Random House New Releases - Social Science - African-American Studies

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation by David Brion Davis

2014-02-04T00:30:00-05:00

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation
Written by David Brion Davis

Hardcover, 352 pages | Knopf | History - United States - 19th Century; Social Science - African-American Studies; History - Social History | $30.00 | 978-0-307-26909-6 (0-307-26909-4)

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation by David Brion Davis

2014-02-04T00:30:00-05:00

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation
Written by David Brion Davis

eBook, 352 pages | Knopf | History - United States - 19th Century; Social Science - African-American Studies; History - Social History | $ | 978-0-385-35165-2 (0-385-35165-8)

Promises Kept by Hilary Beard

2014-01-28T00:30:00-05:00

Promises Kept Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in Life
Written by Dr. Joe Brewster, Michelle Stephenson and Hilary Beard

Hardcover, 400 pages | Spiegel & Grau | Education - Parent Participation; Social Science - African-American Studies; Family & Relationships - Parenting | $26.00 | 978-0-8129-9448-3 (0-8129-9448-5)

Promises Kept by Hilary Beard

2014-01-28T00:30:00-05:00

Promises Kept Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in Life
Written by Dr. Joe Brewster, Michelle Stephenson and Hilary Beard

eBook, 400 pages | Spiegel & Grau | Education - Parent Participation; Social Science - African-American Studies; Family & Relationships - Parenting | $13.99 | 978-0-8129-9449-0 (0-8129-9449-3)

Promises Kept by Hilary Beard

2014-01-28T00:30:00-05:00

Promises Kept Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in Life
Written by Dr. Joe Brewster, Michelle Stephenson and Hilary Beard

Unabridged Audiobook Download | Random House Audio | Education - Parent Participation; Social Science - African-American Studies; Family & Relationships - Parenting | $22.50 | 978-0-8041-4850-4 (0-8041-4850-3)

Negroes and the Gun by Nicholas Johnson

2014-01-14T00:30:00-05:00

Negroes and the Gun The Black Tradition of Arms
Written by Nicholas Johnson

Trade Paperback, 340 pages | Prometheus Books | Social Science - African-American Studies; History - Social History | $19.95 | 978-1-61614-839-3 (1-61614-839-X)

Chronicling the underappreciated black tradition of bearing arms for self-defense, law professor Nicholas Johnson presents an array of examples reaching back to the pre-Civil War era that demonstrate a willingness of African American men and women to use firearms when necessary to defend their families and communities. From Frederick Douglass's advice to keep "a good revolver" handy as defense against slave catchers to the armed black men who protected Thurgood Marshall, it is clear that owning firearms was commonplace in the black community.

     Johnson points out that this story has been submerged because it is hard to reconcile with the dominant narrative of nonviolence during the civil rights era. His book, however, resolves that tension by showing how the black tradition of arms maintained and demanded a critical distinction between private self-defense and political violence.

     In the last two chapters, Johnson addresses the unavoidable issue of young black men with guns and the toll that gun violence takes on many in the inner city. He shows how complicated this issue is by highlighting the surprising diversity of views on gun ownership in the black community. In fact, recent Supreme Court affirmations of the right to bear arms resulted from cases led by black plaintiffs.

     Surprising and informative, this well-researched book strips away many stock assumptions of conventional wisdom on the issue of guns and the black freedom struggle.

Negroes and the Gun by Nicholas Johnson

2014-01-14T00:30:00-05:00

Negroes and the Gun The Black Tradition of Arms
Written by Nicholas Johnson

eBook | Prometheus Books | Social Science - African-American Studies; History - Social History | $11.99 | 978-1-61614-840-9 (1-61614-840-3)

Unfinished Agenda by Tom Hayden

2014-01-14T00:30:00-05:00

Unfinished Agenda Urban Politics in the Era of Black Power
Written by Junius Williams
Foreword by Tom Hayden

Trade Paperback, 408 pages | North Atlantic Books | Political Science - Civil Rights; Social Science - African-American Studies; Biography & Autobiography - Political | $18.95 | 978-1-58394-722-7 (1-58394-722-1)

Unfinished Agenda offers an inside look at the Black Power Movement that emerged during the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties. A political memoir that teaches grass-roots politics and inspires organizing for real change in the Age of Obama, this book will appeal to readers of black history, Occupy Wall Street organizers, and armchair political advocates.

