She Say, He Say: Cora Daniels' Provocative New Book
By Patrik Henry Bass-Essence
A few years ago, journalist Cora Daniels was invited to speak on a panel about James Baldwin at the Harlem Book Fair. Daniels, author of favorably reviewed books such as 2007'sGhettonation (Broadway), thought about Baldwin's mastery of the essay form in such classics as Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time. Baldwin's work was prescient, elegant in its style and unsparing in its quest for the truth. You may feel the same after reading Impolite Conversations: On Race, Politics, Sex, Money, and Religion(Atria, $25), in which Daniels, a journalist and former Fortune staff writer, enlists John L. Jackson, Jr., dean of the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, in lively point-counterpoint dissections of a range of hot-button issues.
Daniels describes the book as "tell-it-like it-is" honesty. That's probably an understatement. Readers may bristle at the frankness of both authors' divergent views. Take the Sex section, for instance. Jackson's essay addresses the "conspiracy" to make Black boys hypermasculine, removing any traces of sensitivity for fear they'll be labeled soft. Meanwhile, Daniels will have folks reaching for the smelling salts with the line "Let's pray for sexually active daughters." But the authors aren't trying to raise hackles or folks' blood pressure. In an age of social media, where anonymity allows many to throw around loaded language and plenty of shade without being recognized, these two are owning their words. And they should.Impolite Conversations is a reminder that, yes, everyone has opinions. However, when an attitude is backed up with solid facts and contemplative thought, we're challenged to think, sometimes in delightfully refreshing ways.
This article was originally published in the October issue of ESSENCE magazine, on newsstands now.
Daniels describes the book as "tell-it-like it-is" honesty. That's probably an understatement. Readers may bristle at the frankness of both authors' divergent views. Take the Sex section, for instance. Jackson's essay addresses the "conspiracy" to make Black boys hypermasculine, removing any traces of sensitivity for fear they'll be labeled soft. Meanwhile, Daniels will have folks reaching for the smelling salts with the line "Let's pray for sexually active daughters." But the authors aren't trying to raise hackles or folks' blood pressure. In an age of social media, where anonymity allows many to throw around loaded language and plenty of shade without being recognized, these two are owning their words. And they should.Impolite Conversations is a reminder that, yes, everyone has opinions. However, when an attitude is backed up with solid facts and contemplative thought, we're challenged to think, sometimes in delightfully refreshing ways.
This article was originally published in the October issue of ESSENCE magazine, on newsstands now.
The slow rise of black cinema
In 1973, John Duke Kisch was an art student in New York when a friend gave him a poster for an old black film called Caldonia. A musical from 1945, it featured singer and musician Louis Jordan who stands centre stage, his arms open wide as if in welcome. Kisch was immediately taken with the liveliness of the graphic design and spent the rest of the decade travelling around the country visiting comic-book stores looking for posters. “Nobody wanted them then,” he tells me on the phone from his home in upstate New York. “I could pick them up for a dollar.” Today, Kisch’s collection, which he maintains full time, includes more than 38,000 posters by designers from across the globe and is the world’s largest privately owned archive of black film memorabilia. “I knew nothing about black cinema before I started collecting,” he says, “but these posters have been like looking through a window into history.”
The best posters in Kisch’s collection have now been brought together in a book, Separate Cinema: The First 100 Years of Black Poster Art. While showcasing the evolution of poster art style – from simple two-colour silkscreens and lavish paintings to abstract imagery – it also provides a fascinating insight into the broader journey of African Americans in society. As film professor and author of Contemporary Black American Cinema Mia Mask tells me: “African American cinema is a metaphor for black experience because it is a history of the struggle for inclusion.”
In the early days of silent cinema, – the first decades of the last century – black characters would be played by white people in black-face and when African Americans were cast they were also expected to wear black make-up. It was against this backdrop that a parallel black cinema industry arose. The most significant figure in this era was Oscar Micheaux. The son of a Kentucky slave, Micheaux worked as a railway porter and homesteader before he went on to write, direct and produce more than 40 films, beginning in 1918. Micheaux was also a novelist and the poster art for his films such as The Exile and Murder in Harlemresembled the covers of schlocky paperback novels.
As Kisch’s collection highlights, early black film stars such as Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson found success by playing up to sexualised caricatures. In the poster art for films such as La sirène des tropiques andLa revue des revues, both from 1927, Baker is either near-naked or accompanied by black figures with cartoonish red lips, while in the poster for 1933’s The Emperor Jones Robeson is shirtless. It was the arrival of Sidney Poitier in the 1950s, with films such as 1958’s The Defiant Ones, that marked a new stage in the representation of black people on film; the Japanese poster for 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, for example, sees a smiling, tuxedo-clad Poitier embodying what Mask describes as “a very urbane, controlled and sophisticated black masculinity”.
Featuring work by designers from more than 30 countries, Kisch’s archive is also revealing about attitudes towards race in different continents over the decades. The posters that designers from Sweden, Japan and Poland created for films such as 1936’s The Green Pastures and 1949’s Intruder in the Dust, for example, are more subtle and stylish than the American versions, perhaps because they could find creative distance from the bruising reality of racism in the US. That reality would be challenged by the likes of Poitier and Harry Belafonte in films such as 1967’s In the Heat of the Night and 1957’s Island in the Sun; it was also being exploited by black indie film companies that were producing B-movies with lurid titles such as 1966’s I Crossed the Color Line, which exploited white fears of miscegenation.
In time, Poitier would be criticised, as Josephine Baker was, for pandering to white fantasies, as the civil rights era gave way in the mid to late 1960s to the black power movement, which rejected integration and argued for a purely black society. By the early 1970s, this social movement had spawned the blaxploitation genre and films such as 1971’s Shaft and 1972’s Super Fly. The posters, like the films themselves, perpetuated some of the very stereotypes about black people that earlier generations of African American film-makers had sought to challenge. They were a way to “stand up to The Man,” says Kisch, “but by the mid-1970s audiences were tired of the drug dealers and the pimps. After that there was a big lull until the arrival of Eddie Murphy and Spike Lee, who proved that it still took an independent film-maker to go places Hollywood would not.”
Most recently, black cinema has seen the rise of mainstream black film-makers and actors such as Denzel Washington, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Halle Berry, as well as auteurs such as Spike Lee, Tyler Perry and Steve McQueen. Meanwhile Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino have made acclaimed films about black subjects. The success of last year’s 12 Years a Slave was not only an indication of how mainstream African American stories are now becoming – it also suggested that, as with the foreign designers who created some of the finest poster art, sometimes the outsider can better tell an American tale. “If that film had been put in the hands of an American they would have butchered that story,” says Kisch.
Kisch’s collection reflects both how much black cinema has progressed but also how African Americans are still facing many of the same institutional challenges to have the full range of their voices heard. “We have African American film stars but what percentage of films are directed or written or produced by someone who is African American?” asks Mask. “There is still a paucity of representation.” Singular success at the Oscars, like singular success at the White House, does not mean the struggle for representation is over on screen or in real life.
The best posters in Kisch’s collection have now been brought together in a book, Separate Cinema: The First 100 Years of Black Poster Art. While showcasing the evolution of poster art style – from simple two-colour silkscreens and lavish paintings to abstract imagery – it also provides a fascinating insight into the broader journey of African Americans in society. As film professor and author of Contemporary Black American Cinema Mia Mask tells me: “African American cinema is a metaphor for black experience because it is a history of the struggle for inclusion.”
In the early days of silent cinema, – the first decades of the last century – black characters would be played by white people in black-face and when African Americans were cast they were also expected to wear black make-up. It was against this backdrop that a parallel black cinema industry arose. The most significant figure in this era was Oscar Micheaux. The son of a Kentucky slave, Micheaux worked as a railway porter and homesteader before he went on to write, direct and produce more than 40 films, beginning in 1918. Micheaux was also a novelist and the poster art for his films such as The Exile and Murder in Harlemresembled the covers of schlocky paperback novels.
As Kisch’s collection highlights, early black film stars such as Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson found success by playing up to sexualised caricatures. In the poster art for films such as La sirène des tropiques andLa revue des revues, both from 1927, Baker is either near-naked or accompanied by black figures with cartoonish red lips, while in the poster for 1933’s The Emperor Jones Robeson is shirtless. It was the arrival of Sidney Poitier in the 1950s, with films such as 1958’s The Defiant Ones, that marked a new stage in the representation of black people on film; the Japanese poster for 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, for example, sees a smiling, tuxedo-clad Poitier embodying what Mask describes as “a very urbane, controlled and sophisticated black masculinity”.
