Showing results by narrator "James Shippy" in All Categories

Growing up poor in a St. Louis African American community, Dick Gregory (b. 1932) gained his improvisational skills trading insults on neighborhood streets. He honed his ironic barbs in Chicago's black nightclubs before crossing over to mainstream venues. His success at the Playboy Club led to bookings at nightspots around the country, network television exposure, and a recording contract. His first book, From the Back of the Bus, offered satiric observations on race in America in the midst of the civil rights era.

When Cole moves in with his dad, Harp, he thinks life will be sweet - just him and his horse, Boo, hanging out with Philadelphia’s urban cowboys. But when Harp says he has to get a job, Cole winds up as a stable hand for the polo team at George Washington Military Academy, where the players are rich, white, and stuck-up - all except Ruthie, the team’s first and only girl, who’s determined to show the others she can beat them at their own game. As Cole and Ruthie become friends - and maybe more - he starts imagining his future, maybe even at the academy.

Neighborhood tensions reach a breaking point in the finale of New York Times best-selling author Mary Monroe's captivating series that sweeps listeners back to 1930's Alabama and into the lives of two neighboring couples whose deceitful friendships and imperfect marriages are just the beginning of their troubles...

Following the Civil War, the Reconstruction era raised a new question to those in power in the US: Should African Americans, so many of them former slaves, be granted the right to vote? In this vivid portrait of the systematic suppression of the African-American vote, critically acclaimed author Lawrence Goldstone traces the injustices of the post-Reconstruction era through the eyes of incredible individuals, both heroic and barbaric, and examines the legal cases that made the Supreme Court a partner of white supremacists in the rise of Jim Crow.

Being recruited by the CIA to join a top-secret intelligence program should be the opportunity of a lifetime. For Issa, it's a shot at creating a new and better life for herself and her siblings. For clever con artist Harper, it's a chance to bury the secrets of her troubled past and make sure those secrets stay buried. But for Owen - honor student, star quarterback, and computer-hacking genius - it sounds like a trap. He's right. They've all been tricked by a multibillion-dollar tech company into creating the ultimate computer virus.

In his first ever book, The IF in Life: How to Get Off Life’s Sidelines and Become Your Best Self, NFL running back and Dancing with the Stars champion Rashad Jennings shares his inspiring story and experiences, imparts practical advice, and encourages listeners to follow their dreams.

A solid marriage, a thriving business, and the esteem of their close-knit Alabama community - Joyce and Odell Watson have every reason to count their blessings. Their marriage has given well-off Joyce a chance at the family she's always wanted - and granted Odell a once-in-a-lifetime shot to escape grinding poverty. But all that respectability and status comes at a cost. Just once, Joyce and Odell want to break loose and taste life's wild side, without consequences.

Darrian dreams of writing for the New York Times. To hone his skills and learn more about the power of words, he enrolls in Mr. Ward's class, known for its open-mic poetry and boys vs. girls poetry slam. Everyone in class has something important to say, and in sharing their poetry, they learn that they all face challenges and have a story to tell - whether it's about health problems, aging out of foster care, being bullied for religious beliefs, or having to take on too much responsibility because of an addicted parent.

International consultant Prescott Sweet's mission is to bring justice to countries suffering from America's imperialistic interventions. With his outspoken artist wife, Loretta, and their two children, he lives a life of equality and continental elegance amid Europe's glittering capitals - beyond anything he ever dared hope for. But he is still a man in hiding, from his past with the Bureau, from British Intelligence - and from his own tempting, dangerous skill at high-level espionage.

In the beginning, Isaac West stole to give his younger sister Janelle little things: a new sweater, a scarf, just so she looked less like a charity case whose mother spent money on booze and more like the prep school girls he'd see on his way to school. But when Isaac's petty theft lands him in juvie, he's cut off from helping Janelle. Friendless in a dangerous world of gangs and violent offenders, he must watch his every step.

The story is told primarily through Andre's voice, but we also see things through the voices and points of view of his mother Ruby, a hard-working medical secretary, his older sister Nina, his mostly not-there-usually-drunk-and-high father Eddie, a halfhearted reggae musician, and Reggie and Smoke, the kingpins of competing drug crews.

Life is supposed to be easy and carefree when you are young, but if you live in Washington, DC, that's not always the case. Flashing back to the 1990s, listeners enter the lives of four black men looking to gain money, power, and respect. These four brothas come from different walks of life, but they have one thing in common: They are trying to make fast money in the harsh inner city. However, when the money comes too easily, there's usually a price attached...the ultimate price.

As the Nimali princess, I’m expected to become a dragon shifter. I’ve already failed once, another failure threatens my life and the fate of everyone I care about. But the world outside my pampered existence is deadly. All my careful plans fall apart when I’m attacked by vicious creatures. The man who saves my life transforms into an impossible beast. His power is beyond belief. His touch ignites a fever beneath my skin. He thinks I may be destined for him and locks me away in his fortress. My people are depending on me. I must escape his prison.

First published at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic thirty years ago, Ray Shell’s “powerhouse” (Maya Angelou) of a novel is as timely and relevant today as it was in 1994. It is the story of Cornelius Washington, a young upper-middle-class Black man blessed with burning talent and ambition, who enjoys experimenting with drugs—a dangerous pastime that gradually becomes a destructive addiction. Now a middle-aged crackhead, Cornelius ponders his life and the choices that have led him here.

RBG failed her driving test five times! She could do twenty push-ups when she was eighty years old! She was a terrible cook! Siblings Paige and Turner have collected some of the most unusual and surprising facts about the Supreme Court icon, from her childhood and school days to her rise through the United States legal system to become one of the most famous justices—and political figures—in history.

George Washington Carver was determined to help the people he loved. Born enslaved in Missouri, he left home in search of an education, eventually earning his master’s degree. When Booker T. Washington invited Carver to start the agricultural department at the all-Black-staffed Tuskegee Institute, Carver found his calling. He spent the rest of his life seeking solutions to poverty among landless Black farmers by developing new uses for soil-replenishing crops such as peanuts, cowpeas, and sweet potatoes.

Recounts the author's experiences as a black man and aviator, detailing his efforts at building his own experimental aircraft, the loss of both his legs in the crash of a prototype, his later career as an aerospace research engineer, and more.

As the first rumblings of the pandemic sound around Garvey, he hardly notices. Caught up with his friends, school, chorus, and his newfound relationship with his father, he doesn't imagine that the new disease adults are talking about could touch him. But it will. When everything changes, when fear moves in, and when all seems dark, Garvey feels helpless. Yet one voice—Garvey's voice—can be a powerful spark in the dark …

Paul Robeson’s bass-baritone voice captivated audiences, especially when singing the spirituals he had heard at church and folk songs he had gathered from many countries. But Robeson was more than an interpreter of song. He was passionate about the injustices found in the United States and throughout the world and refused to keep quiet. As a stage and film actor, he fought against stereotypical roles and racism. Labeled a communist during the height of the Cold War, Robeson was stripped of his U.S. passport and found himself unable to earn a living. But Robeson never gave up or gave in.

The first Black man to become sheriff of a major city in the Deep South after Reconstruction, STRIVING FOR JUSTICE is the story of how a poor Black boy grew up in segregated Jacksonville, Florida, survived a violent racist attack by the Ku Klux Klan, and advanced through a blatantly prejudiced police force in the 1960s to become a national leader of police reform in America, who, as President Clinton recognized, broke down barriers, and whose innovative policing reforms created greater respect between citizens and police, lower crime, and safer neighborhoods.