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Category: African American Studies

February 27, 2026

How Black Students Fought for Justice in a Forgotten High School Sit‑In

For a timely read during Black History Month, we’re sharing a guest post by Aaron G. Fountain Jr., author of High School Students Unite! Teen Activism, Education Reform, and FBI Surveillance in Postwar America. In this post, Fountain invites us to look beyond familiar narratives of the civil rights era and consider the power of Black youth whose courage has too… Continue Reading How Black Students Fought for Justice in a Forgotten High School Sit‑In

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Guest Bloggers
February 24, 2026

Fungi, Survival, and Black Histories: A Q&A with Maria Pinto

Black History Month is the perfect time to find your next favorite read. We spoke with Maria Pinto on her book FEARLESS, SLEEPLESS, DEATHLESS: What Fungi Taught Me about Nourishment, Poison, Ecology, Hidden Histories, Zombies, and Black Survival. In this Q&A, Pinto reflects on how fungi became an unexpected lens for exploring Black and brown experiences in mycology, the complexities… Continue Reading Fungi, Survival, and Black Histories: A Q&A with Maria Pinto

Categories African American Studies
July 15, 2025

New This Week: July 15th

How did white residential developers, planning consultants, and their allies in government strategically replace block-level segregation with segregation at the neighborhood level in New South cities such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Houston, Raleigh, and Winston-Salem? That’s the topic of this week’s new release, Good Parents, Better Homes, and Great Schools: Selling Segregation before the New Deal by Karen Benjamin. Good… Continue Reading New This Week: July 15th

Categories African American Studies/New Books
July 8, 2025

Beyond the Fire: Reclaiming Black Craftsmanship from the Ruins of Nottoway

The following is a guest post by Torren L. Gatson, assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and co-editor of Fighting for Freedom: Black Craftspeople and the Pursuit of Independence which is available now wherever books are sold. The burning of Louisiana’s Nottoway Plantation in May has sparked a wave of reactions across the public… Continue Reading Beyond the Fire: Reclaiming Black Craftsmanship from the Ruins of Nottoway

Categories African American Studies/Guest Bloggers
June 3, 2025

New This Week: June 3rd

This week we have two exciting new titles publishing. Something to Do with Power by David Tyroler Romine traces the life and legacy of Julian Mayfield, illuminating his pivotal yet underrecognized role in Black radical thought and activism across the mid-20th century & A Common Grave by Susan Juster provides the first comprehensive look at the lived experience of Catholics—whether Irish,… Continue Reading New This Week: June 3rd

Categories African American Studies/New Books/Religion
April 1, 2025

New This Week: April 1

Another Tuesday, another selection of new books! Check out this week’s new releases including Civil War; African American Studies; Colonial, Revolutionary Era & Early American History; and travel/guidebook titles. Plus, as always, see everything new this month on our Hot Off the Press page. The Fabulous Ordinary: Discovering the Natural Wonders of the Wild South by Georgann Eubanks “The Fabulous Ordinary encourages… Continue Reading New This Week: April 1

Categories African American Studies/Civil War/Colonial, Revolutionary Era & Early American History/Environmental Studies/New Books/Travel
March 27, 2025

Seeing Through the Lenses of Literature, Music, and Womanist Theology: A Q&A With Melanie R. Hill

The following is a Q&A with Melanie R. Hill, Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Global Racial Justice and Assistant Professor of American Literature at Rutgers University, Newark, and a classically trained gospel violinist, and author of Colored Women Sittin’ on High: Womanist Sermonic Practice in Literature and Music, publishing in April but available for pre-order now. What led you… Continue Reading Seeing Through the Lenses of Literature, Music, and Womanist Theology: A Q&A With Melanie R. Hill

Categories African American Studies/Religion/Women's Studies
March 25, 2025

New This Week: March 25th

We have two new books publishing this week. One looks at nineteenth-century law and literature and the other examines Black and Brown protest in post-civil rights America. Learn more about these titles below or visit our Hot Off the Press page to see everything new publishing this month. Black Pro Se: Authorship and the Limits of Law in Nineteenth-Century African American Literature… Continue Reading New This Week: March 25th

Categories African American Studies/New Books
March 10, 2025

Black Women Have Dreams: A Photo Essay of My Ancestors

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, it’s essential to honor the resilience and strength of Black women throughout history. In this blog post Brittany Friedman, author of Carceral Apartheid: How Lies and White Supremacists Run Our Prisons, delves into the resilience and strength of her grandmother, great grandmother, and their descendants, highlighting their unwavering hope and determination in the face of… Continue Reading Black Women Have Dreams: A Photo Essay of My Ancestors

Categories African American Studies/Guest Bloggers/Women's Studies
February 19, 2025

Q&A With Casey Nichols

This Black History Month we’re highlighting Black stories and amplifying Black voices. The following is a Q&A with Casey D. Nichols, assistant professor of history at Texas State University and author of Poverty Rebels: Black and Brown Protest in Post–Civil Rights America publishing next month, but available for pre-order now. What led you to write Poverty Rebels: Black and Brown Protest… Continue Reading Q&A With Casey Nichols