Based on notes, interviews, and articles from the 1950s to present day, Junius Williams's inspiring memoir describes his journey from young black boy facing prejudice in the 1950s segregated South to his climb to community and political power as a black lawyer in the 1970s and 80s. Accompanied by twenty-two compelling photographs highlighting key life events, Unfinished Agenda chronicles the turbulent times during the Civil Rights Movement and Williams's participation every step of the way including his experiences on the front lines of racial riots, such as the historic riot in Montgomery, Alabama with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Williams speaks of his many opportunities and experiences--beginning with his education at Amherst College and Yale Law School, his travel to Uganda and Kenya, and working in Harlem. His passion for fighting racism ultimately led him to many years of service in politics in Newark, New Jersey as a community organizer and leader. Williams advocates for renewed community organizing and voting for a progressive party to carry out the "Unfinished Agenda" the Black Power Movement outlined in America during the 60s and early 70s for empowerment of the people.

Unfinished Agenda by Tom Hayden

2014-01-14T00:30:00-05:00

Unfinished Agenda Urban Politics in the Era of Black Power
Written by Junius Williams
Foreword by Tom Hayden

eBook, 408 pages | North Atlantic Books | Political Science - Civil Rights; Social Science - African-American Studies; Biography & Autobiography - Political | $14.99 | 978-1-58394-723-4 (1-58394-723-X)

Waking from the Dream by David L. Chappell

2014-01-14T00:30:00-05:00

Waking from the Dream The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Written by David L. Chappell

Hardcover, 288 pages | Random House | History - United States - 20th Century; Social Science - African-American Studies | $27.00 | 978-1-4000-6546-2 (1-4000-6546-1)

The author of A Stone of Hope, called “one of the three or four most important books on the civil rights movement” by The Atlantic Monthly, turns his attention to the years after Martin Luther King’s assassination—and provides a sweeping history of the struggle to keep the civil rights movement alive and to realize King’s vision of an equal society.

In this arresting and groundbreaking account, David L. Chappell reveals that, far from coming to an abrupt end with King’s murder, the civil rights movement entered a new phase. It both grew and splintered. These were years when decisive, historic victories were no longer within reach—the movement’s achievements were instead hard-won, and their meanings unsettled. From the fight to pass the Fair Housing Act in 1968, to debates over unity and leadership at the National Black Political Conventions, to the campaign for full-employment legislation, to the surprising enactment of the Martin Luther King holiday, to Jesse Jackson’s quixotic presidential campaigns, veterans of the movement struggled to rally around common goals.

Waking from the Dream documents this struggle, including moments when the movement seemed on the verge of dissolution, and the monumental efforts of its members to persevere. For this watershed study of a much-neglected period, Chappell spent ten years sifting through a voluminous public record: congressional hearings and government documents; the archives of pro– and anti–civil rights activists, oral and written remembrances of King’s successors and rivals, documentary film footage, and long-forgotten coverage of events from African American newspapers and journals.

The result is a story rich with period detail, as Chappell chronicles the difficulties the movement encountered while working to build coalitions, pass legislation, and mobilize citizens in the absence of King’s galvanizing leadership. Could the civil rights coalition stay together as its focus shifted from public protests to congressional politics? Did the movement need a single, charismatic leader to succeed King, and who would that be? As the movement’s leaders pushed forward, they continually looked back, struggling to define King’s legacy and harness his symbolic power.

Waking from the Dream is a revealing and resonant look at civil rights after King as well as King’s place in American memory. It illuminates a time, explores a cause, and explains how a movement labored to overcome the loss of its leader.

