Jazz is an essential volume of rare and previously unseen photos by Steve Schapiro, featuring the biggest 1960s jazz legends.

"These pictures are very emotional for me. They take me back to a time when everything was copasetic. Elvin Jones is smiling. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photo of Paul Chambers smiling, but there he is. Paul Chambers is smiling! All these guys: Ron Carter, Miles, Red Garland. I mean, these pictures take me back into a time which will never be like that again." Sonny Rollins, Jazz, from The Foreword

"This is a great, great book. The shots are unbelievable, just absolutely beautiful, and the writing is spot-on.,,.[It] brings back the times, the power of those times in the 1960s when everything was changing.” Charles McPherson

"A truly magnificent work. We have been overwhelmed by its beauty." Louis Hayes and Nisha Hayes

One of the leading social documentary photographers of the 1960s, Steve Schapiro’s images stand among the most important of the 20th century, covering Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Baldwin and many others. These largely unknown jazz photos – shot just before his career breakthrough – showcase his early mastery and his empathy for his subjects, making Jazz: Best of the Apollo, Village Vanguard, and Riverside Sessions an essential archive.

In the early ’60s, when Schapiro arrived on the scene, New York jazz was enjoying a golden age. A young freelance photographer who had grown up in the Bronx and somehow snagged a gig with Riverside Records, he began voraciously documenting shows, players, venues, recording sessions and gatherings both in his native New York and later in Chicago. Whether it’s Sonny Rollins lifting weights backstage, or Bobby Timmons lost in an instant of discovery at the piano, Schapiro was on their wavelength.

Written by US jazz journalist Richard Scheinin Jazz: Best of the Apollo, Village Vanguard, and Riverside Sessions features dozens of never-before-seen photos of jazz legends like Cannonball Adderley, Melba Liston, Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Rollins, Count Basie and more.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ ACC Art Books

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 2, 2026

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 316 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1788843428

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1788843423

• Author: Steve Schapiro (Author), Richard Scheinin (Author)

This innovative history explores the rich tradition of music behind bars and shows how policing and prisons have shaped our musical culture from blues to hip-hop.

In American popular music, we often glorify rebellious artists and “outlaws.” But in The Midnight Special, Colin Asher tells a deeper story about the criminal justice system’s impact on our musicians, explored through compelling portraits of five artists whose careers span the twentieth century.

Opening with folk and blues artist Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, who was made to perform wearing prison clothes, Asher traces the intertwined histories of music and incarceration, from Southern prison farms of the Jim Crow era, through the heroin-driven mid-century drug wars that villainized a generation of jazz artists, and to our present era of mass incarceration.

Asher shows how the suggestion of criminality has often benefited white artists, while prosecutions often hurt Black musicians. Comparing the divergent trajectories of jazz pianist Elmo Hope with country singer Johnny Cash, Asher examines how violent and discriminatory policing stifled Hope’s career and led to the creation of his album Sounds from Rikers Island (1963), while forgiveness and lenience brought us Cash’s masterpiece At San Quentin (1969).

With keen musical analysis and sociological insight, The Midnight Special examines key themes in culture and criminal justice, from the movement for prison reform that allowed soul musician Ike White to stage thrilling concerts while locked up and record his album Changin’ Times (1977), to the crushing cultural weight of mass incarceration a generation later. Closing with Tupac Shakur’s Me Against the World (1995) and stories of music in prisons today, The Midnight Special recounts how prisons occasionally incubate talent but more often shorten careers and distort the public’s perception of musicians and their value to society.

