When the Black Girl Sings

When the Black Girl Sings
Author: Bil Wright
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2009-04-07
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 143916410X

In this moving young adult novel, acclaimed author Bil Wright tells the story of one girl’s search to find a home where she truly belongs. Lahni Schuler is the only black student at her private prep school. She’s also the adopted child of two loving, but white, parents who are on the road to divorce. Struggling to comfort her mother and angry with her dad, Lahni feels more and more alone. But when Lahni and her mother attend a local church one Sunday, Lahni hears the amazing gospel choir, and her life takes an unexpected turn. It so happens that one of Lahni’s teachers, Mr. Faringhelli, has nominated her for a talent competition, and she is expected to perform a song in front of the whole school. Lahni decides to join the church choir to help her become a better singer. But what starts out as a way to practice singing becomes a place of belonging and a means for Lahni to discover her own identity.

Rise Up Singing

Rise Up Singing
Author: Cecelie S. Berry
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2004
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 9780385509039

An anthology of short fiction, poems, and personal essays by top African-American women shares their experiences as mothers and daughters in their homes and communities, in a volume that includes contributions by Alice Walker, Faith Ringgold, and Maya Angelou.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Author: Maya Angelou
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2010-07-21
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 030747772X

Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity.”—James Baldwin From the Paperback edition.

Change Sings

Change Sings
Author: Amanda Gorman
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2021-09-21
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0593203232

A lyrical picture book debut from #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman and #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long "I can hear change humming In its loudest, proudest song. I don't fear change coming, And so I sing along." In this stirring, much-anticipated picture book by presidential inaugural poet and activist Amanda Gorman, anything is possible when our voices join together. As a young girl leads a cast of characters on a musical journey, they learn that they have the power to make changes—big or small—in the world, in their communities, and in most importantly, in themselves. With lyrical text and rhythmic illustrations that build to a dazzling crescendo by #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long, Change Sings is a triumphant call to action for everyone to use their abilities to make a difference.

Roman and Jewel

Roman and Jewel
Author: Dana L. Davis
Publisher: Harlequin
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2021-01-05
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1488076537

If Romeo and Juliet got the Hamilton treatment...who would play the leads? This vividly funny, honest, and charming romantic novel by Dana L. Davis is the story of a girl who thinks she has what it takes...and the world thinks so, too. Jerzie Jhames will do anything to land the lead role in Broadway’s hottest new show, Roman and Jewel, a Romeo and Juliet inspired hip-hopera featuring a diverse cast and modern twists on the play. But her hopes are crushed when she learns mega-star Cinny won the lead...and Jerzie is her understudy. Falling for male lead Zeppelin Reid is a terrible idea—especially once Jerzie learns Cinny wants him for herself. Star-crossed love always ends badly. But when a video of Jerzie and Zepp practicing goes viral and the entire world weighs in on who should play Jewel, Jerzie learns that while the price of fame is high, friendship, family, and love are priceless. Books by Dana L. Davis: Tiffany Sly Lives Here Now The Voice in My Head Roman and Jewel

Sing a Song

Sing a Song
Author: Kelly Starling Lyons
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 21
Release: 2019-08-06
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0525516107

"Lyons delivers the history of a song that has inspired generations of African-Americans to persist and resist in the face of racism and systemic oppression. . . . A heartfelt history of a historic anthem."--Publishers Weekly Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. In Jacksonville, Florida, two brothers, one of them the principal of a segregated, all-black school, wrote the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" so his students could sing it for a tribute to Abraham Lincoln's birthday in 1900. From that moment on, the song has provided inspiration and solace for generations of Black families. Mothers and fathers passed it on to their children who sang it to their children and grandchildren. Known as the Black National Anthem, it has been sung during major moments of the Civil Rights Movement and at family gatherings and college graduations. Inspired by this song's enduring significance, Kelly Starling Lyons and Keith Mallett tell a story about the generations of families who gained hope and strength from the song's inspiring words. --A CCBC Choice --A Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People --An ALSC Notable Children's Book

