African American World War

In the midst of World War II, four extraordinary Black women find their paths converging in the groundbreaking 6888th Central Postal Battalion - the first all-Black, all-female unit to serve overseas. Sadie Lewis joins the WACs haunted by visions and the loss of her beloved husband Andrew, her gift of second sight both a blessing and a curse. Vibrant country girl Sammy Love Bonnet seeks adventure far from her Alabama farm, only to find unexpected love in a complicated situation. Single mother Paige Thomas enlists hoping to secure a better future for her teenage son, while former Broadway ...

Winner of the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Nonfiction A New York Times Notable Book A Best Book of the Year from TIME, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Washington Independent Review of Books, and more! The definitive history of World War II from the African American perspective...

The struggle for North Africa was unlike any other campaign of World War II. The desert proved a real test of generalship, pitting Germany's Erwin Rommel against Britain's Bernard Montgomery and America's George Patton. Here, from award-winning military historian Stephen W. Sears, is the dramatic story of the generals, politicians, and soldiers who changed the course of the war.

“A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.” —Zadie Smith One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century...

In this groundbreaking historical expose, Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history - an Age of Neoslavery that thrived from the aftermath of the Civil War through the dawn of World War II.

Can he be forgiven? Mike Washington was a carefree young man who drifted through life without purpose—until the day everything burned. When Houston was reduced to rubble by a sudden nuclear strike, Mike should have died. But a mysterious man pulled him from the fire. Grateful and desperate, Mike pledged to serve him, no questions asked. He never imagined that promise would cost him his soul. In the wake of global devastation, the man who saved Mike—known only as the Master—seized the chaos to build a terrifying new order. Twisted by brainwashing and dark power, Mike becomes one of the...

When World War I began, it seemed unlikely that a unit such as the Harlem Hellfighters would ever be formed. Given their nickname by their German foes who admired their bravery, the Harlem Hellfighters were members of the 369th, an all-Black regiment. The 369th played key roles in critical battles and helped secure an Allied victory.

Pulitzer Prize–winning former Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson tells our nation’s torturous racial history through his own family’s story, starting with his great-grandfather’s freedom from slavery and threading his way to his own narrative and reaching today’s Black Lives...

The incredible story of the first African American military pilot, who went on to become a Paris nightclub impresario, a spy in the French Resistance and an American civil rights pioneer Eugene Bullard lived one of the most fascinating lives of the twentieth century. The son of a former slave...

Before the Second World War, Josephine Baker (1906-1975) was one of the most famous performers in the world. She made her name dancing on the Parisian stage, but when war broke out she decided not to return to America. Instead, Baker turned spy for the French Secret Services. In this engaging, deeply researched study, Hanna Diamond tells the full story of Baker’s actions for the French and Allied powers in World War Two.

Nona “Peaches” Davenport, abandoned by the man she loved and betrayed by family, left her Natchez, Mississippi, home fifteen years ago and never looked back. She’s forged a promising future in Chicago as a professor of African American Studies. Nona even finds her once-closed heart persuaded by a new love. But that’s all shaken when her father’s death forces her to return to everything she’s tried to forget.

Casablanca effectively made the case that America was the land of hope and freedom in a world darkened by the forces of Nazi Germany. In the beginning of the film, a map of the world serves as the backdrop for a deep-voiced narrator explaining the flood of refugees out of Europe. This ominous mood shrouds the city of Casablanca, in Vichy North Africa, the final stop between Lisbon and freedom in America. Indeed, corrupt French bureaucrats charge a steep price for exit visas. As a result, refugees become desperate.

Political thriller. Murder at home. War abroad. In 1938, Chicago’s 3rd Ward elects its youngest alderman, Earl Thomas—a man determined to create jobs and open union doors for colored craftsmen migrating North. His bold stand against the powerful Carpenters Union earns him dangerous enemies, including gangsters ready to silence him at any cost. Earl’s wife, Tallulah, carries a quiet fire of her own. One year after her mother’s murder, she vows to honor her Choctaw heritage: “I can’t rest until I find the person who killed her.” But the truth she uncovers could destroy Earl’s ...

After World War I, black Americans fervently hoped for a new epoch of peace, prosperity, and equality. Black soldiers believed their participation in the fight to make the world safe for democracy finally earned them rights they had been promised since the close of the Civil War. Instead, an unprecedented wave of anti-black riots and lynchings swept the country. From April to November of 1919, the racial unrest rolled across the South into the North and the Midwest, even to the nation's capital. Red Summer is the first narrative history about this epic encounter.

“A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.” —Zadie Smith One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century...

A 2020 Audie Award Finalist Recalling pivotal moments from her dynamic career on the front lines of American diplomacy and foreign policy, Susan E. Rice—National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama and US Ambassador to the United Nations—reveals her surprising story with unflinching...

Kaia Alderson’s debut historical fiction novel reveals the untold, true story of the Six Triple Eight, the only all-Black battalion of the Women’s Army Corps, who made the dangerous voyage to Europe to ensure American servicemen received word from their loved ones during World War II. Grace...

“What a beautifully imagined and important narrative. Sanders’ clear-eyed and powerful writing made this a hard one to stop reading!” —Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award-Winning Author "This is a novel to cherish and share. And this is a history to sing about and affirm -- to...

What would you sacrifice to survive? And how much of yourself would be left? Percy Augustus Cole knows the answer cost him everything. Chicago, 1920s. Percy's grandmother raises him with three rules: Stand tall. Use all three names. Never compromise your dignity. But dignity doesn't pay rent during the Depression. When the Navy offers steady wages, Percy enlists as a mess attendant aboard the USS Arizona. The work is simple: serve breakfast, pour coffee, stay invisible. Six years of making himself smaller. Six years of perfecting the dangerous art of disappearing. He becomes so good at ...

The remarkable story of the seven African American soldiers ultimately awarded the World War II Medal of Honor, and the 50-year campaign to deny them their recognition. In 1945, when Congress began reviewing the record of the most conspicuous acts of courage by American soldiers during World War II, they recommended awarding the Medal of Honor to 432 recipients. Despite the fact that more than one million African-Americans served, not a single black soldier received the Medal of Honor. The omission remained on the record for over four decades.