Featuring work by designers from more than 30 countries, Kisch’s archive is also revealing about attitudes towards race in different continents over the decades. The posters that designers from Sweden, Japan and Poland created for films such as 1936’s The Green Pastures and 1949’s Intruder in the Dust, for example, are more subtle and stylish than the American versions, perhaps because they could find creative distance from the bruising reality of racism in the US. That reality would be challenged by the likes of Poitier and Harry Belafonte in films such as 1967’s In the Heat of the Night and 1957’s Island in the Sun; it was also being exploited by black indie film companies that were producing B-movies with lurid titles such as 1966’s I Crossed the Color Line, which exploited white fears of miscegenation.
In time, Poitier would be criticised, as Josephine Baker was, for pandering to white fantasies, as the civil rights era gave way in the mid to late 1960s to the black power movement, which rejected integration and argued for a purely black society. By the early 1970s, this social movement had spawned the blaxploitation genre and films such as 1971’s Shaft and 1972’s Super Fly. The posters, like the films themselves, perpetuated some of the very stereotypes about black people that earlier generations of African American film-makers had sought to challenge. They were a way to “stand up to The Man,” says Kisch, “but by the mid-1970s audiences were tired of the drug dealers and the pimps. After that there was a big lull until the arrival of Eddie Murphy and Spike Lee, who proved that it still took an independent film-maker to go places Hollywood would not.”
Most recently, black cinema has seen the rise of mainstream black film-makers and actors such as Denzel Washington, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Halle Berry, as well as auteurs such as Spike Lee, Tyler Perry and Steve McQueen. Meanwhile Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino have made acclaimed films about black subjects. The success of last year’s 12 Years a Slave was not only an indication of how mainstream African American stories are now becoming – it also suggested that, as with the foreign designers who created some of the finest poster art, sometimes the outsider can better tell an American tale. “If that film had been put in the hands of an American they would have butchered that story,” says Kisch.
Kisch’s collection reflects both how much black cinema has progressed but also how African Americans are still facing many of the same institutional challenges to have the full range of their voices heard. “We have African American film stars but what percentage of films are directed or written or produced by someone who is African American?” asks Mask. “There is still a paucity of representation.” Singular success at the Oscars, like singular success at the White House, does not mean the struggle for representation is over on screen or in real life.
LeVar Burton's online plea reboots 'Reading Rainbow'
LOS ANGELES --Lynn Eber AP
LeVar Burton's fundraising effort to bring "Reading Rainbow" to the online masses is a by-the-book success.
The goal of raising $1 million by July 2 was reached within hours of the campaign's launch Wednesday on Kickstarter, according to the website. More than 23,000 donors had pledged $1.1 million and counting.
Burton was the host of "Reading Rainbow," the children's literacy program that aired on public TV through 2009.
"It was my mother who taught me that, by picking up a book, I could 'go anywhere' and 'be anything,' " Burton said in a posting on Kickstarter.
Contributors can claim rewards ranging from autographed memorabilia to a private dinner with Burton to a chance to put on the visor that the actor wore on "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
"We're not just getting pledges, but so much email love that our server froze," said Mark Wolfe, Burton's business partner. "I'm so happy to help. LeVar taught me to read," is among the typical messages, he said.
A tablet version of "Reading Rainbow" was released in 2012 and became a top-selling education app. It provides access to hundreds of books and Burton's videotaped "field trips" to historic and other places, said Wolfe, who co-founded the for-profit RRKidz company with Burton.
The Kickstarter campaign is intended to help bring an online version to more children for a $5 monthly subscription fee, Wolfe said. Many more families have access to computers than tablets, he said.
An educator-specific format will be created for schools and made available free to at least 1,500 of the neediest classrooms, RRKidz said.
Burton and Wolfe hold the global rights to "Reading Rainbow" in partnership with the show's creator, public TV station WNED in Buffalo, New York, according to a release.
--
Online:
Kickstarter: http://www.helpreadingrainbow.comMap My News
LeVar Burton's fundraising effort to bring "Reading Rainbow" to the online masses is a by-the-book success.
The goal of raising $1 million by July 2 was reached within hours of the campaign's launch Wednesday on Kickstarter, according to the website. More than 23,000 donors had pledged $1.1 million and counting.
Burton was the host of "Reading Rainbow," the children's literacy program that aired on public TV through 2009.
"It was my mother who taught me that, by picking up a book, I could 'go anywhere' and 'be anything,' " Burton said in a posting on Kickstarter.
Contributors can claim rewards ranging from autographed memorabilia to a private dinner with Burton to a chance to put on the visor that the actor wore on "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
"We're not just getting pledges, but so much email love that our server froze," said Mark Wolfe, Burton's business partner. "I'm so happy to help. LeVar taught me to read," is among the typical messages, he said.
A tablet version of "Reading Rainbow" was released in 2012 and became a top-selling education app. It provides access to hundreds of books and Burton's videotaped "field trips" to historic and other places, said Wolfe, who co-founded the for-profit RRKidz company with Burton.
The Kickstarter campaign is intended to help bring an online version to more children for a $5 monthly subscription fee, Wolfe said. Many more families have access to computers than tablets, he said.
An educator-specific format will be created for schools and made available free to at least 1,500 of the neediest classrooms, RRKidz said.
Burton and Wolfe hold the global rights to "Reading Rainbow" in partnership with the show's creator, public TV station WNED in Buffalo, New York, according to a release.
--
Online:
Kickstarter: http://www.helpreadingrainbow.comMap My News
African American Children's Book Fair draws active crowd
Stephan Salisbury, Inquirer Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA There was nary a cellphone in sight.
Several thousand people, many of them younger than 15, and not a screen to be seen.
Saturday in the gym at Community College of Philadelphia, the name of the game was books.
We're talking paper here.
Print. The unmoving, staunch, typeset word."They're interested," said Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati, who has organized the annual African American Children's Book Fair every year for 22 years. "They're hungry. People come for one reason. They love books. They buy books. My passion is books."
No doubt about it.
Parents, teachers, school administrators, kids, and assorted others, black and white alike, turned out for the afternoon event to look at stacks of titles laid out on long tables, gather up inspirational and literacy materials, and talk.
About two dozen writers and illustrators were on hand to pitch their creative wares, to meet fans and prospective fans. Several corporate sponsors of the fair bought about 1,000 books that were given away to visitors.
African drummers provided a rhythmic atmosphere in the cavernous gym and entertained the long line of adults and children waiting to enter.
"This is a unique book fair," Lloyd-Sgambati said. "It's huge."
She wouldn't get any argument on that score from Nicole Lover of Mount Airy. Lover has been coming to the book fair since it started at John Wanamaker's store on Market Street.
"I came as a little kid - my dad brought me," Lover said. "Now I'm bringing my kids."
Teren Lover, 11, a sixth grader at KIPP Philadelphia Charter School, said she loved going to the fair.
"It's exciting," she said, standing on line about to enter the vast Community College gym.
Her favorite book? Out of My Mind, she said without hesitation - Sharon M. Draper's story of a brilliant little girl trapped in a body wracked by cerebral palsy.
Not just kids, parents, and teachers are engaged by the book fair.
Tonya Bolden, an award-winning author of 20 books, said the fair provided an opportunity to bring interesting stories to young people and perhaps ignite something in them.
Bolden's latest effort, Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America, tells the unusual and true tale of a child descended from former slaves owned by Creek Indians. Sarah received a land allotment at the turn of the 20th century that eventually yielded oil and made her a wealthy child by any measure.
Bolden paints her portrait against the landscape of emerging Oklahoma and fills it with a very American cast of frauds, racists, and plain folk.
"I think kids will get a kick out of it," she said.
Christopher John Farley, a 47-year-old Wall Street Journal editor, told visitors about his different kind of book - a fantasy novel, Gameworld.
Author of several books for adults, Farley said writing for kids "is totally different."
"If the first sentence doesn't grab them, they're done," he said. "I don't see any people of color in fantasy [books]. Kids deserve to dream in color. That's why I wrote this book. . . . It's good for white kids, Asian kids. They can cross over and enter other people's minds."
Several thousand people, many of them younger than 15, and not a screen to be seen.
Saturday in the gym at Community College of Philadelphia, the name of the game was books.
We're talking paper here.
Print. The unmoving, staunch, typeset word."They're interested," said Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati, who has organized the annual African American Children's Book Fair every year for 22 years. "They're hungry. People come for one reason. They love books. They buy books. My passion is books."
No doubt about it.
Parents, teachers, school administrators, kids, and assorted others, black and white alike, turned out for the afternoon event to look at stacks of titles laid out on long tables, gather up inspirational and literacy materials, and talk.
About two dozen writers and illustrators were on hand to pitch their creative wares, to meet fans and prospective fans. Several corporate sponsors of the fair bought about 1,000 books that were given away to visitors.
African drummers provided a rhythmic atmosphere in the cavernous gym and entertained the long line of adults and children waiting to enter.
"This is a unique book fair," Lloyd-Sgambati said. "It's huge."
