Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events

Achievement engenders pride, and the most significant accomplishments involving people, places, and events in black history are gathered in Black Firsts: 4,000 GroundBreaking and Pioneering Events. [Jessie_Carney_Smith]_Black_Firsts_4_000_Ground-B_bookos-z1.org_

Slavery and the British Empire: From Africa to America

Slavery and the British Empire provides a clear overview of the entire history of British involvement with slavery and the slave trade, from the Cape Colony to the Caribbean. The book combines economic, social, political, cultural, and demographic history, with a particular focus on the Atlantic world and the plantations of North America and the West Indies from the mid-seventeenth century onwards. Kenneth Morgan analyses the distribution of slaves within the empire and how this changed over time; the world of merchants and planters; the organization and impact of the triangular slave trade; the work and culture of the enslaved; slave demography; health and family life; resistance and rebellions; the impact of the anti-slavery movement; and the abolition of the British slave trade in 1807 and of slavery itself in most of the British empire in 1834. As well as providing the ideal introduction to the history of British involvement in the slave trade, this book also shows just how deeply embedded slavery was in British domestic and imperial history - and just how long it took for British involvement in slavery to die, even after emancipation. 0199238995

Gabriel's Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802

Gabriel's Rebellion tells the dramatic story of what was perhaps the most extensive slave conspiracy in the history of the American South. Douglas Egerton illuminates the complex motivations that underlay two related Virginia slave revolts: the first, in 1800, led by the slave known as Gabriel; and the second, called the 'Easter Plot,' instigated in 1802 by one of his followers. Although Gabriel has frequently been portrayed as a messianic, Samson-like figure, Egerton shows that he was a literate and highly skilled blacksmith whose primary goal was to destroy the economic hegemony of the 'merchants,' the only whites he ever identified as his enemies. According to Egerton, the social, political, and economic disorder of the Revolutionary era weakened some of the harsh controls that held slavery in place during colonial times. Emboldened by these conditions, a small number of literate slaves—most of them highly skilled artisans—planned an armed insurrection aimed at destroying slavery in Virginia. The intricate scheme failed, as did the Easter Plot that stemmed from it, and Gabriel and many of his followers were hanged. By placing the revolts within the broader context of the volatile political currents of the day, Egerton challenges the conventional understanding of race, class, and politics in the early days of the American republic. [Douglas_R._Egerton]_Gabriel's_Rebellion_The_Virg_bookos-z1.org_

Freedom Facts and Firsts: 400 Years of the African American Civil Rights Experience

Spanning nearly 400 years from the early abolitionists to the present, this guide book profiles more than 400 people, places, and events that have shaped the history of the black struggle for freedom. Coverage includes information on such mainstay figures as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks, but also delves into how lesser known figures contributed to and shaped the history of civil rights. Learn how the Housewives' League of Detroit started a nationwide movement to support black businesses, helping many to survive the depression; or discover what effect sports journalist Samuel Harold Lacy had on Jackie Robinson's historic entrance into the major leagues. This comprehensive resource chronicles the breadth and passion of an entire people's quest for freedom. [Jessie_Carney_Smith__Linda_T._Wynn]_Freedom_Facts_bookos-z1.org_

Race Work: The Rise of Civil Rights in the Urban West

Nearly sixty years ago, Lincoln and Eleanor Ragsdale descended upon the isolated, somewhat desolate, and entirely segregated city of Phoenix, Arizona, in search of freedom and opportunity—a move that would ultimately transform an entire city and, arguably, the nation. Race Work tells the story of this remarkable pair, two of the most influential black activists of the post–World War II American West, and through their story, supplies a missing chapter in the history of the civil rights movement, American race relations, African Americans, and the American West. Matthew C. Whitaker explores the Ragsdales’ family history and how their familial traditions of entrepreneurship, professionalism, activism, and “race work” helped form their activist identity and placed them in a position to help desegregate Phoenix. His work, the first sustained account of white supremacy and black resistance in Phoenix, also uses the lives of the Ragsdales to examine themes of domination, resistance, interracial coalition building, race, gender, and place against the backdrop of the civil rights and post–civil rights eras. An absorbing biography that provides insight into African Americans’ quest for freedom, Race Work reveals the lives of the Ragsdales as powerful symbols of black leadership who illuminate the problems and progress in African American history, American Western history, and American history during the post–World War II era. [Matthew_C._Whitaker]_Race_work_the_rise_of_civil_bookos-z1.org_

Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood: The Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823

The night of August 17, 1823 saw the start of one of the most massive slave rebellions in the history of the Western Hemisphere, the uprising in the British colony of Demerara (now Guyana), in which nearly twelve thousand slaves took up arms against their masters. In Crowns of Glory, Emilia Viotti da Costa tells the riveting story of this pivotal moment in the history of slavery. Studying the complaints brought by slaves to the office of the Protector of Slaves, she reconstructs the experience of slavery through the eyes of the Demerara slaves themselves. Da Costa also draws on eyewitness accounts, official records, and private journals (most notably the diary of John Smith, one of four ministers sent by the London Missionary Society to convert Demerara's "heathen"), to paint a vivid portrait of a society in transition, shaken to its foundations by the recent revolutions in America, France, and Haiti. Casting new light on the nuances of racial relations in the colonies, the inevitable clash between the missionaries' message of Christian brotherhood and a social order based on masters and slaves, and the larger historical forces that were profoundly eroding the institution of slavery itself, Crowns of Glory is an original and unforgettable book. [Emilia_Viotti_da_Costa]_Crowns_of_Glory__Tears_of_bookos-z1.org_

Word: For Everybody Who Thought Christianity Was for Suckas

Mitchell, hip-hop veteran and radio producer, turned to Christianity when "the expensive toys, the fly gear and the expensive girlfriends" that filled his life left him hopeless. This is his Christian apologetic to the hip-hop world and his attempt to help readers discover the same hope and love he's found in Christianity. Just after proclaiming in chapter one that "This book is not an attempt to convince anybody to convert to Christianity," Mitchell instructs readers that they will have to make a choice about Jesus and "live with the consequences of that choice for eternity." He tells of growing up in the projects, falling in love with rap music at age 11, hustling, abusing women and drugs, going back to church and being transformed into a loving husband and father. Various chapters focus on his own story, his defense of Christianity, some of the most difficult "rules" in the Christian life (e.g., chastity and tithing) and topics of particular importance to his African-American audience, such as absent fathers and racial reconciliation. Mitchell believes that hip-hop and Christian faith can coexist, and embodies this in writing that's true to Christian principles while remaining full of "flava." Although the book's in-depth teaching may be too much for an audience yet to embrace Christianity, Mitchell's story is powerful and his voice genuine. ( [Mykel_Mitchell]_Word_For_Everybody_Who_Thought_C_bookos-z1.org_

Authentic Recipes from Jamaica

Jamaica is the mountainous Caribbean island famed for its coffee and its beaches. But with its abundance of homegrown ingredients and its many cultural influences it has developed a remarkable cuisine all its own. To visit the Jamaican kitchen is to discover the sumptuous flavors of spicy jerk pork, sweet tropical juices, complex curries and lush desserts. _Authentic recipes_ John Demers-Authentic recipes from Jamaica-Periplus Editions _HK_ ltd. _2005_

Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition: Greenwood Milestones in African American History

The emergence of a sophisticated antislavery ideology and the rise of organized opposition to slavery in the Atlantic World in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries represented nothing less than one of the great intellectual and social revolutions in the history of the world. An institution which by the early eighteenth century was near axiomatically accepted as necessary, useful, and thoroughly in accord with Judaeo-Christian tenets and virtues and which profoundly informed the lives of millions of people had by the mid-nineteenth century come increasingly to be viewed as the chief vector of evil and the Devil in the world, the very quintessence of evil as some called it, and the chief repository of all that was socially, politically, and especially economically archaic and stagnant. This encyclopedia is organized around three principal concerns: the illustration and explication of the various forms of antislavery and its emergence as an organized movement; the immediate precipitants of abolition and the processes of its passage; and the enactment of emancipation and its consequences. While the earliest expressions of antislavery may have only comprised one or a few isolated voices, the antislavery most commonly reviewed here is that animated by a systematic and ardent opposition to slavery and intended to mobilize large numbers of people to attack and end the institution. A wide variety of people and organizations nurtured and extended this antislavery: religious figures, political economists, slaves, sailors, artisans, missionaries, planters, captains of slave ships, democratic enthusiasts, and others were all involved along with the various organizations-secular, religious, or otherwise-with which they were associated. Antislavery was by no means exclusively or even principally the work of an intellectual elite and the force of all, from the lowly and unlearned to the privileged and prominent, is represented. The presence of slavery continued to be attacked in the contracting Ottoman Empire in the early twentieth century, in Liberia in the 1930s, in Saudi Arabia in the mid-twentieth century, and even in the latter years of the century in countries like Sudan, Pakistan, India, and others in Southeast Asia. The entries have a worldwide focus, covering antislavery movements and important developments in slavery abolition and slave emancipation in many places around the globe. Other entries cover individuals, groups, events, documents, and organizations related to the history of abolition and emancipation over the last two centuries. Coverage also address a wide range of topics, issues, and ideas related to the broad topic of ending historical systems of slavery and human bondage. [Peter_P._Hinks__John_Mckivigan]_Encyclopedia_of_A_bookos-z1.org_

