African Urban

In New York City, Joanna Marshall is an aspiring singer obsessed with success, determined to overcome the racism and sexism that stand in her way. Her childhood friends Maggie Ellersley and Peter Bye confront similar barriers but with different goals in mind: Maggie is focused on finding love; Peter, on becoming a surgeon. But as their interests overlap and their ambitions collide, the course of Joanna and Maggie’s lives seems destined to change forever. Written in response to the dominant stereotypes of the time, There Is Confusion paints a revelatory portrait....

Ashley and JaQuavis introduce listeners to London, a beautiful immigrant from Trinidad. She was given to her husband by her father in order to settle a debt. Standing by her husband's side to make him the envy of his associates is a day in the life, but behind closed doors, their relationship becomes cold, and the abuse that she encounters has her looking for a way out.

From slim thick to curvy and voluptuous, Lyric Larson's a force behind the pen that she pushes as an author. But behind closed doors, she battles with insecurities which are always triggered by her unfaithful husband. While she's grinding and staying loyal to her marriage, her husband Chadd not only slides into bed with another woman but also gets himself mixed up with a mob. The consequences of his actions will fall back on Lyric, but oblivious to what's going on, she has no clue.

Welcome to Bailey's Café, the most mythically real diner you've ever walked into. Presided over by Bailey and his helpmate, Nadine, it is a magnet that draws a wide variety of the "colored" people of 1948, each with a story to tell.

In this scorching, mournful, often explicit, and never less than moving literary novel by the famed creator of the Easy Rawlins series, Debbie Dare, a black porn queen, has to come to terms with her sordid life in the adult entertainment industry after her tomcatting husband dies in a hot tub. Electrocuted. With another woman in there with him. Debbie decides she just isn't going to "do it anymore". But executing her exit strategy from the porn world is a wrenching and far from simple process.

In Compton, California, 10 Black riders on horseback cut an unusual profile, their cowboy hats tilted against the hot Los Angeles sun. They are the Compton Cowboys, their small ranch one of the very last in a formerly semirural area of the city that has been home to African American horse riders for decades. To most people, Compton is known only as the home of rap greats NWA and Kendrick Lamar, hyped in the media for its seemingly intractable gang violence. But in 1988, Mayisha Akbar founded the Compton Jr. Posse to provide local youth with a safe alternative to the streets.

Still recovering from the suicide of her best friend, Shan, now pregnant by a married man, is forced to make major decisions in her life. Ready to leave the fast life behind, Shan believes a move to Detroit will help her become a stronger woman - but someone wants revenge against her brother and is willing to destroy her in the process.

Revealing how seemingly race-neutral urban sites contain hidden racial assumptions and imperatives, Lipsitz examines the ways in which urban space and social experience are racialized and emphasizes that aggrieved communities do not passively acquiesce to racism. He recognizes the people and communities that have re-imagined segregated spaces in expressive culture as places for congregation.

"We'd had to be cut free of our mother's womb. Abby and I were fused, you see. But here's the real kicker; Abby had the magic, I didn't." Now adults, Makeda and Abby still share their childhood home. The surgery to separate the two girls left Makeda with what feels like an even worse deformity: no mojo. The daughters of a celestial demigod and a human woman, Makeda and Abby were raised by their magical father. Today, Makeda has decided it's high time to move out and make her own life.

Just when things seem to be going well, a curve ball is thrown at Tae causing Brenna to take a step back from their situation. Now becoming a father, Tae puts all his attention on his son, ignoring the yearning inside of him. Brenna thinks moving on is the key to her problems, but what she soon learns is the heart wants what the heart wants. The only question between them is can Brenna put aside her issues with Tae's newfound fatherhood to give them a real chance?

Auben Mutze has more vices than he can deal with - six to be exact - each branded down his arm for the world to see. They mark him as a lesser twin in society, as inferior, but there’s no way he’ll let that define him. Intelligent and outgoing, Auben’s spirited antics make him popular among the other students at his underprivileged high school. So what if he’s envious of his twin Kasim, whose single vice brand is a ticket to a better life, one that likely won’t involve Auben. Then Auben starts hearing voices that speak to his dangerous side - encouraging him to perform evil deeds....

"Urban School Dynamics: Understanding Black Student Behavior" delves deep into the intricate mosaic of influences, challenges, and aspirations that shape the actions and choices of Black students in city schools. The urban educational landscape, with its unique challenges and dynamics, often amplifies the struggles faced by students. Within these walls, Black students, shaped by a myriad of socio-economic, cultural, and personal factors, navigate their educational journey.

Award-winning novelist Tayari Jones delivers a story based on the 1979-1980 Atlanta child murders. Told from the perspective of three fifth-grade classmates, Leaving Atlanta is a vividly disturbing, but hopeful novel.

Halleigh and Malek have been through more drama in their young lives than most people will ever see. Now, their saga is coming to an end. Find out what happens to Halleigh and Malek in the final installment of the Flint series. Will these young lovers, separated over and over again, finally be able to live their happily ever after, or will they be swallowed up by the streets?

Luca Kareem and Riana Santee made an exchange a little over eight years ago - a heart for a heart. Riana had no problem relinquishing her heart to Luca, but Luca preferred spreading his love and his body thinly to almost every attractive woman he came in contact with. After a year of warring for a place in his heart, Riana finally gives up, but when Luca leaves her, he takes her heart with him. She becomes a heartless, emotionally detached hit-woman, stealing the hearts of men in her path just for fun.

For some, love starts with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends in tears. For four friends from Queens, it's about to get complicated....

Malek and Halleigh were once innocent high school sweethearts, but their lives changed drastically when they were separated by tragic circumstances and sucked into life on the streets. Now Malek has risen to the top of the drug empire and is running things after Jamaica Joe’s murder. His rival, Sweets, has left town, so Malek has things under control on both the South Side and the North Side. When Halleigh finally escapes from the clutches of Manolo, her pimp, she and Malek are reunited. For a while, things are running smoothly, and Halleigh and Malek are like well-respected hood royalty—until Halleigh grows bored with her life hidden safely away in the suburbs.

Hip music critic Dwayne Robinson has two main gigs: defending rap's rightful place in the music industry and scoring as many women as possible. But this smooth-talking b-boy has yet to try working love into his lingo - until "buppie" Danielle Embry slides into and rocks his world. A Connecticut suburbanite, Danielle is as far removed from Dwayne's Brooklyn ghetto upbringing as it gets. Yet despite this clash, these unlikely lovers are drawn together.

They say loyalty is everything, but beneath the surface of a promise lies betrayal and deceit. Taught by the best and given the keys to an empire, Kiam's loyalty is tested at every turn, as he strives to enforce his rule over those who ultimately can't be trusted. A deadly warning directs his course as he strives to carry out his orders. Complications set in when his mentor's beautiful, sexy, and rebellious daughter Lissha - who is as comfortable carrying a gun as she is carrying a Gucci bag - forces Kiam to decide between his sizzling desire for her and his immense loyalty to big Zo.

Left for dead, Tilo’s lover, Victória Mendoza, now wants revenge on the woman who broke her family...and her heart. Victória is ready to avenge the deaths of her family members - especially her brother. And she’s bent on destroying the woman who destroyed the Mendozas. As a new mother, she sees things a little differently, and she wants to make a good life for Moses and their daughter. But Tilo is still a complication. Private Detective Moses got played by Tilo, and he wants to settle that score.