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{{Short description|Book publishing company, founded by W. Paul Coates in 1978}}
{{Infobox publisher
| image = Black classic logo.gif
| parent = Black Classic Press
| founded = {{date and age|1978}}
| founder = [[Paul Coates (publisher)|W. Paul Coates]]
| status = Active
| distribution = [[Publishers Group West]]
| genre = Non-fiction and fiction
| country = United States
| headquarters = [[Baltimore, Maryland]], United States
| imprints = Black Classic Press<br/>W.M. DuForcelf<br/>INPRINT EDITIONS
| website = [http://www.blackclassicbooks.com blackclassicbooks.com]
}}
'''Black Classic Press''' (BCP) is an [[African-American]] book publishing company, founded by [[Paul Coates (publisher)|W. Paul Coates]] in 1978. Since then, BCP has published original titles by notable authors including [[Walter Mosley]], [[John Henrik Clarke]], [[E. Ethelbert Miller]], [[Yosef Ben-Jochannan]], and [[Dorothy B. Porter]], as well as reissuing significant works by [[Tony Martin (professor)|Tony Martin]], [[Amiri Baraka]], [[Larry Neal]], [[W. E. B. Du Bois]], [[Edward Blyden]], [[J. E. Casely Hayford]], [[Bobby Seale]], [[J. A. Rogers]], and others.

An affiliated company is '''BCP Digital Printing''', established in 1995 to serve as the printer for Black Classic Press as well as for other companies and organizations.

== History ==
W. Paul Coates (father of [[Ta-Nehisi Coates]]) founded Black Classic Press in 1978 in [[Baltimore, Maryland|Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], originally working from the basement of his house.<ref name="NPR-FreshAir-UnlikelyRoad-2009">{{cite news |last1=Gross |first1=Terry |author-link=Terry Gross |date=February 18, 2009 |title=Ta-Nehisi Coates' 'Unlikely Road to Manhood' |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100814580 |access-date=August 15, 2015 |work=[[Fresh Air]] |publisher=[[NPR]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://baltimore.org/multicultural/black-history |title=Black History Month & Baltimore's Black History |publisher=[[Baltimore.org]] |access-date=May 20, 2012}}</ref> The company is one of the oldest independently owned Black publishers in operation in the United States.<ref name=BaltCityPaper-CoatesFamily-2008>{{cite news|last1=Pride|first1=Felicia|title=Manning Up: The Coates Family's Beautiful Struggle in Word and Deed|url=http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=15830|access-date=August 16, 2015|work=[[Baltimore City Paper]]|date=June 4, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080606214318/http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=15830|archive-date=June 6, 2008}}</ref>

The primary mission of the press is to publish obscure and significant books by and about people of African descent. [[John G. Jackson (writer)|John G. Jackson]], [[John Henrik Clarke]], and [[Yosef Ben-Jochannan]] were major influences in defining the mission and early direction of the press.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.blackclassicbooks.com/servlet/Page?template=about |title=Black Classic Books About Us |publisher=Blackclassicbooks.com |access-date=May 20, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427032349/http://www.blackclassicbooks.com/servlet/Page?template=about |archive-date=April 27, 2012 }}</ref> The company publishes about six titles annually; most are [[Out of print|out-of-print]] historical books that the company brings back into print.