Clark: The Autobiography of Clark Terry

Compelling from cover to cover, this is the story of one of the most recorded and beloved jazz trumpeters of all time. With unsparing honesty and a superb eye for detail, Clark Terry, born in 1920, takes us from his impoverished childhood in St. Louis, Missouri, where jazz could be heard everywhere, to the smoke-filled small clubs and carnivals across the Jim Crow South where he got his start, and on to worldwide acclaim. Terry takes us behind the scenes of jazz history as he introduces scores of legendary greats—Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Dinah Washington, Doc Severinsen, Ray Charles, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Coleman Hawkins, Zoot Sims, and Dianne Reeves, among many others. Terry also reveals much about his own personal life, his experiences with racism, how he helped break the color barrier in 1960 when he joined the Tonight Show band on NBC, and why—at ninety years old—his students from around the world still call and visit him for lessons. [Clark_Terry]_Clark_The_Autobiography_of_Clark_Te_bookos-z1.org_

Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture

From the Apollo Theater to the Harlem Renaissance, from barber shop and beauty shop culture to African American holidays, family reunions, and festivals, and from the days of black baseball to the era of a black president, the culture of African Americans is truly unique and diverse. This diversity is the result of intricate customs forged in tightly woven communities—not only in the United States, but in many cases also stemming from the traditions of another continent. Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture presents information in a traditional A–Z organization, capturing the essence of the customs of African Americans and presenting this rich cultural heritage through the lens of popular culture. Each entry includes historical and current information to provide a meaningful background for the topic and the perspective to appreciate its significance in a modern context. This encyclopedia is a valuable research tool that provides easy access to a wealth of information on the African American experience. [Jessie_Carney_Smith]_Encyclopedia_of_African_Amer_bookos-z1.org_

African American Icons of Sport: Triumph, Courage, and Excellence

This title offers an examination of African Americans in sports, from a variety of perspectives and through a lively range of rhetoric styles, and illuminates the history of highly successful and influential individuals, athletes and teams who have transcended mere celebrity to come to represent a given Zeitgeist to a sizable part of the world. It also explores the history and lives of complex, multi-layered personages and groups. Finally, it examines the extent to which modern mass media and popular culture have contributed greatly to the rise, and sometimes fall, of the these powerful symbols of athletic, individual, and group excellence. [Matthew_C._Whitaker]_African_American_Icons_of_Sp_bookos-z1.org_

The Nobbie Stories for Children and Adults by C. L. R. James

After more than a decade in the United States, the Caribbean writer C. L. R. James ran afoul of McCarthyism in 1953 and was deported. In exile in London, he began to write stories in the form of letters to his four-year-old son “Nobbie,” who remained in the States. Through a distinctive, imaginary, and sometimes absurd cast of characters—Good Boongko, Bad boo-boo-loo, Moby Dick, and Nicholas the worker, among others—these stories explore questions of friendship, conflict, community, ethics, and power in humorous and often ingenious ways; they also stand as a moving testament to a father’s struggle to be a vivid presence in the life of his son despite separation and distance. Attesting to James’s remarkable gifts as a writer and his unusual talent for engaging wide and diverse audiences, these witty and poignant stories, published here for the first time, are not just for James aficionados. Each story is a delight in its own way, making the book irresistible for children and adults alike. [C._L._R._James]_The_Nobbie_Stories_for_Children_a_bookos-z1.org_

A New Notion: Two Works by C. L. R. James: Every Cook Can Govern and The Invading Socialist Society by C. L. R. James

