African-American teen Louretta Hawkins discovers music and, through it, the worth of her black identity. She navigates an urban world of poverty, overcrowding,

A fourteen-year-old girl tries to reconcile her dreams and hopes for the future with the harsh and often unpleasant realities of life in the bad section of town

A fourteen-year-old girl tries to reconcile her dreams and hopes for the future with the harsh realities of life in the black ghetto.

Comprehensive and up-to-dateThe first contemporary publication to go beyond examining broad themes and trends in the field, this timely volume looks closely at

African American women writers published extensively during the Harlem Renaissance and have been extraordinarily prolific since the 1970s. This book surveys the