Black Book Talk

When President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race and

endorsed his vice president to succeed him, the country's attention focussed

on Kamala Harris. The notion of this dynamic, Afro-Asian woman (mother

emigrated from India,  father  from Jamaica)  ha...

We flipped the script for this program.  Black Book Talk co-host O B Hill

is our guest, along with Gloria McMurtry.  They are the founders of

Reflections Coffee and Books which, for 17 years, drew fans to the crossroads

of MLK Blvd and Killingsworth St.   More than a cof...

Using a variety of poetic forms, from haiku to free verse, Watson

shares recollections of her childhood in Portland. These odes to Black

women of all ages are brilliantly illustrated by celebrated fine artist Ekua

Holmes .

     Black Girl You Are Atlas is Watson's ...

In the still-segregated town of West Mills, North Carolina, in 1976,

Marian, Marva, and Lazarus Harmon-three enigmatic siblings-are found shot to

death in their home. The people of West Mills- on both sides of the canal

that serves as the town's color line-are in a ...

In the 1920s, there were over one million black farmers; today there are

just 45,000.  "We Are Each Other's Harvest" explores this crisis, through

the farmers’ personal experiences. In their own words, middle aged and

elderly black farmers explain why they continue to f...

Hear six of our favorite book people describe their favorites this

year.  This should ease your gift-giving now and throughout 2024.

  Our guests are:

...Celeste Carey, KBOO's "An Evening of Afrotainment"

...FeLicia Elam, St John's Neighborhood Library 

...Patrick For...

When Platt set out on her journey to live with less, she never

intended to become "The Afrominimalist". She just wanted to tame the chaos in

her closet! But after struggling with the austerity and whiteness of

mainstream minimalism, Christine realized why minimalism...

We're featuring portions of

....a 2003 interview with internationally-recognized novelist Ernest J.

Gaines regarding A Lesson Before Dying.

.... a 2008 chat with then-newcomer Felicia Pride about her collection of

essays The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop’s Great...

Illmatic Consequences was influenced by rapper Nas’s 1994 debut

album Illmatic,” which features internal rhymes and inner-city narratives

based on Nas’s personal experiences. “Nas’s 1994 album ‘Illmatic’

is fundamentally a statement of self-worth. It’s not even just a...

Portland is  widely regarded as a liberal bastion, and yet the 2010 census

found it to be “America’s whitest major city.” Longstanding racial

tensions led to the formation of a local branch of the Black Panther Party

in the late 1960s.  Based in the city’s Albina Dist...