Portraying C. L. R. James as a leading figure in the independence movement in the West Indies and in the black and working-class movements in both Britain and the United States, this volume provides an extensive introduction to James's life and thought before presenting two critical works that illustrate the tremendous breadth and depth of his worldview. Both long-out-of-print pamphlets display James's contributions to Marxist and revolutionary theory as he documents and elaborates on the aspects of working-class activity that constitute the revolution in today's world. Fully encapsulating James's thoughts on democracy and workers' emancipation, these essential works represent the principal themes that run through James's life: implacable hostility toward all "condescending saviors" of the working class and an underlying faith in the power of ordinary people to build a new world. [C._L._R._James]_A_New_Notion_Two_Works_by_C._L.__bookos-z1.org_

Notes on Dialectics: Hegel, Marx, Lenin by C.L.R. James

C.L.R. James is one of the leading Marxist interpreters of colonialism and anti-colonial struggle in the 20th century. Famous for his literary and cultural, as well as theoretical, writings, his thinking engaged with a vast range of issues including civil rights, race, class, socialism, cricket, and cultural production. Notes on Dialectics, first publsihed in 1948, is his key theoretical work. It os one of the most complex and original Marxist documents ever to come out of the U.S., where James lived for 15 years. It provides a thorough reexamination of of the Hegelian foundations of Marxist theory and a new interpretation of the history of thelabor movement through a close engagement with Hegel's Logic. To this day, the book represents a brilliant example of a living, productive engagement with Marxist theory and politics. This new edition, with a new introduction from leading James scholars, ensures that this classic books will continue to reach a new generation of scholars and students of Marxist theory as well as activists. [C._L._R._James]_Notes_on_Dialectics_Hegel__Marx__bookos-z1.org_

Red Lines, Black Spaces: The Politics of Race and Space in a Black Middle-Class Suburb

Runyon Heights, a community in Yonkers, New York, has been populated by middle-class African Americans for nearly a century. This book - the first history of a black middle-class community - tells the story of Runyon Heights, which sheds light on the process of black suburbanisation and the ways in which residential development in the suburbs has been shaped by race and class. Relying on both interviews with residents and archival research, Bruce D. Haynes describes the progressive stages in the life of the community and its inhabitants and the factors that enabled it to form in the first place and to develop solidarity, identity and political consciousness. He shows how residents came to recognise common political interests within the community, how racial consciousness provided an axis for social solidarity as well as partial insulation from racial slights, and how the suburb afforded these middle-class residents a degree of physical and social distance from the ghetto. As Haynes explores the history of Runyon Heights, we learn the ways in which its black middle class dealt with the tensions between the political interests of race and the material interests of class. [Dr._Bruce_D._Haynes]_Red_Lines__Black_Spaces_The_bookos-z1.org_

Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class

When George Pullman began recruiting Southern blacks as porters in his luxurious new sleeping cars, the former slaves suffering under Jim Crow laws found his offer of a steady job and worldly experience irresistable. They quickly signed up to serve as maid, waiter, concierge, nanny, and occasionally doctor and undertaker to cars full of white passengers, making the Pullman Company the largest employer of African Americans in the country by the 1920s. 0805078509_rising

Blue-Chip Black: Race, Class, and Status in the New Black Middle Class

As Karyn R. Lacy's innovative work in the suburbs of Washington, DC, reveals, there is a continuum of middle-classness among blacks, ranging from lower-middle class to middle-middle class to upper-middle class. Focusing on the latter two, Lacy explores an increasingly important social and demographic group: middle-class blacks who live in middle-class suburbs where poor blacks are not present. These "blue-chip black" suburbanites earn well over fifty thousand dollars annually and work in predominantly white professional environments. Lacy examines the complicated sense of identity that individuals in these groups craft to manage their interactions with lower-class blacks, middle-class whites, and other middle-class blacks as they seek to reap the benefits of their middle-class status. [Karyn_R._Lacy]_Blue-Chip_Black_Race__Class__and__bookos-z1.org__1_

The Other Blacklist: The African American Literary and Cultural Left of the 1950s

Mary Helen Washington recovers the vital role of 1950s leftist politics in the works and lives of modern African American writers and artists. While most histories of McCarthyism focus on the devastation of the blacklist and the intersection of leftist politics and American culture, few include the activities of radical writers and artists from the Black Popular Front. Washington's work incorporates these black intellectuals back into our understanding of mid-twentieth-century African American literature and art and expands our understanding of the creative ferment energizing all of America during this period. Mary Helen Washington reads four representative writers -- Lloyd Brown, Frank London Brown, Alice Childress, and Gwendolyn Brooks -- and surveys the work of the visual artist Charles White. She traces resonances of leftist ideas and activism in their artistic achievements and follows their balanced critique of the mainstream liberal and conservative political and literary spheres. Her study recounts the targeting of African American as well as white writers during the McCarthy era, reconstructs the events of the 1959 Black Writers' Conference in New York, and argues for the ongoing influence of the Black Popular Front decades after it folded. Defining the contours of a distinctly black modernism and its far-ranging radicalization of American politics and culture, Washington fundamentally reorients scholarship on African American and Cold War literature and life. 0231152701

