Showing results by narrator "Leon Nixon" in All Categories

She yearned for him. Nyla Mullaney couldn't shake her want for a man she knew could never be hers. He desired her. Asan Chamberlain sought peace and found it in a woman who he should've been avoiding at all costs. They formed a bond that had them treading in forbidden waters with no desire to escape. Nyla and Asan were never meant to be, history said so, but fate had other plans.

When COVID-19 began spreading rapidly, the world was taken by surprise. As the ensuing pandemic raged, we faced one constant—a lack of consistent, scientifically sound, and trusted information about dangers, risks, and mitigation strategies that the average person could understand and put into practice to keep themselves and their families safe. Now, the former Surgeon General of the United States—freed from the many constraints he worked under in public office—reveals critical lessons learned from both mistakes and successes overlooked during the pandemic.

In the follow-up to One-Shot Harry, fearless crime photographer and occasional private eye Harry Ingram finds himself in the LAPD’s crosshairs after capturing damning evidence of police brutality. An atmospheric dive into a city on the brink that’s brimming with remarkable historical detail, Ash Dark as Night is perfect for fans of Walter Mosley and James Ellroy. Los Angeles, August 1965. Anger and pent-up frustrations boil over in the Watts neighborhood after a traffic stop of two Black motorists.

Lessons in Gratitude tells the story of Aaron Dworkin, a MacArthur Fellow, social entrepreneur, and spoken word artist who has dedicated his life’s work to changing the face of classical arts in the world. The themes of persistence, passion, and loyalty shine through stories of an unhappy childhood, a lifelong search for identity, and the obstacles of race, culture, and class. Listeners will learn how the author greets these challenges and how they drove him to make a difference for people who are shut out of opportunity.

My mission in life is simple. Family. Food. Freedom. Most people don't question my love for my family. And I make my living as a celebrity chef. The freedom part? The thought of being confined-behind bars, at a desk, or in a monogamous relationship-is not something I want for myself. Unfortunately, it becomes a problem when women want to make me their Forever Bae. Even after I make it clear that I'm not looking for more than short interlude.

A Plausible Man unfolds as a historical detective story, as Susanna Ashton combs obscure records for evidence of Jackson's remarkable flight from slavery to freedom, his quest to liberate his enslaved family, and his emergence as an international advocate for abolition. This fresh and original work takes us through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the restoration of white supremacy-where we last glimpse Jackson losing his freedom again on a Southern chain gang.

Jakari Bolton: protector and provider… He takes on those roles when his father gets incarcerated for hideous crimes that are still bothering him ten years later. Jakari is so busy taking care of those he loves he forgot that he needed care too. Anger, guilt, and hurt have guided his life’s trajectory, and he doesn’t know any other way to be. So when he has to pick up his cousins from school and runs into librarian, Yendi Odom, he doesn’t know how to handle her.

Lance Montgomery, renowned relationship expert, has perfected the art of being a playa. His acclaimed workshops and bestselling books prove it. His most popular title, The Playa’s Handbook, caused a major uproar among black women and men, and shot to the top of the bestseller list.

They didn't know her story before, because she hadn't told them. She didn't reveal how being so deeply tethered to a man who didn't take care of that precious connection, had wrecked her body and soul, making it nearly impossible to breathe some days. She didn't want them to know the ugly parts of her existence; had only hoped to give her girls the good in her, and on that, most days she'd failed. But so much goodness surrounded her now, by way of self-healing and a good man, Solomon.

Josiah Henson was born into slavery in Maryland in 1789, and although he endured incredible cruelty and abuse in the years that followed, he was eventually able to earn enough money to purchase his freedom. In fact, he made multiple such attempts, but those efforts were thwarted by swindles and broken deals, and Henson was forced to plot a dangerous escape instead. Under the continual threat of recapture, he, his wife, and their four children made their way north to Canada, where Henson threw himself to the ground, overwhelmed with joy and relief.

Zoe comes from a line of clairvoyant, empathic women. Each one, including Zoe, is deeply connected to the world around them. Zoe's gifts are much more intense and hard to go unnoticed by those who get close to her, so she often hides what she knows to avoid being seen as unstable. She's always known who the love of her life was going to be, she just hadn't met him yet. He could live halfway across the world for all she knew. But if she saw him...or if she met him...she would know she was meeting her soul mate. The man for her. Her man to love...Rashaad.

In his more-than-four-decade tenure as the President of Hampton University—one of 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in America—Dr. William R. Harvey has been a champion of the cultural impact and value of HBCUs, demonstrated by the achievements of their numerous notable alumni. Their success is no coincidence. It is the result of a faultless formula that sets HBCUs apart and helps their students thrive.

One of the first studies of the organization, life, and meaning of the Nation of Islam and, by extension, all Black Nationalist movements, this classic work dispels the still-common conception that the movement functioned primarily for political purposes. By observing the daily life of its members, Essien-Udom demonstrates that the Nation of Islam served primarily as a means for poor urban Blacks to attain a national identity, a sense of ethnic consciousness, and empowerment in a society that denied them these privileges.

Comeback Season is the uplifting, unlikely, and inspirational true story of the friendships formed between Cam Perron - a white, baseball-obsessed teenager from Boston - and hundreds of former professional Negro League players, who were still awaiting the recognition and compensation that they deserved from Major League Baseball more than 50 years after their playing days were over.

The deliberate devaluation of Blacks and their communities has had very real, far-reaching, and negative economic and social effects. An enduring white supremacist myth claims brutal conditions in Black communities are mainly the result of Black people's collective choices and moral failings. But there is nothing wrong with Black people that ending racism can't solve. Noted educator, journalist, and scholar Andre Perry takes listeners on a tour of six Black-majority cities whose assets and strengths are undervalued.

Cole has heard it all before - token, bougie, oreo, Blackish - the things we call the kids like him. Black kids who grow up in white spaces, living at an intersection of race and class that many doubt exists. He needed to get far away from the preppy site of his upbringing before he could make sense of it all. Through a series of personal anecdotes and interviews with his peers, Cole transports us to his adolescence and explores what it's like to be young and in search of identity.

Changes in the American religious landscape enabled the rise of mass incarceration. Religious ideas and practices also offer a key for ending mass incarceration. These are the bold claims advanced by Break Every Yoke. Once, in an era not too long past, Americans, both incarcerated and free, spoke a language of social liberation animated by religion. In the era of mass incarceration, we have largely forgotten how to dream - and organize - this way. To end mass incarceration, we must reclaim this lost tradition.

In 1971, Eddie Conway, lieutenant of security for the Baltimore chapter of the Black Panther Party, was convicted of murdering a police officer and sentenced to life plus 30 years. Paul Coates was a community worker at the time and didn’t know Eddie well, and the little he knew, he didn’t much like. But Paul was dead certain that Eddie’s charges were bogus. He vowed never to leave Eddie - and in so doing, changed the course of both their lives. For over 43 years, as he raised a family and started a business, Paul visited Eddie in prison, often taking his kids with him.

Let Stephen Curry, Charles Barkley, Grant Hill, Reggie Miller, and more tell you what it was like to take the floor against one of the greatest of all time. With a foreword by Jerry West and a new tribute from the author about Kobe’s tragic death.

An African American writer's concise, heartfelt take on the state of his nation, exploring the war between the values he has always held and the reality with which he is confronted in 21st-century America.