=== Printing ===
The first books published by the company were pamphlets printed on a photocopier that Coates purchased.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.esowonbookstore.com/event/paul-coates-publishing-discussion|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171113064726/http://www.esowonbookstore.com/event/paul-coates-publishing-discussion|url-status=usurped|archive-date=November 13, 2017|title=Paul Coates Publishing Discussion|publisher=Eso Won Books|date=November 7, 2017|access-date=March 15, 2022}}</ref> In the same vein, he established BCP Digital Printing in 1995 as an affiliated company of Black Classic Press.<ref name=BaltCityPaper-CoatesFamily-2008 /><ref name="PW">Reid, Calvin, [https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/66743-printing-and-publishing-at-black-classic-press.html "Printing and Publishing at Black Classic Press"], ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'', May 22, 2015.</ref> The [[Printer (publishing)|printing company]], a million-dollar business,<ref name=PW /> serves as the printer for the publishing company as well as for other companies and organizations in the [[Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area]], and is the only Black-owned printing company in the US.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/founded-by-a-former-leader-of-the-black-panther-party-the-only-black-book-printing-company-operates-in-baltimore|title=Founded by a former leader of the Black Panther Party, the only black book printing company operates in Baltimore|first=Brandon|last=Ingram|author2=Courtney Mims|website=[[WMAR-TV]]|location=Baltimore|date=February 25, 2021|access-date=March 15, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtoninformer.com/paul-coates-celebrates-40-years-at-black-classic-press-bcp-digital-printing/|title=Paul Coates Celebrates 40 Years at Black Classic Press, BCP Digital Printing|first=Stacy M.|last=Brown|work=[[Washington Informer]]|date=July 3, 2018|access-date=March 15, 2022}}</ref>

== Imprints ==
Black Classic Press has three [[Imprint (trade name)|imprints]]:
* '''Black Classic Press:''' Historical reprints that deal with the [[African diaspora]]
* '''W.M. DuForcelf:''' Currently defunct since 1994, a statement and a call for self-sufficiency in the African-American community
* '''INPRINT EDITIONS:''' Serves academic books and titles that fall outside the primary mission of Black Classic Press list

== Notable authors and titles ==
=== Walter Mosley ===
The press gained national attention in 1996 when best-selling author [[Walter Mosley]] chose Black Classic Press to publish ''Gone Fishin′'' (1997), 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."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/now/arts/mosleybib.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031003104101/http://www.pbs.org/now/arts/mosleybib.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 3, 2003 |title=NOW with Bill Moyers. Arts & Culture. Walter Mosley Bibliography |work=[[NOW with Bill Moyers]] |publisher=[[PBS]] |date=September 6, 2003 |access-date=May 20, 2012}}</ref> The result was so successful that in 2003 the press collaborated again with Mosley to publish ''What Next: An African American Initiative Toward World Peace'' (2003), part memoir and part call to action for African Americans after the [[September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001 attacks]] in the United States. ''The Tempest Tales'' (2008), Mosley's homage to [[Langston Hughes]]' character Jesse B. Semple, was the third collaboration between Mosley and Black Classic Press.
* ''Gone Fishin': An Easy Rawlins Novel''. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 1997. {{ISBN|978-1-574-78025-3}}, {{OCLC|36164865}}
* ''What Next: An African American Initiative Toward World Peace''. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 2003. {{ISBN|978-1-574-78020-8}}, {{OCLC|316901591}}
* ''The Tempest Tales''. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-574-78043-7}} {{OCLC|762313150}}