She wouldn't get any argument on that score from Nicole Lover of Mount Airy. Lover has been coming to the book fair since it started at John Wanamaker's store on Market Street.
"I came as a little kid - my dad brought me," Lover said. "Now I'm bringing my kids."
Teren Lover, 11, a sixth grader at KIPP Philadelphia Charter School, said she loved going to the fair.
"It's exciting," she said, standing on line about to enter the vast Community College gym.
Her favorite book? Out of My Mind, she said without hesitation - Sharon M. Draper's story of a brilliant little girl trapped in a body wracked by cerebral palsy.
Not just kids, parents, and teachers are engaged by the book fair.
Tonya Bolden, an award-winning author of 20 books, said the fair provided an opportunity to bring interesting stories to young people and perhaps ignite something in them.
Bolden's latest effort, Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America, tells the unusual and true tale of a child descended from former slaves owned by Creek Indians. Sarah received a land allotment at the turn of the 20th century that eventually yielded oil and made her a wealthy child by any measure.
Bolden paints her portrait against the landscape of emerging Oklahoma and fills it with a very American cast of frauds, racists, and plain folk.
"I think kids will get a kick out of it," she said.
Christopher John Farley, a 47-year-old Wall Street Journal editor, told visitors about his different kind of book - a fantasy novel, Gameworld.
Author of several books for adults, Farley said writing for kids "is totally different."
"If the first sentence doesn't grab them, they're done," he said. "I don't see any people of color in fantasy [books]. Kids deserve to dream in color. That's why I wrote this book. . . . It's good for white kids, Asian kids. They can cross over and enter other people's minds."
EXCLUSIVE: Read an Excerpt of Iyanla Vanzant's New Book 'Forgiveness'
Courtesy of Essence.com
The following is an excerpt from Iyanla Vanzant's new book,FORGIVENESS: 21 Days to Forgive Everyone for Everything.
It’s funny, just like me, much of America is addicted to TV shows such as Law & Order,CSI, or NCIS. These crime-and-punishment dramas support our beliefs that everyone and everything must be judged. For every crime there must be a punishment. On any given day, we are all judge and jury in the cases we build or hold on to in our minds. We judge ourselves and others when we
believe someone is guilty until proven innocent. In the realm of consciousness, a judgment is a classification. It is a thought that classifies people and things as right or wrong, good or bad, fair or unfair when measured against what we believe. At the core of all judgments there is the belief that things are not as they should be, as we want them to be, or as we need them to be. Our judgments more often than not give rise to a toxic or negative feeling. Forgiveness is the only cure for long-held judgments. Forgiveness of our judgments opens space and energy in our minds and hearts that has been held blocked off by anger, bitterness, and resentment. Forgiveness is the only cure for long-held judgments.
What is often challenging for the human mind to accept is that regardless of how hard, challenging, frightening, or difficult an experience may seem, everything is just as it needs to be in order for us to heal, grow, and learn. That’s just the way the universe works. Granted, most humans have a very difficult time accepting the way the universe works. This is what it means to be human. This is why we are faced with challenges and difficulties. This is how we ultimately learn to trust the process of life and our capacity to move through the hard times. This is how we grow in faith and learn to trust God. The moment we determine what is, should not be, we are denying the presence of love. God is love. Love is always present, surrounding us; guiding, growing, and teaching us. Even in the midst of total chaos, pain, and dysfunction, love is calling us to a higher experience and expression. Forgiveness inevitably leads to acceptance. It is a demonstration of your willingness to move on. Acceptance does not mean you agree with, condone, appreciate, or even like what has happened. Acceptance means that you know, regardless of what happened, that there is something bigger than you at work. It also means you know that you are okay and that you will continue to be okay. Even if you don’t know it yet, it means you are willing to get to that space: forgiveness restores our faith, rebuilds our trust, and opens our hearts to the presence and power of love.
I Forgive Myself for Judging Men
Today is about forgiving men. If you are a man, you may need to forgive your father, brother, or another male figure who has caused hurt, harm, or disappointment in your life. If you are a woman, you may need to forgive those whom you have loved or those who refused to love you; those who have hurt you, shamed you, and abandoned you; or those who left you scarred or wounded. In our world, masculine energy represents authority, power, and strength. When we have distorted and painful images of men and masculinity, more often than not we find ourselves in dysfunctional relationships with all forms of power and authority. This means that when we need it most, our strength wanes. Open yourself to consider the glorious possibilities that lie just beyond how you have seen, held, and related to the masculine energy of the Creator that is embodied in all men. Forgive the men you have loved or those who refused to love you.
A Prayer of Forgiveness
Dear God:
Today I ask for and open myself to receiving healing and restoration of my mind, my heart, and all of my relationships with men. I confess that I have not always been kind or loving toward men. I confess that I have held judgments about men and against men. I confess that I have allowed unkind, unloving, judgmental thoughts and beliefs to infect my relationships with men. For this, I ask for and accept Your forgiveness, and I forgive myself.
Today, I ask that my heart and mind be opened so that I will accept all men as Your sons and my brothers. I ask that You create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me so that my divine relationship with all men will be restored. I ask for the will to forgive and move forward in love.
I lay down my weapons.
I open my heart.
I forgive.
I let it be!
And so it is!
I Forgive Myself for Judging Women
Today’s practice is about clearing and releasing the hurts, wounds, and judgments you may hold about or against women. Our experience and expectations of women begins with our mothers. Chances are if we have any judgments about our mothers, they will extend to other women. If you are a woman, it is also important to consider the judgments that you hold about yourself. More often than not, these can and will be projected onto other women.In our everyday experience we are sure to encounter people, both men and women, who simply behave badly. In order to heal from these encounters, it’s important that we carefully examine our own projections and judgments. More often than not, the things we detest and judge in others are a reflection of the things we cannot accept about ourselves. The impact of a lack of self acceptance is intensified in the relationships between and among women. The things we detest and judge in others are a reflection of the things we cannot accept about ourselves.
A Prayer of Forgiveness
Dear God:
Teach me to accept myself so that I will accept all women.
Teach me to appreciate myself so that I will appreciate all women.
Teach me to honor myself so that I will honor all women.
Teach me to respect myself so that I will respect all women.
Teach me to trust myself so that I will trust all women.
Teach me to love myself so that I will love all women.
Teach me to forgive myself so that I will forgive all women.
I open my heart.
I forgive.
I let it be!
And so it is!
Join Iyanla and her Forgiveness Friends for an exclusive Online Live Event on Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at 7 p.m. EST / 4 p.m. PST. When you purchase a copy of FORGIVENESS from your favorite bookseller, you will receive access to this 90-minute Live Event, absolutely free.
It’s funny, just like me, much of America is addicted to TV shows such as Law & Order,CSI, or NCIS. These crime-and-punishment dramas support our beliefs that everyone and everything must be judged. For every crime there must be a punishment. On any given day, we are all judge and jury in the cases we build or hold on to in our minds. We judge ourselves and others when we
believe someone is guilty until proven innocent. In the realm of consciousness, a judgment is a classification. It is a thought that classifies people and things as right or wrong, good or bad, fair or unfair when measured against what we believe. At the core of all judgments there is the belief that things are not as they should be, as we want them to be, or as we need them to be. Our judgments more often than not give rise to a toxic or negative feeling. Forgiveness is the only cure for long-held judgments. Forgiveness of our judgments opens space and energy in our minds and hearts that has been held blocked off by anger, bitterness, and resentment. Forgiveness is the only cure for long-held judgments.
What is often challenging for the human mind to accept is that regardless of how hard, challenging, frightening, or difficult an experience may seem, everything is just as it needs to be in order for us to heal, grow, and learn. That’s just the way the universe works. Granted, most humans have a very difficult time accepting the way the universe works. This is what it means to be human. This is why we are faced with challenges and difficulties. This is how we ultimately learn to trust the process of life and our capacity to move through the hard times. This is how we grow in faith and learn to trust God. The moment we determine what is, should not be, we are denying the presence of love. God is love. Love is always present, surrounding us; guiding, growing, and teaching us. Even in the midst of total chaos, pain, and dysfunction, love is calling us to a higher experience and expression. Forgiveness inevitably leads to acceptance. It is a demonstration of your willingness to move on. Acceptance does not mean you agree with, condone, appreciate, or even like what has happened. Acceptance means that you know, regardless of what happened, that there is something bigger than you at work. It also means you know that you are okay and that you will continue to be okay. Even if you don’t know it yet, it means you are willing to get to that space: forgiveness restores our faith, rebuilds our trust, and opens our hearts to the presence and power of love.
