"For Ta-Nehisi Coates, history has always been personal. At every stage of his life, he's sought in his explorations of history answers to the mysteries that surrounded him -- most urgently, why he, and other black people he knew, seemed to live in fear. What were they afraid of? In Tremble for My Country, Coates takes readers along on his journey through America's history of race and its contemporary resonances through a series of awakenings -- moments...

This collection of essays by scholar-activist W.E.B. Du Bois is a masterpiece in the African American canon. Du Bois, arguably the most influential African American leader of the early twentieth century, offers insightful commentary on black history, racism, and the struggles of black Americans following emancipation. In his groundbreaking work, the author presciently writes that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line,"...

When Peter discovers his blue furniture is being painted pink for a new baby sister, he rescues the last unpainted item, a chair, and runs away.

The story of Pecola Breedlove profiles an eleven-year-old Black girl growing up in an America that values blue-eyed blondes and the tragedy that results from her longing to be accepted.

A young boy rides the bus across town with his grandmother and learns to appreciate the beauty in everyday things.

Macon Dead, Jr., known as Milkman, grows up in "his father's money-haunted, death-haunted house with his silent sisters and strangely passive mother" and with his friend Guitar who is connected to the secret avengers called the Seven Days, falls in love with his cousin Hagar, learns from bootlegging Aunt Pilate, and then heads south, lured by the promise of buried gold and the mysteries of his heritage.

A black American traces his family's origins back to the African who was brought to America as a slave in 1767.

Two boys find a pair of lensless motorcycle goggles and, with the help of their dog, elude the bigger boys who try to steal them from them.

It was a day when Max didn't feel like talking to anyone. He just sat on his front steps and watched the clouds gather in the sky. A strong breeze shook the tree in front of his house, and Max saw two heavy twigs fall to the ground. So begins this story of a young boy's introduction to the joys of making music. Max picks up the sticks and begins tapping out the rhythms of everything he sees and hears around him-the sound of pigeons startled into flight,...

Recounts actor Sidney Poitier's public and private life as he broke racial barriers to launch a pioneering acting career playing characters who said something positive, useful, and lasting about the human condition. Includes photographs.