Peter J. Harris is the American Book Award and PEN Oakland Award-winning poet, journalist, essayist, workshop leader and creator of The Black Man of Happiness Project, an intellectual, artistic and life-affirming exploration that explores the lives of Black men and is prompted by the question, “What is a happy Black man?”
Harris collaborated with his daughter Adenike in Pops N Ade, their restorative healing workshops which grew out of their courageous dialogues while confronting, surviving and transcending her sexual abuse by her step-father.
His work has been included in numerous anthologies. He wrote the stage play, The Johnson Chronicles, and was the publisher of the magazine, “Genetic Dancers: The Artistry Within African/American Fathers,” the first of its kind to address the artistry of conscious parenting. His blog is Wreaking Happiness, A Joyful Living Journal.
The Healers, by Ayi Kwei Armah – set in the 19th century Ashanti kingdom (Ghana), it tells the story of replacing toxic ignorance with the healing knowledge of African unity through the life of a young man.
The Salt Eaters, by Toni Cade Bambara – Set in a town somewhere in the South, a community of Black people searching for the healing properties of salt witness an event that will change their lives forever.
Freedom Dreams, by Robin D.G. Kelley – this exciting history of renegade intellectuals and artists of the African diaspora throughout the 20th century begins with the premise that the catalyst for political engagement is not oppression, it is hope for a new world radically different from the one we have inherited.
The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, by Annette Gordon-Reed – recounts the history of four generations of the African-American Hemings family, from their African and Virginia origins until the 1826 death of Thomas Jefferson, their master and the father of Sally Hemings’ children.
This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible, by Charles E. Cobb Jr. – Visiting Martin Luther King Jr. at the peak of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, journalist William Worthy almost sat on a loaded pistol. “Just for self-defense,” King assured him – a frank look at the complexities and contradictions of the civil rights movement.
The Black Book, co-edited by Roger Furman, Middleton A. Harris, Morris Levitt, Ernest Smith, and Toni Morrison – a compilation of nearly five hundred images forming one sensational narrative of the Black experience in America, through historic documents, facsimiles, artwork, obituaries, advertisements, patent applications, photographs, sheet music, and more.
We Who Believe in Freedom, By Bernice Johnson Reagan and Sweet Honey in the Rock – celebrates the 20th anniversary of this Grammy Award-winning a cappella group with essays from each member, starting out in 1973 at Howard University and singing in a wide range of styles.
Ella Baker & the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision, by Barbara Ransby – about the most influential woman in the civil rights movement, organizer, master strategist and teacher Ella Baker, whose remarkable career spanned fifty years and touched thousands of lives.
Lost Prophet, the Life and Times of Bayard Rustin, by John D’Emilio – before Martin Luther King, before Malcolm X, this committed pacifist and key organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was working to bring the cause to the forefront of America’s consciousness.
Ida: A Sword Among Lions, by Paula J. Giddings – a sweeping narrative about a country and a brilliant crusader, Ida B. Wells, embroiled in the struggle against lynching—a practice that imperiled not only the lives of Black men and women, but also a nation based on law and riven by race.
The Black Man of Happiness: In Pursuit of My ‘Unalienable Right,’ by Peter J. Harris – a jazzy journal that navigates the labyrinth of father, stepfather, and grandfather, lover, and younger brother finding affirmation after his father’s death, and confronting, surviving, and transcending his youngest daughter’s rape by her Black stepfather.