I Forgive Myself for Judging Men
Today is about forgiving men. If you are a man, you may need to forgive your father, brother, or another male figure who has caused hurt, harm, or disappointment in your life. If you are a woman, you may need to forgive those whom you have loved or those who refused to love you; those who have hurt you, shamed you, and abandoned you; or those who left you scarred or wounded. In our world, masculine energy represents authority, power, and strength. When we have distorted and painful images of men and masculinity, more often than not we find ourselves in dysfunctional relationships with all forms of power and authority. This means that when we need it most, our strength wanes. Open yourself to consider the glorious possibilities that lie just beyond how you have seen, held, and related to the masculine energy of the Creator that is embodied in all men. Forgive the men you have loved or those who refused to love you.
A Prayer of Forgiveness
Dear God:
Today I ask for and open myself to receiving healing and restoration of my mind, my heart, and all of my relationships with men. I confess that I have not always been kind or loving toward men. I confess that I have held judgments about men and against men. I confess that I have allowed unkind, unloving, judgmental thoughts and beliefs to infect my relationships with men. For this, I ask for and accept Your forgiveness, and I forgive myself.
Today, I ask that my heart and mind be opened so that I will accept all men as Your sons and my brothers. I ask that You create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me so that my divine relationship with all men will be restored. I ask for the will to forgive and move forward in love.
I lay down my weapons.
I open my heart.
I forgive.
I let it be!
And so it is!
I Forgive Myself for Judging Women
Today’s practice is about clearing and releasing the hurts, wounds, and judgments you may hold about or against women. Our experience and expectations of women begins with our mothers. Chances are if we have any judgments about our mothers, they will extend to other women. If you are a woman, it is also important to consider the judgments that you hold about yourself. More often than not, these can and will be projected onto other women.In our everyday experience we are sure to encounter people, both men and women, who simply behave badly. In order to heal from these encounters, it’s important that we carefully examine our own projections and judgments. More often than not, the things we detest and judge in others are a reflection of the things we cannot accept about ourselves. The impact of a lack of self acceptance is intensified in the relationships between and among women. The things we detest and judge in others are a reflection of the things we cannot accept about ourselves.
A Prayer of Forgiveness
Dear God:
Teach me to accept myself so that I will accept all women.
Teach me to appreciate myself so that I will appreciate all women.
Teach me to honor myself so that I will honor all women.
Teach me to respect myself so that I will respect all women.
Teach me to trust myself so that I will trust all women.
Teach me to love myself so that I will love all women.
Teach me to forgive myself so that I will forgive all women.
I open my heart.
I forgive.
I let it be!
And so it is!
Join Iyanla and her Forgiveness Friends for an exclusive Online Live Event on Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at 7 p.m. EST / 4 p.m. PST. When you purchase a copy of FORGIVENESS from your favorite bookseller, you will receive access to this 90-minute Live Event, absolutely free.
'Scandal' Creator Shonda Rhimes Inks First Book Deal
by Andy Lewis
(HollywoodReporter) Shonda Rhimes is moving from the small screen to the printed page.
The creator of Grey's Anatomy,Private Practice and Scandalhas signed with Simon & Schuster to write a memoir, the publisher announced.
The book will trace Rhimes' decision (prior to coming to Hollywood) to build a family and the challenges of being a single mother while striving for professional success. Publication is scheduled for 2015.
&S describes the book as "part memoir, part inspiration, part prescription."
In a statement announcing the deal, Rhimes joked, “Simon and Schuster is crazy for giving me a book deal, as I am clearly in no position to be handing out wisdom.”
But on a more serious note, she added, "I have made a lot of mistakes as a single mother, and as a working mother, and as a sleepless mother, and as a dating mother. And I did all of it while running a bunch of TV shows. So I'm going to write about that and hope my kids don't use it against me in therapy later."
S&S vp and editor-in-chief Marysue Rucci also commented on the deal. "Shonda Rhimes is bar none in the storytelling realm. Now fans of her phenomenal shows can read Shonda’s story in her own words – and marvel at how Shonda built a phenomenal career. Readers everywhere will cheer the fearless decisions Shonda has made to achieve happiness."
For her television work, Rhimes has been honored as Television Producer of the Year by the Producers Guild of America, received a Lucy Award for Excellence in Television from Women in Film, and a GLAAD Golden Gate Award. She was also recently appointed a Trustee for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts by President Barack Obama.
The deal comes as Rhimes remains busy running two of ABC's most valuable shows -- third-year hit Scandal and Grey's Anatomy, which is in its 10th season and recently celebrated 200 episodes. In addition to developing new projects via her ABC Studios-based Shondaland banner with Betsy Beers, Rhimes also is prepping War Correspondents, a feature film based on an early teleplay, for Sony.
ICM's Jennifer Joel represented Rhimes in the publishing deal.
The creator of Grey's Anatomy,Private Practice and Scandalhas signed with Simon & Schuster to write a memoir, the publisher announced.
The book will trace Rhimes' decision (prior to coming to Hollywood) to build a family and the challenges of being a single mother while striving for professional success. Publication is scheduled for 2015.
&S describes the book as "part memoir, part inspiration, part prescription."
In a statement announcing the deal, Rhimes joked, “Simon and Schuster is crazy for giving me a book deal, as I am clearly in no position to be handing out wisdom.”
But on a more serious note, she added, "I have made a lot of mistakes as a single mother, and as a working mother, and as a sleepless mother, and as a dating mother. And I did all of it while running a bunch of TV shows. So I'm going to write about that and hope my kids don't use it against me in therapy later."
S&S vp and editor-in-chief Marysue Rucci also commented on the deal. "Shonda Rhimes is bar none in the storytelling realm. Now fans of her phenomenal shows can read Shonda’s story in her own words – and marvel at how Shonda built a phenomenal career. Readers everywhere will cheer the fearless decisions Shonda has made to achieve happiness."
For her television work, Rhimes has been honored as Television Producer of the Year by the Producers Guild of America, received a Lucy Award for Excellence in Television from Women in Film, and a GLAAD Golden Gate Award. She was also recently appointed a Trustee for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts by President Barack Obama.
The deal comes as Rhimes remains busy running two of ABC's most valuable shows -- third-year hit Scandal and Grey's Anatomy, which is in its 10th season and recently celebrated 200 episodes. In addition to developing new projects via her ABC Studios-based Shondaland banner with Betsy Beers, Rhimes also is prepping War Correspondents, a feature film based on an early teleplay, for Sony.
ICM's Jennifer Joel represented Rhimes in the publishing deal.
Greater Than Equal: African-American Struggles For School Integration
By NICOLE CAMPBELL AND FRANK STASIO
The struggle for education equality in North Carolina was hard-fought for more than four decades.
It was not only a struggle for facilities that were equal to white schools, but a fight for integration and civic inclusion. Host Frank Stasio talks with Sarah Caroline Thuesen, author of “Greater Than Equal: African American Struggles for Schools and Citizenship in North Carolina, 1919-1965,” and a professor of history at Guilford College.
Sarah Caroline Thuesen, professor of history at Guilford College, expounds on her new book, 'Greater Than Equal: African American Struggles for Schools and Citizenship in North Carolina, 1919-1965'
It was not only a struggle for facilities that were equal to white schools, but a fight for integration and civic inclusion. Host Frank Stasio talks with Sarah Caroline Thuesen, author of “Greater Than Equal: African American Struggles for Schools and Citizenship in North Carolina, 1919-1965,” and a professor of history at Guilford College.
Sarah Caroline Thuesen, professor of history at Guilford College, expounds on her new book, 'Greater Than Equal: African American Struggles for Schools and Citizenship in North Carolina, 1919-1965'
African-American children’s books: A terrible incident shows — we need books celebrating black kids’ hairby Ama Yawson
(TheGrio.com) African-American children’s booksare a growing area of publishing, but we need even more selections for this burgeoning market — particularly black children’s books that celebrateblack kids’ hair. Why? A harrowing experience was inflicted on my son when we tried to access basic black children’s hair care services — at a black establishment.
The day that it happened had been, up until that moment, a fairly happy day. I had left my husband at home to work on our shoe line, www.joojos.com, and had gone to Queens, NY with our two boys to spend time with their grandparents. My parents commented that my three-year-old boy, Jojo, could use a haircut, so my father and I left my then six-month-old baby boy, Miles, at home with my mother and went out in search of a barber shop and professional hair care for my black child.
We entered a shop that looked reasonably empty. The sound of reggae music filled the air and Jamaican flags decorated the walls. My family is of Ghanaian origin, and we know Jamaicans are our “brethren,” so we thought that we would feel at home.
I told the barber not to shave off all of Jojo’s hair and to just make it shorter. He then proceeded to, in my view, shave Jojo’s head practically bald. “Whoa, whoa, I told you that I did not want it bald, this is way too low!” I exclaimed.
“How can I tell you this? You’ve got a real n****r here. He is a native boy. He is from the tribe. This ain’t pretty hair. This is the best cut for him,” said the barber with his clippers still in the front of Jojo’s hair.
