Julius Lester

There are times when a tree can no longer withstand the pain inflicted on it, and the wind will take pity on that tree and topple it over in a mighty storm. All the other trees who witnessed the evil look down upon the fallen tree with envy. They pray for the day when a wind will end their suffering. I pray for the day when God will end mine. In a time and place without moral conscience, fourteen-year-old Ansel knows what is right and what is...

The author introduces the concept of race as only one component in an individual's or nation's "story."

A retelling of the Afro-American tales about the adventures and misadventures of Brer Rabbit and his friends and enemies.

When John Calvin Marshall graduated from Harvard in 1956, he was prepared for a life of teaching and relative tranquility. But history had another plan for him: here, a veteran author re-envisions the Martin Luther King Jr. story in fearful, exciting, and violent terms. Political and provocative, And All Our Wounds Forgiven is both a compelling political fable and a striking and tender love story about one of this century's most charismatic black...

Julius Lester was born the son of a black Methodist minister in the south. His book Lovesong is a beautifully written account of his spiritual journey away from the conventions of his Southern heritage and Methodist upbringing, culminating in his personal self-discovery through a conversion to Judaism. Growing up in the turbulent civil rights era South, Lester was often discouraged by the disconnectedness between the promises of religion and the...

An illustrated collection of twelve folk tales, ten African and two Jewish.

Relates what happens when a little boy named Sam mathches wits with several tigers that want to eat him (a retelling of Little Black Sambo).

Based on the famous African American folk ballad "John Henry, " this story tells of the legendary contest to the death between a spirited man with a hammer and a steam drill to build a tunnel through the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia.

As did his father before him, Pierce Butler treats his plantation slaves like family. But massive gambling debts force him to sell 429 "family" members. When the auction begins, torrential rain falls-not stopping until the final slave is sold the next day. The ominous rainfall prompts these words: "This ain't rain. This is God's tears." Based on the largest slave auction in U.S. history, this poignant montage is the fictionalized account of that 1859...

Describes the blues as a music trend and profiles ten rhythm-and-blues musicians who influenced the music industry over the last century, including Aretha Franklin, B. B. King, and James Brown.