An urgent book about the ways music can affirm an individual’s sense of humanity in dehumanizing circumstances, The Midnight Special writes the history of prisons into American music―a story as important as it is overlooked.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 30, 2026

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 336 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1324051396

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1324051398

• Author: Colin Asher 

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by The New York Times

“Daylight Come takes us to places no biography in recent memory has . . . This book fills the heart and mind, and is essential reading for our times.” —Hilton Als

A vibrant, revealing portrait of the "King of Calypso," whose extraordinary performing career and activism helped remake America through the civil rights era and beyond

Even three years after his death, Harry Belafonte is everywhere. You can’t go to a wedding, or to a sports arena, without hearing “Day-O,” “Jump in the Line,” or “Jamaica Farewell.” The Harlem-born son of Caribbean immigrants, Belafonte turned the folk music of the islands into American pop—and shaped the fantasy of Caribbean life that endures as an ideal and as a multibillion-dollar tourist industry. Belafonte released the first million-selling LP in history. He was America’s first Black movie star, the first Black person to produce a prime-time special on network TV, and the first to win an Emmy Award. He was once the highest-paid Black performer of all time, beloved by Black and white fans alike, even under segregation. His artistic career helped create the pop culture of the twentieth century—and his political activism reshaped the course of American history.

In this sparkling new biography, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro brings Belafonte’s personality and music vibrantly to life, following him from rags to riches and from Harlem to Jamaica to the March on Washington. Jelly-Schapiro takes us inside Belafonte’s lifelong brotherhood with Sidney Poitier, his friendship with Fidel Castro, his collaboration with Nelson Mandela, and the sometimes shocking therapeutic relationships his difficult upbringing necessitated. At the heart of the story is Belafonte’s bond with Martin Luther King Jr., whose cause Belafonte would champion for the rest of his life. That commitment to the greater good would sustain him and benefit untold numbers—and would come at a cost.

The indelible story of an American icon—and a provocative study of authenticity, fame, and conviction—Daylight Come is, like Harry Belafonte himself, brimming with style and consequence.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Press

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 4, 2026

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 384 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593652703

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593652701

• Author:  Joshua Jelly-Schapiro 

The legendary actor behind Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Reading Rainbow shares never-before-told stories from a life that has shaped generations—told at last on his own terms.

This is my attempt to pull back the curtain. Not just on the roles I’ve played, but on the life I’ve lived. The fears. The fight. The survival. And yes, the joy. All of it.

Tracing the different eras of his life—from Kunta Kinte to Geordi La Forge to Reading Rainbow and far beyond the camera—celebrated actor LeVar Burton fearlessly opens up about growing up during the Civil Rights Movement, being raised by a remarkable mother, and discovering his calling as a storyteller. He explores how acting has served as both a source of transformation and an escape from the most difficult parts of his past, while also confronting the challenges of being a parent, husband, and householder.

As Burton honors the loved ones whose strength and resilience shaped him in this inspiring memoir, he also asks what we owe to our ancestors and to each other, reflecting on the deep necessity he’s always felt advocating for liberation and equity. Generous, deeply moving, and illustrated with personal family photos, Take My Word For It is a courageous self-portrait of an iconic artist.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0GMVXBTJQ

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 10, 2026

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8217198276

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Long Way Down comes a powerful print adaptation of the acclaimed, award-winning audiobook Soundtrack—a stirring story of music, friendship, and finding your voice in 2000s New York City.

★ “[A] stunning tribute to New York City’s creative scene . . . The text echoes with the sounds of N.Y.C., as Stuy perceives them, from beginning to end.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Stuy Grey plays the drums, just like his mom, a founding member of the all-black punk band the Bed-Stuy Magic Dusters. He teaches himself by watching videos of tap dancers. Now he’s left home, estranged from his mom and her abusive boyfriend. He’s camping out with his uncle on the Lower East Side. His landlord, Dunks, has chops: He shreds on only five strings. Add Alexis on bass guitar and Keith on horn: These teens are a band, busking in New York City subway stations to scrape enough money to record an album.

As their popularity grows, so do the pressures, from complicated family dynamics to the glare of unexpected public attention. And when the police start looking for their bassist, Stuy faces his toughest decision yet.

