Bahni Turpin

The true story of Black activist Opal Lee and her vision of Juneteenth as a holiday for everyone celebrates Black joy and inspires children to see their dreams blossom. Growing up in Texas, Opal knew the history of Juneteenth, but she soon discovered that many Americans had never heard of the holiday that represents the nation's creed of "freedom for all." Every year, Opal looked forward to the Juneteenth picnic- a drumming, dancing, delicious party....

In 1953 ten-year-old Octobia May lives in her Aunt's boarding house in the South, surrounded by an African American community which has its own secrets and internal racism, and spends her days wondering if Mr. Davenport in room 204 is really a vampire--or something else entirely.

After a wonderful seven weeks at Ainsley International School, twelve-year-old Caprice has been offered a full scholarship and she should be delighted, but instead she is full of doubts because what happened at the last night dance has brought back the memory of being sexually abused by her uncle as a four-year-old; worse, her maternal grandmother is ill, and that means going back to the house in Baltimore where it all happened--Caprice has never...

"Nothing bothers Hetty and Benjy Rhodes more than a case where the answers, motives, and the murder itself feel a bit too neat. Raimond Duval, a victim of tone of the many fires that have erupted recently in Philadelphia, is officially declared dead after the accident, but Hetty and Benjy's investigation points to a powerful Fire Company known to let homes in the Black community burn to the ground. Before long, another death breathes new life into...

"In this radiant, highly anticipated debut, a cast of unforgettable women battle for independence while a maelstrom of change threatens their Jamaican village. Capturing the distinct rhythms of Jamaican life and dialect, Nicole Dennis- Benn pens a tender hymn to a world hidden among pristine beaches and the wide expanse of turquoise seas. At an opulent resort in Montego Bay, Margot hustles to send her younger sister, Thandi, to school. Taught as a...

"An amalgam of fact and fiction about a young black woman on whom the outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis depends. October 1962. In Cuba: Soviet ships off-load what intelligence reveals to be nuclear missiles. In Washington, President Kennedy and his advisers are in furious debate over how long they can wait to discover what the Soviets intend before dropping the first bomb. And, in Ithaca, New York, Margo Jensen-a nineteen-year-old Cornell sophomore-is...

Using original slave auction and plantation estate documents, this moving book-on-video contrasts the monetary value of a slave with the priceless value of life.

"An epic saga about a Trinidadian family spanning WWII to the early Sixties. Told in alternating voices, the author recounts the story of Marcia, our fierce heroine, who leaves her island home in order to protect the man she's loved for years, and finds herself isolated in a strange land but with the determination to survive and rebuild" --

"One night in April 2014, members of the terrorist organization Boko Haram raided the small town of Chibok in northeast Nigeria and abducted 276 young girls from the local boarding school. The event caused massive, international outrage. Using the hashtag |Bring Back Our Girls,| politicians, activists, and celebrities from all around the world--among them First Lady Michelle Obama and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai--protested. Some of the...

"Evelyn is a Creole woman who comes of age in New Orleans at the height of World War II. Her family inhabits the upper echelon of Black society, and when she falls for no-account Renard, she is forced to choose between her life of privilege and the man she loves. In 1982, Evelyn's daughter, Jackie, is a frazzled single mother grappling with her absent husband's drug addiction. Just as she comes to terms with his abandoning the family, he returns,...