“Just Pursuit” by Laura Coates is a memoir about a Black female prosecutor and her time at the Department of Justice. You get the perspective of her coming into the agency as someone new to the office, and then a bit of insight as she gets a bit further along in her career. Now, to be clear, this isn’t a chronological story or a day-by-day account of her career at the Department of Justice. Instead, Coates picks out a few significant cases and discusses what was going on in her life at the time, the details of the case, and how the case affected her.
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If you’re interested in learning about a thriving predominantly Black settlement that was destroyed to make way for the creation of Central Park, then my Seneca Village Black History Facts profile is for you.
“LA 92” is a 2017 documentary about the racial tensions that erupted into riots in Los Angeles in 1992. At the core of the unrest was the acquittal of four White police officers who had been caught on video savagely beating a Black man, Rodney King. The relatively light sentencing of a shopkeeper who shot and killed an unarmed Black girl who she thought was stealing also contributed to the unrest. The documentary explains these two contributing events but also explores the city’s decades long history of discrimination and ill-treatment of its Black population.
If you’re interested in learning about an activist and entertainer who in addition to being one of the first Black movie stars was also the first person to have a platinum album, the first Black person to win an Emmy, and the first Black television producer, then my Harry Belafonte Black Black History Facts profile is for you.
“Yonder” by Jabari Asim is in a sense a slave narrative but it differs from others as it doesn’t just follow one particular character but rather a group. And specifically a group comprised of people who share typical relationships that we might take for granted. Within the group are two sets of couples who share romantic love at different stages. A couple of soon-to-be parents anxious about the birth of their child. Another couple apprehensive about taking a chance to find love in a new relationship after multiple heartbreaks. And then overall friendship between all of the members of the group.