
I Am Nobody's Slave
How Uncovering My Family's History Set Me Free
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $28.79
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Lee Hawkins
-
By:
-
Lee Hawkins
About this listen
“Harrowing and insightful. . . . A profound work about the Black experience and white oppression.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“This work is vitally important and essential to understanding the magnitude of the impact of racism and violence.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“Gripping, thought-provoking, and personal, I Am Nobody's Slave will inspire discussion and action in response to its powerful message of inner healing and social justice.”—Booklist
A 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist and former Wall Street Journal writer exhaustively examines his family’s legacy of post-enslavement trauma and resilience, in this riveting memoir—a soulful, shocking, and spellbinding listen that blends the raw power of Natasha Tretheway’s Memorial Drive and the insights of Clint Smith’s How the Word is Passed.
I Am Nobody’s Slave tells the story of one Black family's pursuit of the American Dream through the impacts of systemic racism and racial violence. This book examines how trauma from enslavement and Jim Crow shaped their outlook on thriving in America, influenced each generation, and how they succeeded despite these challenges.
To their suburban Minnesotan neighbors, the Hawkinses were an ideal American family, embodying strength and success. However, behind closed doors, they faced the legacy of enslavement and apartheid. Lee Hawkins, Sr. often exhibited rage, leaving his children anxious and curious about his protective view of the world. Thirty years later, his son uncovered the reasons for his father’s anxiety and occasional violence. Through research, he discovered violent deaths in his family for every generation since slavery, mostly due to white-on-Black murders, and how white enslavers impacted the family’s customs.
Hawkins explores the role of racism-triggered childhood trauma and chronic stress in shortening his ancestors' lives, using genetic testing, reporting, and historical data to craft a moving family portrait. This audiobook shows how genealogical research can educate and heal Americans of all races, revealing through their story the story of America—a journey of struggle, resilience, and the heavy cost of ultimate success.
©2025 Lee Hawkins (P)2025 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
Docile
- Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl
- By: Hyeseung Song
- Narrated by: Hyeseung Song
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A daughter of Korean immigrants, Hyeseung Song spends her earliest years in the cane fields of Texas where her loyalties are divided between a restless father in search of Big Money, and a beautiful yet domineering mother whose resentments about her own life compromises her relationship with her daughter. With her parents at constant odds, Song learns more words in Korean for hatred than for love. When the family’s fake Gucci business lands them in bankruptcy, Song moves to a new elementary school. On her first day, a girl asks the teacher: “Can she speak English?”
-
-
A great daily deal
- By ginatheartist on 05-22-25
By: Hyeseung Song
-
An African History of Africa
- From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence
- By: Zeinab Badawi
- Narrated by: Zeinab Badawi
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For too long, Africa’s history has been dominated by western narratives of slavery and colonialism, or simply ignored. Now, Zeinab Badawi sets the record straight. In this fascinating book, Badawi guides us through Africa’s spectacular history—from the very origins of our species, through ancient civilizations and medieval empires with remarkable queens and kings, to the miseries of conquest and the elation of independence.
-
-
Introductory History
- By Wally Brewer on 05-14-25
By: Zeinab Badawi
-
Firstborn Girls
- A Memoir
- By: Bernice L. McFadden
- Narrated by: Robin Miles, Bernice L. McFadden
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On her second birthday in 1967, Bernice McFadden died in a car crash near Detroit, only to be resuscitated after her mother pulled her from the flaming wreckage. Firstborn Girls traces her remarkable life from that moment up to the publication of her first novel, Sugar. Growing up in 1980s Brooklyn, Bernice finds solace in books, summer trips to Barbados, and boarding school to escape her alcoholic father. Discovering the works of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, she finally sees herself and her loved ones reflected in their stories of “messy, beautiful, joyful Black people.”
-
-
Great Read
- By Mia CB on 05-15-25
-
Dust Tracks on a Road
- An Autobiography
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dust Tracks on a Road is the bold, poignant, and funny autobiography of novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, one of American literature's most compelling and influential authors. Hurston's powerful novels of the South - including Jonah's Gourd Vine and, most famously, Their Eyes Were Watching God - continue to enthrall readers with their lyrical grace, sharp detail, and captivating emotionality.