Israel on the Appomattox: A Southern Experiment in Black Freedom from the 1790s Through the Civil War

While Thomas Jefferson lived with the contradiction of slave ownership and the ideals of liberty, his cousin Richard Randolph could not reconcile the two. When Randolph died in 1796, he freed 90 slaves, granting them land to build a settlement among whites. Near the Appomattox River, they built a community called Israel Hill, defying the skepticism about whether blacks and whites could live in harmony as equals. Princeton-trained historian Ely presents a portrait of life during the 1790s in this little-known Virginia settlement, where whites and black former slaves lived together, working as farmers and tradesmen, even founding a Baptist congregation together. Revealed through the personal and public stories of the residents of Israel Hill, Ely reveals this extraordinary settlement where racial cooperation reigned but was not untarnished by the raging conflicts of slavery and impending war. This is a well-researched and absorbing look at the history of freedmen and race relations from an angle that defies the conventional wisdom of blacks and whites at the time 0679447385

Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-first Century

Black Stats—a comprehensive guide filled with contemporary facts and figures on African Americans—is an essential reference for anyone attempting to fathom the complex state of our nation. With fascinating and often surprising information on everything from incarceration rates, lending practices, and the arts to marriage, voting habits, and green jobs, the contextualized material in this book will better attune readers to telling trends while challenging commonly held, yet often misguided, perceptions. A compilation that at once highlights measures of incredible progress and enumerates the disparate impacts of social policies and practices, this book is a critical tool for advocates, educators, and policy makers. Black Stats offers indispensable information that is sure to enlighten discussions and provoke debates about the quality of Black life in the United States today—and help chart the path to a better future. There are less than a quarter-million Black public school teachers in the U.S.—representing just 7 percent of all teachers in public schools. Approximately half of the Black population in the United States lives in neighborhoods that have no White residents. In the five years before the Great Recession, the number of Black-owned businesses in the United States increased by 61 percent. A 2010 study found that 41 percent of Black youth feel that rap music videos should be more political. There are no Black owners or presidents of an NFL franchise team. 78 percent of Black Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, compared with 56 percent of White Americans.

Slave Songs and the Birth of African American Poetry

In this insightful and provocative volume, Ramey reveals spirituals and slave songs to be a crucial element in American literature. This book shows slave songs' intrinsic value as lyric poetry, sheds light on their roots and originality, and draws new conclusions on an art form long considered a touchstone of cultural imagination.

African American Views of the Japanese: Solidarity or Sedition?

African American Views of the Japanese reveals a page of history long ignored. In black America, Japanese were not always known for racist remarks, Sambo images, and discriminatory hiring practices. Once, thousands of African Americans thought of the Japanese as "champions of the darker races." Here Reginald Kearney examines the role played by Japan and its people in the dreams of prosperity for many African Americans. He also uncovers the shock many blacks felt upon learning that this high regard for the Japanese had been betrayed by discriminatory remarks and actions. But overall Kearney remains optimistic that the African American-Japanese rift can be mended.

African American Pioneers of Baseball: A Biographical Encyclopedia

When Jackie Robinson became the first African American player in major league baseball in 1947, elbowing aside the league's policies of segregation that had been inviolate for 60 years, he became a symbol of opportunity and acceptance for African American players everywhere. Robinson withstood discrimination to establish himself as a Hall of Fame player, and to lead future generations of black players into the previously all-white world of Major League Baseball. Written for students and general readers alike, this biographical encyclopedia chronicles the history of African American baseball through the life stories of the game's greatest players, the legends who played a significant role in the integration of the major league. From Negro League stars Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, to color line shatterer Jackie Robinson, and those who followed them in the limelight, such as Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, readers will learn how the inclusion of African American players in Major League Baseball improved the sport and race relations in the United States during this critical period in history. Providing detailed accounts of each player's amazing professional achievements, this insightful reference describes how the spectacular talents of African American players elevated Major League Baseball forever. Features include a timeline of important events, numerous photographs, and a bibliography of print and electronic sources for further reading.

