Book picks similar to
This Child's Gonna Live by Sarah E. Wright
historical-fiction
fiction
african-american
500-women
Sister Age
M.F.K. Fisher - 1983
Fisher, one of the most admired writers of our time, embraces age as St. Francis welcomed Brother Pain. With a saint to guide us, she writes in her Foreword, perhaps we can accept in a loving way "the inevitable visits of a possibly nagging harpy like Sister Age" But in the stories, it is the human strength in the unavoidable encounter with the end of life that Mrs. Fisher dramatizes so powerfully. Other themes -- the importance of witnessing death, the marvelous resilience of the old, the passing of vanity -- are all explored with insight, sympathy and, often, a sly wit.
Home to Harlem
Claude McKay - 1928
At the same time, this stark but moving story touches on the central themes of the Harlem Renaissance, including the urgent need for unity and identity among blacks.
And Still I Rise
Maya Angelou - 1978
An ode to the power that resides in us all to overcome the most difficult circumstances, this poem is truly an inspiration and affirmation of the faith that restores and nourishes the soul. Entwined with the vivid paintings of Diego Rivera, the renowned Mexican artist, Angelou's words paint a portrait of the amazing human spirit, its quiet dignity, and pools of strength and courage. An ideal gift for a friend, lover, or family member, this special edition will be treasured by all who receive it.
Sunlight on a Broken Column
Attia Hosain - 1961
At 15, she moves to the home of a "liberal" uncle in Lucknow. Here, during the 1930s, as the struggle for independence sharpens, Laila is surrounded by relatives and university friends caught up in politics. But Laila is unable to commit herself to any cause: her own fight for independence is a struggle with traditional life as she falls in love with a man not chosen by her family. With its beautiful evocation of India, its political insight and unsentimental understanding of the human heart, this is a classic of Muslim life.
Almanac of the Dead
Leslie Marmon Silko - 1991
The acclaimed author of Ceremony has undertaken a weaving of ideas and lives, fate and history, passion and conquest in an attempt to re-create the moral history of the Americas, told from the point of view of the conquered, not the conquerors.
Our Nig
Harriet E. Wilson - 1859
Frado becomes the servant of the Bellmonts, a lower-middle-class white family in the free North, while slavery is still legal in the South, and suffers numerous abuses in their household. Frado's story is a tragic one; having left the Bellmonts, she eventually marries a black fugitive slave, who later abandons her.
The Collected Stories
Colette - 1958
of the one hundred stories gathered here, thirty-one appear for the first time in English and another twenty-nine have been newly translated for this volume.
Road Song: A Memoir
Natalie Kusz - 1990
She wasn't expected to live, but she survived, though she lost an eye and faced grueling years of surgery, recovery, and reconstruction. Natalie tells her story in such a way that no reader can fail to find it heartrending and unforgettable.
Frangipani House
Beryl Gilroy - 1986
It is a protest at institutions that isolate, and a way of life that denies respect and responsibility for the weak.
How to Make an American Quilt
Whitney Otto - 1991
As they gather year after year, their stories, their wisdom, their lives, form the pattern from which all of us draw warmth and comfort for ourselves.A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE COMING OUT FALL 1995-- with Maya Angelou, Winona Ryder, and Rip Torn
Imperial Woman
Pearl S. Buck - 1956
According to custom, she moved to the Forbidden City at the age of seventeen to become one of hundreds of concubines. But her singular beauty and powers of manipulation quickly moved her into the position of Second Consort.Tzu Hsi was feared and hated by many in the court, but adored by the people. The Empress's rise to power (even during her husband's life) parallels the story of China's transition from the ancient to the modern way.
Little Big Man
Thomas Berger - 1964
As a "human being", as the Cheyenne called their own, he won the name Little Big Man. He dressed in skins, feasted on dog, loved four wives and saw his people butchered by the horse soldiers of General Custer, the man he had sworn to kill.As a white man, Crabb hunted buffalo, tangled with Wyatt Earp, cheated Wild Bill Hickok and survived the Battle of Little Bighorn. Part-farcical, part-historical, the picaresque adventures of this witty, wily mythomaniac claimed the Wild West as the stuff of serious literature.
The Land Breakers
John Ehle - 1964
Five years of struggle to create a community ensue, in which part of the struggle is just to survive. This is the story of late 18th century life in an untamed country.
Paradise of the Blind
Dương Thu Hương - 1988
Through the eyes of Hang, a young woman in her twenties who has grown up amidst the slums and intermittent beauty of Hanoi, we come to know the tragedy of her family as land reform rips apart their village. When her uncle Chinh‘s political loyalties replace family devotion, Hang is torn between her mother‘s appalling self–sacrifice and the bitterness of her aunt who can avenge but not forgive. Only by freeing herself from the past will Hang be able to find dignity –– and a future.
Of One Blood: Or, the Hidden Self: The Givens Collection
Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins - 1902
When he arrives in Ethiopia on an archeological trip, his only interest is to raid as much of the country's lost treasures as possible so that he can make big bucks on his return to the States. The last thing he expects is to be held captive in the six-thousand-year-old buried city of Telassar, ruled by the beautiful Queen Candace. In Queen Candace's glittering palace, surrounded by diamonds, rubies, sapphires — wealth beyond his wildest dreams — Reuel discovers his true Blackness and the painful truth about blood, race and the "other half" of his history which has never been told.Relevant, thought-provoking, and entertaining, Hopkins’s novel is intended, in her own words, to “raise the stigma of degradation from [the Black] race” and its title, Of One Blood, refers to the biological kinship of all human beings.