Category: African American Studies

The Multiracial Promise: Read an Excerpt

The following is an excerpt from The Multiracial Promise: Harold Washington’s Chicago and the Democratic Struggle in Reagan’s America by Gordon K. Mantler, available wherever books are sold. THEY CALLED IT the promised land. The warmth of other suns. The Black Metropolis. For at least four generations, African Americans flocked to Chicago to escape the living hell of the South’s Jim… Continue Reading The Multiracial Promise: Read an Excerpt

2023 African American Intellectual History Society Annual Meeting

UNC Press is excited to be exhibiting in-person at the AAIHS annual meeting! We hope you’ll stop by our table to say hello to editor Andrew Winters and to browse our titles on display. If you can’t join us in-person, you can always visit our virtual booth! Stop by either our in-person booth or our virtual booth to browse our… Continue Reading 2023 African American Intellectual History Society Annual Meeting

New This Month: March

We’re kicking off our Spring/Summer 2023 season with a stellar line up of new titles! Browse this list to see new books publishing this month, and you can find the full list, including a bunch of new in paperbacks here. The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women: Stories of Landscape and Community in the Mountain South edited by Kami Ahrens “These… Continue Reading New This Month: March

Black History Month Reading List: Biographies

To celebrate Black History Month we have been sharing reading lists of relevant Black history titles for you to enjoy all month long. The final installment of our reading lists focuses on biographies, telling the stories of Black lives and experiences. Make sure to also browse our full list of African American studies titles, learn about our new Black Women’s History Series, and keep… Continue Reading Black History Month Reading List: Biographies

Read Hammer and Hoe for Free

We’re excited to announce that in celebration of the inaugural issue of Hammer and Hope: A Magazine of Black Politics & Culture, you can now read Hammer and Hoe by Robin D. G. Kelley for free until 3/22/23. The Magazine, whose name is inspired by the award winning book, Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists during the Great Depression by Robin… Continue Reading Read Hammer and Hoe for Free

Ordinary Violence

The following is an excerpt from Consent in the Presence of Force: Sexual Violence and Black Women’s Survival in Antebellum New Orleans by Emily A. Owens, available wherever books are sold. In histories of enslavement and in Black women’s history, coercion looms large in any discussion of sex and sexuality. At a time when sexual violence against Black women was… Continue Reading Ordinary Violence

Trending This Month: February

See what’s trending at UNC Press with this reading list of the most viewed books on our website this month. Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists during the Great Depression, Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition by Robin D. G. Kelley Elliott Rudwick Prize, Organization of American Historians Outstanding Book Award, Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America Francis… Continue Reading Trending This Month: February

Black History Month Reading List Curated by Debbie Gershenowitz

To celebrate Black History Month we are sharing reading lists of relevant black history titles for you to enjoy all month long. The following reading list is curated by Assistant Editorial Director, Debbie Gershenowitz, who acquire’s books on United States, Latin American, and Caribbean history. Debbie’s particular areas of interest include: Black history; the history of the African diaspora; histories of enslavement, abolition,… Continue Reading Black History Month Reading List Curated by Debbie Gershenowitz

Seawall’s Secret: The Selling of More Than Two Dozen Black Africans

The following is an excerpt from Before Equiano: A Prehistory of the North American Slave Narrative by Zachary McLeod Hutchins, available wherever books are sold. In the antebellum United States, formerly enslaved men and women who told their stories and advocated for abolition helped establish a new genre with widely recognized tropes: the slave narrative. This book investigates how enslaved… Continue Reading Seawall’s Secret: The Selling of More Than Two Dozen Black Africans

Catch up on the UNC Press Presents Podcast

The UNC Press Presents podcast, in partnership with the New Books Network, features interviews with UNC Press authors about their books and research. You can stream on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or directly from the UNC Press Presents webpage. Browse some of our recent podcast episodes below or browse all episodes here. A conversation with J. Brent Morris, author of… Continue Reading Catch up on the UNC Press Presents Podcast

