiography”, 2008

The story of the most famous protest in sports history, written by one of the men who staged it

288 pages | 6 x 9 | 16 halftones

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Softly, with Feeling

Joe Wilder and the Breaking of Barriers in American Music

Edward Berger

Association for Recorded Sound Collections' Award for Excellence in the category of Best Historical Research in Recorded Jazz, 2015

The story of Joe Wilder, who broke musical and racial barriers

400 pages | 6 x 9 | 1 table, 35 halftones

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Swingin' at the Savoy

The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer

Norma Miller and Evette Jensen

Norma Miller is a recipient of the 2003 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowships

A celebration of a life of dancing the Lindy Hop

304 pages | 6 x 9 | 1 figure, 52 halftones

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Unbought and Unbossed

Transgressive Black Women, Sexuality, and Representation

Trimiko Melancon

College Language Association Creative Scholarship Book Award, 2016

How do fictional representations of transgressive black women in the post-civil rights era expand our understanding of race and black womanhood?

256 pages | 5.5 x 8.5 | 5 halftones

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Voice Over

The Making of Black Radio

William Barlow

Outstanding Academic Title, Choice, 1999

The whole story of the making of Black radio

334 pages | 6 x 9 | 21 halftones

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