Black Classic Press
Encyclopedia
Founding
W. Paul Coates founded Black Classic Press in 1978 in Baltimore, Maryland. The company is one of the oldest independently owned Black publishers in operation in the United States.The primary mission of the press is to publish obscure and significant books by and about people of African descent. John G. Jackson
John G. Jackson (writer)
John Glover Jackson was a Pan-Africanist historian, lecturer, teacher and writer. He promoted ideas of Afrocentrism, Black atheists, and Jesus Christ in comparative mythology....
, John Henrik Clarke
John Henrik Clarke
John Henrik Clarke , born John Henry Clark, was a Pan-Africanist American writer, historian, professor, and a pioneer in the creation of Africana studies and professional institutions in academia starting in the late 1960s.He was Professor of African World History and in 1969 founding chairman of...
, and Yosef ben-Jochannan
Yosef Ben-Jochannan
Yosef A.A. Ben-Jochannan was born in Gonder, Ethiopia), also known as Dr. Ben, is an Afrocentric historian. He is notable for his writings and teachings about Black Jews and ancient Africans, and how Europeans, notably white Jews, appropriated their culture and legacy...
were major influences in defining the mission and early direction of the press. The company publishes about six titles annually; most are out-of-print historical books that the company brings back into print.
The first books published by the company were pamphlets printed on a photocopier that Coates purchased. Along this same vein, Coates established BCP Digital Printing in 1995 as an affiliated company of Black Classic Press. The printing company, a million dollar business, serves as the printer for the publishing company as well as companies and organizations in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.
Imprints
Black Classic Press has used three imprints: Black Classic Press, W.M. DuForcelf and INPRINT EDITIONS. The Black Classic Press imprint is primarily for the company's historical reprints that deal with the African diaspora. W.M. DuForcelf, under which no new titles have been published since 1994, was both a statement and a call for self-sufficiency in the African American community. INPRINT EDITIONS principally serves academic books and titles that fall out of the primary mission of Black Classic Press books.Noted Authors and titles published by Black Classic Press
- Walter MosleyWalter MosleyWalter Ellis Mosley is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private investigator and World War II veteran living in the Watts neighborhood of Los...
- The press gained national attention in 1996 when best-selling author Walter Mosley chose Black Classic Press to publish Gone Fishin, the prequel to his popular Easy Rawlins mysteries. Mosley decided to publish a book with a small Black publishing house, because he felt it was important "to create a model that other writers, black or not, can look at to see that it's possible to publish a book successfully outside mainstream publishing in New York." The result was so successful that in 2003 the press collaborated again with Mosley to publish What Next: A Memoir Toward World Peace, part memoir and part call to action for African Americans after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. The Tempest Tales, Mosley's homage to Langston Hughes' character Jesse B. Semple was the third collaboration with Mosley.
- Amiri BarakaAmiri BarakaAmiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...
and Larry NealLarry NealLarry Neal or Lawerence Neal was a scholar of African-American theatre. He is well known for his contributions to the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...
(eds.) - Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing
- Neil Baldwin - To All Gentleness: William Carlos Williams, The Doctor Poet
- Yosef ben-JochannanYosef Ben-JochannanYosef A.A. Ben-Jochannan was born in Gonder, Ethiopia), also known as Dr. Ben, is an Afrocentric historian. He is notable for his writings and teachings about Black Jews and ancient Africans, and how Europeans, notably white Jews, appropriated their culture and legacy...
- Chronology of the Bible, We the Black Jews, Africa: Mother of Western Civilization, Cultural Genocide, African Origins of the Major "Western Religions", Black Man of the Nile, Understanding the African Philosophical Concept Behind the "Diagram of the Law of Opposites", Our Black Seminarians and Black Clergy Without a Black Theology, The Need for a Black Bible, The Black Man's North and East Africa, The Myth of Genesis and Exodus.
- Edward Wilmot BlydenEdward Wilmot BlydenEdward Wilmot Blyden was an Americo-Liberian educator, writer, diplomat, and politician primarily in Liberia. He also taught for five years in Sierra Leone, and his writings were influential in both countries....
- Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race; The Aims and Methods of A Liberal Education: Inaugural Address
- W.E.B. DuBois - The Negro
- Ralph GinzburgRalph GinzburgRalph Ginzburg was an American author, editor, publisher and photo-journalist. He was best known for publishing books and magazines on erotica and art and for his conviction in 1963 for violating federal obscenity laws....
- 100 Years of Lynchings
- Charles Jones - The Black Panther Party: Reconsidered
- Reginald F. LewisReginald LewisReginald F. Lewis , was an American businessman, who was one of the most successful business leaders during the 1980s. He was the richest African-American man in the 1980s. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he grew up in a middle class neighborhood. He won a football scholarship to Virginia State...
- Why Should White Guys Have all the Fun?: How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion Dollar Business Empire
- E. Ethelbert Miller - First Light; Whispers, Secrets and Promises; Beyond the Frontier (ed.)
- Dorothy Porter - Early Negro Writing; William Cooper Nell (along with Constance Porter Uzelac (eds.))
- J.A. RogersJoel Augustus RogersJoel Augustus Rogers was a Jamaican-American author, journalist, and historian who contributed to the history of Africa and the African diaspora, especially the history of African Americans in the United States. His research spanned the academic fields of history, sociology and anthropology...
- Your History: From the Beginning of Time to the Present; As Nature Leads
- Bobby SealeBobby SealeRobert George "Bobby" Seale , is an activist. He is known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with Huey Newton.-Early life:...
- Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton
- David WalkerDavid Walker (abolitionist)David Walker was an outspoken African American activist who demanded the immediate end of slavery in the new nation...
- David Walker's Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World