Black History Month Reading List Curated by Dawn Durante

To celebrate Black History Month we are sharing reading lists of relevant black history titles for you to enjoy all month long. This reading list is curated by Assistant Editorial Director, Dawn Durante, who acquire’s books on topics that span history and cultural studies, with commitments to African American history and Black studies, women’s history, and particularly Black women’s history,… Continue Reading Black History Month Reading List Curated by Dawn Durante

Black History Month Reading List: Black Resistance

In celebration of Black History month, we will be featuring reading lists of relevant titles throughout February. This week’s reading list is inspired by the theme, chosen by the founders of Black History Month: the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), which is Black Resistance. You can also browse our full list of African American… Continue Reading Black History Month Reading List: Black Resistance

Black History Month Reading List: Black Voices

UNC Press began publishing books on African American studies in the late 1920’s and we are proud to continually publish distinguished scholarship in this area. In celebration of Black History Month we will be highlighting titles that amplify black voices, underline the black experience, and engage with Black history. You can find weekly reading lists here on the blog and… Continue Reading Black History Month Reading List: Black Voices

Reliving King’s Dream

The following is a guest post by Daniel T. Fleming, author of Living the Dream: The Contested History of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. On January 20, 1986, the United States celebrated the first Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Half a million people filled the streets of downtown Atlanta as the inaugural King Day parade moved along Peachtree Street and… Continue Reading Reliving King’s Dream

The Making of a Young Intellectual

The following is an excerpt from Shirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics by Anastasia C. Curwood, available wherever books are sold. The Making of a Young Intellectual Although Shirley Chisholm would eventually be a formidable Black feminist political force, young Shirley St. Hill was ambivalent about pursuing politics during college and her early career. She was inspired by… Continue Reading The Making of a Young Intellectual

Cross-Border Cosmopolitans: An Excerpt

The following is an excerpt from Cross-Border Cosmopolitans: The Making of a Pan-African North America by Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey, available everywhere books are sold. THE MESSIANIC MOMENT, 1919–1931 The year 1919 marked the tercentennial of chattel slavery’s genesis in English North America. White supremacy may have warped notions of forgiveness, of forbearance, and of the significance of African bondage,… Continue Reading Cross-Border Cosmopolitans: An Excerpt

The Construction of Youth and the Rise of the Black High School

The following is an excerpt from A New Kind of Youth: Historically Black High Schools and Southern Student Activism, 1920–1975 by Jon N. Hale, available now wherever books are sold. The Construction of Youth and the Rise of the Black High School Though often overshadowed by the work of Black colleges or Black churches, southern Black high schools were an… Continue Reading The Construction of Youth and the Rise of the Black High School

From Briggs to Boston, and Back

The following is a guest blog post by Zebulon Vance Miletsky, author of Before Busing: A History of Boston’s Long Black Freedom Struggle, available now wherever books and e-books are sold. In Clarendon County, South Carolina, a farmer named Levi Pearson stood up with NAACP lawyer Harold Boulware to ask for a school bus. The Rev. Joseph A. DeLaine was… Continue Reading From Briggs to Boston, and Back

Eugene Gordon and the League for the Struggle of Negro Rights in Boston

The following is a guest blog post from Zebulon Vance Miletsky, author of Before Busing: A History of Boston’s Long Black Freedom Struggle.  Before Busing tells the story of the men and women who struggled and demonstrated to make school desegregation a reality in Boston. It reveals the legal efforts and battles over tactics that played out locally and influenced the… Continue Reading Eugene Gordon and the League for the Struggle of Negro Rights in Boston

New Books Out Today

Looking for you next read? Looking for the perfect holiday gift? Browse our list of books that are officially on-sale today and take advantage of our holiday sale to save 40% plus free shipping on orders over $75 with code 01HOLIDAY! Making our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia by Emily Hilliard “A benchmark in public folklore.”—Mary Hufford,… Continue Reading New Books Out Today