A Delightful paean to African American love, this treasury of fifty letters written by well known figures and ordinary folk alike resonates with the joy and tenderness of romance, and offers glimpses into the social, literary, and political lives of black Americans throughout the last two centuries. An elegantly designed volume, printed in sepia and enhanced with photographs, A LOVE NO LESS presents the letters of African American lovers of all walks of life--from slave letters to the celebrated turn-of-the-twentieth-century poet Paul Laurence Dunbar to soldiers fighting World War II, to notable entertainers, businessmen, and civic leaders. Whether they were penned by literary masters or hastily scribbled by soldiers writing home to their wives or girlfriends, the letters are eloquent expressions of the writers' most intimate feelings and touching revelations of the things that matter most in their lives. A LOVE NO LESS is a testament to black love and to the bonds that endure in the face of physical separation, harsh times, and personal misfortunes. It also provides a peek into the more public arena, as writers tell their lovers about their everyday activities and encounters. Paul Laurence Dunbar writes to his wife about meeting Booker T. Washington and attending a lecture by W. E. B. DuBois. Letters from the Harlem Renaissance capture the excitement and vibrancy of that extraordinary period with stories about dinners, theater parties, shows and social outings with Langston Hughes, Carl Van Vechten and other luminaries. In a letter to her new husband written in the 1930s, stage and screen star Fredi Washington describes seeing a stereo for the first time and recounts hernegotiations for a role in a Paramount film. An enchanting and inspiring look at the power of love to transform and sustain, A LOVE NO LESS is the perfect gift for Valentines Day, anniversaries, birthdays, and weddings, a book that everyone who has ever been in love will treasure.

As a minister, counselor, and teacher, Mary Manin Morrissey has inspired tens of thousands of people to reach higher in life than they ever believed possible. Her message is revolutionary: God has designed each one of us for greatness. And her warmth, candor, and conviction bring this message alive in the heart and mind of everyone who hears her. As children we instinctively know that we are destined to live great lives. As adults we recognize that our true greatness is expressed in our relationships: in deep, fulfilling partnership, vibrant marriage, abiding closeness with children, parents, and friends. Yet fostering such bonds--even with those we cherish most--can be one of the greatest challenges we will ever face. In No Less Than Greatness Mary affirms that love is our birthright--and learning to love well is life’s greatest lesson. She shows that we are not alone in our search. When we learn to ask for and listen to divine guidance, we access a different kind of wisdom, a new kind of hope. Beginning with her own surprising story, Mary shows how ordinary, struggling, or even estranged relationships are a curriculum for learning love, and how our relationships--and we ourselves--can be transformed. Within these pages Mary provides a step-by-step guide to the spiritual principles that bring love into our lives. Her powerful affirmations, meditations, and exercises are designed to help you: • reveal your true self — your most precious gift to others • consciously design the relationships you most want • open yourself to partnering with God • discover the power of unreasonable giving • achieve intimacy by speaking from your heart • heal the hurt in difficult relationships • awaken your love through simple daily acts Let Mary Manin Morrissey show you that you already have what it takes to create what you desire most--and how, with God’s help, even imperfect relationships can lead to perfect love. From the Trade Paperback edition.

A delightful paean to African American (AA) love, this treasury of 50 letters written by well-known figures and ordinary folk alike resonates with the joy and tenderness of romance, and offers glimpses into the social, literary, and political lives of AAs for more than 2 centuries. An elegantly designed volume, printed in sepia and enhanced with photos, the book presents the letters of AA lovers of all walks of life -- from slave letters to those of the celebrated turn-of-the-20th-cent. poet Paul Dunbar; soldiers fighting WW2; and notable entertainers, businessmen, and civic leaders. The letters are eloquent expressions of the writers' most intimate feelings and touching revelations of the things that mattered most in their lives.

Langston Hughes, one of America's greatest writers, was an innovator of jazz poetry and a leader of the Harlem Renaissance whose poems and plays resonate widely today. Accessible, personal, and inspirational, HughesÕs poems portray the African American community in struggle in the context of a turbulent modern United States and a rising black freedom movement. This indispensable volume of letters between Hughes and four leftist confidants sheds vivid light on his life and politics. Letters from Langston begins in 1930 and ends shortly before his death in 1967, providing a window into a unique, self-created world where Hughes lived at ease. This distinctive volume collects the stories of Hughes and his friends in an era of uncertainty and reveals their visions of an idealized worldÑone without hunger, war, racism, and class oppression.

The first-ever narrative history of African Americans told through their own letters Letters from Black America fills a literary and historical void by presenting the spectrum of African American experience in the most intimate way possible—through the heartfelt correspondence of those who lived through monumental changes and pivotal events, from the American Revolution to the war in Iraq, from slavery to the election of Obama.

2016 NAACP Image Award Winner An award-winning journalist reveals a little-known and shameful episode in American history, when an African man was used as a human zoo exhibit—a shocking story of racial prejudice, science, and tragedy in the early years of the twentieth century in the tradition of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Devil in the White City, and Medical Apartheid. In 1904, Ota Benga, a young Congolese “pygmy”—a person of petite stature—arrived from central Africa and was featured in an anthropology exhibit at the St. Louis World’s Fair. Two years later, the New York Zoological Gardens displayed him in its Monkey House, caging the slight 103-pound, 4-foot 11-inch tall man with an orangutan. The attraction became an international sensation, drawing thousands of New Yorkers and commanding headlines from across the nation and Europe. Spectacle explores the circumstances of Ota Benga’s captivity, the international controversy it inspired, and his efforts to adjust to American life. It also reveals why, decades later, the man most responsible for his exploitation would be hailed as his friend and savior, while those who truly fought for Ota have been banished to the shadows of history. Using primary historical documents, Pamela Newkirk traces Ota’s tragic life, from Africa to St. Louis to New York, and finally to Lynchburg, Virginia, where he lived out the remainder of his short life. Illuminating this unimaginable event, Spectacle charts the evolution of science and race relations in New York City during the early years of the twentieth century, exploring this racially fraught era for Africa-Americans and the rising tide of political disenfranchisement and social scorn they endured, forty years after the end of the Civil War. Shocking and compelling Spectacle is a masterful work of social history that raises difficult questions about racial prejudice and discrimination that continue to haunt us today.