Waking from the Dream by David L. Chappell

2014-01-14T00:30:00-05:00

Waking from the Dream The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Written by David L. Chappell

eBook, 288 pages | Random House | History - United States - 20th Century; Social Science - African-American Studies | $13.99 | 978-0-8129-9466-7 (0-8129-9466-3)

Paul Robeson For Beginners by Elizabeth Von Blum

2013-11-12T00:30:00-05:00

Paul Robeson For Beginners
Written by Paul Von Blum
Illustrated by Elizabeth Von Blum

Trade Paperback, 176 pages | For Beginners | Biography & Autobiography - People of Color; Comics & Graphic Novels - Nonfiction; Social Science - African-American Studies | $16.99 | 978-1-934389-81-2 (1-934389-81-1)

Paul Robeson, despite being one of the greatest Renaissance figures in American history, still remains in relative anonymity. An exceptional scholar, lawyer, athlete, stage and screen actor, linguist, singer, and civil rights and political activist, he performed brilliantly in every professional enterprise he undertook. Few humans have achieved his levels of excellence in one field, much less several. Any serious treatment of civil rights history and radical politics as well as American sports, musical, theatrical, and film history must consider the enormous contributions of Paul Robeson.

And yet, Paul Robeson remains virtually unknown by millions of educated Americans. People typically know him for only one, if any, of the major successes of his life: the concert singer best known for "Old Man River," the star of Shakespeare's Othello on Broadway in the early 1940s, the political activist blacklisted for his radical views and activismduring the era of McCarthyism in the 1950s. Paul Robeson For Beginners is here to demystify and bestow light and long overdue credence to the life of this extraordinary American.

Paul Robeson For Beginners by Elizabeth Von Blum

2013-11-12T00:30:00-05:00

Paul Robeson For Beginners
Written by Paul Von Blum
Illustrated by Elizabeth Von Blum

eBook, 176 pages | For Beginners | Biography & Autobiography - People of Color; History - United States - 20th Century; Social Science - African-American Studies | $16.99 | 978-1-934389-82-9 (1-934389-82-X)

For Discrimination by Randall Kennedy

2013-09-03T00:30:00-05:00

For Discrimination Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law
Written by Randall Kennedy

Hardcover, 304 pages | Pantheon | Political Science - Public Policy; Political Science - Social Policy; Social Science - African-American Studies | $25.95 | 978-0-307-90737-0 (0-307-90737-6)

By the author of the New York Times best seller Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word and, more recently, The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency ("Provocative and richly insightful." —Brent Staples, The New York Times Book Review; "Excellent."—David Remnick, The New Yorker)

The definitive reckoning with one of the most explosively contentious and sharply divisive issues in American society, a book extraordinary for its cool reason and genuine fairness—at once a recollection of the little-known history of affirmative action and an anatomy of its pros and cons.

For Discrimination by Randall Kennedy

2013-09-03T00:30:00-05:00

For Discrimination Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law
Written by Randall Kennedy

eBook, 304 pages | Pantheon | Political Science - Public Policy; Political Science - Social Policy; Social Science - African-American Studies | $13.99 | 978-0-307-90738-7 (0-307-90738-4)

The Long Walk to Freedom by Donald Weise

2013-09-03T00:30:00-05:00

The Long Walk to Freedom Runaway Slave Narratives
Written by Devon W. Carbado
Foreword by Donald Weise

Trade Paperback, 272 pages | Beacon Press | Social Science - Slavery; Social Science - African-American Studies; History - United States | $20.00 | 978-0-8070-6909-7 (0-8070-6909-4)

In this groundbreaking compilation of first-person accounts of the runaway slave phenomenon, editors Devon W. Carbado and Donald Weise have recovered twelve narratives spanning eight decades—more than half of which have been long out of print. Told in the voices of the runaway slaves themselves, these narratives reveal the extraordinary and often innovative ways that these men and women sought freedom and demanded citizenship. Also included is an essay by UCLA history professor Brenda Stevenson that contextualizes these narratives, providing a brief yet comprehensive history of slavery, as well as a look into the daily life of a slave. Divided into four categories—running away for family, running inspired by religion, running by any means necessary, and running to be free—these stories are a testament to the indelible spirit of these remarkable survivors.

The Long Walk to Freedom presents excerpts from the narratives of well-known runaway slaves, like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, as well as from the narratives of lesser-known and virtually unknown people. Several of these excerpts have not been published for more than a hundred years. But they all portray the courageous and sometimes shocking ways that these men and women sought their freedom and asserted power, often challenging many of the common assumptions about slaves’ lack of agency.

