In celebration of Black History Month, we at AFPLS bring you a special edition of "Featured African-American Authors." Instead of showcasing only a few of the many African-American masters of the written word, we present to you a very introductory look at the grandeur of African-American art, a rich and complex collage of the written word, the sung word, the painted word, the photographed word, the filmed word, any and all words that mirror the pain and beauty and truth of existence.

"An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose."

---- Langston Hughes, writer & activist, 1902-1967

Killer of Sheep: The Charles Burnett Collection By Burnett, Charles 2009-08 - Oscilloscope Pictures 0784148010748 Check Our Catalog

A slaughterhouse worker provides for his poor Los Angeles family. …More

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks By Hamilton, Lisagay 2003-12 - HBO Home Video BL08910DVD000 Check Our Catalog

Winner of the Grand Jury prize of the 2003 AFI Film Festival, this documentary presents Richards' shared wisdom and truths and explores the deep and tender relationship that developed between

legendary actress Richards and actress-turned-director, LisaGay Hamilton. …More

Sketches of Spain By Davis, Miles Recorded by Davis, Miles 1997-09 - Columbia 0074646514221 Check Our Catalog

Miles Davis's impact on jazz is almost incalculable. From his early days as a sideman for Charlie Parker, through his groundbreaking Birth of the Cool sessions, to his stunning small groups of the '50s and '60s, through to his electric renaissance, the trumpeter, bandleader, and composer has left a deep mark on all

who came after. He is one of jazz's true giants. Sketches of Spain, though one of …More

Go Tell It on the Mountain By Baldwin, James A. 1995-09 - Modern Library 0679601546 Check Our Catalog

"Mountain," Baldwin said, "is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else." Go Tell It On The Mountain, first published in 1953, is Baldwin's first major work, a novel that has established itself as an American classic. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and

a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin chronicles a …More

Best of - 20th Century Masters By James, Etta 2006-09 - 602517078345 Check Our Catalog

Hear the reigning queen of cool jazz croon her way through 11 of her best tunes on this greatest hits collection.

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Collected Poems By Hayden, Robert Afterword by Rampersad, Arnold Editor Glaysher, Frederick 2013-04 - Liveright Publishing Corporation 9780871406798 Check Our Catalog

Enhanced by a biographical portrait and a critical analysis of Hayden's poetry, an anthology featuring the work of one of the most important African-American poets of the twentieth century contemplates the black experience and deals with such themes as dreams, mortality, nature, travel, and memory.

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The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde By Lorde, Audre 2000-02 - W. W. Norton & Company 9780393319729 Check Our Catalog

A complete collection over 300 poems from one of this country's most influential poets. …More

Dutchman and the Slave By Barbaka, Amiri Author Baraka, Imamu Amiri Author Jones, LeRoi 1971-01 - Harper Perennial 0688210848 Check Our Catalog

Centered squarely on the Negro-white conflict, both "Dutchman "and "The Slave "are literally shocking plays--in ideas, in language, in honest anger. They illuminate as with a flash of lightning a deadly serious

problem--and they bring an eloquent and exceptionally powerful voice to the American theatre.

"Dutchman "opened in New York City on March 24, 1964, to perhaps the most excited acclaim …More

Beloved By Demme, Jonathan 2011-03 - Buena Vista Home Entertainment 0717951002365 Check Our Catalog FRE

From the Academy Award-winning director of "Silence Of The Lambs," comes the powerful story of a woman's journey to find freedom. With the help of an old friend, she is able to rediscover who she is and

regain her sense of hope. …More

Bloodchild: And Other Stories By Butler, Octavia E. 2005-10 - Seven Stories Press 9781583226988 Check Our Catalog

"An outstanding short story collection . . . [Butler] is an impressive writer whose work displays how science fiction readily transcends the perceived stylistic limitations of the genre."-"St. Petersburg Times"

""Bloodchild" is a compelling and horrifying novella . . . [by an] exceptionally talented writer."-"Publishers Weekly"

"The title story is justly famous . . . splendid pieces, set …More

Out to Lunch By Dolphy, Eric 1999-03 - Blue Note Records 0724349879324 Check Our Catalog

His brilliant 1964 debut as a leader on Blue Note, recorded just four months before his death. …More

Song of Solomon By Morrison, Toni 1977-08 - Knopf Publishing Group 0394497848 Check Our Catalog

Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, a novel of large beauty and power, creates a magical world out of four generations of black life in America, a world we enter on the day of the birth of Macon Dead, Jr. (known as Milkman), son of the richest black family in a mid-western town; the day on which the lonely

insurance man, Robert Smith, poised in blue silk wings, attempts to fly from a steeple of the …More

Boyz N the Hood By Singleton, John Producer Nicolaides, Steve 2007-02 - Sony Pictures Home Ent 0043396508194 Check Our Catalog