-
-
Very nice!
- By Joi Wilson on 10-31-16
-
Medical Apartheid
- The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
- By: Harriet A. Washington
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Medical Apartheid is the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation on African Americans. Starting with the earliest encounters between black Americans and Western medical researchers and the racist pseudoscience that resulted, it details the ways both slaves and freedmen were used in hospitals for experiments conducted without their knowledge - a tradition that continues today within some black populations.
-
-
Sobering... but necessary.
- By Dr. Pepper on 10-27-16
-
Promise That You Will Sing About Me
- The Power and Poetry of Kendrick Lamar
- By: Miles Marshall Lewis
- Narrated by: Larry Herron, Miles Marshall Lewis
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kendrick Lamar is one of the most influential rappers, songwriters and record producers of his generation. Widely known for his incredible lyrics and powerful music, he is regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time. In Promise That You Will Sing About Me, pop culture critic and music journalist Miles Marshall Lewis explores Kendrick Lamar’s life, his roots, his music, his lyrics, and how he has shaped the musical landscape.
-
-
I want my credit back
- By EFar on 10-15-21
-
Docile
- Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl
- By: Hyeseung Song
- Narrated by: Hyeseung Song
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A daughter of Korean immigrants, Hyeseung Song spends her earliest years in the cane fields of Texas where her loyalties are divided between a restless father in search of Big Money, and a beautiful yet domineering mother whose resentments about her own life compromises her relationship with her daughter. With her parents at constant odds, Song learns more words in Korean for hatred than for love. When the family’s fake Gucci business lands them in bankruptcy, Song moves to a new elementary school. On her first day, a girl asks the teacher: “Can she speak English?”
-
-
A great daily deal
- By ginatheartist on 05-22-25
By: Hyeseung Song
-
An African History of Africa
- From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence
- By: Zeinab Badawi
- Narrated by: Zeinab Badawi
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For too long, Africa’s history has been dominated by western narratives of slavery and colonialism, or simply ignored. Now, Zeinab Badawi sets the record straight. In this fascinating book, Badawi guides us through Africa’s spectacular history—from the very origins of our species, through ancient civilizations and medieval empires with remarkable queens and kings, to the miseries of conquest and the elation of independence.
-
-
Introductory History
- By Wally Brewer on 05-14-25
By: Zeinab Badawi
-
Firstborn Girls
- A Memoir
- By: Bernice L. McFadden
- Narrated by: Robin Miles, Bernice L. McFadden
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On her second birthday in 1967, Bernice McFadden died in a car crash near Detroit, only to be resuscitated after her mother pulled her from the flaming wreckage. Firstborn Girls traces her remarkable life from that moment up to the publication of her first novel, Sugar. Growing up in 1980s Brooklyn, Bernice finds solace in books, summer trips to Barbados, and boarding school to escape her alcoholic father. Discovering the works of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, she finally sees herself and her loved ones reflected in their stories of “messy, beautiful, joyful Black people.”
-
-
Great Read
- By Mia CB on 05-15-25
-
Dust Tracks on a Road
- An Autobiography
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dust Tracks on a Road is the bold, poignant, and funny autobiography of novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, one of American literature's most compelling and influential authors. Hurston's powerful novels of the South - including Jonah's Gourd Vine and, most famously, Their Eyes Were Watching God - continue to enthrall readers with their lyrical grace, sharp detail, and captivating emotionality.
-
-
Very nice!
- By Joi Wilson on 10-31-16
-
Medical Apartheid
- The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
- By: Harriet A. Washington
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Medical Apartheid is the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation on African Americans. Starting with the earliest encounters between black Americans and Western medical researchers and the racist pseudoscience that resulted, it details the ways both slaves and freedmen were used in hospitals for experiments conducted without their knowledge - a tradition that continues today within some black populations.
-
-
Sobering... but necessary.
- By Dr. Pepper on 10-27-16
-
Promise That You Will Sing About Me
- The Power and Poetry of Kendrick Lamar
- By: Miles Marshall Lewis
- Narrated by: Larry Herron, Miles Marshall Lewis
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kendrick Lamar is one of the most influential rappers, songwriters and record producers of his generation. Widely known for his incredible lyrics and powerful music, he is regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time. In Promise That You Will Sing About Me, pop culture critic and music journalist Miles Marshall Lewis explores Kendrick Lamar’s life, his roots, his music, his lyrics, and how he has shaped the musical landscape.