Among the remarkable and inspiring stories is the tense but triumphant tale of Henry Box Brown, who, with a white abolitionist’s help, shipped himself in a box—over a twenty-seven-hour train ride, part of which he spent standing on his head—to freedom in Philadelphia. And there’s the story of William and Ellen Craft, who fled across thousands of miles, with Ellen, who was light-skinned, disguised as a white male slave-owner so she and her husband could achieve their dream of raising their children as free people.

Gripping, inspiring, and captivating, The Long Walk to Freedom is a remarkable collection that celebrates those who risked their lives in pursuit of basic human rights.

Buck by MK Asante

2013-08-20T00:30:00-05:00

Buck A Memoir
Written by MK Asante

Hardcover, 272 pages | Spiegel & Grau | Biography & Autobiography - Personal Memoirs; Social Science - African-American Studies; Social Science - Sociology - Urban | $25.00 | 978-0-8129-9341-7 (0-8129-9341-1)

A rebellious boy’s journey through the wilds of urban America and the shrapnel of a self-destructing family—this is the riveting story of a generation told through one dazzlingly poetic new voice.

MK Asante was born in Zimbabwe to American parents: a mother who led the new nation’s dance company and a father who would soon become a revered pioneer in black studies. But things fell apart, and a decade later MK was in America, a teenager lost in a fog of drugs, sex, and violence on the streets of North Philadelphia. Now he was alone—his mother in a mental hospital, his father gone, his older brother locked up in a prison on the other side of the country—and forced to find his own way to survive physically, mentally, and spiritually, by any means necessary.

Buck is a powerful memoir of how a precocious kid educated himself through the most unconventional teachers—outlaws and eccentrics, rappers and mystic strangers, ghetto philosophers and strippers, and, eventually, an alternative school that transformed his life with a single blank sheet of paper. It’s a one-of-a-kind story about finding your purpose in life, and an inspiring tribute to the power of education, art, and love to heal and redeem us.

Praise for Buck

“A story of surviving and thriving with passion, compassion, wit, and style.”—Maya Angelou

“Buck takes the daily words of the American streets and forges something low and lovely. Angry, profane, and beautiful, it honors the best of hip-hop’s literary canon by producing a work worthy of inclusion.”—Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of The Beautiful Struggle

“Buck sings a song that will force all of America to face what it has become and remember what it could be.”—Eddie Huang, author of Fresh off the Boat

Buck by M.K. Asante

2013-08-20T00:30:00-05:00

Buck A Memoir
Written by M.K. Asante

eBook, 272 pages | Spiegel & Grau | Biography & Autobiography - Personal Memoirs; Social Science - African-American Studies; Social Science - Sociology - Urban | $12.99 | 978-0-679-64545-0 (0-679-64545-4)

Buck by MK Asante

2013-08-20T00:30:00-05:00

Buck A Memoir
Written by MK Asante

Unabridged Audiobook Download | Random House Audio | Biography & Autobiography - Personal Memoirs; Social Science - African-American Studies; Social Science - Sociology - Urban | $20.00 | 978-0-8041-6392-7 (0-8041-6392-8)

Dear Marcus by Jerry McGill

2013-02-12T00:30:00-05:00

Dear Marcus A Letter to the Man Who Shot Me
Written by Jerry McGill

Trade Paperback, 192 pages | Spiegel & Grau | Biography & Autobiography - Personal Memoirs; Social Science - Handicapped; Social Science - African-American Studies | $14.00 | 978-0-8129-8316-6 (0-8129-8316-5)

The idea to write to you was not an easy one.
The scar from where the bullet entered my back is still there.

Jerry McGill was thirteen years old, walking home through the projects of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, when he was shot in the back by a stranger. Jerry survived, wheelchair-bound for life; his assailant was never caught. Thirty years later, Jerry wants to say something to the man who shot him.

I have decided to give you a name.
I am going to call you Marcus.

With profound grace, brutal honesty, and devastating humor, Jerry McGill takes us on a dramatic and inspiring journey—from the streets of 1980s New York, where poverty and violence were part of growing up, to the challenges of living with a disability and learning to help and inspire others, to the long, difficult road to acceptance, forgiveness, and, ultimately, triumph.

I didn’t write this book for you, Marcus. I wrote this for those who endure.
Those who manage. Those who are determined to move on.

