[3] He also taught courses at other higher education institutions, including El Colegio de Mexico and the University of Johannesburg,[4][5] and realised early in his teaching career that there was a dearth of relevant books dealing with African and African-American issues, and that whatever material was produced was not reaching its market.
Aiming to address this deficiency, in 1983 Checocle began producing books from his home, an early title being Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's Barrel of a Pen.
[6] Other notable titles from the 1980s include Under a Soprano Sky by Sonia Sanchez and Afrocentricity by Molefi Asante.
[3] Distribution proved to be a problem, however, as Checole noted in a 2019 interview: "I couldn’t find anyone who would carry my books.
"[6] In 1985, Checole founded the Red Sea Press, as a sister imprint of AWP with a primary focus on the Horn of Africa, and Red Sea Press handled distribution of the titles he published, as well as books from other Black publishers.