I forced a giggle and then entered a state of shock. I’m ashamed that I did not have the presence of mind to yell, scream, pick up Jojo with his half bald head, and get out of there. I let the barber continue to shave Jojo’s hair as thoughts about how I’m going to shield my son as an African-American child from developing internalized racism ran through my mind. The accented harangue of agreement from a very obviously skin-bleached African-American female hair stylist wearing a lace front wig provided the soundtrack to my despair.
The next day, I still felt sick to my stomach. No matter how much certain black people claim that the n-word has been re-appropriated, the word still has a vicious bite. I tried to get my mind off of my pain by watching mindless television. But alas, the television assaulted me too. The Fashion Police hosts were critiquing Solange Knowles’ choice of attire at the New York City premiere of The Great Gatsby. Joan Rivers made a comment that an afro is not an appropriate hairstyle for a red carpet event. My head began to spin.
Joan Rivers was basically calling Solange a n****r too, or at least her words stung the same way as when my black son’s hair was rejected. Both the barber and Joan Rivers professed the belief that afro hair as it grows out of the scalps of people of African origin is not “pretty,” not elegant, and not worthy of admiration. More recently, comedian Sheryl Underwood has apologized for expressing similar sentiments on the TV show The Talk.
This thinking is part of our unique challenge as black mothers. Like all mothers, we look at our children and see their beauty, intelligence and worthiness. We try our best to teach them to see the beauty, intelligence and worthiness in themselves. We pray that other people will acknowledge our children’s worthiness and that our children will not be victims of teasing, bullying or other forms of abuse.
But unlike all mothers, we nurture these dreams in the context of the undissected history of slavery, colonization and Jim Crow. We try to nurture our African-American children to ignore the modern media subtexts of black inferiority and criminality, pop rap masquerading as black culture, and a lack of racial diversity in children’s media. Today’s multi-billion dollar industries of chemical relaxers, imported human hair weaves and skin bleaching creams aim at telling African descendants that we are not beautiful as we are.
So what is a mother to do?
In my sickness during those days after the barbershop incident, I remembered hearing somewhere that one must make pain beautiful by turning it into art. So, I wrote an African-American children’s book,Sunne’s Gift, about a magical creature named Sunne.
God imbues Sunne with the power of the sun and for that reason Sunne’s skin is a sun-darkened red shade and Sunne’s hair grows out in spirally twists towards the sun. Sunne has the power to make the sun rise and set.
God also imbues Sunne’s siblings, Earthe, Watre, and Winde with the powers over the soil, water and wind. But Sunne, is the only one with kinky hair. One day, Earthe, Watre and Winde tease Sunne for having different hair. Sunne does not want to be different so Sunne takes a stick and attempts to beat the kinks out of Sunne’s own hair. At the moment that Sunne beats the last spiral out… You can learn more about the story here.
The goal of the story is two-fold. First, it aims to inspire all children with kinky/coily hair — including young men and boys — to take pride in their hair that replicates the DNA spiral and grows towards the sun. Kinky hair is what Sudanese-American novelist, Kola Boof, passionately refers to as “the proof” that black people are God’s original children.
Second, the story aims to provide the lesson that we are all powerful in unique ways and that we need to appreciate and nurture each other’s varied gifts, if we are to survive and thrive. This is my humble attempt to make the world a more accepting and loving place for all children, including my own. Truly, this “black” book is meant for everyone.
Now, more than ever, African-American children need messages like the one contained in Sunne’s Giftin order to counteract the negative ideas about naturally kinky hair exhibited originally by comedianSheryl Underwood and the trauma caused by school administrations such as the Deborah Brown Community School and Horizon Science Academy, which at one point banned natural hair styles such as afro-puffs, locks and twisted braids.
Together, we can raise confident, healthy and happy African-American children, if we inspire them to love their hair as a natural part of their beautiful selves.
Please support the kickstarter campaign to publish the story Sunne’s Gift and help make it a successful book for African-American children and those who believe in universal beauty.
Ama Yawson is a co-founder of www.joojos.com, an artisanal children’s shoe company. She is also the author of Sunne’s Gift, a children’s fable that honors afro-textured hair while providing important lessons about self-love and bullying prevention. Ms. Yawson earned a BA from Harvard University, an MBA from the Wharton School and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.
The day that it happened had been, up until that moment, a fairly happy day. I had left my husband at home to work on our shoe line, www.joojos.com, and had gone to Queens, NY with our two boys to spend time with their grandparents. My parents commented that my three-year-old boy, Jojo, could use a haircut, so my father and I left my then six-month-old baby boy, Miles, at home with my mother and went out in search of a barber shop and professional hair care for my black child.
We entered a shop that looked reasonably empty. The sound of reggae music filled the air and Jamaican flags decorated the walls. My family is of Ghanaian origin, and we know Jamaicans are our “brethren,” so we thought that we would feel at home.
I told the barber not to shave off all of Jojo’s hair and to just make it shorter. He then proceeded to, in my view, shave Jojo’s head practically bald. “Whoa, whoa, I told you that I did not want it bald, this is way too low!” I exclaimed.
“How can I tell you this? You’ve got a real n****r here. He is a native boy. He is from the tribe. This ain’t pretty hair. This is the best cut for him,” said the barber with his clippers still in the front of Jojo’s hair.
I forced a giggle and then entered a state of shock. I’m ashamed that I did not have the presence of mind to yell, scream, pick up Jojo with his half bald head, and get out of there. I let the barber continue to shave Jojo’s hair as thoughts about how I’m going to shield my son as an African-American child from developing internalized racism ran through my mind. The accented harangue of agreement from a very obviously skin-bleached African-American female hair stylist wearing a lace front wig provided the soundtrack to my despair.
The next day, I still felt sick to my stomach. No matter how much certain black people claim that the n-word has been re-appropriated, the word still has a vicious bite. I tried to get my mind off of my pain by watching mindless television. But alas, the television assaulted me too. The Fashion Police hosts were critiquing Solange Knowles’ choice of attire at the New York City premiere of The Great Gatsby. Joan Rivers made a comment that an afro is not an appropriate hairstyle for a red carpet event. My head began to spin.
Joan Rivers was basically calling Solange a n****r too, or at least her words stung the same way as when my black son’s hair was rejected. Both the barber and Joan Rivers professed the belief that afro hair as it grows out of the scalps of people of African origin is not “pretty,” not elegant, and not worthy of admiration. More recently, comedian Sheryl Underwood has apologized for expressing similar sentiments on the TV show The Talk.
This thinking is part of our unique challenge as black mothers. Like all mothers, we look at our children and see their beauty, intelligence and worthiness. We try our best to teach them to see the beauty, intelligence and worthiness in themselves. We pray that other people will acknowledge our children’s worthiness and that our children will not be victims of teasing, bullying or other forms of abuse.
But unlike all mothers, we nurture these dreams in the context of the undissected history of slavery, colonization and Jim Crow. We try to nurture our African-American children to ignore the modern media subtexts of black inferiority and criminality, pop rap masquerading as black culture, and a lack of racial diversity in children’s media. Today’s multi-billion dollar industries of chemical relaxers, imported human hair weaves and skin bleaching creams aim at telling African descendants that we are not beautiful as we are.
So what is a mother to do?
In my sickness during those days after the barbershop incident, I remembered hearing somewhere that one must make pain beautiful by turning it into art. So, I wrote an African-American children’s book,Sunne’s Gift, about a magical creature named Sunne.
God imbues Sunne with the power of the sun and for that reason Sunne’s skin is a sun-darkened red shade and Sunne’s hair grows out in spirally twists towards the sun. Sunne has the power to make the sun rise and set.
God also imbues Sunne’s siblings, Earthe, Watre, and Winde with the powers over the soil, water and wind. But Sunne, is the only one with kinky hair. One day, Earthe, Watre and Winde tease Sunne for having different hair. Sunne does not want to be different so Sunne takes a stick and attempts to beat the kinks out of Sunne’s own hair. At the moment that Sunne beats the last spiral out… You can learn more about the story here.
The goal of the story is two-fold. First, it aims to inspire all children with kinky/coily hair — including young men and boys — to take pride in their hair that replicates the DNA spiral and grows towards the sun. Kinky hair is what Sudanese-American novelist, Kola Boof, passionately refers to as “the proof” that black people are God’s original children.
Second, the story aims to provide the lesson that we are all powerful in unique ways and that we need to appreciate and nurture each other’s varied gifts, if we are to survive and thrive. This is my humble attempt to make the world a more accepting and loving place for all children, including my own. Truly, this “black” book is meant for everyone.
Now, more than ever, African-American children need messages like the one contained in Sunne’s Giftin order to counteract the negative ideas about naturally kinky hair exhibited originally by comedianSheryl Underwood and the trauma caused by school administrations such as the Deborah Brown Community School and Horizon Science Academy, which at one point banned natural hair styles such as afro-puffs, locks and twisted braids.