Random House New Releases - Social Science - African-American Studies

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation by David Brion Davis

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation Written by David Brion Davis

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation by David Brion Davis

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation Written by David Brion Davis

Promises Kept by Hilary Beard

Promises Kept Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in LifeWritten by Dr. Joe Brewster, Michelle Stephenson and Hilary Beard

Promises Kept by Hilary Beard

Promises Kept Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in LifeWritten by Dr. Joe Brewster, Michelle Stephenson and Hilary Beard

Promises Kept by Hilary Beard

Promises Kept Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in LifeWritten by Dr. Joe Brewster, Michelle Stephenson and Hilary Beard

Negroes and the Gun by Nicholas Johnson

Negroes and the Gun The Black Tradition of ArmsWritten by Nicholas Johnson

Negroes and the Gun by Nicholas Johnson

Negroes and the Gun The Black Tradition of ArmsWritten by Nicholas Johnson

Unfinished Agenda by Tom Hayden

Unfinished Agenda Urban Politics in the Era of Black PowerWritten by Junius Williams Foreword by Tom Hayden

Unfinished Agenda by Tom Hayden

Unfinished Agenda Urban Politics in the Era of Black PowerWritten by Junius Williams Foreword by Tom Hayden

Waking from the Dream by David L. Chappell

Waking from the Dream The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr.Written by David L. Chappell

Waking from the Dream by David L. Chappell

Waking from the Dream The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr.Written by David L. Chappell

Paul Robeson For Beginners by Elizabeth Von Blum

Paul Robeson For Beginners Written by Paul Von Blum Illustrated by Elizabeth Von Blum

Paul Robeson For Beginners by Elizabeth Von Blum

Paul Robeson For Beginners Written by Paul Von Blum Illustrated by Elizabeth Von Blum

For Discrimination by Randall Kennedy

For Discrimination Race, Affirmative Action, and the LawWritten by Randall Kennedy

For Discrimination by Randall Kennedy

For Discrimination Race, Affirmative Action, and the LawWritten by Randall Kennedy

The Long Walk to Freedom by Donald Weise

The Long Walk to Freedom Runaway Slave NarrativesWritten by Devon W. Carbado Foreword by Donald Weise

Buck by MK Asante

Buck A MemoirWritten by MK Asante

Buck by M.K. Asante

Buck A MemoirWritten by M.K. Asante

Buck by MK Asante

Buck A MemoirWritten by MK Asante

Dear Marcus by Jerry McGill

Dear Marcus A Letter to the Man Who Shot MeWritten by Jerry McGill

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation
Written by David Brion Davis

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation
Written by David Brion Davis

Promises Kept Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in Life
Written by Dr. Joe Brewster, Michelle Stephenson and Hilary Beard

Promises Kept Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in Life
Written by Dr. Joe Brewster, Michelle Stephenson and Hilary Beard

Promises Kept Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in Life
Written by Dr. Joe Brewster, Michelle Stephenson and Hilary Beard

Negroes and the Gun The Black Tradition of Arms
Written by Nicholas Johnson

Negroes and the Gun The Black Tradition of Arms
Written by Nicholas Johnson

Unfinished Agenda Urban Politics in the Era of Black Power
Written by Junius Williams
Foreword by Tom Hayden

Unfinished Agenda Urban Politics in the Era of Black Power
Written by Junius Williams
Foreword by Tom Hayden

Waking from the Dream The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Written by David L. Chappell

Waking from the Dream The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Written by David L. Chappell

Paul Robeson For Beginners
Written by Paul Von Blum
Illustrated by Elizabeth Von Blum

Paul Robeson For Beginners
Written by Paul Von Blum
Illustrated by Elizabeth Von Blum

For Discrimination Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law
Written by Randall Kennedy

For Discrimination Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law
Written by Randall Kennedy

The Long Walk to Freedom Runaway Slave Narratives
Written by Devon W. Carbado
Foreword by Donald Weise

Buck A Memoir
Written by MK Asante

Buck A Memoir
Written by M.K. Asante

Buck A Memoir
Written by MK Asante

Dear Marcus A Letter to the Man Who Shot Me
Written by Jerry McGill