Adapted from the acclaimed Listening Library original audiobook and written with Jason Reynolds’s signature rhythm, heart, and honesty, Soundtrack: A Novel is a raw, resonant story about friendship, creativity, and what it truly means to find, and fight for, your voice.

"This book, I suspect, will detonate over certain corners in America.... Darkology is a major and thrilling work of American history." ―Dwight Garner, New York Times Book Review
As Heard on NPR's Fresh Air: "Quite enlightening." ―Terry Gross
"Tremendous.... Barnes has corralled the chaos, contradiction, and surprise of American social reality; evaded mythology; and made... the ‘unwritten’ legible.... [A] painfully necessary autopsy of the nation’s soul." ―Walton Muyumba, Boston Globe
Named one of the Best Books of the Month by the New York Times, TIME, and Kirkus Reviews

A groundbreaking history, decades in the making, that chronicles how blackface dominated American society culturally, financially, and racially for nearly two centuries.

Never before has the disturbing story of blackface and its piercing reflection of American society been so comprehensively told. With Darkology, Princeton historian Rhae Lynn Barnes meticulously unravels the complex, subterranean, and all-too-often expunged history of “Darkology”―the insidious study, commodification, and dehumanization of Black life, through which performers caricatured the enslaved and formerly enslaved for their supposed subservience and happy demeanor.

Given the extraordinary research reflected inDarkology, it’s not surprising that Barnes spent twenty years tracking down “fading photographs, old movies, bureaucratic detritus, moldy scripts, and living witnesses, assembling an impressive archive that allowed her to demonstrate the astonishingly broad reach of blackface minstrelsy” (Laurel Thatcher Ulrich). Painstakingly piecing together these scattered shards of evidence, Barnes reveals the shocking extent to which blackface took center stage in every era of American history.

This was not a fringe activity. By 1830, as political resistance to slavery grew, blackface exploded from a niche performance into a venomous national export. Within a decade, hardly a theater in the countrydidn’tput on minstrel shows. Following the Civil War, this grotesque entertainment soared, seeping from professional theaters into everyday amateur shows, print, and advertisements. It was everywhere: Elks Clubs, religious institutions, battlefields, universities, and schools. It wasn’t justinthe Jim Crow era; itdefinedit. The very name “Jim Crow” derives from minstrelsy’s founding character.

Darkologydismantles the myth that blackface was a fleeting, post–Civil War phenomenon. Even in eras known for liberal progressivism, it flourished. Barnes unearths the startling fact that four-term president Franklin D. Roosevelt was a devotee who died hours before a blackface show he had commissioned at Warm Springs. It permeated U.S. military bases and was even used in World War II Japanese American concentration camps and German POW camps as a bizarre tool of “Americanization.”

After WWII, the tide began to turn as Black veterans and mothers in places like suburban California protested the practice in schools. Still, blackface performances proved resilient, surfacing as late as 1969 at the University of Vermont. Even as the Civil Rights movement fought for equality, blackface remained present in American politics and white supremacist organizing through the Nixon and Ford administrations, its legacy still percolating in variable forms today.

By tracing minstrelsy’s evolution through oral histories, material culture, and a wide range of multimedia sources, Barnes’s “masterpiece” (David Blight) forces us to reckon with the myriad ways the American Dream wore blackface. Recasting this American story with “vivid and engaging storytelling” (Howard French),Darkologyis a landmark work that peers beneath the boulders deliberately obscuring our past―illuminating a path toward a more just and equal society in America’s future. 72 illustrations

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Liveright

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 24, 2026

• Author: Rhae Lynn Barnes

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 528 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1631496344

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1631496349

A profound meditation on hip hop’s transformative power, In the Hour of Chaos takes us deep into the mind of the genre’s most unabashed revolutionary.

This book is not an autobiography. It’s not a manifesto. It’s a razor-sharp investigation into hip hop and rap music by searing lyricist and global music icon Chuck D of Public Enemy.
 