Together, we can raise confident, healthy and happy African-American children, if we inspire them to love their hair as a natural part of their beautiful selves.
Please support the kickstarter campaign to publish the story Sunne’s Gift and help make it a successful book for African-American children and those who believe in universal beauty.
Ama Yawson is a co-founder of www.joojos.com, an artisanal children’s shoe company. She is also the author of Sunne’s Gift, a children’s fable that honors afro-textured hair while providing important lessons about self-love and bullying prevention. Ms. Yawson earned a BA from Harvard University, an MBA from the Wharton School and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.
New book lionizes America’s first black public high school, source of many African-American greats
by Dominique Mann
(TheGrio.com) When acclaimed journalist and author Alison Stewart learned that her parents had graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., she knew their story pulsed with the greater history of African-Americans seeking to successfully navigate a segregated America.
“Dunbar had a life story, a heartbeat, and a reason for living,” Stewart told theGrio. “Teachers really instilled the idea, ‘don’t give up.’ The faculty was in the kids’ business. They talked to the neighborhood. They talked to the church. They had no problem calling a parent saying, ‘Your kid is not in class.’ Going to Dunbar meant you were part of something.”
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School — also known as Dunbar High — was America’s first black public high school. Founded in 1870, Dunbar High has produced many of the nation’s pioneering black “firsts,” African-Americans who broke through barriers to become the first people of African descent to achieve in their fields — much like the poet after whom the school is named. Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the first black poets to receive national acclaim.
Stewart chronicles this school’s unique past in her new book, First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America’s First Black Public High School. By interviewing Dunbar graduates ranging from as far back as the ’30s, in addition to plumbing yearbooks and other source materials, Stewart reveals the history of academic excellence that thrived in Dunbar’s classrooms.
Dunbar High’s esteemed list of graduates includes: Benjamin Davis, the first black general in the army; Robert Weaver, the first black presidential cabinet member; Wesley Brown, the first black naval academy graduate; Norma Johnson, the first black woman to preside as a judge in the federal courts; Eva Dykes, the first black woman to earn a doctoral degree, and the third to receive a doctorate, or PhD; Edward Brooke, the first black politician popularly elected to the U.S. Senate; Billy Taylor, famed jazz musician; Elizabeth Catlett, one of the first blacks to achieve success in the fine arts; and, Charles Hamilton Houston, a leading black lawyer in the Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case.
And that is just to name a few.
The history of Dunbar High
Despite the inequalities of segregation that were entrenched in the D.C. public school system, as the very first public high school for blacks, for some time Dunbar stood alone as a gateway towards opportunity.
Dunbar High emerged from humble beginnings in the basement of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. before its first edifice was erected in 1916. It had what many called a beautiful, “collegiate-looking” exterior.
Black families from different socioeconomic strata, many of whom had migrated from the South during the Great Migration, flocked to D.C. just so their children could attend Dunbar High.
Inequality impacts first black schools
“You still see the legacy of slavery in parts of the D.C. school system,” Stewart said of these incipient moments. “Some of these kids coming up from the South had grandparents, or great-grandparents, for whom it was illegal to teach and read, and they didn’t have a long history of education in their family. By the time legalized desegregation happened, you had a couple of generations that had been severely underserved by the public school system.”
Systematic inequality in D.C. public schools can be traced to the year Dunbar High was founded. Starting in the 1870s, the D.C. Board of Education reorganized the school system and severely underfunded black schools. According to the D.C. Board of Education Report from 1910, funding for black schools should have been proportional to the number of African-American children in the District. When more African-American families migrated from the South, funding allocations did not account for the surge in African-American students.
Despite this, according to Stewart, Dunbar High thrived on rich human capital and well-educated teachers. Dunbar alumni returned to teach after gaining prestigious graduate degrees, and imbued student morale with “race pride.”
Was Dunbar elite — or was there elitism?
The first few members of Dunbar’s founding class paid for their education, but once public education became organized and truly free, school access became more egalitarian. “That’s not to say the social black elite wasn’t there,” Stewart said. “My uncle told stories about going to parties and them saying, ‘You’re not invited here.’ At Dunbar though, you just had to be able to survive it. You just had to be able to pass and graduate. They couldn’t keep you out.”
Class differences aside, Dunbar’s student body reproduced the diversity of the black population of greater D.C. Although there was a strong presence of upper-middle class black families, Stewart’s research proves that privilege was not necessarily a prerequisite for success there.
“Dunbar was like any other public school,” Stewart affirmed. “My mom, whose father worked three jobs, had a best friend, whose family had a maid and a beautiful house, because her dad was a doctor.”
In the chapter of First Class, “Elite versus Elitism,” Stewart explores the common notion that Dunbar was only for wealthy black children. While these pages explore resentments and the sense of alienation non-elite blacks may have faced there, such as Stewart’s uncle, in reality working class students were numerous.
“There always was a sense that Dunbar was just for the super-elite, and all the kids’ parents were doctors, lawyers, upper-class blacks,” Steward said. “They were definitely there, but the documentation tells you they couldn’t all have been doctors and lawyers.”
The decline of Dunbar
In 1977, the “collegiate” Paul Laurence Dunbar school building was replaced with a modern structure that failed to capture the grandeur of the previous construction. In some ways, this change reflected the decline of this and other inner city schools across America.
“The decline of Dunbar really mirrors the difficulties of D.C. through the ’70s, the ’80s, and the ’90s – the fiscal difficulties, the drug difficulties, and the violence,” Stewart told theGrio.
Today, only sixty percent of Dunbar students graduate each year. Stewart attributes the decline of Dunbar to scarce budgetary resources and neighborhood decline, which has crippled the social fabric of the black communities that had helped students at Dunbar thrive.
The issues facing Dunbar are in step with a trend of critical problems within public school systems nationwide.
A model for public school reform
Some urban school systems are failing so miserably, locales have chosen to close schools rather than attempting to improve their performance.
According to Reuters, seventy cities across the country have closed schools over the past decade. Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City have made headlines recently for closing dozens of failing schools. Many school closures occur in predominantly African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods.
First Class has provided a platform for Stewart to promote education reform and inspire leaders to examine the story of Dunbar as an exemplar for the potential of revitalizing urban public schools.
Stewart appeared on the Melissa Harris-Perry show recently with D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson to praise a recent victory for that city’s public schools.
Students made the highest gains in their annual math and science tests this year since 2008. Chancellor Henderson has advocated for longer school days, a common core curriculum, and teacher visits to the homes of their students — initiatives similar to what Stewart says allowed Dunbar to excel in its prime. (Melissa Harris-Perry wrote the foreword to Stewart’s book.)
The Legacy of Dunbar
In addition to promoting education reform, Stewart has created the First Class/United Negro College Fund Scholarship, which supports college students in financial need who have graduated from Dunbar High.
“I definitely feel some social responsibility being the daughter of Dunbar graduates,” Stewart said.
She also stays connected with other sons and daughters of Dunbar graduates, including Black Entertainment Television CEO Debra Lee, and President Obama’s senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, who Stewart interviewed for her book.
This fall, Dunbar High will open with a new state-of-the-art campus based on the original turn-of-the-century architectural style. While she is optimistic about the future of Dunbar and its new campus, Stewart hopes the symbolic meaning of the school’s history will inspire more students to fulfill the legacy of their predecessors. The hallways of the new school will feature plaques honoring illustrious alumni, while leaving space on the walls for anticipated future greats from Dunbar’s coming graduating classes.
“I really have a concern that some young black Americans don’t take education as part of their history, and nobody tells them about it. Don’t let anybody tell you it’s not part of your history,” Stewart stated emphatically.
Follow Dominique Mann on Twitter @dominiquejmann
“Dunbar had a life story, a heartbeat, and a reason for living,” Stewart told theGrio. “Teachers really instilled the idea, ‘don’t give up.’ The faculty was in the kids’ business. They talked to the neighborhood. They talked to the church. They had no problem calling a parent saying, ‘Your kid is not in class.’ Going to Dunbar meant you were part of something.”
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School — also known as Dunbar High — was America’s first black public high school. Founded in 1870, Dunbar High has produced many of the nation’s pioneering black “firsts,” African-Americans who broke through barriers to become the first people of African descent to achieve in their fields — much like the poet after whom the school is named. Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the first black poets to receive national acclaim.
Stewart chronicles this school’s unique past in her new book, First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America’s First Black Public High School. By interviewing Dunbar graduates ranging from as far back as the ’30s, in addition to plumbing yearbooks and other source materials, Stewart reveals the history of academic excellence that thrived in Dunbar’s classrooms.