-
-
I want my credit back
- By EFar on 10-15-21
-
The Unlikely Thru-Hiker
- An Appalachian Trail Journey
- By: Derick Lugo
- Narrated by: Derick Lugo
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Derick Lugo had never been hiking. He certainly couldn't imagine going more than a day without manicuring his goatee. But with a job cut short and no immediate plans, this fixture of the New York comedy scene began to think about what he might do with months of free time. He had heard of the Appalachian Trail, but he had never seriously considered attempting to hike all 2,184.2 miles of it. Suddenly he found himself asking, Could he do it?
-
-
On My Feet All Day
- By bannedbum on 08-21-21
By: Derick Lugo
-
Walking with Sam
- A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain
- By: Andrew McCarthy
- Narrated by: Andrew McCarthy
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Andrew McCarthy's eldest son began to take his first steps into adulthood, McCarthy found himself wishing time would slow down. Looking to create a more meaningful connection with Sam before he fled the nest, as well as recreate his own life-altering journey decades before, McCarthy decided the two of them should set out on a trek like few others: 500 miles across Spain's Camino de Santiago. Over the course of the journey, the pair traversed an unforgiving landscape, having more honest conversations in five weeks than they'd had in the preceding two decades.
-
-
Interesting concept but...
- By Anonymous User on 05-14-23
By: Andrew McCarthy
-
The Color of Law
- A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
- By: Richard Rothstein
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein explodes the myth that America's cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation - that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather, he incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation - the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments - that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.
-
-
Better suited to print than audio
- By ProfGolf on 02-04-18
-
New Prize for These Eyes
- The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement
- By: Juan Williams
- Narrated by: Juan Williams
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
More than a century of civil rights activism reached a mountaintop with the arrival of a Black man in the Oval Office. But hopes for a unified, post-racial America were deflated when Barack Obama’s presidency met with furious opposition. A white right-wing backlash was brewing, and a volcanic new movement—a second civil rights movement—began to erupt. In New Prize for These Eyes, award-winning author Juan Williams shines a light on this historic, new movement. Who are its heroes? Where is it headed? What fires, furies, and frustrations distinguish it from its predecessor?
-
-
The Prize
- By Mrs. VP on 04-20-25
By: Juan Williams
-
Who Better Than You?
- The Art of Healthy Arrogance & Dreaming Big
- By: Will Packer
- Narrated by: Will Packer, Regina Hall, Kevin Hart, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The billion-dollar Hollywood producer provides a master mentorship by sharing secrets to success honed from working with the biggest stars in the world. Whether you’re just starting out or ready to make a major move, Who Better Than You? is a wildly entertaining roadmap to being successful in an unpredictable world, featuring behind-the-scenes Hollywood lessons, empowering guidance, and indispensable encouragement.
-
-
The gems that were dropped! And Packers storytelling abilities are unbelievable.
- By Chanel Breanna on 05-05-25
By: Will Packer
-
The 1619 Project
- A New Origin Story
- By: Nikole Hannah-Jones, The New York Times Magazine, Caitlin Roper - editor, and others
- Narrated by: Nikole Hannah-Jones, Full Cast
- Length: 18 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning “1619 Project” issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This new book substantially expands on that work, weaving together 18 essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with 36 poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance.
-
-
Comprehensive and Cutting
- By Thomas Ray on 12-30-21
By: Nikole Hannah-Jones, and others
-
Biased
- Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do
- By: Jennifer L. Eberhardt PhD
- Narrated by: Jennifer L. Eberhardt PhD
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do we talk about bias? How do we address racial disparities and inequities? What role do our institutions play in creating, maintaining, and magnifying those inequities? What role do we play? With a perspective that is at once scientific, investigative, and informed by personal experience, Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt offers us the language and courage we need to face one of the biggest and most troubling issues of our time. She exposes racial bias at all levels of society - in our neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and criminal justice system.