Eleanor Holmes Norton

AFRICAN-AMERICAN LEADERS profiles the African-American men and women whose lives and work have changed the way we view race in America. From the leading forces in American government and politics to the foremost scholars and writers in academia, these biographies explore the significant contributions these individuals have made to American culture and society. From her well-publicized protest of the handling of the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas scandal, to her writings on sexual harassment in the workplace, Congresswoman Norton has been a leading force in American government and politics.

Righteous Riches: The Word of Faith Movement in Contemporary African American Religion

Does God want us to be wealthy? Many people believe that God offers not only eternal joy in the hereafter but also material blessings in the here and now. Other Christians see this "prosperity theology," as nothing more than vulgar materialism, incompatible with orthodox Christianity. In Righteous Riches, Milmon F. Harrison examines the Word of Faith movement, an independent, non-denominational Christian movement that preaches the so-called "health and wealth gospel." The Word of Faith movement is an international network loosely bound by a basic doctrine called the "Faith Message," which teaches that it is God's will for Christians to be prosperous, successful, and healthy in the present life. Drawing on his personal experiences as a former insider and in-depth interviews with members, Harrison takes us inside the movement, revealing what it is like to belong, and how people accept, reject, and reshape Word of Faith doctrines to fit their own lives. Although the movement is not exclusively African American, many of its most prominent and recognized leaders are African American ministers with large congregations and national television audiences. Analyzing the movement's appeal to African Americans, Harrison argues that, because of their history of oppression and discrimination, African American religious institutions have always had to address the material--as well as spiritual--concerns of their members. The Word of Faith Movement, he says, is one of several prosperity movements that resonate strongly with African Americans. Situating the movement in the contexts of both contemporary American religion and the history of the Black Church, Righteous Riches offers a fascinating look at a quintessentially American phenomenon.

From Whence Cometh My Help: The African American Community at Hollins College

In 1842 Charles Lewis Cocke arrived in Roanoke, Virginia, with sixteen slaves; there, he founded Hollins College, an elite woman's school. Many of the early students also brought their slaves to the college with them. Upon Emancipation some of the African Americans of the community "mostly women" stayed on as servants, forming what is now called the Hollins Community. Although the servants played an integral part in the college's success, students were strongly discouraged from acknowledging them as people. Rules forbidding any "familiarity" with the servants perpetuated a prejudicial attitude toward the African American community that would persist well into the 1940s. Determined to give voice to the African American community that served as the silent workforce for Hollins College, Ethel Morgan Smith succeeded in finding individuals to step forward and tell their stories. From Whence Cometh My Help examines the dynamics of an institution built on the foundations of slavery and so steeped in tradition that it managed to perpetuate servitude for generations. Interviewing senior community members, Smith gives recognition to the invisible population that provided and continues to provide the labor support for Hollins College for more than 150 years. Although African American students have been admitted to the college for roughly thirty years, to date only one person from the Hollins Community has graduated from the college. From Whence Cometh My Help explores the subtle and complex relationship between the affluent white world of Hollins College and the proud African American community that has served it since its inception. Interweaving personal observations, historical documents, and poetry throughout a revealing oral history, Smith shares her fascinating discoveries and the challenges involved in telling a story silenced for so long.

L.A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles from the Great Depression to the Present

In 1964 an Urban League survey ranked Los Angeles as the most desirable city for African Americans to live in. In 1965 the city burst into flames during one of the worst race riots in the nation's history. How the city came to such a pass—embodying both the best and worst of what urban America offered black migrants from the South—is the story told for the first time in this history of modern black Los Angeles. A clear-eyed and compelling look at black struggles for equality in L.A.'s neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces from the Great Depression to our day, L.A. City Limits critically refocuses the ongoing debate about the origins of America's racial and urban crisis. Challenging previous analysts' near-exclusive focus on northern "rust-belt" cities devastated by de-industrialization, Josh Sides asserts that the cities to which black southerners migrated profoundly affected how they fared. He shows how L.A.'s diverse racial composition, dispersive geography, and dynamic postwar economy often created opportunities—and limits—quite different from those encountered by blacks in the urban North.