Dunbar High’s esteemed list of graduates includes: Benjamin Davis, the first black general in the army; Robert Weaver, the first black presidential cabinet member; Wesley Brown, the first black naval academy graduate; Norma Johnson, the first black woman to preside as a judge in the federal courts; Eva Dykes, the first black woman to earn a doctoral degree, and the third to receive a doctorate, or PhD; Edward Brooke, the first black politician popularly elected to the U.S. Senate; Billy Taylor, famed jazz musician; Elizabeth Catlett, one of the first blacks to achieve success in the fine arts; and, Charles Hamilton Houston, a leading black lawyer in the Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case.
And that is just to name a few.
The history of Dunbar High
Despite the inequalities of segregation that were entrenched in the D.C. public school system, as the very first public high school for blacks, for some time Dunbar stood alone as a gateway towards opportunity.
Dunbar High emerged from humble beginnings in the basement of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. before its first edifice was erected in 1916. It had what many called a beautiful, “collegiate-looking” exterior.
Black families from different socioeconomic strata, many of whom had migrated from the South during the Great Migration, flocked to D.C. just so their children could attend Dunbar High.
Inequality impacts first black schools
“You still see the legacy of slavery in parts of the D.C. school system,” Stewart said of these incipient moments. “Some of these kids coming up from the South had grandparents, or great-grandparents, for whom it was illegal to teach and read, and they didn’t have a long history of education in their family. By the time legalized desegregation happened, you had a couple of generations that had been severely underserved by the public school system.”
Systematic inequality in D.C. public schools can be traced to the year Dunbar High was founded. Starting in the 1870s, the D.C. Board of Education reorganized the school system and severely underfunded black schools. According to the D.C. Board of Education Report from 1910, funding for black schools should have been proportional to the number of African-American children in the District. When more African-American families migrated from the South, funding allocations did not account for the surge in African-American students.
Despite this, according to Stewart, Dunbar High thrived on rich human capital and well-educated teachers. Dunbar alumni returned to teach after gaining prestigious graduate degrees, and imbued student morale with “race pride.”
Was Dunbar elite — or was there elitism?
The first few members of Dunbar’s founding class paid for their education, but once public education became organized and truly free, school access became more egalitarian. “That’s not to say the social black elite wasn’t there,” Stewart said. “My uncle told stories about going to parties and them saying, ‘You’re not invited here.’ At Dunbar though, you just had to be able to survive it. You just had to be able to pass and graduate. They couldn’t keep you out.”
Class differences aside, Dunbar’s student body reproduced the diversity of the black population of greater D.C. Although there was a strong presence of upper-middle class black families, Stewart’s research proves that privilege was not necessarily a prerequisite for success there.
“Dunbar was like any other public school,” Stewart affirmed. “My mom, whose father worked three jobs, had a best friend, whose family had a maid and a beautiful house, because her dad was a doctor.”
In the chapter of First Class, “Elite versus Elitism,” Stewart explores the common notion that Dunbar was only for wealthy black children. While these pages explore resentments and the sense of alienation non-elite blacks may have faced there, such as Stewart’s uncle, in reality working class students were numerous.
“There always was a sense that Dunbar was just for the super-elite, and all the kids’ parents were doctors, lawyers, upper-class blacks,” Steward said. “They were definitely there, but the documentation tells you they couldn’t all have been doctors and lawyers.”
The decline of Dunbar
In 1977, the “collegiate” Paul Laurence Dunbar school building was replaced with a modern structure that failed to capture the grandeur of the previous construction. In some ways, this change reflected the decline of this and other inner city schools across America.
“The decline of Dunbar really mirrors the difficulties of D.C. through the ’70s, the ’80s, and the ’90s – the fiscal difficulties, the drug difficulties, and the violence,” Stewart told theGrio.
Today, only sixty percent of Dunbar students graduate each year. Stewart attributes the decline of Dunbar to scarce budgetary resources and neighborhood decline, which has crippled the social fabric of the black communities that had helped students at Dunbar thrive.
The issues facing Dunbar are in step with a trend of critical problems within public school systems nationwide.
A model for public school reform
Some urban school systems are failing so miserably, locales have chosen to close schools rather than attempting to improve their performance.
According to Reuters, seventy cities across the country have closed schools over the past decade. Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City have made headlines recently for closing dozens of failing schools. Many school closures occur in predominantly African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods.
First Class has provided a platform for Stewart to promote education reform and inspire leaders to examine the story of Dunbar as an exemplar for the potential of revitalizing urban public schools.
Stewart appeared on the Melissa Harris-Perry show recently with D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson to praise a recent victory for that city’s public schools.
Students made the highest gains in their annual math and science tests this year since 2008. Chancellor Henderson has advocated for longer school days, a common core curriculum, and teacher visits to the homes of their students — initiatives similar to what Stewart says allowed Dunbar to excel in its prime. (Melissa Harris-Perry wrote the foreword to Stewart’s book.)
The Legacy of Dunbar
In addition to promoting education reform, Stewart has created the First Class/United Negro College Fund Scholarship, which supports college students in financial need who have graduated from Dunbar High.
“I definitely feel some social responsibility being the daughter of Dunbar graduates,” Stewart said.
She also stays connected with other sons and daughters of Dunbar graduates, including Black Entertainment Television CEO Debra Lee, and President Obama’s senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, who Stewart interviewed for her book.
This fall, Dunbar High will open with a new state-of-the-art campus based on the original turn-of-the-century architectural style. While she is optimistic about the future of Dunbar and its new campus, Stewart hopes the symbolic meaning of the school’s history will inspire more students to fulfill the legacy of their predecessors. The hallways of the new school will feature plaques honoring illustrious alumni, while leaving space on the walls for anticipated future greats from Dunbar’s coming graduating classes.
“I really have a concern that some young black Americans don’t take education as part of their history, and nobody tells them about it. Don’t let anybody tell you it’s not part of your history,” Stewart stated emphatically.
Follow Dominique Mann on Twitter @dominiquejmann
The ‘Power List’ of Best-Selling African-American Books Releases (Summer 2013 List)
EuroWeb.com
*(New York, NY) — The Power List, the quarterly compilation of best-selling books written or read by African Americans, released its Summer 2013 list today.
The Power List is a joint project of AALBC.com, Cushcity.com and Mosaicbooks.com, three Web sites which have promoted African-American literature for more than a decade.
Ashley & Jaquavis, the urban fiction duo whose Cartel series has collectively sold more than a million copies, continue to dominate the paperback fiction bestsellers list with four titles among the top ten: Cartel 4, Murderville 2, The Prada Plan 2 and Murderville. Urban fiction author Wahida Clark also had two titles among the paperback fiction bestsellers, Payback Ain’t Enough and Justify My Thug, as well as one, Honor Thy Thug, among the hardcover fiction bestsellers.
A number of authors who have consistently released best-selling books for at least a decade also had one or more titles on the Summer 2013 list. Those authors include: Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Walter Mosley, Kimberla Lawson Roby, Eric Jerome Dickey, Carl Weber, Sister Souljah, Mary B. Morrison andMary Monroe.
Other notable information about the Summer 2013 list:
The Summer 2013 lists may be viewed at the Power List web site: www.powerlist.info. Updates are included on the Power List Facebook and Twitter pages. For more information, contact one of the individuals listed above.
source:
TroyJohnson: [email protected]
Gwen Richardson: [email protected]
Ron Kavanaugh: [email protected]
The Power List is a joint project of AALBC.com, Cushcity.com and Mosaicbooks.com, three Web sites which have promoted African-American literature for more than a decade.
Ashley & Jaquavis, the urban fiction duo whose Cartel series has collectively sold more than a million copies, continue to dominate the paperback fiction bestsellers list with four titles among the top ten: Cartel 4, Murderville 2, The Prada Plan 2 and Murderville. Urban fiction author Wahida Clark also had two titles among the paperback fiction bestsellers, Payback Ain’t Enough and Justify My Thug, as well as one, Honor Thy Thug, among the hardcover fiction bestsellers.
A number of authors who have consistently released best-selling books for at least a decade also had one or more titles on the Summer 2013 list. Those authors include: Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Walter Mosley, Kimberla Lawson Roby, Eric Jerome Dickey, Carl Weber, Sister Souljah, Mary B. Morrison andMary Monroe.
Other notable information about the Summer 2013 list:
- Oprah book pick, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis, has shown solid sales since its release in December 2012, and was #2 among hardcover fiction bestsellers.
- Several non-fiction paperback titles that were published two or more years ago continue to be bestsellers, including The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, The New Jim Crow byMichelle Alexander and The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson.
- Books by celebrity authors Steve Harvey, Wendy Williams and Tyrese Gibson were also included on the list.
- Game Over, a memoir by Winter Ramos of “Love and Hip Hop,” was #8 among paperback non-fiction bestsellers. Game Over is published by Life Changing Books whose CEO, Azarel, had this to say about the Power List: “I’m just so excited about having a list now that we can have some confidence in and a new list that we can be proud of.”
