In this work of historical fiction, Nelson tells the story of a man with a passion for knowledge and of a bookstore whose influence has become legendary.

First published in 1997, No Crystal Stair is an absorbing story of Montreal in the 1940s. Raising her three daughters alone, Marion discovers she can only find gainful employment if she passes as white. Set in Little Burgundy against the backdrop of an exciting cosmopolitan jazz scene--home of Oscar Peterson, Oliver Jones, and Rockhead's Paradise--and the tense years of World War II, No Crystal Stair is both a tender story and an indictment of Canada's "soft" racism. In 2005, No Crystal Stair was nominated for that year's Canada Reads and was defended by Olympic fencer Sherraine MacKay.

Forty-five poems chosen from the work of the black poet, Langston Hughes, by Harlem fourth graders.

On October 7, 1984, Crystal Taylor gave birth to a baby boy whom she named Daquan. Crystal was only fourteen. She was living with a boyfriend whom she was too young to marry, and her mother was addicted to heroin and cocaine. So under the law, Crystal and Daquan became wards of New York State’s foster-care system—a sprawling, often slipshod web of boarding facilities, halfway houses, and paid surrogates that cares for almost 60,000 children. Life for Me Ain’t Been No Crystal Stair is the story of what happened to Crystal and Daquan, as well as to Crystal’s mother, who herself had grown up in various foster homes. It is a story of three generations of poverty, addiction, and abuse—and also a story of astonishing human resilience. And Susan Sheehan tells it with the same flawless observation, humor, and compassion that she brought to her classic Is There No Place on Earth for Me?

Contains essays, reports, vignettes, oral histories, and autobiographies examining the daily lives of African Americans in Los Angeles.

Gloria Wade-Gayles analyzes novels by Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and others. Praise for the first edition: "Highly recommended".--"Library Journal". "Finely reasoned, persuasive and passionate. . . . A definitive study. Thought-provoking and just".--"Booklist".

This saga of how segregation and the Civil Rights movement shaped the lives of African Americans is told through the eyes of a woman who is born into the black privileged class. She leaves her sheltered life to marry a member of the first black unit in the Army Air Corps.