=== Selected other publications ===
* [[Amiri Baraka|Baraka, Amiri]], and [[Larry Neal]]. ''[[Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing]]''. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-574-78039-0}} {{OCLC|608062892}}. Originally published: New York: Morrow, 1968.
* [[Neil Baldwin (writer)|Baldwin, Neil]]. ''To All Gentleness: [[William Carlos Williams]], the Doctor Poet''. Baltimore: Imprint Editions/Black Classic Press, 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-580-73038-9}}, {{OCLC|179787454}}
* [[Yosef Ben-Jochannan|Ben-Jochannan, Yosef]]
** ''A Chronology of the Bible'' [1972] (1996)
** ''We the Black Jews'' (1996)
** ''Africa: Mother of Western Civilization'' (1988)
** ''Cultural Genocide in the Black and African Studies Curriculum'' (2004)
** ''African Origins of the Major "Western Religions"'' [1970] (1991)
** ''Black Man of the Nile'' [1972] (1989)
** ''Understanding the African Philosophical Concept Behind the "Diagram of the Law of Opposites"'' (2005)
** ''Our Black Seminarians and Black Clergy Without a Black Theology'' (1996)
** ''The Need for a Black Bible'' (1996)
** ''The Black Man's North and East Africa'' (2005)
** ''The Myth of Genesis and Exodus'' (1991)
* [[Edward Wilmot Blyden|Blyden, Edward Wilmot]]. ''Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race''. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 1994. {{ISBN|978-0-933-12141-6}} {{OCLC|30627022}}, 2nd edition. Originally published 1888.
* [[J. E. Casely Hayford|Casely Hayford, J.]] ''[[Ethiopia Unbound]]'' (2010). Originally published in 1911.
* [[W. E. B. Du Bois|Du Bois, W. E. B.]] ''[[The Negro]]''. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 2005. {{ISBN|978-1-580-73032-7}}, {{OCLC|156994177}}. Originally published in 1915.
* [[Ralph Ginzburg|Ginzburg, Ralph]]. ''100 Years of Lynchings''. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 1988. {{ISBN|978-0-933-12118-8}}, {{OCLC|716335685}}. Originally published: New York: Lancer Books, 1962.
* Jones, Charles E. ''The Black Panther Party (Reconsidered)''. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 1998. {{ISBN|978-0-933-12196-6}}, {{OCLC|39228699}}
* [[Reginald F. Lewis|Lewis, Reginald F.]], and Blair S. Walker. ''Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?: How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion-Dollar Business Empire''. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-574-78050-5}}, {{OCLC|823107253}}. Commemorative edition with DVD. Originally published in 2005.
* [[E. Ethelbert Miller|Miller, E. Ethelbert]]
** ''First Light'' (1994)
** ''Whispers, Secrets and Promises'' (1998)
** ''Beyond the Frontier: African American Poetry for the 21st Century'' (ed.; 2002)
* [[Dorothy B. Porter|Porter, Dorothy]] (with [[Constance Porter Uzelac]], eds)
** ''Early Negro Writing, 1760-1837'' (1995)
** ''William Cooper Nell: Selected Writings, 1832-1874'' (2002)
* [[Joel Augustus Rogers|Rogers, J. A.]]
** ''Your History: From the Beginning of Time to the Present'' [1940] (1983)
** ''As Nature Leads'' [1919] (1987)
* [[Bobby Seale|Seale, Bobby]]. ''[[Seize the Time (book)|Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton]]''. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 1991. {{ISBN|978-0-933-12130-0}} {{OCLC|24636234}}. Originally published New York: Random House, 1970.
* [[David Walker (abolitionist)|Walker, David]], and James Turner. ''David Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles: Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America: Third and Last Edition, Revised and Published by David Walker, 1830''. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 1993. {{ISBN|978-0-933-12138-6}}, {{OCLC|28541963}}

==See also==
* [[African-American book publishers in the United States, 1960–80]]
* [[Africa World Press]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.blackclassicbooks.com/ Black Classic Books] official website
* [https://www.bcpdigital.com/ BCP Digital] official website
* [https://aalbc.com/authors/W.+Paul+Coates "W. Paul Coates"] at aalbc.com
* [http://goodnewsbaltimore.org/inside-baltimore-black-classic-press/ "Inside Baltimore: Black Classic Press"], ''Good News Baltimore'' video. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831000246/http://goodnewsbaltimore.org/inside-baltimore-black-classic-press/ |date=August 31, 2017 }}
*[https://www.c-span.org/video/?73087-1/black-classic-press Video of discussion with Paul Coates on Black Classic Press, June 15, 1996], [[C-SPAN]]
*[https://www.c-span.org/video/?441322-2/tour-black-classic-press Tour of Black Classic Press, February 20, 2018], C-SPAN

[[Category:African-American history in Baltimore]]
[[Category:African-American organizations]]
[[Category:Book publishing companies based in Maryland]]
[[Category:Book publishing in the United States]]
[[Category:Political book publishing companies]]
[[Category:Publishing companies established in 1978]]
[[Category:Small press publishing companies]]

Black Classic Press - Revision history

imported>GreenC bot: Rescued 1 archive link. Wayback Medic 2.5 per WP:URLREQ#pbs.org