“Lest We Forget”: The Centennial of the Tulsa Riots May 31, 1921 – May 31, 2021

HBW joins the national commemoration of the centennial of the Tulsa Riots of 1921. Also referred to as the Tulsa Massacre, the Greenwood community in Tulsa, Oklahoma was considered a mecca of Black economic and cultural growth at the time.  On May 31, 1921, “Black Wall Street” – as it was called – was attacked by a mob of armed white rioters. Local businesses, homes, schools, […]

Joyce Ladner’s ‘Tomorrow’s Tomorrow’: A Model for Imagining Possibilities of American Womanhood

[ By Shelia Bonner ] Tomorrow’s Tomorrow: The Black Woman by Joyce Ladner celebrates its 50th anniversary of publication this year. Dr. Ladner, author and sociologist, spent four years (1964-1968) working as a research assistant interviewing, observing, and socializing with more than one hundred girls. Those interviews provided the framework for Tomorrow’s Tomorrow: The Black Woman (1970) which examines womanhood through the lens of young […]

Richard Wright’s ‘Black Boy’ Celebrates 75th Anniversary

[By: DeAsia Paige] On Tuesday, February 18, Harper Perennial released a new edition of Richard Wright’s classic memoir Black Boy to commemorate the 75th anniversary of that work’s publication. The coming-of-age story, originally published in 1945, chronicles Wright’s upbringing in the Jim Crow South, his eventual move to Chicago and evolution as a major writer through his involvement with the Communist Party.  Black Boy explores […]

4 Black Woman-Authored Books That Are Turning 50 This Year

Following the Civil Rights Movement era of the 1960’s, the 1970’s ushered in a new decade of change for Black people in the United States. However, the beginning of the decade witnessed Black female authors exploring ideas like race and gender that were heavily contested in the 1960’s. In fact, some celebrated Black female writers launched their legendary literary careers in 1970. Thus, here’s a […]