Urban African American

At the time of its publication, Wallace Thurman’s debut novel was deeply provocative. This was due not only to its frank considerations of race and sex, but also to its vivid portrait of a Harlem that few other writers had dared to explore. At the heart of this journey into new terrain is Emma Lou Morgan, a Black woman who leaves her “color-struck” Idaho hometown behind and strikes out, first for Los Angeles and later for Harlem—where, unfortunately, discrimination simply takes on a new form.

A masterful, moving novel about age, memory, and family from one of the literary icons of our time. Ptolemy Grey is 91 years old and has been all but forgotten - by his family, his friends, even himself - as he sinks into a lonely dementia. His grand-nephew, Ptolemy's only connection to the outside world, was recently killed in a drive-by shooting, and Ptolemy is too suspicious of anyone else to allow them into his life. Until he meets Robyn, his niece's 17-year-old lodger and the only one willing to take care of an old man at his grandnephew's funeral.

Xiomara's bad and she knows it. She's not only a cute face; she's working on her degree as well. Left with scars from her past, she's only focused on her money and building her brand. After encountering Jrue in the club, she's offered a job that unknowingly changes things for her, causing her to look at her choices differently.

Look up the word "playa" in a dictionary, and you'll find a description of Jaylin "Naughty Boy" Rogers. He's always lived up to his bad boy persona, and there doesn't appear to be a woman in the world who can wash her hands of this addictive man. Now, the time has come for him to make some critical changes, or else his playing days are about to get him played.

As a low-level enforcer in Los Angeles, Ken Swift knows danger, but nowhere does he feel it more than in his tangled romances. Divorced from one woman, in love with another, and wrestling with a strong desire to get to know a third, his life is far from perfect, and it becomes all the more complicated when his troubled daughter resurfaces on the same day as a major job.

Remy Morgan, a young girl born and raised in the heart of the ghetto, gets caught up in the life when she meets a drug lord who offers her the world. Young and naive, she is trapped in a game of lies, deception, and greed and learns the hard way that everything that glitters ain't gold. After her love is slain, Remy is forced back into the life that she desperately tried to forget. Remy has kept a diary of her life for the past two years. What she writes inside is a tale of love, passion, money, and secrecy - and ultimately a witness to her tragic end.

Impassioned antislavery rhetoric made antebellum Boston famous as the nation’s hub of radical abolitionism. In fact, the city was far from a beacon of equality. In No Right to an Honest Living, historian Jacqueline Jones reveals how Boston was the United States writ small—a place where the soaring rhetoric of egalitarianism was easy, but justice in the workplace was elusive. Highlighting the everyday struggles of ordinary Black workers, this book shows how injustice in the workplace prevented Boston—and the United States—from securing true equality for all.

Rhea's neighborhood is fading away—the mom-and-pop shops of her childhood forced out to make space for an artisanal kombucha brewery here, a hot yoga studio there. And everywhere, the feeling that this place is no longer meant for her. Because while their little corner of South L.A. isn't perfect, to Rhea and her two best friends, it's something even more important—it's home. And it's worth protecting. But as more white people flock to their latest edgy, urban paradise, more of Rhea's friends and family are pushed out. Until Rhea decides it's time to push back.

After the tragic and bloody end to The Cartel's reign, Carter is forced into isolation to evade the law. With his wife, Miamor, facing federal charges and his dear brother six feet under, Carter has never been more alone. His empire is at his feet, and he has no idea how to rebuild his kingdom. The only thing that is certain is that he has to stay out of the way and off the radar of the feds until he can figure out how to get his lady out of prison.

In this rambunctious satire, Wallace Thurman, one of the leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance, takes his fellow artists and critics to task. The setting is a buzzing apartment building in 1930s Harlem, where avatars for the likes of Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, and Thurman himself come together to push past old boundaries and test out new ideas. But the heat of this collective energy soon threatens to consume them all, as wild parties, jealous rages, and intellectual conflicts turn the literary circle into an out-of-control hothouse of personal drama.

Jaylin Jerome Rogers, an investment broker worth millions, lives a high-class life with plenty of women to share it with. Nestled in his lavishing home in Chesterfield, Missouri, he captures women with his wealth, charm, nine-plus inches of goodness, and amazingly good looks. Although his bed is never empty, his heart is. He feels nothing for the women who love him dearly and continues his search for the "perfect" one. When Scorpio Valentino, an attractive, seductive, and charming woman saunters into his view, she offers Jaylin a life of altering changes.

Carl Weber brings the best of urban street lit authors together, all telling their own dramatic tales of life in the streets in known cities across the USA. The second installment continues with Treasure Hernandez telling the tale of the Dirty South.

Juleena always knew she wanted to go away to college; she just didn't know it would be in New York. That was until she met and fell in love with her boyfriend, Mooski, a few summers ago. Juleena knew she wanted to be close to him, so she applied to every college possible in the tri-state area just so she could be close to him. Ju's plan was to always attend NYU, so when she got accepted into Fordham University, she felt herself straying from her life's path. Juleena thought moving to New York would make her and Mooski closer. Instead, the two of them couldn't be further apart.

With Samad’s target on her back, Liberty must survive the harsh streets alone. But when a chance encounter pushes her into the arms of a new friend, Po, the two take on the California kingpin - and step full force into the game. As bullets and sparks fly, the unlikely pair embarks on a serendipitous journey back to where it all started: Sierra Leone. With a new overseas connection, Po sees an opportunity that is too good to pass up. When his pursuit of the American dream conflicts with Liberty’s past, will they be able to survive, or will the drug empire that they’ve built together come crashing down?

Janelle Doesher never wanted to be a hustler's bitch. She wanted to be a bitch that hustled, bottom line! She watched in awe as her father became notorious on the vicious streets of Detroit, and silently waited for a shot under his umbrella. After tragedy strikes her family, Janelle is black-balled to the bottom. However, she's determined to regain control of the streets and take possession of the throne. The underworld ain't never seen a female boss like her. Hold on tight, as you are about to embark on a ride unlike none other!

Ananda is on her way to the top. A frail heart and mistrust of men once took her soul to the bottom. Her sassy personality is how she forges her way through life and remains in control. Until she meets the man most women's dreams are made of. Ananda can't believe she'll finally get a happily ever after - until a tawdry secret reveal splits her world in two and forces her to realize that dreams are for children, and she is a grown woman now.

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.

Tasha and Trae, the hood's favorite couple, are still together following the events of Thug Matrimony. Even with their relocation to sunny Los Angeles, the drama of New York cannot be escaped. From running a nightclub to dealing with models, shady lawyers, big money, new kinds of temptations, seductions, and drugs - not to mention new love interests - can this infamous couple weather all the storms and keep it together?

Angela grew up in an all-black upper-class neighborhood in Virginia Beach. Being raised by conservative parents, street life was almost nonexistent. Her college years at Hampton University would truly educate her; not only in school, but also in life. She never imagined the attention her body and beauty would bring her. Angela finds herself torn between Mac, a successful real estate broker, and Damien, a young Jamaican hustler from Brooklyn. Both show Angela love in their own way, and her choice will be her destiny.

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.