“Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams is a novel about a young Black woman in her mid-20s who was born and raised in London. The story follows her through the ups and downs of a year of her life, much of it spurred on by her relationship drama and personal issues.
Tag: <span>urban</span>
“Cooley High” is a classic in the Black film canon but sets itself apart as one of the few true Black coming-of-age films. The 1975 film tells the story of two high school friends with big dreams who are growing up in Chicago during the 1960s. Set against a classic Motown soundtrack, the boys cut school to hang out and chase girls. But their lives are forever changed when their teenage hijinks include hanging with the wrong crowd.
“Will” by Will Smith is an autobiography about the rapper and actor that charts his life from a childhood in West Philadelphia to being a Hollywood megastar. The book covers how he got into the emerging scene of hip hop music and then later went into acting. But there’s also a personal story throughout about him, his family, and the experiences that shaped him as a person. It’s an unexpectedly candid account of the ups and downs in Smith’s life that led to me finishing the book with a different perspective of the man and insightful questions for myself.
Summary Crooklyn is the story of a girl, Troy Carmichael, who is growing up in Brooklyn, the only girl in a family with four brothers. Troy falls somewhere in the…
“Lean on Me” is a 1989 film about Joe Clark, a high school principal who was put in charge of a school that was underperforming academically while also struggling with multiple other issues. Morgan Freeman stars as Clark, a fictionalized version of the real-life principal of Patterson, New Jersey’s Eastside High School. In the 1980s, Clark gained notoriety for the disciplined and almost tyrannical methods that he used in an attempt to turn the school around.