Black Women's Liberation Movement Music

Black Women's Liberation Movement Music
Author: Reiland Rabaka
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2023-10-30
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1000966798

Black Women’s Liberation Movement Music argues that the Black Women’s Liberation Movement of the mid-to-late 1960s and 1970s was a unique combination of Black political feminism, Black literary feminism, and Black musical feminism, among other forms of Black feminism. This book critically explores the ways the soundtracks of the Black Women’s Liberation Movement often overlapped with those of other 1960s and 1970s social, political, and cultural movements, such as the Black Power Movement, Women’s Liberation Movement, and Sexual Revolution. The soul, funk, and disco music of the Black Women’s Liberation Movement era is simultaneously interpreted as universalist, feminist (in a general sense), and Black female-focused. This music’s incredible ability to be interpreted in so many different ways speaks to the importance and power of Black women’s music and the fact that it has multiple meanings for a multitude of people. Within the worlds of both Black Popular Movement Studies and Black Popular Music Studies there has been a long-standing tendency to almost exclusively associate Black women’s music of the mid-to-late 1960s and 1970s with the Black male-dominated Black Power Movement or the White female-dominated Women’s Liberation Movement. However, this book reveals that much of the soul, funk, and disco performed by Black women was most often the very popular music of a very unpopular and unsung movement: The Black Women’s Liberation Movement. Black Women’s Liberation Movement Music is an invaluable resource for students, teachers, and researchers of Popular Music Studies, American Studies, African American Studies, Critical Race Studies, Gender Studies, and Sexuality Studies.

When the Brown Girl Sings

When the Brown Girl Sings
Author: Prestine Bush
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 39
Release: 2019-10-14
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 0359978118

When The Brown Girl Sings is a collection of pictures and poetry many women can connect to. It contains poems about different emotions felt after heart break, social injustice and toxic relationships.It makes you think and reevaluate when the situation has set you up to be confused and indecisive.

How the Hula Girl Sings

How the Hula Girl Sings
Author: Joe Meno
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 187
Release: 2013-12-20
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617752312

A haunted ex-con returns to his hometown: “Fans of hard-boiled pulp fiction will particularly enjoy this novel” (Booklist). Luce Lemay is out on parole three years after an awful tragedy sent him to prison. In his small Illinois town, he does his best to find hope: in a new job at the local Gas-N-Go; in his companion and fellow ex-con, Junior Breen, who spells out puzzling messages to the unquiet ghosts of his past; and finally, in the arms of the lovely but reckless Charlene. But sorrow and violence lie in his path, in this suspenseful exploration of a country bright with the far-off stars of forgiveness and dark with the still-looming shadow of the death penalty. “A wonderful accomplishment . . . The power is in the writing. Mr. Meno is a superb craftsman.” —Hubert Selby Jr., bestselling author of Last Exit to Brooklyn “The author moves the story along at a surprisingly fast and easy pace.” —Kirkus Reviews “Moving . . . Meno has a poet’s feel for small-town details, life in the joint and the trials an ex-con faces, and he’s a natural storyteller with a talent for characterization.” —Publishers Weekly

Preacher Woman Sings the Blues

Preacher Woman Sings the Blues
Author: Richard J. Douglass-Chin
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2001
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0826263011

"Preacher Woman Sings the Blues begins with the study of black evangelists Belinda, Jarena Lee, and Zilpha Elaw, continuing with Rebecca Cox Jackson, Sojourner Truth, Julia Foote, Amanda Smith, Elizabeth, and Virginia Broughton. The author's discussion of Zora Neale Hurston focuses on how Hurston operates as a connection between early black women evangelist writers and black women writing in America today. He ends with the works of Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and Toni Cade Bambara." "By examining the early traditions prefiguring contemporary African American women's text and the impact that race and gender have on them, Douglas-Chin shows how the nineteenth-century black women's works are still of utmost importance to many African American writers today. Preacher Woman Sings the Blues makes a valuable contribution to literary criticism and theoretical analysis and will be welcomed by scholars and students alike." --Book Jacket.