Category: African American Studies

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

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

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

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

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

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

“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

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

“Chronicling Stankonia” by Regina Bradley: Now Available as an Audiobook

Chronicling Stankonia: The Rise of the Hip-Hop South by Regina N. Bradley, a critically acclaimed bestselling UNC Press title, is now available as an audiobook read by Bradley via Libro.fm, Audible, and Kobo. Praise for Chronicling Stankonia: This treatise from leading Southern hip-hop scholar Regina N. Bradley is a revelatory collection of essays—part literary criticism, part sonic analysis, part personal… Continue Reading “Chronicling Stankonia” by Regina Bradley: Now Available as an Audiobook

New in Paperback for Spring 2022

The following titles are all newly available in paperback from your favorite bookseller. And, if purchasing direct from UNC Press, take 40% off during our 100th Anniversary Sale using promo code 01DAH40 at checkout, and ground shipping is free on U.S. orders that are $75+ (also good on any print book, as well as preorders; a few restrictions apply). Stone… Continue Reading New in Paperback for Spring 2022

Celebrate Juneteenth by Reflecting on Enslavement in the American South

Happy Juneteenth(observation day)! As we take today to commemorate the end of slavery in the US, we are sharing an excerpt from Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South by Stephanie M. H. Camp. 1 A GEOGRAPHY OF CONTAINMENT The Bondage of Space and Time THE PRINCIPLES OF RESTRAINT At the heart of the process of enslavement was… Continue Reading Celebrate Juneteenth by Reflecting on Enslavement in the American South

“Black Faces, White Spaces” by Carolyn Finney : Now Available as an Audiobook

Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney, a critically acclaimed bestselling UNC Press title, is now available as an audiobook via Libro.fm, Kobo, and Audible.com. “Weaving scholarly analysis with interviews of leading black environmentalists and ordinary Americans, Finney traces the environmental legacy of slavery and Jim Crow segregation, which mapped… Continue Reading “Black Faces, White Spaces” by Carolyn Finney : Now Available as an Audiobook

Glenda Gilmore Discusses “Romare Bearden in the Homeland of His Imagination”

The last of Spring 2022’s UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC Press’s ongoing Off the Shelf speaker series featured Glenda Gilmore discussing her new book, Romare Bearden in the Homeland of His Imagination: An Artist’s Reckoning with the South (on sale May 10, 2022). Watch the archived virtual discussion between Gilmore and Aaron Smithers, UNC-Chapel Hill Special Collections R&IS Librarian: In Romare… Continue Reading Glenda Gilmore Discusses “Romare Bearden in the Homeland of His Imagination”

Congratulations to 2022 Carnegie Fellows George Derek Musgrove and Monica M. White

Hearty congratulations to UNC Press authors Monica M. White, author of Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement, and George Derek Musgrove, co-author of Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital, both part of the 2022 cohort of Andrew Carnegie Fellows. About the Carnegie Fellows: The Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program provides philanthropic support… Continue Reading Congratulations to 2022 Carnegie Fellows George Derek Musgrove and Monica M. White

Berkley Hudson discusses “O.N. Pruitt’s Possum Town: Photographing Trouble and Resilience in the American South” at Flyleaf Books

Watch the archived presentation given by Berkeley Hudson on his recently released book published in partnership between Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and UNC Press, O.N. Pruitt’s Possum Town: Photographing Trouble and Resilience in the American South, held on March 31st, 2022 at Chapel Hill, North Carolina’s Flyleaf Books. The New York Times Book Review proclaimed that “O.N.… Continue Reading Berkley Hudson discusses “O.N. Pruitt’s Possum Town: Photographing Trouble and Resilience in the American South” at Flyleaf Books

“Pauli Murray: A Personal and Political Life” Selected for NCH’s 2022 NC Reads Book Club

Pauli Murray: A Personal and Political Life by Troy R. Saxby has been selected for North Carolina Reads, the North Carolina Humanities statewide book club for 2022 that features five books that explore issues of racial, social, and gender equality and the history and culture of the state. “All five books pose critical questions about how North Carolinians view their role in helping… Continue Reading “Pauli Murray: A Personal and Political Life” Selected for NCH’s 2022 NC Reads Book Club

Women’s History Month 2022 Reading List (Curated by Ann Bingham)

Happy Women’s History Month! In celebration of this historical month, we’ll be sharing reading lists curated by our staff featuring all authors who identify as women. Today we’re sharing a list from our Exhibits and Awards Manager Ann Bingham. Click here to see the previously shared lists and learn more about how Women’s History Month came about. If you’re interested in purchasing any of… Continue Reading Women’s History Month 2022 Reading List (Curated by Ann Bingham)

Women’s History Month 2022 Reading List (Curated by Helen Kyriakoudes)

Happy Women’s History Month! In celebration of this historical month, we’ll be sharing reading lists curated by our staff featuring all authors who identify as women. Today we’re sharing a list from our Publicity Assistant Helen Kyriakoudes. Click here to see the previously shared lists and learn more about how Women’s History Month came about. If you’re interested in purchasing any of these books,… Continue Reading Women’s History Month 2022 Reading List (Curated by Helen Kyriakoudes)

The Gendered Anatomy of “Negro Crime”

The following is an excerpt from Talitha L. LeFlouria’s Chained in Silence: Black Women and Convict Labor in the New South. In 1868, the state of Georgia began to make its rapidly growing population of prisoners available for hire. The resulting convict leasing system ensnared not only men but also African American women, who were forced to labor in camps… Continue Reading The Gendered Anatomy of “Negro Crime”