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Latino Studies/UNC Press News
February 18, 2025

New This Week: February 18th

We’re excited to have three new books publishing today on topics including poetry, women’s basketball history, how media mistreats Black girls, and a dive into grief across generations and oceans. Learn more about these titles below or visit our Hot Off the Press page to see everything new publishing this month. Shattering the Glass: The Remarkable History of Women’s Basketball by Pamela… Continue Reading New This Week: February 18th

Categories African American Studies/New Books/Poetry/Sports/Women's Studies
February 17, 2025

Black Women Dazzle: Stories of American Women’s Basketball

The following post was originally published on shatteringtheglassbook.com by Pamela Grundy, coauthor of Shattering the Glass: The Remarkable History of Women’s Basketball, and is being reposted here with permission. The revised edition of Shattering the Glass is on-sale tomorrow and available wherever books are sold. Black women have long energized American women’s basketball. Marian Washington, C. Vivian Stringer, Lusia Harris,… Continue Reading Black Women Dazzle: Stories of American Women’s Basketball

Categories Africa & African Diaspora/African American Studies/Sports/Women's Studies
February 12, 2025

Q&A With Aria S. Halliday

For Black History Month we’ve been highlighting some of our African American Studies books and amplifying Black voices here on the blog. Next up in our series is a Q&A with Aria S. Halliday, associate professor of gender and women’s studies and African American and Africana studies at the University of Kentucky and author of Black Girls and How We Fail… Continue Reading Q&A With Aria S. Halliday

Categories African American Studies/Women's Studies
February 5, 2025

Celebrating Black History Month: Essential Reads

February is Black History Month, a time to honor the legacy, achievements, and contributions of African Americans throughout history and to amplify Black voices shaping our present and future. Since our founding in 1922 UNC Press has made a commitment to publishing in the field of African American studies. In fact, we were the first scholarly publisher to develop an… Continue Reading Celebrating Black History Month: Essential Reads

Categories Africa & African Diaspora/African American Studies/Reading Lists
January 28, 2025

New This Week: January 28th

New this week is a biography of Doc Watson and a history of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. Learn more about these two enlightening titles or visit our Hot Off the Press page to see everything new that published this month. Doc Watson: A Life in Music by Eddie Huffman American Music: New Roots “A vivd portrait . . . The… Continue Reading New This Week: January 28th

Categories African American Studies/Music/New Books
January 20, 2025

The History of Martin Luther King Jr. Day: An Excerpt from “Living the Dream”

Today, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we’re featuring an excerpt from the introduction of Living The Dream: The Contested History of Martin Luther King Jr. Day by Daniel T. Fleming. You can also check out this guest post from Daniel on the history of MLK Jr. Day. On January 20, 1986, half a million people looked on as the… Continue Reading The History of Martin Luther King Jr. Day: An Excerpt from “Living the Dream”

Categories African American Studies
December 13, 2024

Whiting Foundation 2024 Creative Nonfiction Grantee: Ronald Williams II

UNC Press is proud to announce that Ronald Williams II is one of the Whiting Foundation’s 2024 recipients of the $40,000 Creative Nonfiction Grant, given to writers in the process of completing a book of deeply researched and imaginatively composed nonfiction. Williams II’s BLACK EMBASSY: TransAfrica and the Struggle for Foreign Policy Justice is forthcoming from UNC Press—the only publication from a university press… Continue Reading Whiting Foundation 2024 Creative Nonfiction Grantee: Ronald Williams II

Categories African American Studies/Awards/UNC Press News
November 27, 2024

Dear Young Master and Friend: How One Letter Turned into a Biography

The following is a guest post from Sydney Nathans, author of Freedom’s Mirage: Virgil Bennehan’s Odyssey from Emancipation to Exile, which traces the exceptional life of Virgil Bennehan, born in bondage in 1808 in Piedmont North Carolina, who rose to become an enslaved doctor on one of the South’s largest plantations and to view himself as a friend to Black… Continue Reading Dear Young Master and Friend: How One Letter Turned into a Biography

Categories African American Studies/Guest Bloggers
November 19, 2024

New This Week: November 19th

Looking for a good read that will both entertain and educate? If so you’ve come to the right place. This week we have a history of the local story behind Brown v. Board and a book challenging one of America’s favorite pastimes: college football. Check out what’s new this week or head to our Hot Off The Press Page to see all… Continue Reading New This Week: November 19th

Categories African American Studies/New Books/Sociology
October 17, 2024

Yale Announces 2024 Frederick Douglass Book Prize Finalists

Congratulations are in order for Marlene L. Daut, Sara E. Johnson, and Emily A. Owens, three of the four finalists—published by the University of North Carolina Press, and by Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press—for the 2024 Frederick Douglass Book Prize. Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery,… Continue Reading Yale Announces 2024 Frederick Douglass Book Prize Finalists

Categories African American History/African American Studies