Engaging with some of the world’s leading thinkers on hip hop, “Professor Chuck” sets out on a journey that celebrates fifty years of hip hop and charts paths forward for its future. Exploring the intersections of hip hop with Black radicalism and feminism, media and technology, and globalization and politics, this curated collection shows the power of culture and the arts not only to bring people together but to bring about political change in this current hour of chaos.

Features conversations with leading thinkers, including Robin D. G. Kelley, H. Samy Alim, Jeff Chang, Davey D, Scot Brown, Cheryl L. Keyes, Gaye Theresa Johnson, Bryonn Bain, Maya Jupiter, Adam Bradley, Joan Morgan, and more.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of California Press

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 10, 2026

• Author: Chuck D

• Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 352 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0520427394

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0520427396

Arsenio Hall, America’s beloved late-night TV host, reveals the ups and downs of his remarkable career as a trailblazing pioneer with this “vivid, outrageous” (The New York Times)behind-the-scenes, star-studded, no-holds-barred memoir of celebrity, race, and show business.

Arsenio Hall holds a uniquely prominent place in American culture—celebrated late-night host and comedic actor, famed for starring roles in the cultural touchstones Coming to America and Harlem Nights.

Now, he pulls back the curtain and takes us to a different time in Hollywood. Iconic scenes include: starting out as a young magician in Cleveland; hosting his first talk show in the basement of his apartment building when he was in elementary school; cutting his teeth at the world-famous Comedy Store in Hollywood, learning about comedy and life from legendary comedian Richard Pryor; forming lifelong bonds with legendary icons Muhammad Ali, Luther Vandross, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Eddie Murphy; tasting superstar success with Coming to America, the film that preceded The Arsenio Hall Show; conducting unforgettable, groundbreaking interviews with Magic Johnson, Bill Clinton, Tupac Shakur, Maya Angelou, Madonna, and Minister Louis Farrakhan; rescuing a family from a home-fire with Jay Leno; sharing hot sauces and blackjack with Patti LaBelle; and chilling with Prince.

And then, he made the difficult decision to walk away.

This bracingly candid memoir offers a new appreciation for this raw talent and gifted storyteller, who nightly, for six years, hosted what felt like a televised “party” that changed the landscape of late-night television and brought Black culture into living rooms across America.

With this book, he does it one more time.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atria/Black Privilege Publishing

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 31, 2026

• Author: Arsenio Hall

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 336 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982191368

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982191368

An illustrated history that celebrates the legacy of Black actors, films, and filmmakers from the silent era through today and explores the deeply embedded racism of the film industry, from the award-winning author of The Black Panther Party

In Black Film, Eisner Award-winning author David F. Walker presents an immersive dive into the crucial history of Black actors, films, and filmmakers. Following closely behind the very first moving picture captured by Eadward Muybridge in 1872, Thomas Edison's thirty-second "actualities" from the late 1890s, including A Watermelon Contest and Dancing Darkey Boy, are among the first short films to depict Black people. These can be considered the earliest examples of how the film industry would go on to exploit, appropriate, and shape the narrative of Black people for the duration of its development.

Divided by decade, each section of the book covers an important era and milestone for Black film, highlighting both difficulties and triumphs through time. For example:

• The harmful popularization of blackface and minstrel shows (1890-1914)

• The emergence of racist feature-length movies such as Birth of a Nation after the advancement of sound in film, countered by the success of pioneering Black filmmakers such as Oscar Michaeux and brothers George and Noble Johnson (1915-1928)

• The rise of trailblazing actors such as Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge (1950-1959)

• The roots of Blaxploitation as a subgenre and how Black people ultimately saved Hollywood during trying times (1970-1979)

• The exciting crossover of hip-hop music into film (1980-1989)

• The box office success of Marvel's The Black Panther, Moonlight's history-making Best Picture win, and more.