-
-
hoped for more on why bias and how to avoid it
- By Pavan Ongole on 04-04-19
-
Taking Manhattan
- The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America
- By: Russell Shorto
- Narrated by: Russell Shorto
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1664, England decided to invade the Dutch-controlled city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, had dreams of empire, and their archrivals, the Dutch, were in the way. But Richard Nicolls, the military officer who led the English flotilla bent on destruction, changed his strategy once he encountered Peter Stuyvesant, New Netherland’s canny director general.
-
-
I really appreciated how the author continually related the past to what we see today.
- By Jaelyn Dean on 05-22-25
By: Russell Shorto
-
Dawn
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Julienne Irons
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lilith lyapo wakes from a centuries-long sleep, she finds herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankali. She discovers that the Oankali—a seemingly benevolent alien race—intervened in the fate of the humanity hundreds of years ago, saving everyone who survived a nuclear war from a dying, ruined Earth and then putting them into a deep sleep. After learning all they could about Earth and its beings, the Oankali healed the planet, cured cancer, increased human strength, and they now want Lilith to lead her people back to Earth—but salvation comes at a price.
-
-
Too Sexual
- By Amazon Customer on 08-29-23
-
Harlem Rhapsody
- By: Victoria Christopher Murray
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1919, a high school teacher from Washington, D.C arrives in Harlem excited to realize her lifelong dream. Jessie Redmon Fauset has been named the literary editor of The Crisis. The first Black woman to hold this position at a preeminent Negro magazine, Jessie is poised to achieve literary greatness. But she holds a secret that jeopardizes it all. W. E. B. Du Bois, the founder of The Crisis, is not only Jessie’s boss, he’s her lover. And neither his wife, nor their fourteen-year-age difference can keep the two apart.
-
-
Horrible Representation
- By Kwana Nicholas on 04-05-25
-
Sink
- A Memoir
- By: Joseph Earl Thomas
- Narrated by: Joseph Earl Thomas
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"A brilliant and brilliantly different" (Kiese Laymon), wrenching and redemptive coming-of-age memoir about the difficulty of growing up in a hazardous home and the glory of finding salvation in geek culture.
-
-
Great memoir
- By Jason on 02-26-23
-
The Taken Ones
- A Novel (Steinbeck and Reed, Book 1)
- By: Jess Lourey
- Narrated by: Carly Robins
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Summer 1980: Despite the local superstition that the Bendy Man haunts the woods, three girls go into a Minnesota forest. Only one comes out, dead silent, her memory gone. The mystery of the Taken Ones captures the nation. Summer 2022: Cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck are assigned a disturbing homicide—a woman buried alive, clutching a heart charm necklace belonging to one of the vanished girls. Van follows her gut. Harry trusts in facts. They’re both desperate to catch a killer before he kills again.
-
-
Please hire a Minnesotan narrator.
- By S&C on 01-15-24
By: Jess Lourey
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
MOVE: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy
- By: Curtis Bryant, Kevin Arbouet
- Narrated by: Tariq Trotter
- Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This searing audio documentary brings listeners deep inside the unforgettable story of MOVE, gaining unprecedented access to surviving MOVE members, elected officials from the era, eyewitnesses, and historians to create an indelible portrait of an American tragedy.
-
-
Balanced Examination of History
- By James Peacock on 08-14-24
By: Curtis Bryant, and others
-
Mainline Mama
- A Memoir
- By: Keeonna Harris
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Keeonna and Jason met as young teens. Only fourteen, Keeonna had never had a boyfriend before, dreamed of attending Spelman to become an obstetrician, and thought she was “grown.” Within a year she was pregnant and Jason was in prison, convicted of a carjacking and sentenced to twenty-two years. Overnight Keeonna had become a “mainline mama,” a parent facing the task of raising a child—while still growing up herself—with an incarcerated partner.
By: Keeonna Harris
-
Purlie Victorious
- A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
- By: Ossie Davis
- Narrated by: Leslie Odom Jr., Kara Young, Vanessa Bell Calloway, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 36 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dynamic traveling preacher Purlie Victorious Judson returns to his small Georgia town hoping to save Big Bethel, the community’s church, and emancipate the cotton pickers who work on oppressive Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee’s plantation. With the assistance of Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins, in a Tony Award-winning performance by Kara Young, Purlie hopes to pry loose an inheritance due his long-lost cousin and use the money to restore his beloved church.
