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Category: African American Studies

February 20, 2023

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

Categories African American Studies/Reading Lists
February 17, 2023

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

Categories African American Studies/Colonial, Revolutionary Era & Early American History/Excerpts/Literature
February 16, 2023

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

Categories African American Studies/Diplomatic History / International Affairs/UNC Press News
February 13, 2023

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

Categories African American Studies/Reading Lists
February 6, 2023

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

Categories African American Studies/Reading Lists
February 2, 2023

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

Categories African American Studies/Reading Lists
January 16, 2023

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

Categories African American Studies/Guest Bloggers
January 12, 2023

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

Categories African American Studies/Political Science/Women's Studies
January 11, 2023

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

Categories Africa & African Diaspora/African American Studies/Excerpts
December 22, 2022

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

Categories African American Studies/Education
December 12, 2022

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

Categories African American Studies/Political Science
December 6, 2022

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

Categories African American Studies/Education/Political Science
November 22, 2022

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

Categories African American Studies/Appalachian Studies/folklore/Health / Medicine/Southern
November 14, 2022

Fugitive Slaves in the Antebellum South and the Question of Freedom in American History

The following is a guest blog post by Viola Franziska Müller, author of Escape to the City: Fugitive Slaves in the Antebellum Urban South, which is available now everywhere books are sold. Tens of thousands of people escaped slavery in the antebellum South. While the bulk of scholarship has focused on those who fled to the northern states and outside of the country, the… Continue Reading Fugitive Slaves in the Antebellum South and the Question of Freedom in American History

Categories African American Studies/Southern Studies
October 17, 2022

P. Gabrielle Foreman and Kiese Layman Named Among 2022 Macarthur Fellows

Last week, the MacArthur Foundation announced its 25 fellows and recipients of the “genius grant.” We were thrilled to see P. Gabrielle Foreman, co-editor of The Colored Conventions Movement: Black Organizing in the Nineteenth Century, and Kiese Layman, co-editor of our Great Circle Books series, among this years list of geniuses! Join us in giving a huge congratulations to these… Continue Reading P. Gabrielle Foreman and Kiese Layman Named Among 2022 Macarthur Fellows

Categories African American Studies/Creative Nonfiction/UNC Press News
September 29, 2022

2022 Association for the Study of African American Life and History Annual Meeting

UNC Press is excited to be once again exhibiting in-person at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History Annual Meeting! We hope you’ll stop by Booth 33 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 stop by our virtual booth! Congratulations… Continue Reading 2022 Association for the Study of African American Life and History Annual Meeting

Categories African American Studies/UNC Press News
September 23, 2022

Opposition and Misperceptions of Black Reparations

The following is an excerpt from the new preface of From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century, Second Edition by William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen, available now from your favorite bookstore. Opposition to Black Reparations Two major strands of raw opposition to reparations arise out of misperceptions. One category of misperceptions involves the… Continue Reading Opposition and Misperceptions of Black Reparations

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Excerpts
September 20, 2022

The Theatrical Origins of Eddie Murphy’s Mr. Wong

The following is a guest blog post by Josephine Lee, author of Oriental, Black, and White: The Formation of Racial Habits in American Theater, available now wherever books are sold. Much like the 1996 comedy The Nutty Professor, the 2007 Norbit served as a star vehicle for Eddie Murphy’s impersonations. Murphy played both the nebbish Norbit and Rasputia, his tyrannical wife (the latter complete with… Continue Reading The Theatrical Origins of Eddie Murphy’s Mr. Wong

Categories African American Studies/Asian American Studies/Guest Bloggers/Theatre & Performing Arts
August 24, 2022

“Black Faces, White Spaces” Now Available as an Audiobook

Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney is now available as an audiobook from Audible, Libro.fm, and Kobo. . Praise for Black Faces, White Spaces: “Makes a clear case for the dominant culture’s habitual (though, sometimes unwitting) rejection of African Americans.”—Library Journal, starred review “Weaving scholarly analysis with interviews of… Continue Reading “Black Faces, White Spaces” Now Available as an Audiobook

Categories African American Studies/Audiobooks/Environmental Studies/Guest Bloggers
August 16, 2022

Eating While Black – On Sale Now

Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America by Psyche A. Williams-Forson is available now wherever books and ebooks are sold. Psyche A. Williams-Forson is one of our leading thinkers about food in America. In Eating While Black, she offers her knowledge and experience to illuminate how anti-Black racism operates in the practice and culture of eating. She shows how… Continue Reading Eating While Black – On Sale Now

Categories African American Studies/Cooking / Food