African-American Proverbs in Context

From slave times to the present the proverb has been a mainstay in African-American communication. Such sayings as "Hard times make a monkey eat red pepper when he don't care for black," "The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice," and "Nothing ruins a duck but its bill" convey not only axiomatic impact but also profound contextual meanings. This study of African-American proverbs is the first to probe deeply into these meanings and contexts. Sw. Anand Prahlad's interest in proverbs dates back to his own childhood in rural Virginia when he listened to his great grandmother's stories. Very early he began collecting "sayings," and, in researching this book, he spent five years listening to proverbs spoken in bars, clubs, churches, and retirement homes; on street corners, basketball courts, and public buses; at PTA meetings and bingo games. To discover the full context of a proverb, Prahlad considers four levels of meanings--grammatical, cultural, situational, and symbolic. The grammatical level refers to its literal meanings, the cultural level to its associations shared by most members of the cultural group, the situational level to the specific situation in which the proverb is spoken, and the symbolic to the speaker's own personal associations with the proverb. All these operate simultaneously when a proverb is spoken. Since the speaker may be fully aware of all levels, part of the artistry in using proverbs comes from the complex interplay of the dimensions of their meanings. African-American Proverbs in Context documents and analyzes both historic and contemporary proverbs. A survey of WPA interviews with former slaves and of the lyrics of blues songs and the contexts in which these were performed shows how proverbs have been used as a means of protest and cultural affirmation. Extensive field research conducted by the author with both master proverb users and young persons reveals the myriad functions proverbs perform in modern America. These range from direct communication of traditional knowledge to aggressive verbal competition among youths wishing to establish identity and status.

The Birth of African-American Culture: An Anthropological Perspective

This compelling look at the wellsprings of cultural vitality during one of the most dehumanizing experiences in history provides a fresh perspective on the African-American past.

Survivors of Slavery: Modern-Day Slave Narratives

Slavery is not a crime confined to the far reaches of history. It is an injustice that continues to entrap twenty-seven million people across the globe. Laura Murphy offers close to forty survivor narratives from Cambodia, Ghana, Lebanon, Macedonia, Mexico, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine, and the United States, detailing the horrors of a system that forces people to work without pay and against their will, under the threat of violence, with little or no means of escape. Representing a variety of circumstances in diverse contexts, these survivors are the Frederick Douglasses, Sojourner Truths, and Olaudah Equianos of our time, testifying to the widespread existence of a human rights tragedy and the urgent need to address it. Through storytelling and firsthand testimony, this anthology shapes a twenty-first-century narrative that many believe died with the end of slavery in the Americas. Organized around such issues as the need for work, the punishment of defiance, and the move toward activism, the collection isolates the causes, mechanisms, and responses to slavery that allow the phenomenon to endure. Enhancing scholarship in women's studies, sociology, criminology, law, social work, and literary studies, the text establishes a common trajectory of vulnerability, enslavement, captivity, escape, and recovery, creating an invaluable resource for activists, scholars, legislators, and service providers.

On the Line by Serena Williams

One of the biggest stars in tennis, Serena Williams has captured every major title. Her 2009 Australia Open championship earned her the #1 world ranking for the third time in her illustrious career - and marked only the latest exclamation point on a life well and purposefully lived. As a young girl, Serena began training with an adult-sized racquet that was almost as big as her. Rather than dropping the racquet, Serena saw it as a challenge to overcome-and she has confronted every obstacle on her path to success with the same unflagging spirit. From growing up in the tough, hardscrabble neighborhood of Compton, California, to being trained by her father on public tennis courts littered with broken glass and drug paraphernalia, to becoming the top women's player in the world, Serena has proven to be an inspiration to her legions of fans both young and old. Her accomplishments have not been without struggle: being derailed by injury, devastated by the tragic shooting of her older sister, and criticized for her unorthodox approach to tennis. Yet somehow, Serena always manages to prevail. Both on the court and off, she's applied the strength and determination that helped her to become a champion to successful pursuits in philanthropy, fashion, television and film. In this compelling and poignant memoir, Serena takes an empowering look at her extraordinary life and what is still to come.

