New and Noteworthy Books from AALBC

By AALBC

As the tragic murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement has demonstrated, not being racist is not enough. To fulfill the American ideal, to ensure that all people are equal, everyone must be actively anti-racist. Anti-Racist Ally is a pocket-sized guide full of insightful steps anyone can take to be a better ally in the fight against racism. More ▶***
New and Noteworthy Books
In the Eye of the Storm: My Time as Chairman of Bank of America During the Country’s Worst Financial Crisis by Walter E. Massey with Rosalind Kilkenny McLymont“Walter Massey’s memoir records how one Black man’s leadership saved one of the largest banks in America and the world at a time when the financial industry faced collapse.A Black boy from Jim Crow Mississippi, who cut classes to play jazz, becomes a theoretical physicist and educator, only to be thrust into a role that ultimately helps to pull the country out of its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.That alone is a fascinating story.Lessons in leadership-under-duress aside, the memoir’s importance lies equally in the insights its backstories provide for students of African-American history, finance, economy, social change, and human nature.” —Rosalind Kilkenny McLymont
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Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrated by Floyd Cooper Celebrated author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Floyd Cooper provide a powerful look at the Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our nation’s history. The book traces the history of African Americans in Tulsa’s Greenwood district and chronicles the devastation that occurred in 1921 when a white mob attacked the Black community.News of what happened was largely suppressed, and no official investigation occurred for seventy-five years. This picture book sensitively introduces young readers to this tragedy and concludes with a call for a better future. More ▶
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Of One Blood by Pauline Hopkins When medical student Reuel Briggs reluctantly attends a performance by the beautiful singer Dianthe Lusk, he can’t help but fall for her. The very next day, their paths cross again when Dianthe’s train crashes. To bring her back from the brink of death, Reuel draws on an eerie power he can’t quite name. Soon, the two are engaged, and Reuel sets off on an archeological expedition to Africa to offset his debts before the wedding. But, in Ethiopia, unexpected danger and terror force him to confront the truth about his lineage, his power, and the history that lives in his very blood.First serialized in Colored American Magazine in 1902, this narrative exemplifies Pauline Hopkins’s incisive writing and interrogates issues of race and history that remain urgent today. This edition is presented by the Horror Writers Association and introduced by award-winning author Nisi Shawl. Read an Excerpt ▶
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’Til I Want No More by Robin W. Pearson A Christian fiction novel with a poignant story of romance, a search for truth, and a journey to redemption.If Maxine could put her finger on the moment when her life went into a tailspin, she would point back twenty years to the day her daddy died. She tells herself he’s the only person who ever really knew and loved her, and if he hadn’t left her behind, her future would’ve been different. No absentee mother, no stepfather, no rebellious ripping and running during her teenage years. And no JD, who gave her wandering young heart a home, at least for a time. More ▶
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A Conversation with Go On Girl! Book Club and Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Join Go On Girl! Book Club as they talk about social issues with Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, where he is also the Chair of the Center for African American Studies and the Chair of the Department of African American Studies. Glaude is a frequent MSNBC political commentator and author of the AALBC Bestseller, Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own.Learn more and Register ▶