A history of African-Americans in a unique question-and-answer format.
In an homage to Joel Augustus Rogers' 1957 work, Henry Louis Gates Jr. relies on the latest scholarship to offer an overview of African, diasporic and African-American history in Q-and-A format, including such queries as: Who were Africa's first ambassadors to Europe?; Who was the first black president in North America?; Did Lincoln really free the slaves?; and more.
The first edition of Joel Augustus Rogers' now legendary 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro with Complete Proof, published in 1934, was billed as "A Negro 'Believe It or Not.'" Rogers's little book was priceless because he was delivering enlightenment and pride, steeped in historical research, to a people too long starved on the lie that they were worth nothing. For African Americans of the Jim Crow era, Rogers was their first black history teacher. But Rogers was not always shy about embellishing the "facts" and minimizing ambiguity; neither was he above shock journalism now and then.
With élan and erudition - and with winning enthusiasm - Henry Louis Gates, Jr. gives us a corrective yet loving homage to Roger's work. Relying on the latest scholarship, 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro leads us on a romp through African, diasporic, and African-American history. Among the 100 questions: Who was history's wealthiest person? What percentage of white Americans have recent African ancestry? Why did free black people living in the South before the end of the Civil War stay there? Who was the first black head of state in modern Western history? Where was the first Underground Railroad? Who was the first black American woman to be a self-made millionaire? Which black man made many of our favorite household products better?
Here is a surprising, inspiring, sometimes boldly mischievous - all the while highly instructive and entertaining - compendium of historical curiosities intended to illuminate the sheer complexity and diversity of being "Negro" in the world.
Located in Hunt Valley, Maryland and part of Baltimore County, Greetings & Readings of Hunt Valley is the premier independent gift store in Maryland. Fiction, fashion and fun.
These nearly 150 African American folktales animate our past and reclaim a lost cultural legacy to redefine American literature.
Drawing from the great folklorists of the past while expanding African American lore with dozens of tales rarely seen before, The Annotated African American Folktales revolutionizes the canon like no other volume.
Acclaimed scholars Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Maria Tatar assemble a groundbreaking collection of folktales, myths, and legends that revitalizes a vibrant African American past to produce the most comprehensive and ambitious collection of African American folktales ever published in American literary history. Arguing for the value of these deceptively simple stories as part of a sophisticated, complex, and heterogeneous cultural heritage, Gates and Tatar show how these remarkable stories deserve a place alongside the classic works of African American literature, and American literature more broadly.
Opening with two introductory essays and twenty seminal African tales as historical background, Gates and Tatar present nearly 150 African American stories, among them familiar Brer Rabbit classics, but also stories like "The Talking Skull" and "Witches Who Ride," as well as out-of-print tales from the 1890s' Southern Workman.
Presenting these tales with illuminating annotations and hundreds of revelatory illustrations, The Annotated African American Folktales reminds us that stories not only move, entertain, and instruct but, more fundamentally, inspire and keep hope alive.
Located in Hunt Valley, Maryland and part of Baltimore County, Greetings & Readings of Hunt Valley is the premier independent gift store in Maryland. Fiction, fashion and fun.
Edited by Retha Powers, this approachable title provides an overview of black history through 5,000 quotes from authors, artists, scientists, philosophers and politicians who lived through different eras from ancient Egypt to American slavery, up through the Civil Rights Era and Apartheid.
Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations is a comprehensive, all-new collection bringing together the most thoughtful, inspiring, and wisest voices from the Black diaspora across history.
Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations paints a rich canvas of black history through time. Five thousand quotes are culled from the time of Ancient Egypt through American slavery, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Era, Apartheid, to the present day.
With a foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and passages from authors, artists, scientists, philosophers, theologians, activists, politicians and many others, Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations will appeal not only to quote aficionados and researchers, but also to history buffs.
Aesop's Fables and the Holy Bible are in the same company as Nelson Mandela and President Obama; Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison; Bob Marley and Jay-Z.
A wonderful reference tool and gift, Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations is sure to follow in the footsteps of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, becoming a beloved authority.
Located in Hunt Valley, Maryland and part of Baltimore County, Greetings & Readings of Hunt Valley is the premier independent gift store in Maryland. Fiction, fashion and fun.
Author Henry Louis Gates, Jr., gives us a sumptuously illustrated, landmark book tracing African-American history from the arrival of the conquistadors to the election of Barack Obama.
Informed by the latest, sometimes provocative scholarship, and including more than eight hundred images - ancient maps, art, documents, photographs, cartoons, posters - Life Upon These Shores: Looking at African American History, 1513-2008 focuses on defining events, debates and controversies, as well as the achievements of people famous and obscure.
Gates takes us from the sixteenth century through the ordeal of slavery, from the Civil War and Reconstruction through the Jim Crow era and the Great Migration; from the civil rights and black nationalist movements through the age of hip-hop on to the Joshua generation.
By documenting and illuminating the sheer diversity of African American involvement in American history, society, politics, and culture, Gates bracingly disabuses us of the presumption of a single "Black Experience."
Life Upon These Shores is a book of major importance, a breathtaking tour de force of the historical imagination.
Located in Hunt Valley, Maryland and part of Baltimore County, Greetings & Readings of Hunt Valley is the premier independent gift store in Maryland. Fiction, fashion and fun.
With Life Upon These Shores, author Henry Louis Gates, Jr., gives us a sumptuously illustrated landmark book tracing African American history from the arrival of the conquistadors to the election of Barack Obama.
Informed by the latest, sometimes provocative scholarship and including more than seven hundred images - ancient maps, fine art, documents, photographs, cartoons, posters - Life Upon These Shores: Looking at African American History, 1513-2008 focuses on defining events, debates, and controversies, as well as the signal achievements of people famous and obscure.
Gates takes us from the sixteenth century through the ordeal of slavery, from the Civil War and Reconstruction through the Jim Crow era and the Great Migration; from the civil rights and black nationalist movements through the age of hip-hop to the Joshua generation. By documenting and illuminating the sheer diversity of African American involvement in American history, society, politics, and culture, Gates bracingly disabuses us of the presumption of a single "black experience."
Life Upon These Shores is a book of major importance, a breathtaking tour de force of the historical imagination.
Located in Hunt Valley, Maryland and part of Baltimore County, Greetings & Readings of Hunt Valley is the premier independent bookstore in Maryland.
