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African American Newsletter Great Books of the Decade 2000 - 2019 January 2020
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2011 - Silver Sparrow
by Tayari Jones
In 1980s Atlanta, two teenage girls become friends, with only one knowing that they are in fact both daughters of the same bigamist father, and as their friendship develops their father's secret begins to unravel.
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2012 - The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
by Ayana Mathis
Traces the story of Great Migration-era mother Hattie Shepherd, who in spite of poverty and a dysfunctional husband uses love and Southern remedies to raise nine children and prepare them for the realities of a harsh world.
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2015 - Driving the King: A Novel
by Ravi Howard
This novel is told from the perspective of Nat Weary, a contemporary of Nat King Cole, who faces tragedy when he goes to see his former schoolmate perform. Weary witnesses a man attempting to attack Nat King Cole and rushes to his defense. In the year before the Civil Rights Movement, it is unfathomable that a black man would raise a hand to a white, even in self-defense. Weary serves ten years in prison. Nat King Cole has not forgotten him and gives him a job as his driver.
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2016 - Stand Your Ground
by Victoria Christopher Murray
Follows the experiences of a grieving mother who is reluctant to join a public outcry over her son's murder while the mother of the accused keeps wrenching secrets that she knows will affect her entire family.
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2017 - Copycat
by Kimberla Lawson Roby
A standalone novel by the best-selling author of the Reverend Curtis Black series presents the story of an anti-heroine who struggles with relatable insecurities and vulnerabilities while navigating high-emotion challenges.
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2018 - An American Marriage
by Tayari Jones
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy, the living embodiment of the New South, are settling into the routine of their life together when Roy is sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. An insightful look into the lives of people who are bound and separated byforces beyond their control.
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2019 - The Nickel Boys: A Novel
by Colson Whitehead
A follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning, The Underground Railroad, follows the harrowing experiences of two African-American teens at an abusive reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.
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2013 - How it Feels to be Free: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement
by Ruth Feldstein
In 1964, Nina Simone sat at a piano in New York's Carnegie Hall to play what she called a "show tune." Then she began to sing: "Alabama's got me so upset/Tennessee made me lose my rest/And everybody knows about Mississippi G****m!" Simone, and her song, became icons of the civil rights movement. But her confrontational style was not the only path taken by black women entertainers.
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2014 - Black: A Celebration of a Culture
by Deborah Willis
Photographs from the birth of photography to the birth of hip-hop depict the history and evolution of Black culture in America, celebrating the worlds of family, worship, music, fashion, and sports.
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2018 - Becoming
by Michelle Obama
In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world. Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.
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Forsyth County Public Library 660 W 5th Street Winston Salem, North Carolina 27101 336-703-3030www.forsythlibrary.org |
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