Three friends struggle to survive in South Central Los Angeles where friendship, pain, danger and love

form a true picture of life in the 'hood. …More

Pryor Convictions: And Other Life Sentences By Pryor, Richard Author Gold, Todd Author Prior, Richard 1997-08 - Pantheon Books 9780375700484 Check Our Catalog

A candid, funny, often outrageous memoir by the comedian spans his childhood in the whorehouses, bars, and pool halls of Peoria, Illinois, his army service, his ascent to fame, and his tragic fall at the

hands of drugs. Reprint. 35,000 first printing. …More

Carrie Mae Weems: The Hampton Project By Weems, Carrie Mae Author Patterson, Vivian Joint Author Johnston, Frances B. 2001-02 - Aperture 9780893819132 Check Our Catalog

Foreword by Paula S. Wallace, Stephanie S. Hughley. Text by Laurie Ann Farrell, Deborah Willis.

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Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism By Hooks, Bell 1999-07 - South End Press 9780896081291 Check Our Catalog

A groundbreaking work of feminist history and theory analyzing the complex relations between various forms of oppression. Ain't I a Woman examines the impact of sexism on black women during slavery, the historic devaluation of black womanhood, black male sexism, racism within the recent women's

movement, and black women's involvement with feminism. …More

Eyes with Winged Thoughts By Parks, Gordon, Jr. 2005-11 - Atria Books 9780743279628 Check Our Catalog

Fifty-eight new photographs and more than 40 new poems from the acclaimed photographer, composer,

filmmaker, painter, novelist, and journalist are included in this volume. …More

Stand! By Sly & the Family Stone 2008-04 - PSP Co Ltd 4582192933923 Check Our Catalog

2008 digitally remastered and expanded edition of the Funk band's 1969 opus featuring five bonus tracks. Stand! is the pinnacle of Sly & the Family Stone's early work, a record that represents a culmination of the group's musical vision and accomplishment. Music journalists have often hinted at this record's boundless enthusiasm and blurred stylistic boundaries, yet everything simply gels here,

…More

Out of Order, Out of Sight: 2-Volume Set By Piper, Adrian 1999-02 - MIT Press (MA) 9780262661546 Check Our Catalog

Adrian Piper joins the ranks of writer-artists who have provided much of the basic and most reliable literature on modern and contemporary art. "Out of Order, Out of Sight" is an artistic and intellectual autobiography and an (occasionally scathing) commentary on mainstream art, art criticism, and

American culture of the last twenty-five years. Piper is an internationally recognized conceptual …More

Everything Is Everything By Hathaway, Donny 2008-09 - PSP Co Ltd 4943674083695 Check Our Catalog

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The Chinaberry Tree: A Novel of American Life By Fauset, Jessie Redmon 1995-12 - G. K. Hall & Company 9780816116270 Check Our Catalog

The Chinaberry Tree (1931), Fauset's third novel, is a tale of the lives and loves of two generations of African-American women. Its seemingly quiet small-town setting is the backdrop for such bold and explosive issues as adultery, incest, miscegenation, lust, envy, and deception. The story focuses on two

women: Laurentine Strange, the beautiful daughter of a common-law interracial union, …More

Josephine Baker in Art and Life: The Icon and the Image By Jules-Rosette, Bennetta 2007-02 - University of Illinois Press 9780252074127 Check Our Catalog

Beyond biography: a legendary performer's legacy of symbolism …More

Very Best of Lightnin Hopkins By Lightnin' Hopkins Recorded by Hopkins, Lightnin 2009-05 - Redeye Music Distribution 0708535170426 Check Our Catalog

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The Essential Nina Simone By Simone, Nina 1993-09 - RCA BL01048MUS Check Our Catalog

Tracks: I want a little sugar in my bowl -- Seems I'm never tired lovin' you -- Do what you gotta do -- Just like Tom Thumb's blues -- Since I fell for you -- Mr. Bojangles -- Ain't got no/I got life -- In the dark -- Turn me on -- To love somebody -- I shall be released -- To be young, gifted and black -- I can't see nobody --

Isn't it a pity -- Sunday in Savannah -- I think it's going to …More

Heroes of the Blues: Very Best of Ma Rainey By Rainey, Ma 2003-08 - Relativity Entertainment 0826663025224 Check Our Catalog

Ma Rainey isn't just a "Hero of the Blues"-she's the "Mother of the Blues!" And here are 16 key sides, including Bo Weavil Blues; See See Ryder; Oh Papa; Jealous Hearted Blues; Yonder Comes the Blues;

Don't Fish in My Sea; Hear Me Talkin' to You , and more. …More

Cane By Toomer, Jean Editor Byrd, Rudolph P. Editor Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. 2011-01 - W. W. Norton & Company 9780393931686 Check Our Catalog

A masterpiece of the Harlem Renaissance and a canonical work in both the American and the African American literary traditions, Cane is now available in a revised and expanded Norton Critical Edition.

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