Black Americana

NY: Thistle - G&D, 1967 VERY GOOD/VERY GOOD First Edition, publisher's extra-strong reinforced binding. An excellent ex-lib copy, clean & tight with only a couple of library stamps, front endpaper missing. All text, photo, and engraving pages VG or better. Nice unclipped DJ in mylar. 6.25" by 9.5", 265 pages. - Born into slavery in 1797 in Ulster County, NY, "Isabelle" was freed by NY State in 1828, but by then she had been sold at auction, she had watched her parents die of neglect, and she had been forced to bear children to increase 'the stock' of her master. In 1843 at the age of 46, she began to travel, preach, and teach against slavery. With a name change to 'Sojourner Truth' she became an outstanding speaker at anti-slavery meetings and appeared alongside well known abolotionists. She also championed women's rights, prison reform and better conditions for working people. In short, she became a legend in her own time - and her story is a remarkable book to read.. more information

Offered by Bruce McLeod (Canada)

Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 1994 NEAR-FINE First Edition Trade Paperback. Nearly perfect covers, no creases, no markings. Interiors as-new in all respects. Approx. 6.25" x 8.75", 137 pages, illustrations, glossary. From the back cover: "This book is my attempt to answer some of the big questions of my life: Where does oppression come from? Has it always been with us, just 'human nature"? What can we do to change it? What does individual healing have to do with struggles for social justice? What does social justice have to do with individual healing? Why do members of the same oppressed group fight each other, sometimes more viciously than they fight their oppressor? Why do some who experience oppression develop a life-long commitment to fighting oppression, while others turn around and oppress others?". Soft Cover. more information

Offered by Bruce McLeod (Canada)

NY: Delacorte Press, 1969 FINE/VERY GOOD First Edition, stated 1st printing. Previous owner's name on title page, otherwise unmarked and AS-NEW. Unclipped DJ has a couple of 'micro' tears at the head of the spine. 5.75" by 8.5", 273 pages. - One of the most historic and important 20th century books on black American women. A "much-needed book that presents at last a remarkably perceptive, moving and dramatic story of today's southern Negro woman, the American whose voice is at this moment the most silent in our culture. Based on lengthy research throughout the southern states, during which time the author lived among and interviewed countless Negro women, Silent Voices is a detailed picture of the lives of these women - whether they be workers on Delta plantations, teachers, housewives, girls in Negro colleges, domestic servants, nurses, old women attempting to become literate, or highly literate women of any age. The book that emerges is an essential contribution to an understanding of this neglected aspect of American life, giving voice hitherto unheard black women of the South concerning their knowledge, needs, desires, hopes and feelings - about themselves, their futures, their religions, their friends, employers and leaders; about their politics; about segregation and integration; about white people and white culture; about love and old age and death; above all, about human dignity." . more information

Offered by Bruce McLeod (Canada)

London, U.K.: W.H. Allen, 1974 NEAR-FINE/NEAR-FINE FirstEdition, 1st UK Printing. Crisp, clean, solid, no markings, one very slightly bumped corner otherwise as-new. Unclipped DJ has tanning only. 5.5" by 8.75", 310 pages. - - - A classic tome on Black American slavery: "Fugitives from a crazed blood-spilling mob, they could only flee. And there was only one place to go, Hellbottom. Escaping to this festering sore of a swamp, these Negroes in a white South - the hated, the vilified, drowning in degradation - came to the gutter of all their hopes and desires to live free. ". Hardcover with Dust-Jacket. more information

Offered by Bruce McLeod (Canada)

Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, NC, 1995 FINE/VERY GOOD HCDJ. An exceptional copy: crisp & clean, square & tight, no markings, appears unread. DJ has two tiny edge tears, trace of edgewear, otherwise fine. 5.25" by 8.5", 195 pages, map, photographs. - - - True story of African-American sharecroppers on a cotton plantation who dared to send their children to an all-white school and who faced violent reprisals. "On September 3, 1965, seven of Mae Bertha and Matthew Carter's children lined up to wait for the school bus that would take them the first few miles of a long, hard journey. On that day, despite scare tactics and threats, those seven children would desegregate the all-white public schools in Mayflower County, Mississippi. On that day, they would claim their rights.". Hardcover with Dust-Jacket. more information

Offered by Bruce McLeod (Canada)

London, U.K.: Anthony Blond Ltd., 1965 NEAR-FINE/NEAR-FINE First Edition, 1st UK Printing. A very handsome copy: clean, tight, unmarked. One gentle corner bump, top edge dusted, otherwise FINE. Unclipped DJ with one micro tear, light edge wear. 5.5" by 8", 232 pages. A classic of racist literature. A British man develops grandoise ideas to become a dictator and to lead revolutionaries. Vincent Wright gathers a crew of cranks, thugs and perverts to evangelize his gospel of greatness and promote his hatred of people with African and Jewish heritage.. Hard Cover. more information

