Mint Editions (Black Narratives)

The brainchild of Daniel Alexander Payne Murray, Banneker: The Afro-American Astronomer was first conceived after Murray discovered what he found to be a beautifully written letter to Thomas Jefferson by a then unknown writer of color. Aided in his research by Will A. Allen, the pair discovered the man to be one Benjamin Banneker, a mathematician and astronomer. An extraordinary mind in a time where most people of African descent in the United States...

Hailed by Arnold Rampersad as "[Hughes'] most brilliant book of poems," Fine Clothes to the Jew is the stunning sophomore collection of poetry that-in conjunction with The Weary Blues-solidified Langston Hughes as a literary powerhouse. Originally published in 1927, Fine Clothes to the Jew is both a continuation and extension of his previous volume of verse; continuing to utilize the rhythm and function of Black classical music-the blues, as it were-to...

"Nella Larsen's second novel, Passing, first published in 1929, is a fascinating exploration of race and identity set amidst the blossoming Harlem Renaissance. Irene Redfield is a Black woman living an affluent, comfortable life with her husband and children in the thriving neighborhood of Harlem in the 1920s. When she reconnects with her childhood friend Clare Kendry, who is similarly light-skinned, Irene discovers that Clare has been passing for...

"Breezes blowin' middlin' brisk, / Snowflakes thro' the air a-whisk, / Fallin' kind o' soft an' light, /Not enough to make things white, / But jest sorter siftin' down / So 's to cover up the brown /Of the dark world's rugged ways / 'N' make things look like holidays. /Not smoothed over, but jest specked, / Sorter strainin' fur effect, / An' not quite a-gittin' through / What it started in to do. / Mercy sakes! It does seem queer / Christmas day is...

The Mis-Education of the Negro is a book originally published in 1933 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson. The thesis of Dr. Woodson's book is that blacks of his day were being culturally indoctrinated, rather than taught, in American schools. This conditioning, he claims, causes blacks to become dependent and to seek out inferior places in the greater society of which they are a part. He challenges his readers to become autodidacts and to "do for themselves",...

"When Black lawyer Fred Merrit purchases a house in the most exclusive white neighbourhood bordering Harlem, he has to hire the toughtest removal firm in the area to help him get his belongings past the hostile neighbors. The removal men are Jinx Jenkins and Bubber Brown, who make the move anything but straightforward."-- Page 4 of cover.