A BOOKISH BACKGROUND ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY.Byline: Doug Riggs Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire As Black History Month continues, here are some promising recent titles that focus on issues important to African-Americans: ``The Norton Anthology of African American Literature African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. The genre traces its origins to the works of such late 18th century writers as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano, reached early high points with slave narratives ,'' edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr., Nellie Y. McKay For the singer, see . Nellie Yvonne McKay (born 1930 died January 22, 2006) was an American academic and author who was the Evjue-Bascom Professor of American and African-American Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she also taught in English and women's , William L. Andrews, Houston A. Baker Jr. and Barbara T. Christian (Norton, 2,665 pages; $39.95). A massive collection bringing together the work of 120 influential African-American writers from 1746 to the present. ``Southern Journey: A Return to the Civil Rights Movement,'' by Tom Dent (Morrow, 400 pages; $25). Dent, an African-American poet and oral historian, revisits the sites of memorable civil rights clashes in the South and gives us a report card on their progress, and potential. ``His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad,'' edited by Stuart Seely Sprague (Norton, 165 pages; $18). A recently rediscovered first-hand account, written soon after the Civil War. ``Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a memoir and treatise on abolition written by famous orator and ex-slave, Frederick Douglass. It is generally held to be the most famous of a number of narratives written by former slaves during the same period. ,'' by Frederick Douglass (Laurel, 131 pages; $5.99). The 1845 autobiography in paperback, with a new introduction by Henry Louis Gates Jr. ``Race: An Anthology in the First Person,'' edited by Bart Schneider (Crown Paperbacks, 256 pages; $14). Twenty writers and social commentators, African-American and white, describe what race means to them. ``A Voice of Thunder: The Civil War Letters of George E. Stephens,'' edited by Donald Yacovone (University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP), is a major American university press and part of the University of Illinois. Overview According to the UIP's website: , 350 pages). During the Civil War, Stephens was an African-American soldier with the famed 54th Massachusetts Regiment (featured in the film ``Glory''). His 44 letters to an African-American newspaper in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of have been collected and annotated by Massachusetts historian Yacovone as part of the series, ``Blacks in the New World.'' ``America Is Me: 170 Fresh Questions and Answers on Black American History,'' by Kennell Jackson (HarperCollins, 446 pages; hardcover, $27; paperback, $14). Jackson, an associate professor of history at Stanford, adapts the Socratic method Socratic method Education A teaching philosophy that differs from the traditional format as instruction is in the form of problem-solving and testing of hypotheses. See Layer cake education, Spoon feeding. to the subject of race. ``Bayard Rustin: Troubles I've Seen, A Biography,'' by Jervis Anderson (HarperCollins, 418 pages; $30). The first major biography of one of the civil rights movement's most influential figures. Anderson's previous works include ``This Was Harlem'' and ``A. Philip Randolph Asa Philip Randolph (April 15 1889 – May 16 1979) was a prominent twentieth century African-American civil rights leader and founder of the first black labor union in the United States. Early Years Randolph was born in Crescent City, Florida. : A Biography.'' ``An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America,'' by Andrew Young (HarperCollins, 550 pages; $27). An insider's account of the early struggles by a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr. who went on to become mayor of Atlanta, a Georgia congressman and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. ``Showing My Color: Impolite im·po·lite adj. Not polite; discourteous. [Latin impol Essays on Race and Identity,'' by Clarence Page (HarperCollins, 306 pages; hardcover, $23; paperback, $13). Straight talk for whites and African-Americans by the Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist and television commentator. ``North Star to Freedom: The Story of the Underground Railroad,'' by Gena (Generalized Event Notification Architecture) A method for communicating events over the Web. It is an architecture for transmitting notifications between HTTP resources such as buddy lists, distribution lists and print jobs. K. Gorrell. (Delacorte Press, 184 pages; $17.95). A history of slavery The history of slavery covers many different forms of human exploitation across many cultures and throughout human history. Slavery, generally defined, refers to the systematic exploitation of labor for work and services without consent and/or the possession of other persons as for younger readers (age 10 and up), concentrating on the Underground Railroad and the brave men and women who made it work. ``Have No Fear: The Charles Evers Story,'' by Charles Evers and Anthony Szanton (Wiley, 333 pages; $24.95). The brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers pulls no punches in telling his and Medgar's story. |
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