-
-
Stellar performances
- By Kamara Reads on 06-24-25
By: Ossie Davis
-
Hidden Histories with Nova Reid
- By: Nova Reid
- Narrated by: Nova Reid
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nova Reid, author of The Good Ally, delves into the untold stories of extraordinary, unsung Black women who created and shaped pivotal moments in world history, British culture and society. Through powerful storytelling, personal insights and new research, Nova delves into the lives of pioneers, journalists and rule-breakers who made vital contributions to civil rights, yet have been mythologised, are unknown or erased from history.
-
-
Do you want to know upon whose shoulders you stand?
- By Anonymous User on 07-04-25
By: Nova Reid
-
The Abolitionists
- By: Kellie Carter Jackson, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Kellie Carter Jackson
- Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While most of us are familiar with the Underground Railroad, there was much more to the movement than helping individuals escape their bondage. In the eight lectures of The Abolitionists, Professor Kellie Carter Jackson of Wellesley College will bring you along as she traces the history of the fight to end slavery in America, from its relatively quiet origins to the turning point at Harper’s Ferry to the Civil War.
-
-
Highly Informative
- By Gilbert M. Stack on 02-23-25
By: Kellie Carter Jackson, and others
-
The Stolen Wealth of Slavery
- A Case for Reparations
- By: David Montero, Michael Eric Dyson - foreword
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emmy Award-nominated journalist David Montero follows the trail of the massive wealth amassed by Northern corporations throughout America’s history of enslavement. It has long been maintained by many that the North wasn’t complicit in the horrors of slavery. The truth, however, is that large Northern banks were critical to the financing of slavery; that they saw their fortunes rise dramatically from their involvement in the business of enslavement; and that white business leaders and their surrounding communities created enormous wealth from the enslavement and abuse of Black bodies.
-
-
This should be required HS reading
- By Lucas on 04-29-24
By: David Montero, and others
-
MOVE: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy
- By: Curtis Bryant, Kevin Arbouet
- Narrated by: Tariq Trotter
- Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This searing audio documentary brings listeners deep inside the unforgettable story of MOVE, gaining unprecedented access to surviving MOVE members, elected officials from the era, eyewitnesses, and historians to create an indelible portrait of an American tragedy.
-
-
Balanced Examination of History
- By James Peacock on 08-14-24
By: Curtis Bryant, and others
-
Mainline Mama
- A Memoir
- By: Keeonna Harris
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Keeonna and Jason met as young teens. Only fourteen, Keeonna had never had a boyfriend before, dreamed of attending Spelman to become an obstetrician, and thought she was “grown.” Within a year she was pregnant and Jason was in prison, convicted of a carjacking and sentenced to twenty-two years. Overnight Keeonna had become a “mainline mama,” a parent facing the task of raising a child—while still growing up herself—with an incarcerated partner.
By: Keeonna Harris
-
Purlie Victorious
- A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
- By: Ossie Davis
- Narrated by: Leslie Odom Jr., Kara Young, Vanessa Bell Calloway, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 36 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dynamic traveling preacher Purlie Victorious Judson returns to his small Georgia town hoping to save Big Bethel, the community’s church, and emancipate the cotton pickers who work on oppressive Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee’s plantation. With the assistance of Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins, in a Tony Award-winning performance by Kara Young, Purlie hopes to pry loose an inheritance due his long-lost cousin and use the money to restore his beloved church.
-
-
Stellar performances
- By Kamara Reads on 06-24-25
By: Ossie Davis
-
Hidden Histories with Nova Reid
- By: Nova Reid
- Narrated by: Nova Reid
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nova Reid, author of The Good Ally, delves into the untold stories of extraordinary, unsung Black women who created and shaped pivotal moments in world history, British culture and society. Through powerful storytelling, personal insights and new research, Nova delves into the lives of pioneers, journalists and rule-breakers who made vital contributions to civil rights, yet have been mythologised, are unknown or erased from history.
-
-
Do you want to know upon whose shoulders you stand?
