The Queen of Sugar Hill: A Novel of Hattie McDanielIt was supposed to be the highlight of her career, the pinnacle for which she'd worked all her life. And as Hattie McDaniel took the stage in 1940 to claim an honor that would make her the first African American woman to win an Academy Award, she tearfully took her place in history. Between personal triumphs and tragedies, heartbreaking losses, and severe setbacks, this historic night of winning best supporting actress for her role as the sassy Mammy

a 26-year-old woman living in the Bronx--as the book's first chapter and expands into a graphic novel with short stories about these vibrant and relatable new characters

my life sucks

Addy joins five other Black city kids--each with their own troubles--to spend a summer out west

Responsibility cannot be lost

her love life is nonexistent

and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide

these poems pay tribute to victims of police brutality as well as the activists [championing the] Black Lives Matter

They must work for him for another six years

bondage and independence

Sloane Kent is going to be my undoing

Lupita Nyong'o and Angela Davis

the few Black classmates she has are vanishing--or dying