Showing results by narrator "Karen   Chilton" in All Categories

Aretha Franklin was a musical and cultural icon whose legacy spanned six decades! Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1942, Aretha got her start singing in front of her father's Baptist congregation and found minor success as a gospel singer. She then set her sights on becoming a pop-music artist and used her powerful voice and impressive skills on the piano to get a record deal. Aretha released her first of many celebrated albums at the age of 18. In 1987, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, making her the first female artist to grace the prestigious list.

On the heels of the best seller success of her novel The Wedding, Dorothy West, the last surviving member of the Harlem Renaissance, presents a collection of essays and stories that explore both the realism of everyday life, and the fantastical, extraordinary circumstances of one woman's life in a mythic time.

This friendly, fun biography series focuses on the traits that made our heroes great - the traits that kids can aspire to in order to live heroically themselves. Each book tells the story of an icon in a lively, conversational way that works well for the youngest nonfiction audiences and that always includes the hero's childhood influences. This book features critically acclaimed talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, who used her struggles in childhood as motivation to become "Queen of All Media".

An incisive and illuminating analysis of the enduring legacy of the post-Civil War period known as Reconstruction - a comprehensive story of Black Americans’ struggle for human rights and dignity and the failure of the nation to fulfill its promises of freedom, citizenship, and justice.

A Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings’ family explores America’s racial reckoning through the prism of her ancestors - both the enslaver and the enslaved.

She's a brilliant Senate candidate, a tech mogul's loving wife, and mother to two precious daughters. As a member of one of the country's most prominent families, Kimberly Maitland grew up having it all - and fighting to help those who need help most. But when journalist Zoie Crawford reveals her family's best-hidden, most shattering secret, the media firestorm and personal fallout are beyond devastating....

Junice: What am I doing? He'll take one quick look and wish he was anywhere else but here. I'm already ashamed of what I think he will think of me, of the life I lead...Damien: Yes, she is the fruit that will sustain me and yes, she brings a rain that I know can chill. But it is a rain so sweet and sings a song my soul insists that I follow, if I would exist. As more than I have ever, ever been if my mother calls it evil, then I embrace the sin.

In The Other Madisons, Bettye Kearse - a descendant of a slave named Coreen and, according to oral tradition, President James Madison - finally shares her family story, exploring legacy, race, and the powerful consequences of telling the whole truth.

Southland brings us a fascinating story of race, love, murder, and history, against the backdrop of an ever-changing Los Angeles. A young Japanese-American woman, Jackie Ishida, is in her last semester of law school when her grandfather, Frank Sakai, dies unexpectedly. While trying to fulfill a request from his will, Jackie discovers that four African-American boys were killed in the store Frank owned during the Watts Riots of 1965. Along with James Lanier, a cousin of one of the victims, Jackie tries to piece together the story of the boys' deaths.

On a cold December evening, Autumn Spencer's twin sister Summer walks to the roof of their shared Harlem brownstone and is never seen again - the door to the roof is locked, and no footprints are found. Faced with authorities indifferent to another missing woman, Autumn must pursue answers on her own, all while grieving her mother's recent death. With her friends and neighbors, Autumn pretends to hold up through the crisis. She falls into an affair with Summer's boyfriend to cope with the disappearance of a woman they both loved.

In a secluded cabin, John and his loved ones have survived. He should feel grateful. But his family is in his face 24/7, he has to watch his best friend, Arden, and brother, Gabriel, flaunt their love, and as a techie in a Luddite world, he’s pretty much useless. The cabin is brimming with people, but he feels utterly alone. Until he catches Mr. Tall, Blond, and Gorgeous raiding their garden. Mykhail is an astrophysics student, he makes John’s gaydar ping like crazy, and he thinks he knows what caused the devastation.

In the governor’s palace in Luanda, the Portuguese courtiers whisper in shock: a woman! Sent to make a treaty with the invaders, Nzinga of Angola is swept into world history, a generation after Elizabeth I ruled England. For 40 years, Queen Nzinga fights to destroy the imperial colonists who seek to enslave her people.

This collection contains four historical novellas by award-winning author Alyssa Cole: Be Not Afraid, That Could Be Enough, Let Us Dream, and Let It Shine.

After spending half her life pretending to be something she’s not, performance is second nature for cabaret owner Bertha Hines. With the election drawing near and women’s voting rights on the ballot, Bertha decides to use her persuasive skills to push the men of New York City in the right direction. Chef Amir Chowdhury jumped ship in New York to get a taste of the American Dream. When ornery Amir reluctantly takes a job at The Cashmere, he thinks he’s hit the bottom of the barrel; however, working at the club reignites his dream of being a force for change.

Mercy Alston knows the best thing to do with pesky feelings like "love" and "hope": avoid them at all costs. Serving as a maid to Eliza Hamilton, and an assistant in the woman's stubborn desire to preserve her late husband's legacy, has driven that point home for Mercy - as did her own previous heartbreaks. When Andromeda Stiel shows up at Hamilton Grange for an interview in her grandfather's stead, Mercy's resolution to live a quiet, pain-free life is tested by the beautiful, flirtatious, and entirely overwhelming dressmaker.

Elijah Sutton is no fool, despite his love of a country that enslaves people like him. When he's offered land, livestock, and - most importantly - his freedom if he fights in his Patriot owner's stead, Elijah believes he'll soon have everything he ever wanted...and then he meets Kate. The Crown has promised freedom to slaves who escape their Patriot masters and join the British side, and Kate intends to take them up on it. She's eager to leave America - and the painful memories it holds for her - far behind...and then she meets Elijah.

In Lighting the Fires of Freedom Janet Dewart Bell shines a light on women’s all-too-often overlooked achievements in the Movement. Through wide-ranging conversations with nine women, several now in their nineties with decades of untold stories, we hear what ignited and fueled their activism, as Bell vividly captures their inspiring voices. Lighting the Fires of Freedom offers these deeply personal and intimate accounts of extraordinary struggles for justice that resulted in profound social change, stories that remain important and relevant today.

As gentrification encroaches on historic Harlem, Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award recipient Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts untangles the myth and meaning of its storied legacy. Drawing on Harlem’s history and her own observations, Rhodes-Pitts introduces a variety of observers who shared a common hope that Harlem would become the ground from which Blacks fully entered America’s democracy.

Here's an endearing story of life-altering events. Chantell has it all: a great career, beautiful clothes, lots of spending money, a cool car, and a picture-perfect fiancé. So why is she so unhappy? She promises God that she will become a better person as her father lays on his deathbed. But keeping that promise unravels Chantell's seemingly perfect life.

Award-winning author Ruth-Miriam Garnett pens an exceptional tale of the wealthy and prominent Cates family. Lealia is the inspiring story of three sisters who, despite their good upbringing, marry worthless husbands.