Bookshelf

Author Addresses Challenges of Growing up in “My Silent Loud” 

NCCU adjunct professor Malik Muhammad, PH.D., still remembers feeling left out and misunderstood as a child, especially after moving from his hometown of Chicago to Palo Alto, Calif. 

“I was kind of thin and shy, without athleticism or rapping abilities,” Muhammad said. “Sometimes it seemed really hard to fit in.” After graduating from college and moving to North Carolina to complete his doctorate, Muhammad established a successful career as a psychology practitioner and teacher.  

Then, one day he heard his own 7-year-old son ask a question that brought back a rush of memories. 

“My son asked his mom: 'Do you believe in me?'” Muhammad recalled. “It was a critical moment, but my wife had a perfect answer: ‘Hell, yes, I do!’  And I began thinking about the many children who might not get that kind of an answer. So, I wrote this book for them.” 

“My Silent Loud: The Voice Inside Every Black Boy” was published in June 2019 by Supreme Noir Publishing.  

The author hopes it can help families better understand their children’s feelings. 

“Thick” Looks at Implications of Being Black in America 

A book by alumna Tressie McMillan Cottom, Ph.D., “Thick: And Other Essays,” was a longlist nominee for the 2019 National Book Awards in nonfiction, a top honor in the literary world. 

In the book, McMillan Cottom draws on life experiences to examine issues ranging from sexual abuse and divorce to race, standards of beauty and education. Published in March 2019, “Thick” was praised by Publisher’s Weekly as a selection of “incisive, witty, and provocative essays.”  

Cottom, a 2009 graduate of NCCU with a degree in English and political science, earned her Ph.D. in sociology from Emory University in 2015. McMillan Cottom, now an assistant professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University, speaks and publishes widely on issues of inequality, work, higher education and technology and has appeared on “The Daily Show,” NPR, PBS, CBC and MSNBC, and in Time, VIBE, Entertainment Weekly and Well-Read Black Girl. 

In 2017, McMillan Cottom published “Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy,” which also drew critical acclaim. She is also the author of two volumes on technological change and inequality. 

Born in Harlem, N.Y., McMillan Cottom grew up in Winston-Salem and Charlotte, N.C. 

Governance and Democracy in Africa 

Why do some African countries, such as Ethiopia and Rwanda, experience strong economic growth while others, including Nigeria, struggle to stay afloat? 

NCCU Political Science Chair Emmanuel O. Oritsejafor, Ph.D., and Public Administration Professor James S. Guseh, Ph.D., explore this question in their new book titled “Governance and Democracy in Africa: Regional and Continental Perspectives,” published by Rowman & Littlefield (2018).  

“It's really exciting to have the book out and to know that it is being used by the U.S. Naval Academy,” Dr. Oritsejafor said.  

Reviewer Dr. Andrew Ewoh, a professor of political science and public administration at Texas Southern University, called Governance and Democracy in Africa an outstanding contribution to the scholarly literature on political economy and development.   

Oritsejafor received his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Atlanta University. Guseh received a joint M.P.A./J.D. and Ph.D. from Syracuse University and the University of Texas.