With gorgeous illustrations, film stills, and rare pieces of ephemera, Black Film celebrates the glowing contributions of Black actors and filmmakers, without shying away from discussing the racism that is rooted in Hollywood—an important reality to address in order to make progress.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ten Speed Press

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 24, 2026

• Author: David F. Walker

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 208 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 198486016X

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1984860163

A Scientific American Favorite Book of 2025

The riveting story of the McKissack family—the founders of the leading Black design and construction firm in the United States, from its beginnings in the mid-1800s to its thriving status today—in a moving celebration of resilience and innovation.

Captured in his native West Africa and enslaved on American shores by a North Carolina plantation owner, Moses McKissack I began to build his way to emancipation right from the start. Becoming an enslaved craftsman, he picked up the trade his family would become famous for in the earliest years of the 19th century, passing his learnings down to his children and seeing them off to freedom after the Civil War.

The family would settle in Tennessee, getting its bearings in the building trades despite rampant discrimination, establishing a foothold that now sees its latest generations working at the absolute peak of its industry.

The family’s fingerprints have been left all across the United States, spanning from Reconstruction to contemporary times, through projects like the Morris Memorial Building, Capers C.M.E. Church, John F. Kennedy International Airport, and Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.

Here, Cheryl McKissack Daniel, CEO and president of McKissack & McKissack, reveals the full fascinating story of her family. So much more than an exploration of architectural achievements, The Black Family Who Built America is also a compelling illustration of how history rhymes and reverberates, and a celebration of the human spirit’s ability to overcome adversity and drive change. From Moses’s humble beginnings to Cheryl’s current role as a trailblazer and champion of diversity, the family’s journey underscores the importance of perseverance, innovation, and strategic vision in shaping a legacy that continues to inspire and impact the construction industry.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atria/Black Privilege Publishing

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 12, 2025

• Author: Cheryl McKissack Daniel

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 288 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1668033992

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1668033999

Grammy Award–winning R&B and hip-hop legend Teddy Riley recounts his journey from growing up in the projects in Harlem to inventing the genre New Jack Swing, selling out shows at Madison Square Garden, and creating music for Michael Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Pharrell, and more.

Since the early ’80s, Teddy Riley has revolutionized the music industry, from his creation of New Jack Swing to his work in R&B, hip-hop, gospel, soul, and pop that forever changed the industry. His profound influence still resonates today, and he has been inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame, awarded the Soul Train Legend Award and given his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Now, Riley—with coauthor, award-winning biographer Jake Brown—lifts the curtain on his fascinating and inspiring journey with this unforgettable memoir of talent, resilience, collaboration, betrayal, and creativity.

With heart and humor, Riley reflects on his beginnings as musical prodigy growing up in Harlem and the highs and lows of working with some of the biggest names in the industry. From masterminding his own acclaimed groups, such as Guy and Blackstreet, to producing groundbreaking hits such as Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative” and writing and producing with legends like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, Lady Gaga, and more, Riley takes us on a remarkable journey that parallels the explosion of new genres and Black influence in the contemporary music landscape.

Remember the Times also candidly illustrates the evolution of popular music through the ’80s to today, taking us behind the scenes directly from the man who grew “to define the sound and reinvigorate contemporary R&B and hip-hop” (Mixdown Magazine, Australia).

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gallery/13A

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 10, 2026

• Author: Teddy Riley

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1668056453

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1668056455

The star of classic television series, including The Jeffersons and 227, reveals her difficult journey from a tempestuous childhood to becoming a confident Hollywood powerbroker and groundbreaker who paved the way for today’s superstar talents.

Marla Gibbs has been a Hollywood icon for generations of fans. Now, at ninety-three, she chronicles her climb from a difficult youth in which she yearned for safety and love, to the high-stakes world of Hollywood where she became a confident powerbroker learning to work behind the scenes for fair pay, access, and more creative control for herself and her colleagues.