Offered by Bruce McLeod (Canada)

Winnipeg, MB, Canada: Winnipeg School Division Number One, 1993 VERY GOOD+ softcover. Square and solid, nearly perfect covers, crisp and clean interiors. Previous owner's name at top of title page only. 5.5" x 8.5", 130 pages. 44 black Manitobans from all walks of life were interviewed for this book. "The trials and tribulations of living and growing up black in Canada were recorded so that students could appreciate the multicultural diversity of our province." . Soft Cover. more information

Offered by Bruce McLeod (Canada)

NY: Simon & Schuster, 1970 NEAR-FINE/VG+ First Edition (stated). Near-perfect slate green cloth covers, spine has slight lean. Crisp & clean, unmarked, 224 pristine pages. Clipped DJ has 3 vertical creases and a trace of shelf-wear. - - - White, middle-class Sunny Tidwell leaves home hoping for a life that makes a difference - but finds violence and tragedy in the black ghetto of Washington DC.. Hard Cover. more information

Offered by Bruce McLeod (Canada)

NY: Pocket Books, 1967 VERY GOOD First Edition, 1st Printing Paperback. Only light wear to edges of wraps, two small stamps on inside of front cover, all text pages and map excellent! 4.25" by 7", 246 pages, index. - - - The master of narrative history tells the dramatic story of the violence and riots that erupted when "Negro" James Meredith enrolled in the University of Mississippi. This a timely, well-researched and compelling documentary that provides a lot of answers to questions about civil rights in the South.. more information

Offered by Bruce McLeod (Canada)

NY: Bantam, 1988 VERY GOOD++ 12th Printing Paperback. Clean, tight, trace of wear at spine tips and corners, top corner of 1st prelim page clipped. This is a very nice copy of this anthology. The author presents a full range of Black American poetry of almost 50 poets, from the slave songs to the present. Includes folk & spiritual poetry, literary selections, Harlem Renaissance and post-renaissance poetry, 1960's poems. Poets include Phillis Wheatley, Paul Laurence Dunbar, James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, Sterling A. Brown, Arna Bontemps, Countee Cullen, Gwendolyn Brooks, June Jordan, Sonia Sanchez, Ishmael Reed, Nikki Giovanni, and many other black poets. . more information

Offered by Bruce McLeod (Canada)

NY: Harper Torchbooks, 1970 VERY GOOD reprint softcover. 5.25" x 8", 324 pages, index. A VG copy of this influential book. Nice covers, slightly tanned spine, some underlining in pencil, and some highlighting of text. Previous owner's ID written on half-title page. From the back cover: "Arnold Rose, one of Myrdal's trusted collaborators in the preparation of the original (1944) volume, has compressed the publication into a compendious and more readable edition. All the leading ideas, theories, information on race relations, and most of the facts included in the original volume can be found in this condensation.". Soft Cover. more information

Offered by Bruce McLeod (Canada)

NY: Dutton, 1995 AS-NEW/VERY FINE First Edition, 2nd printing. Flawless unread copy, unclipped DJ, collector's quality. 5.25" by 8.25", 113 pages - - - Portions of this title, first published in periodicals, recieved the Kenyon Review Award for Literary Excellence for Fiction in 1993. Portrays an African-American girl growing up in Brooklyn between 1966 and 1978. The story line includes such diverse topics as coming of age, coming out, racial issues, incest, spousal abuse, sex, love, Vietnam, the generation gap, poverty, drugs, single motherhood, rock and roll, and the Brady Bunch.. Hardcover with Dust-Jacket. more information

Offered by Bruce McLeod (Canada)

Quality Paperback Book Club, 1987 Very Good reprint edition. Large trade paperback, 5.5" x 8.25", 285 pages. This volume contains both books "Native Son" (1940), with an introduction by the author entitled How Bigger was Born, and "Black Boy, a Record of Childhood and Youth." (1945) Light wear to covers, interiors excellent, no markings, square and solid. Gripping and furious, "Native Son" follows Bigger Thomas, a young black man who is trapped in a life of poverty in the slums of Chicago. Unwittingly involved in a wealthy woman's death, he is hunted relentlessly, baited by prejudiced officials, charged with murder and driven to acknowledge a strange pride in his crime. "Native Son" shocked readers on its first publication in 1940 and went on to make Richard Wright the first bestselling black writer in America. in "Black Boy" the author describes his childhood: At four years of age, Richard Wright set fire to his home; at five his father deserted the family; by six Richard was - temporarily - an alcoholic. Moved from home to home, from brick tenement to orphanage, he had had, by the age of twelve, only one year's formal education. It was in saloons, railroad yards and streets that he learned the facts about life under white subjection, about fear, hunger and hatred. . Soft Cover. more information

Offered by Bruce McLeod (Canada)