Faster than Lightning: My Autobiography by Usain Bolt

The autobiography of the fastest man of all time and a superstar whose talent and charisma have made him one of the most famous people on the planet. Whether you know Athletics or not, and even whether you know sport or not, chances are you know Usain Bolt. The fastest man on the planet, not just now but ever, Usain has won the hearts of people everywhere with his mind-blowing performances and his infectious charisma – uniting supporters around the world. In this, his full autobiography, Usain tells his story in his own words: from humble beginnings in Jamaica, to international stardom at Beijing and on to the new heights of superstardom he has reached since lighting up London 2012

The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses by Oyeronke Oyewumi

Folk-Lore Journal edited by the Working Committee of the South African Folk-Lore Society

Folklore Journal, South Africa by arasmas

Myths and Legends of the Bantu by Alice Werner

Myths and Legends of the Bantu by Everton Machado

Aesop's Fables

Aesop's Fables - Aesop by Sdek

Outa Karel's Stories: South African Folk-Lore Tales by Sanni Metalerkamp

South African Folklore Tales by melissaofficinalis

Secrets of the Congo: Flying into the Heart of Darkness by Michael Fredholm von Essen

Cha0387 - Secrets of the Congo by Charlie360430

The Languages of Urban Africa by Fiona McLaughlin

The Languages of Urban Africa.pdf by hehekyi

Individuality and Community: The Perspectives of Classical Indian and African Philosophies by Iluyomade Raphael Funwa

Rayford W. Logan and the Dilemma of the African-American Intellectual

A masterful biography of a key figure in twentieth-century African American history"Logan (1897-1982), the subject of this superb biography by Kenneth Robert Janken, was a gifted intellectual, important Pan-Africanist, bold civil rights crusader, and highly productive historian.... Among the best in a sizable body of first-rate studies devoted to the lives of African-American leaders, Janken's biography is certain to gain for Logan the recognition that persistently eluded him during his lifetime.... Based upon impressive research especially in the previously untapped Logan papers, and written with extraordinary grace, this multidimensional biography provides a sensitive and incisive analysis of the career, intellectual development, and complex personality of an important scholar/activist". -- Journal of American History"Janken's well-written biography based on Logan's work, letters, diaries, and autobiography, vividly brings back to life the struggles of the Talented Tenth in the early twentieth century". -- American Historical Review"In his frank and thorough biography ... Janken provides a window on the history of black intellectual life of the 20th century". -- Washington Post Book World"Scrupulously fair and intellectually astute.... A frank, well-founded assessment not only of personalities, but also of agendas and the dynamics of power in the top tier of black America at midcentury"

The Little Capoeira Book, Revised Edition

Nestor Capoeira, a long-time teacher of capoeira and noted mestre (master), begins this revised edition of his bestseller with an in-depth history of the Brazilian art, giving the most popular theories for the origins and purposes of this movement that combines the grace of dance with lethal self-defense techniques in a unique game-song structure. He discusses some of the most famous capoeristas and their influence on the art. In addition, he describes how the two major branches of capoeira (Angola and Regional) came about and the differences between them. The Little Capoeira Book’s clear descriptions of the game, or jogo, explain the actual application of capoeira, vaguely similar to sparring but very different in purpose and style. The music of capoeira, which is played during all jogo, is also examined, along with its main instrument, the berimbau. The author includes a how-to guide with photographs showing basic moves for beginners, with offensive and defensive applications for simple kicks, takedowns, advanced kicks and movements, head butts, hand strikes, and knee and elbow strikes. Each technique is vividly depicted with drawings that are easy to understand and learn from, and mestre capoeira includes an explanation of both Angola and Regional versions.

Everything But the Burden: What White People Are Taking from Black Culture by Greg Tate

Who Needs the Negro? by Sidney M. Willhelm

Women of the Achievement by Benjamin Griffith Brawley

Mary McLeod Bethune and the National Council of Negro Women by Elaine Smith

Mary McLeod Bethune by Emma Gelders Sterne

How To Date A Black Woman Without Beating Her Black Ass

This dynamic volume teaches black men how to handle today's black woman. This book also contains an additional feature book!

The Sacred Void: Spatial Images of Work and Ritual among the Giriama of Kenya

In this innovative study, David Parkin shows how indigenous African rites and beliefs may be reworked to accommodate a variety of economic systems, new spatial and ecological relations among communities, and the locally variable influences of Islam and Christianity. The Giriama people of Kenya include pastoralists living in the hinterland; farmers, who work land closer to the coast; and migrants, who earn money as laborers or fisherman on the coast itself. Wherever they live, they revere an ancient and formerly fortified capital, located in the pastoralist hinterland, which few of them ever see or visit. It is the site of occasional large-scale ceremonies and becomes especially important at times of national crisis. It then acts as a moral core of Giriama society, and a symbolic defense against total domination and assimilation.