A poem celebrating the people, sights, and sounds of Harlem.

An examination of the effects of colonialism on those who are held in check

This complicated love came quickly rushing to an end when Mike got the bad new about May. Things were tense now, and he didn't have a clue about where to start. May's disappearance and rumors of her being shot had Mike in limbo. Not to mention the big loss of money from his cousin robbing him. The streets were crazy and things were changing quickly. Home wasn't the same as well. Auntie and Unc were in complete disbelief. They couldn't believe that Mike had himself twisted up into a big mess like this. They changed up on him drastically. But that didn't stop Mike, he wanted revenge and wanted it now. Trying to be discrete, he asked around and searched the streets day and night. The few leads that he got about Hector had him hooked. Now it was time to get Hector.

In poems, stories, memoirs, and essays about color and culture, prejudice and love, and feminine trials, dozens of African-American women writers--some famous, many just discovered--give us a sense of a distinct inner voice and an engagement with their larger double culture. Harlem's Glory unfolds a rich tradition of writing by African-American women, hitherto mostly hidden, in the first half of the twentieth century. In historical context, with special emphasis on matters of race and gender, are the words of luminaries like Zora Neale Hurston and Georgia Douglas Johnson as well as rare, previously unpublished writings by figures like Angelina Weld Grimké, Elise Johnson McDougald, and Regina Andrews, all culled from archives and arcane magazines. Editors Lorraine Elena Roses and Ruth Elizabeth Randolph arrange their selections to reveal not just the little-suspected extent of black women's writing, but its prodigious existence beyond the cultural confines of New York City. Harlem's Glory also shows how literary creativity often coexisted with social activism in the works of African-American women. This volume is full of surprises about the power and diversity of the writers and genres. The depth, the wit, and the reach of the selections are astonishing. With its wealth of discoveries and rediscoveries, and its new slant on the familiar, all elegantly presented and deftly edited, the book will compel a reassessment of writing by African-American women and its place in twentieth-century American literary and historical culture.

Informative interviews and profiles of the likes of Ram Dass, Tina Turner, Jane Goodall, and more, plus other writings offer insight on the Buddhist life. From Andrea Miller—an editor and staff writer at Lion’s Roar, the leading Buddhist magazine in the English-speaking world—comes a diverse and timeless collection of essays, articles, and interviews. Miller talks to Buddhist teachers, thinkers, writers, and celebrities about the things that matter most and she frames their wisdom with her own lived experience. In Awakening My Heart, we hear Tina Turner on the power of song, Ram Dass on the importance of service, Jane Goodall on the compassion that exists in the natural world, and Robert Jay Lifton on the darkest deeds of humanity—and how to prevent such things from ever happening again. Moreover, Miller—with her gently probing questions—gets to the bottom of the friendship between Zen master Bernie Glassman and Hollywood’s Jeff Bridges, and she also takes a playful look at the difference between Michael Imperioli, the serious Buddhist practitioner, and the unhinged mobster character he played in The Sopranos. Insight teacher Gina Sharpe coaches Miller on how to start facing the racism that exists even in the most liberal communities, while Robert Waldinger, a Zen priest and the leader of the world’s longest running study of human happiness, teaches her the key to being truly happy. Miller also brings the wisdom of a thirteenth-century Zen text into her very own galley kitchen and takes a look at animals through a quirky dharma lens. Finally, she goes on retreat with two of the world’s most beloved contemporary Buddhist teachers, Pema Chödrön and Thich Nhat Hanh, and travels to India to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha himself. Praise for Awakening My Heart “A lovely repast of stories and inspiring conversations with Buddhist masters and celebrities, reminding us to relax and smile. The good medicine of the dharma comes in a thousand forms.” ―Jack Kornfield “This book is a concise, witty, and intelligible way to understand Buddhism.” ―bell hooks, author of All About Love “Andrea Miller is one of contemporary Buddhism’s most original and arresting voices. Awakening My Heart has that rare combination of insight and empathy that distinguishes the very best spiritual literature. It is an inspiring, expansive, and probing exploration of what it means to be alive and practicing the dharma today.” —Shozan Jack Haubner, author of Zen Confidential “These lovely pieces span a huge, eclectic range from rock stars and actors to gurus and birds. There is joy in these pages, and the stories here will cause you to love life, and people, all the more.” ―Barry Boyce, Editor-in-Chief, Mindful magazine

Texas native James Farmer is one of the “Big Four” of the turbulent 1960s civil rights movement, along with Martin Luther King Jr., Roy Wilkins, and Whitney Young. Farmer might be called the forgotten man of the movement, overshadowed by Martin Luther King Jr., who was deeply influenced by Farmer’s interpretation of Gandhi’s concept of nonviolent protest. Born in Marshall, Texas, in 1920, the son of a preacher, Farmer grew up with segregated movie theaters and “White Only” drinking fountains. This background impelled him to found the Congress of Racial Equality in 1942. That same year he mobilized the first sit-in in an all-white restaurant near the University of Chicago. Under Farmer’s direction, CORE set the pattern for the civil rights movement by peaceful protests which eventually led to the dramatic “Freedom Rides” of the 1960s. In Lay Bare the Heart Farmer tells the story of the heroic civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s. This moving and unsparing personal account captures both the inspiring strengths and human weaknesses of a movement beset by rivalries, conflicts and betrayals. Farmer recalls meetings with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson (for whom he had great respect), and Lyndon Johnson (who, according to Farmer, used Adam Clayton Powell Jr., to thwart a major phase of the movement). James Farmer has courageously worked for dignity for all people in the United States. In this book, he tells his story with forthright honesty. First published in 1985 by Arbor House, this edition contains a new foreword by Don Carleton, director of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, and a new preface.