Black History Month 2024: New Nonfiction

"During those dark pre-antibiotic days, when tuberculosis killed one in seven people, white nurses at Sea View, New York's largest municipal hospital, began quitting. Desperate to avert a public health crisis, city officials summoned Black southern nurses, luring them with promises of good pay, a career, and an escape from the strictures of Jim Crow. But after arriving, they found themselves on an isolated hilltop in the remote borough of Staten Island,...

"Jenn M. Jackson has been known to bring deep historical acuity to some of the most controversial topics in America today. Now, in their first book, Jackson applies their critical analysis to the questions that have long energized their work: Why has Black women's freedom fighting been so overlooked throughout history, and what has our society lost in the meantime? A love letter to those who have been minimized and forgotten, this collection repositions...

"A beautiful love letter to Black joy, as a source of self-preservation and survival as well as a form of resistance"--

"The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas, the first principals in the Dance Theatre of Harlem, who traveled the world as highly celebrated stars in their field and whose legacy was erased from history until now. At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Lydia Abarça was a Black prima ballerina with a major international dance company-the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She was the first Black ballerina on the cover of Dance...

Tracing the extraordinary lives and legacy of two civil rights icons, this gripping account of Medgar and Myrlie Evers is told through their relationship and the work that went into winning basic rights for Black Americans, and the repercussions that still resonate today.

A landmark biography that reclaims Ella Fitzgerald as a major American artist and modernist innovator.

Red Tails, George Lucas's celebration of America's first Black flying squadron, the Tuskegee Airmen, should have been a moment of victory for Doug Melville. He expected to see his great-uncle Benjamin O. Davis Jr.--the squadron's commander--immortalized on-screen for his selfless contributions to America. But as the film rolled, Doug was shocked when he realized that Ben Jr.'s name had been omitted and replaced by the fictional Colonel A. J. Bullard....

"Discover the fascinating, unexplored history of Black mixology and its enduring influence on cocktail and drinking culture through rediscovered recipes, from the James Beard Award-winning author of Jubilee. Toni Tipton-Martin's volume on Black culinary history celebrates the lore and people behind our favorite drinks. With cocktail recipes such as the Jerk-Spiced Bloody Mary, the Absinthe Frappe, and the Clover Leaf Cocktail, Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs,...

LL COOL J Presents The Streets Win commemorates the birth, rise, and progression of Hip-Hop’s culture and its indisputable impact on American music over the past fifty years. Vikki Tobak, Alec Banks and LL COOL J reveal the journey of this music genre through rarely seen photographs of Hip-Hop from its inception, from block party performances to street shots, parties, sessions at recording studios, and more.

"The Girl Group Sound, made famous and unforgettable by acts like The Ronettes, The Shirelles, The Supremes, and The Vandellas, took over the airwaves by capturing the mix of innocence and rebellion emblematic of America in in the 1960s. As songs like "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "Then He Kissed Me," and "Be My Baby" rose to number one, Girl Groups cornered the burgeoning post-war market of teenage rock and roll fans, indelibly shaping the trajectory...