- By Anonymous User on 07-04-25
By: Nova Reid
-
The Abolitionists
- By: Kellie Carter Jackson, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Kellie Carter Jackson
- Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While most of us are familiar with the Underground Railroad, there was much more to the movement than helping individuals escape their bondage. In the eight lectures of The Abolitionists, Professor Kellie Carter Jackson of Wellesley College will bring you along as she traces the history of the fight to end slavery in America, from its relatively quiet origins to the turning point at Harper’s Ferry to the Civil War.
-
-
Highly Informative
- By Gilbert M. Stack on 02-23-25
By: Kellie Carter Jackson, and others
-
The Stolen Wealth of Slavery
- A Case for Reparations
- By: David Montero, Michael Eric Dyson - foreword
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emmy Award-nominated journalist David Montero follows the trail of the massive wealth amassed by Northern corporations throughout America’s history of enslavement. It has long been maintained by many that the North wasn’t complicit in the horrors of slavery. The truth, however, is that large Northern banks were critical to the financing of slavery; that they saw their fortunes rise dramatically from their involvement in the business of enslavement; and that white business leaders and their surrounding communities created enormous wealth from the enslavement and abuse of Black bodies.
-
-
This should be required HS reading
- By Lucas on 04-29-24
By: David Montero, and others
-
Fearless and Free
- A Memoir
- By: Josephine Baker, Ijeoma Oluo - foreword, Sophie Lewis
- Narrated by: Anam Zafar, Sophie R. Lewis, Ijeoma Oluo, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Published in the US for the first time, Fearless and Free is the memoir of the fabulous, rule-breaking, one-of-a-kind Josephine Baker, the iconic dancer, singer, spy, and Civil Rights activist. After stealing the spotlight as a teenaged Broadway performer during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, Josephine then took Paris by storm, dazzling audiences across the Roaring Twenties. In her famous banana skirt, she enraptured royalty and countless fans—Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso among them.
-
-
Revealed another side
- By SBZ on 06-30-25
By: Josephine Baker, and others
-
Invisible Labor
- The Untold Story of the Cesarean Section
- By: Rachel Somerstein
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Rachel Somerstein had an unplanned C-section with her first child, the experience was anything but the “routine” operation her doctor described. A series of errors by her clinicians led to a real-life nightmare: surgery without anesthesia. The ensuing mental and physical complications left her traumatized and desperate for answers about how things could have gone so wrong. In the United States, one in three babies is born via C-section, a rate that has grown exponentially over the past fifty years.
-
-
Touching
- By Audrey on 03-23-25
-
Sing a Black Girl's Song
- The Unpublished Work of Ntozake Shange
- By: Ntozake Shange, Imani Perry - editor, Tarana Burke - foreword
- Narrated by: Alfre Woodard, D. Woods, Regina Taylor, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late ’60s, Ntozake Shange was a student at Barnard College discovering her budding talent as a writer, publishing in her school’s literary journal, and finding her unique voice. By the time she left us in 2018, Shange had scorched blazing trails across countless pages and stages, redefining genre and form as we know them, each verse, dance, and song a love letter to Black women and girls, and the community at large.
-
-
For the love of literature
- By Joy-Jayne on 03-21-24
By: Ntozake Shange, and others
-
Fearless Finances
- A Timeless Guide to Building Wealth
- By: Cassandra Cummings
- Narrated by: Cassandra Cummings
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historically, women of color have been shut out of the wealth-building game. Cassandra Cummings has made it her mission to change that by creating a vibrant and successful online community of more than 100,000 women investors. In her new book, Cassandra brings the powerful lessons of their achievements to you.
-
-
Straight to the point and Informative
- By Aleena on 06-25-23
-
We Were All Rooting For You
- By: Franchesca Ramsey
- Narrated by: Franchesca Ramsey
- Length: 4 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The resurgence of viral clips from the long-running hit reality television show America’s Next Top Model left fans and foes alike wondering–how did a show so outrageous and at times offensive ever get on the air? For years, Americans dutifully watched as contestants faced uncomfortable situations regarding their race and gender, body-shaming, stereotyping, and problematic photoshoots. The show, which first premiered in 2003 and ran for 24 cycles, was helmed by supermodel Tyra Banks–the first Black female host of a smash network reality show.
