HISTORICAL NONFICTION
SHE TOOK JUSTICE: THE BLACK WOMAN, LAW, AND POWER, 1619-1969
GLORIA J. BROWNE-MARSHALL
She Took Justice: The Black Woman, Law, and Power–1619-1969 proves that The Black Woman liberated herself, Readers go on a journey from the invasion of Africa into the Colonial period and the Civil Rights Movement. The Black Woman reveals power, from Queen Nzingha to Shirley Chisholm.
In She Took Justice, we see centuries of courage in the face of racial prejudice and gender oppression. We gain insight into American history through The Black Woman’s fight against race laws, especially criminal injustice. She became an organizer, leader, activist, lawyer, and judge–a fighter in her own advancement.
These engaging true stories show that, for most of American history, the law was an enemy to The Black Woman. Using perseverance, tenacity, intelligence, and faith, she turned the law into a weapon to combat discrimination, a prestigious occupation, and a platform from which she could lift others as she rose. This is a book for every reader.
NONFICTION–GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH
GOURDVINE BLACK AND WHITE: SLAVERY AND THE KILBY FAMILIES OF THE VIRGINIA PIEDMONT
TIMOTHY KILBY
Gourdvine Black and White is the history, biography, and genealogy of one family divided into two by race and the time in which they lived. For four generations, European-descent Kilbys enslaved men, women, and children in Culpeper and Rappahannock counties of Virginia. Family history author Timothy Kilby took on the monumental task of researching and piecing together documentary fragments and DNA evidence to find individual identities and hidden realities.
NONFICTION–HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY
WOMEN OF COLOUR MADE A DIFFERENCE IN THE ERA OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR: THE BIRTH OF BLACK AMERICA?
MARION T. LANE
Making a Difference
As you read the stories of these twelve women, think about what makes a difference: an idea, an object, or a deed? Does it have to be something big or can it be something small? Does it need to take place over a long period of time or can it be a one-tome event? Should it be directed to a person, a family, a community, or the world?
NONFICTION–BIOGRAPHY
ANTOINE OF OAK ALLEY: THE UNLIKELY ORIGIN OF SOUTHERN PECANS AND THE ENSLAVED MAN WHO CULTIVATED THEM
KATY MORLAS SHANNON
The story of Antoine is emblematic of countless enslaved people wholes loves and contributions have been overlooked. Antoine, the enslaved gardener of Oak Alley Plantation, was the first person to successfully propagate the pecan tree, yet he exists only as a footnote in the bigger story of Oak Alley Plantation. His pioneering work enabled large groves of trees to be planted, creating a lucrative commercial crop and though his horticultural achievement has long been legend, virtually nothing is known about his life. Historian Katy Morlas Shannon utilizes extensive research and period documents to expose his story and explore the lives of the enslaved community in which he lived. The life of this truly revolutionary enslaved man us revealed through the lives of his family and friends, the community they built, and the bonds they forged during their enslavement and their life as free people.
NONFICTION–HISTORICAL ACADEMIC
CHAINED TO HISTORY: SLAVERY AND U.S. FOREIGN RELATIONS TO 1865
STEVEN J. BRADY
In Chained to History, Steven J. Brady places slavery at the center of the story of America’s place in the world in the years prior to the calamitous Civil War. Beginning with the immediate aftermath of the War of the American Revolution, Brady follows the military, economic, and moral lines of the diplomatic challenges of attempting to manage, on the global stage, the actuality of human servitude in a country dedicated to human freedom, Chained to History shows how slavery was interwoven with America’s foreign relations and affected policy controversies raging from trade to extradition treaties to military alliances.
Brady highlights the limitation places on American policymakers who, working in an international context increasingly supportive of abolition, were severely constrained regarding the formulation of execution of preferred policy. Policymakers were bound to the slave interest-based in the Democratic Party and the tortured state of domestic politics bore heavily on the conduct of foreign affairs. As international powers not only abolished the slave trade but banned human servitude as such, the American position became untenable.
From the Age of Revolutions through the American Civil War, slavery was a constant factor in shaping the US relations with the Atlantic World and beyond. Chained to History addresses this critical topic in its complete scope and shows the immoral practice of human bondage to have informed how the United States re-entered the community of nations after 1865.
NONFICTION–HISTORICAL EVENT
THE 1619 PROJECT
NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES
In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia bearing a cargo of 20 to 30 enslaved people from Africa. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the source of so much that still defines the United States.
The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning “1619 Project” issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This new book substantially expands on that work, weaving together 18 essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with 36 poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself.
This is a book that speaks directly to our current moment, contextualizing the systems of race and caste within which we operate today. It reveals long-glossed-over truths around our nation’s founding and construction – and the way that the legacy of slavery did not end with emancipation, but continues to shape contemporary American life.
CHILDREN
THE 1619 PROJECT: BORN ON THE WATER
NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES, RENÉE WATSON (AUTHOR), NIKKOLAS SMITH (ILLUSTRATOR)
A young student receives a family tree assignment in school, but she can only trace back three generations. Grandma gathers the whole family, and the student learns that 400 years ago, in 1619, their ancestors were stolen and brought to America by white slave traders.
But before that, they had a home, a land, a language. She learns how the people said to be born on the water survived.
And the people planted dreams and hope,
willed themselves to keep
living, living.
And the people learned new words
for love
for friend
for family
for joy
for grow
for home.
With powerful verse and striking illustrations by Nikkolas Smith, Born on the Water provides a pathway for readers of all ages to reflect on the origins of American identity.