The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb's effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. Her family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

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In My Sister's House
by Donald Welch

Skylar and Storm Morrison may be gorgeous twin sisters, but they are as different as night and day. Skylar is savvy and book-smart; Storm is shrewd and street-smart. But a twist of fate lands Storm in jail, where she must trade her Fendi bags and Prada boots for an orange jumpsuit and laceless white sneakers. Meanwhile Skylar makes a name for herself by transforming the restaurant that once belonged to the twins' late father, Dutch, into Legends, Philadelphia's hottest new nightclub.

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Jesus, Jobs, and Justice
by Bettye Collier-Thomas

A remarkable account of the religious faith, social and political activism, and extraordinary resilience of black women during centuries of American growth and change, this groundbreaking book makes clear that while religion has been a guiding force in the lives of most African Americans, for black women it has been essential. As co-creators of churches, they were a central factor in their development. Jesus, Jobs, and Justice explores the ways in which women had to cope with sexism in black churches, as well as racism in mostly white denominations, in their efforts to create missionary societies and form women's conventions. Bettye Collier-Thomas restores black women to their rightful place in American and black history and demonstrates their faith in themselves, their race, and their God.

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Lifelines
Written by Askhari Johnson Hodari and Yvonne McCalla Sobers
Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Lifelines: The Black Book of Proverbs travels to all corners of the globe to reclaim and preserve African wisdom. This book offers the remarkably wise heart of Africa and her children to readers experiencing career changes, new births, weddings, death, and other rites of passage. Readers will find truth in the African saying, "When the occasion arises, there is a proverb to suit it." Lifelines illuminates how traditions, civilization and spirit survive and thrive, despite centuries of loss of freedom, family, identity, language, land, and wealth. The proverbs offer wisdom for every stage of our lives. Collected in one place as never before, it is the perfect addition to the bookshelves of families large and small, from Nairobi to New Orleans and every city in between.

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Precious (Push Movie Tie-in Edition)
by Sapphire

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

Includes a Reading Group Guide

Precious Jones, an illiterate sixteen-year-old, has up until now been invisible to the father who rapes her and the mother who batters her and to the authorities who dismiss her as just one more of Harlem's casualties. But when Precious, pregnant with a second child by her father, meets a determined and radical teacher, we follow her on a journey of education and enlightenment as she learns not only how to write about her life, but how to make it truly her own for the first time.

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Street Shadows
by Jerald Walker

Masterfully told, marked by irony and humor as well as outrage and a barely contained sadness, Jerald Walker's Street Shadows is the story of a young man's descent into the "thug life" and the wake-up call that led to his finding himself again.

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