A distinctive urban publisher since 1941

Wayne State University Press

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African American Life Series

Series Editor: Melba Joyce Boyd, Wayne State University
The African American Life Series publishes scholarship representative of the historical, social, cultural, and economic experiences of African Americans. Because Wayne State University Press is located in Detroit, the series has a particular interest in topics related to urban life and culture.

Pages

On Rhetoric and Black Music

Earl H. Brooks

How Black musicians and composers used their craft to define and influence public discourse.

Printed Paper Cased
Available June 2024
ISBN: 9780814346471
$94.99
Paperback
Available June 2024
ISBN: 9780814346488
$36.99
eBOOK
Available June 2024
ISBN: 9780814346495
AWARD
WINNER

Nothing Special

Written by Desiree Cooper
Illustrated by Bec Sloane

Lively illustrations depict the close bond between grandfather and grandson during a child’s summer visit to the South.

Hardback
Published: October 2022
ISBN: 9780814349731
$18.99
eBOOK
Published: October 2022
ISBN: 9780814349755

The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Second Edition

Sam Greenlee with an Introduction by Natiki Hope Pressley

An explosive, award-winning novel in the black literary tradition, The Spook Who Sat by the Door is both a satire of the civil rights problems in the United States in the late 1960s and a serious attempt to focus on the issue of black miltancy.

Paperback
Published: June 2022
ISBN: 9780814349571
$19.99

The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Second Edition

An explosive, award-winning novel, The Spook Who Sat by the Door is a 50-year-young classic that provides commentary on the racial inequities in the US in the late 1960s - and today.

Paperback
Published: June 2022
ISBN: 9780814349571
$19.99
eBOOK
Published: June 2022
ISBN: 9780814349977
AWARD
WINNER

The Autobiography of William Sanders Scarborough

An American Journey from Slavery to Scholarship

Edited with an Introduction by Michele Valerie Ronnick
Foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

An important autobiography that reveals the story of William Sanders Scarborough who rose out of slavery to become a renowned classical philologist and African American icon.

Paperback
Published: October 2021
ISBN: 9780814332252
$26.99
Hardback
Published: October 2021
ISBN: 9780814332245
$34.99
eBOOK
Published: October 2021
ISBN: 9780814348895

"Black People Are My Business"

Toni Cade Bambara's Practices of Liberation

Thabiti Lewis

Exploration of Bambara’s practices of liberation that encourage resistance to oppression and solidarity.

Printed Paper Cased
Published: September 2020
ISBN: 9780814346075
$82.99
Paperback
Published: September 2020
ISBN: 9780814344293
$36.99
eBOOK
Published: September 2020
ISBN: 9780814344316

Bearing Witness to African American Literature

Validating and Valorizing Its Authority, Authenticity, and Agency

Bernard W. Bell

An interdisciplinary, code-switching, critical collection by revisionist African American scholar and activist Bernard W. Bell.

Paperback
Published: May 2012
ISBN: 9780814337141
$32.99
eBOOK
Published: May 2012
ISBN: 9780814337158

If We Must Die

From Bigger Thomas to Biggie Smalls

Aimé J. Ellis

Investigates a variety of texts in which the self-image of poor, urban black men in the U.S. is formed within, by, and against a culture of racial terror and state violence.

Paperback
Published: June 2011
ISBN: 9780814334133
$26.99
eBOOK
Published: June 2011
ISBN: 9780814336656

From Bourgeois to Boojie

Black Middle-Class Performances

Edited by Vershawn Ashanti Young with Bridget Harris Tsemo

Examines how generations of African Americans perceive, proclaim, and name the combined performance of race and class across genres.

Paperback
Published: April 2011
ISBN: 9780814334683
$27.99
eBOOK
Published: April 2011
ISBN: 9780814336427

Pages from a Black Radical's Notebook

A James Boggs Reader

Edited by Stephen M. Ward
With an Afterword by Grace Lee Boggs

Collects nearly four decades’ worth of writings by Detroit political and labor activist James Boggs.

Paperback
Published: March 2011
ISBN: 9780814332566
$34.99
eBOOK
Published: March 2011
ISBN: 9780814336410

Keepin' It Hushed

The Barbershop and African American Hush Harbor Rhetoric

Vorris L. Nunley

Examines the barbershop as a rhetorical site in African American culture across genres, including fiction, film, poetry, and theater.

Paperback
Published: February 2011
ISBN: 9780814333488
$26.99
eBOOK
Published: February 2011
ISBN: 9780814336458

Roses and Revolutions

The Selected Writings of Dudley Randall

Edited and with an Introduction by Melba Joyce Boyd

Collects significant poetry, short stories, and essays by celebrated African American poet and publisher Dudley Randall.

Hardback
Published: August 2009
ISBN: 9780814334454
$19.99

The Golden Underground

Poems by Anthony Butts

New from accomplished poet Anthony Butts, a collection of modern free verse with an attention to formal syntax and a keen religious sensibility.

Paperback
Published: February 2009
ISBN: 9780814333891
$21.99
eBOOK
Published: February 2009
ISBN: 9780814335468
AWARD
WINNER

Race and Remembrance

A Memoir

Arthur L. Johnson

Memoir of respected Detroit civic and civil rights leader Arthur L. Johnson.

Hardback
Published: August 2008
ISBN: 9780814333709
$19.99
eBOOK
Published: August 2008
ISBN: 9780814337493
AWARD
WINNER

When the Church Becomes Your Party

Contemporary Gospel Music

Deborah Smith Pollard

A look at the innovations of contemporary performers of modern gospel music and their roots in the African American Christian church.

Paperback
Published: April 2008
ISBN: 9780814332184
$26.99

Dear Chester, Dear John

Letters between Chester Himes and John A. Williams

Compiled and Edited by John A. and Lori Williams

A revealing collection of correspondence between Chester Himes and John A. Williams, two prominent twentieth-century African American novelists.

Hardback
Published: February 2008
ISBN: 9780814333556
$24.95
eBOOK
Published: February 2008
ISBN: 9780814338506

Your Average Nigga

Performing Race, Literacy, and Masculinity

Vershawn Ashanti Young

An engrossing autobiographical exploration of black masculinity as a mode of racial and verbal performance.

Paperback
Published: March 2007
ISBN: 9780814332481
$24.99
eBOOK
Published: March 2007
ISBN: 9780814335765

Just for a Thrill

Poems

Geoffrey Jacques

A breakthrough collection of poetry from a distinctive new urban voice.

Paperback
Published: November 2005
ISBN: 9780814332900
$19.99
eBOOK
Published: November 2005
ISBN: 9780814335635

"Look for Me All Around You"

Anglophone Caribbean Immigrants in the Harlem Renaissance

Edited by Louis J. Parascandola

This anthology is the first to fully integrate the political and literary writings of Anglophone Caribbean authors in the Harlem Renaissance.

Paperback
Published: October 2005
ISBN: 9780814329870
$32.99

Manipulating the Sacred

Yorùbá Art, Ritual, and Resistance in Brazilian Candomblé

Mikelle S. Omari-Tunkara

The first art historical study of Yoruba-descended African Brazilian religious art based on an author's long-term participation in and observation of private and public rituals.

Paperback
Published: October 2005
ISBN: 9780814328521
$30.95

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