-
-
a trip down memory lane
- By Joni on 01-03-25
-
American Negra
- A Memoir
- By: Natasha S. Alford
- Narrated by: Natasha S. Alford
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning journalist Natasha S. Alford grew up between two worlds as the daughter of an African American father and Puerto Rican mother. In American Negra, a narrative that is part memoir, part cultural analysis, Alford reflects on growing up in a working-class family from the city of Syracuse, NY. In smart, vivid prose, Alford illustrates the complexity of being multiethnic in Upstate New York and society’s flawed teachings about matters of identity.
-
-
Relatable to those who grew up in America
- By Oronde Creal on 03-24-24
-
The Life of Herod the Great
- By: Zora Neale Hurston, Deborah G. Plant - editor
- Narrated by: Blair Underwood, Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1950s, as a continuation of Moses, Man of the Mountain, Zora Neale Hurston penned a historical novel about one of the most infamous figures in the Bible, Herod the Great. In Hurston’s retelling, Herod is not the wicked ruler of the New Testament who is charged with the “slaughter of the innocents,” but a forerunner of Christ—a beloved king who enriched Jewish culture and brought prosperity and peace to Judea.
-
-
like the lion needs no weapon but himself
- By william t. on 03-25-25
By: Zora Neale Hurston, and others
-
James Baldwin: The Man and His Work
- By: Rafael Walker, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Rafael Walker
- Length: 2 hrs and 56 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Artist. Public intellectual. Political activist. James Baldwin was all of these and more. Raised in the slums of Depression-era Harlem in New York City, Baldwin would become an author and activist of international renown—one whose legacy has continued long beyond his death in 1987. Who was James Baldwin? How did he become the master of multiple literary genres and a champion for some of the era’s most notable political and social causes? And how is his influence still being felt today?
-
-
I loved this class!
- By bgmontieth on 04-06-25
By: Rafael Walker, and others
-
Pretty
- A Memoir
- By: KB Brookins
- Narrated by: KB Brookins
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By a prize-winning young Black trans writer of outsized talent, a fierce and disciplined memoir about queerness, masculinity, and race, Pretty is as much a powerful and tender love letter as it is a call for change.
-
-
Love
- By Brie on 02-11-25
By: KB Brookins
-
Harriet Tubman
- Conductor on the Underground Railroad
- By: Ann Petry
- Narrated by: Robin Miles, Jason Reynolds
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad was praised by the New Yorker as “an evocative portrait,” and by the Chicago Tribune as “superb.” It is a gripping and accessible portrait of the heroic woman who guided more than 300 slaves to freedom and who is expected to be the face of the new $20 bill. Harriet Tubman was born a slave and dreamed of being free. She was willing to risk everything - including her own life - to see that dream come true. After her daring escape, Harriet became a conductor on the secret Underground Railroad.
-
-
enjoyed it very much!
- By natasha on 11-12-19
By: Ann Petry
-
In My Remaining Years
- By: Jean Grae
- Narrated by: Jean Grae
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In My Remaining Years, by creative juggernaut Jean Grae, debunks the myth that coming-of-age narratives should be reserved for the kids, providing a much-needed rallying cry for those of us still trying to figure it out in our forties. These laugh-out-loud essays cover everything from aging gracefully, what happens when you look for community and almost start a cult, befriending childhood demons, gender fluidity in middle age, the cost of being too fabulous, and the various gymnastics we do to avoid becoming our parents, taking us from her childhood in 1980s NYC to present-day Baltimore.
-
-
Her amazing voice and storytelling ability
- By Roxanne Shante on 03-20-25
By: Jean Grae
-
Black Skin, White Masks
- By: Frantz Fanon, Richard Philcox - translator
- Narrated by: Terrence Kidd
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few modern voices have had as profound an impact on the black identity and critical race theory as Frantz Fanon, and Black Skin, White Masks represents some of his most important work. Fanon's masterwork is now available in a new translation that updates its language for a new generation of listeners. A major influence on civil rights, anti-colonial, and black consciousness movements around the world, Black Skin, White Masks is the unsurpassed study of the black psyche in a white world.
-
-
It was ok
- By Anne on 05-10-25
By: Frantz Fanon, and others
The raw honesty
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The child abuse
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Unearthing the pain and trauma caused by slavery
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Outstanding
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
everything
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.