Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts has published widely on African-American history, politics and culture. Her book Harlem Is Nowhere, was a New York Times Notable Book of 2011, a National Book Critics Circle Finalist and cited by Bookforum as the “Best New York Book” written in the twenty years since the magazine’s founding. Her 2015 book for young readers Jake Makes a World: Jacob Lawrence a Young Artist in Harlem (commissioned by MoMA and illustrated by Christopher Myers) was named by Booklist among the year’s top books about art for children. Rhodes-Pitts organizes collaborative public projects through The Freedwomen’s Bureau. She teaches writing at Pratt.