African American Families

This is not how seventeen-year-old Gil imagined beginning his senior year—on the subway dressed in a tie and khakis headed towards Manhattan instead of his old public school in Brooklyn. Augustin Prep may only be a borough away, but the exclusive private school feels like it's a different world entirely compared to Gil's predominately Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn. If it weren't for the partial scholarship, the school's robotic program and the chance for a better future, Gil wouldn't have even considered going.

A family emergency brings former rapper and current real estate mogul Ivan Spencer back to his long-abandoned hometown. While there, he must deal with his confused mother, his elderly, philandering father, his flaky sister, an unreliable aunt, and a face from the past who makes him question some of his earlier decisions. All he wants to do is to get things squared away and return to his life, but as it turns out, he must deal with his own issues first.

In this heart-warming short story, meet wife and mother Eugeena Patterson. Eugeena has always been the glue keeping her fragmented family together. When her teenage daughter is rushed to the hospital, Eugeena’s usual attempts to maintain peace in her family reach a breaking point. Will her troubled teenage daughter rip the family apart?

At 39, Josie Bordelon's modeling career as the "it" Black beauty of the '90s is far behind her. Now director of admissions at San Francisco's most sought after private school, she's chic, single, and determined to keep her 17-year-old daughter, Etta, from making the same mistakes she did. But Etta has plans of her own - and their beloved matriarch, Aunt Viv, has Etta's back. If only Josie could manage Etta's future as well as she manages the shenanigans of the over-anxious, over-eager parents at school - or her best friend's attempts to coax Josie back onto the dating scene.

Tonya is like any other woman in search of love, while raising her children and taking care of herself and her household. As easy as it is assumed to be, at times, life has a way of slowing you down in ways you can’t imagine. Sometimes, forever. Throughout the years, Tonya had to deal with an enormous amount of stressful situations that should have broken her, but she didn't even bend. She lost friends who she thought would never betray her and a family that talked behind her back. 

Warm morning sunlight and love fill the Neal home. And on one quiet day, playtime leads to an important realization: Trinity wants long hair like her dolls. She needs it to express who she truly is. So her family decides to take a trip to the beauty supply store, but none of the wigs is the perfect fit. Determined, Mom leaves with bundles of hair in hand, ready to craft a wig as colorful and vibrant as her daughter is.

Savannah Graham thought she had the perfect marriage...until grief drove her husband into the arms of his best friend’s wife. Now, she believes revenge is the only way her heart can heal from the betrayal. For 52 years, Ollie Moss lived side by side with the love of his life, his wife Elizabeth. But now that she’s gone, so is his desire to live, despite the love from his children, and his beloved grandson Samuel. Can anything save Ollie’s life?

Valerie Flournoy and Jerry Pinkney created a warmhearted intergenerational story that became an award-winning perennial. Since then children from all sorts of family situations and configurations continue to be drawn to its portrait of those bonds that create the fabric of family life.

Long before she was one of the Little Rock Nine, Melba Pattillo Beals was a warrior. Frustrated by the laws that kept African Americans separate but very much unequal to whites, she had questions: Why couldn't she drink from a whites-only fountain? Why couldn't she feel safe beyond home - or even within the walls of church? Adults all told her: Hold your tongue. Be patient. Know your place. But Beals had the heart of a fighter - and the knowledge that her true place was a free one.

Things are falling apart in the Richardson household. Angry arguments between Celine and her husband, Keith, have become routine. She resents that he's working long hours and staying out all night, and he accuses her of not giving him the attention he deserves. Their marriage is at a crossroads, and Celine worries how her 10-year-old daughter, Kassie, will be affected. But the situation turns devastating when Celine is diagnosed with breast cancer.

Tanya Norwell was a patient and loving wife. She was the type of spouse who would put up with most anything to keep her marriage together. During her 16-year marriage, Tanya often turned a blind eye to her husband's drunkenness and infidelities.

When Mildred and Richard Loving wed in 1958, they were ripped from their shared bed and taken to court. Their crime: miscegenation, punished by exile from their home state of Virginia. The resulting landmark decision of Loving v. Virginia ended bans on interracial marriage and remains a signature case—the first to use the words “white supremacy” to describe such racism.

In Married But Still Looking, a handsome young bachelor struggles to give up his appetite for casual sex when he finally proposes to the woman of his dreams.

When Don Carter flies to Santiago de Cuba, his plans are to rendezvous with his new connect, Vicente. He never expected to meet the beautiful and vestal virgin Maria - Vicente's daughter. It was love at first sight, Don and Maria unite romantically, the ultimate betrayal and disrespect to Vicente. A love child Mercedes is born. Mercedes lives the good life until old wounds are rehashed in the form of an informant. The Carter family is under attack. Will Mercedes find out who's behind all of the havoc before it's too late?

When Jackson returns home to his family after an absence of 10 years, he discovers that his bonds to them have been irreparably rent by his absence. In the midst of his alienation, he falls in love with Catherine Carmier, setting the stage for conflicts and confrontations which are complex, tortuous, and universal in their implications.

Beverley Cottrell had a dream life: a prestigious job, a beautiful husband and baby boy. This is stolen from her one winter afternoon when her son Malakay is kidnapped from a parked car. Despite a media campaign, a full police investigation, and the offer of a reward, Malakay is never found. Beverley's marriage soon dissolves and her husband immigrates from England to the U.S. with a new wife.

Denise and Derrek Shaw are the perfect American couple. Happily married for 15 years, they have a wonderful daughter, Mackenzie, successful careers, and a beautiful house in a posh Chicago suburb. They are attractive, respected...and hiding a shocking secret: a dangerous addiction to drugs. It started innocently enough. Denise occasionally used prescription drugs to help her deal with the long hours and demanding nature of her job. Derrek, also under pressure at work, began using cocaine socially with some of his colleagues. They can quit whenever they want to. At least, that's what Denise would like to believe....

When her son is accused of a violent crime, church first lady Gloria Jones finds herself battling his prosecutor - as well as her own inner demons - to save him in this drama-filled novel from best-selling, award-winning author ReShonda Tate Billingsley.

Un uragano minaccia Bois Sauvage, in Mississippi. In un avvallamento chiamato la Fossa, tra rottami, baracche e boschi, vive la famiglia Batiste: un padre, tre fratelli e Esch, quindici anni, unica ragazzina in un mondo di uomini. Legge e rilegge la storia di Medea e Giasone, è innamorata di Manny, e scopre di essere incinta. Nei dodici giorni che scandiscono l'arrivo della tempesta, il legame tra i fratelli e la fiducia reciproca si rinsaldano, uniche luci nel buio della disgrazia incombente.

When MaryAnne Howland's son was turning 13, she organized a "Black Mitzvah" rite of passage celebration for him. Max is one of the one-in-three children in America being raised without a father in the home. Among African Americans, that number is reported to be as high as 72 percent. To help fill the father-shaped hole in Max's life as he transitioned from boyhood to manhood, MaryAnne invited four men from different corners of her life - an engineer, a philanthropist, a publisher, and a financial planner - to become Max's mentors.