Told in her forthright voice, It's Never Too Late illuminates Gibbs' daring move to Los Angeles to rebuild her life after an abusive marriage, how she became an actor, and how she eventually learned to balance acting with show running. She was a “Boss Bae” decades before the term would become entertainment industry shorthand for a power flex. While developing 227 her lawyer won her “all rights, courtesies and privileges of an executive producer without the credit.” Though the authority she wielded behind the scenes created deep tensions on and off the set, her hard-luck young life had prepared her to succeed even as her tenacity was put to the test. Her experiences laid the groundwork for powerbrokers like Shonda Rhimes and Issa Rae.

An inspiring personal portrait of triumph and Hollywood that reminds us we can leave the past behind, It’s Never Too Late is the true tale of a remarkable life and a wise guidebook for aspiring artists, entrepreneurs, and entertainment fans.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Amistad

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 24, 2026

• Author: Marla Gibbs

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 288 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0063356635

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063356634

The iconic, multiplatinum, Grammy Award®–winning performer Brandy brings us a raw, intimate portrait of her life, charting her journey from Mississippi churches to Hollywood spotlights

From the moment she first sang at church in McComb, Mississippi, Brandy knew her voice was special. At fourteen she landed her first record deal. At fifteen her first album went platinum. At sixteen she was starring in the hit sitcom Moesha and became the first Black actress to play Cinderella on screen alongside fairy godmother, Whitney Houston.

Yet as the accolades piled up, so too did the pressure to maintain a flawless image. To onlookers, she had crafted the blueprint for the teenage “it” girl. But behind closed doors “The Vocal Bible” as she was known, was struggling.

In this piercing, revelatory memoir, Brandy shares:

• the inside stories behind her most iconic songs and albums;

• her star-studded connections with Whitney Houston and Diana Ross;

• the affirmation of friends and family, including her brother Ray J, that helped her through challenging times;

• and so much more.

Delving into the humble roots of her decades-spanning career, her early struggles with bullies and insecurities as a high schooler, and finally her inspirational journey to reclaim her sense of self and her autonomy as a woman in Hollywood and in music, this memoir is an insightful meditation on Brandy's life and how she rose to become the woman she is today. Told through a series of breathtaking vignettes and never-before-seen family photographs in a full-color insert, Phases is a fearless and remarkable story of hope, resilience and the strength it takes to make peace with the past.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hanover Square Press

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 31, 2026

• Author: Brandy

• Edition ‏ : ‎ Original

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 384 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 133501327X

THE CURATORS OF CULTURE: Celebrate Black digital art in this essay collection revealing how Black artists have shaped everything from TikTok dances to viral memes

Steven Underwood digs into the current Black digital arts movement that has shaped popular culture for the last decade. He connects this current space to historical influences, speaking to a “legacy of audacity and daring that presented us with the opportunity to redirect the conversations on Blackness back on its center. Back to Black people.” Written as a collection of thought-provoking essays pulling in social commentary, interviews, popular culture, and deep research, Underwood taps into a topic that is incredibly relevant but often unknown.

The nature of the internet is so ephemeral that sometimes we forget when we do something worth celebrating. For Black people particularly, that’s unforgiveable. Digital Black art has become increasingly more outspoken, introspective, and genre-defining. But it’s also vulnerable. Original phrases, tweets, dances, songs, and other content are often taken from a Black artist and attributed to a white influencer. And Black creators are paid less for their work, though their engagement is often higher than that of their white peers. There is also the added risk of backlash and hate that comes with publicly existing online. As an award-winning writer with a popular online presence, Underwood is no stranger to the experiences of Black digital artists. Using his own personal stories, he highlights the beauty, vulnerability, and innovation of the Black digital arts movement.

Shining a light on the curators of our culture, Forever for the Culture narratively follows the construction of a new Black art movement and how creators have defined a community when that community does not have a physical space.