The Summer 2013 lists may be viewed at the Power List web site: www.powerlist.info. Updates are included on the Power List Facebook and Twitter pages. For more information, contact one of the individuals listed above.
source:
TroyJohnson: [email protected]
Gwen Richardson: [email protected]
Ron Kavanaugh: [email protected]
Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniel (Run DMC) Launches Kickstarter
by EurPublisher
*Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, a founding member of iconic rap group, RUN DMC is embarking on his next project that is aiming to change the face of pop culture forever!
Combining two of his first loves, hip hop culture and comic books DMC is ready to throw his hat into the ring as an independent publisher with an original comic set to be released Fall 2013.
Already a hero to his millions of fans around the world, DMC’s accomplishments read like a laundry list of musical and cultural accolades: Grammy nominated musician, multiplatinum recording artist, Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame inductee and rap/rock pioneer who’s influenced music since the first time he’s ever touched a mic. Adding to his long lists of firsts, DMC is teaming up with some prominent fixtures in the comic book and music world to craft the first 100% authentic, unapologetic, indie, hip hop comic book. This latest endeavor is helmed by Art Director Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez and Music Executive Riggs Morales.
The first book published will be the 48 page graphic novel, DMC, under the imprint, Darryl Makes Comics. Darryl “DMC” McDaniels is the publisher, Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez is the Editor in Chief and Riggs Morales is the Senior Editor. The graphic novel will feature some of the comic book industry’s finest talent. Pencils and character design are handled by International star artist, Damion Scott (Batman, Batgirl, Robin, Solo and Spiderman) while inking will be provided by Dexter Vines (Superman, Batman, Civil War, Wolverine). The writer on this book is Ronald Wimberly, writer of the critically acclaimed “Prince of Cats” on Vertigo/DC. There will also be a limited collector’s edition printed as a large format 11” x 17” graphic novel, featuring cover art by legendary Marvel artist, Sal Buscema (Avengers, Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk).
Set in hip-hop’s revolutionary era of the 80’s, the first comic features DMC as a superhero fighting for justice in an alternate universe. Wild Style-inspired graffiti covers every surface of this world as the true grit of pre-Giuliani New York is captured within the pages of the graphic novel.
Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez is a New York based Art Director extraordinaire who owns and operates two very successful art studios, Somos Arte and Studio Edgardo. An avid comic collector, Edgardo translated his love for comic book art by curating an exhibit for Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer, Joe Quesada’s “Santerians,” a project highlighting comic’s first ever all-Latino super team. Riggs Morales, a music veteran, started as a as a writer for publications such as The Source, Vibe, XXL and The Fader and was crucial in introducing the world to another rap supernova, Eminem. He later became A&R executive at Shady Records, forging the superstar careers of Slaughterhouse and 50 Cent. Riggs Morales is now Vice President of A&R and Artist Development at Atlantic Records.
Edgardo and Riggs first joined forces to create the landmark exhibit “Marvelous Color” which highlighted Marvel Comics’ African American super heroes during the company’s 70th Anniversary. The exhibition was sponsored by Shady Records and Def Jam, which showcased the art of Wu-Tang’s Wu-Massacre by renowned X-Men Artist, Chris Bachalo. After the successful exhibit they bonded with DMC over a love of comic books and art. Inspired by DMC’s vision, the three immediately decided to pursue DMC’s dream of becoming a comic book publisher with Darryl Makes Comics.
Staying true to the independent spirit of hip-hop, DMC is self-funding this new chapter and invites everyone to share in the experience by contributing to get the comic book made via a Kickstarter campaign. The entire project is going to be funded by contributions, making this a true labor of love to be shared and produced with his fans. Editor in Chief, Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez states it best, “It gives us an opportunity to be the first hip-hop comic book publisher and be completely funded by the fans whose reward is this actual historic book.”
“I like Run DMC but I love DMC. No one ever sounded like DMC, no one ever looks like DMC. He’s like a superhero.” Chris Rock, Rolling Stone.
Visit: www.dmc-comics.com and Darryl McDaniel’s Kickstarter page for more information and make sure that you Tweet #DMCMakesComics! Phone Number: 646 410 7865
Combining two of his first loves, hip hop culture and comic books DMC is ready to throw his hat into the ring as an independent publisher with an original comic set to be released Fall 2013.
Already a hero to his millions of fans around the world, DMC’s accomplishments read like a laundry list of musical and cultural accolades: Grammy nominated musician, multiplatinum recording artist, Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame inductee and rap/rock pioneer who’s influenced music since the first time he’s ever touched a mic. Adding to his long lists of firsts, DMC is teaming up with some prominent fixtures in the comic book and music world to craft the first 100% authentic, unapologetic, indie, hip hop comic book. This latest endeavor is helmed by Art Director Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez and Music Executive Riggs Morales.
The first book published will be the 48 page graphic novel, DMC, under the imprint, Darryl Makes Comics. Darryl “DMC” McDaniels is the publisher, Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez is the Editor in Chief and Riggs Morales is the Senior Editor. The graphic novel will feature some of the comic book industry’s finest talent. Pencils and character design are handled by International star artist, Damion Scott (Batman, Batgirl, Robin, Solo and Spiderman) while inking will be provided by Dexter Vines (Superman, Batman, Civil War, Wolverine). The writer on this book is Ronald Wimberly, writer of the critically acclaimed “Prince of Cats” on Vertigo/DC. There will also be a limited collector’s edition printed as a large format 11” x 17” graphic novel, featuring cover art by legendary Marvel artist, Sal Buscema (Avengers, Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk).
Set in hip-hop’s revolutionary era of the 80’s, the first comic features DMC as a superhero fighting for justice in an alternate universe. Wild Style-inspired graffiti covers every surface of this world as the true grit of pre-Giuliani New York is captured within the pages of the graphic novel.
Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez is a New York based Art Director extraordinaire who owns and operates two very successful art studios, Somos Arte and Studio Edgardo. An avid comic collector, Edgardo translated his love for comic book art by curating an exhibit for Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer, Joe Quesada’s “Santerians,” a project highlighting comic’s first ever all-Latino super team. Riggs Morales, a music veteran, started as a as a writer for publications such as The Source, Vibe, XXL and The Fader and was crucial in introducing the world to another rap supernova, Eminem. He later became A&R executive at Shady Records, forging the superstar careers of Slaughterhouse and 50 Cent. Riggs Morales is now Vice President of A&R and Artist Development at Atlantic Records.
Edgardo and Riggs first joined forces to create the landmark exhibit “Marvelous Color” which highlighted Marvel Comics’ African American super heroes during the company’s 70th Anniversary. The exhibition was sponsored by Shady Records and Def Jam, which showcased the art of Wu-Tang’s Wu-Massacre by renowned X-Men Artist, Chris Bachalo. After the successful exhibit they bonded with DMC over a love of comic books and art. Inspired by DMC’s vision, the three immediately decided to pursue DMC’s dream of becoming a comic book publisher with Darryl Makes Comics.
Staying true to the independent spirit of hip-hop, DMC is self-funding this new chapter and invites everyone to share in the experience by contributing to get the comic book made via a Kickstarter campaign. The entire project is going to be funded by contributions, making this a true labor of love to be shared and produced with his fans. Editor in Chief, Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez states it best, “It gives us an opportunity to be the first hip-hop comic book publisher and be completely funded by the fans whose reward is this actual historic book.”
“I like Run DMC but I love DMC. No one ever sounded like DMC, no one ever looks like DMC. He’s like a superhero.” Chris Rock, Rolling Stone.
Visit: www.dmc-comics.com and Darryl McDaniel’s Kickstarter page for more information and make sure that you Tweet #DMCMakesComics! Phone Number: 646 410 7865
Meek Mill To Release Debut Novel, "Tony's Story"
(Hiphopdx) Meek Mill takes to a new medium to tell his story.
Meek Mill has had no problem sharing his story on wax through his mixtapes and albums, but now the Philadelphia rapper is taking to print media.
Meek is slated to release Tony's Story on both paperback and e-book on May 1. The release of the book comes shortly before his Dreamchasers 3 mixtape, which drops May 6.
Below is a synopsis of Tony's Story, as well as the book's cover (spotted at HipHopWired):
Tony and Ty had big dreams of getting rich. Although they grew up like brothers, once money and envy entered the equation, greed took over and loyalty went out the door.
After a deadly shooting, the streets of Philly were in an uproar and the lives of many people revolved around revenge. Gold digger Kee capitalized on the built-up tension; but before she could really enjoy the fruits of her labor, she was thrust into the middle of a street war with the cost being her life.
Trust was not an option and revenge was the only thing anyone had in common. Paulie wanted revenge for his cousin; LB wanted revenge for his brother. They both had blood in their eyes and murder in mind; names were called while gunners lurked in the shadows. It became bigger than the almighty dollar and no one was safe. Philly won't be the same after you're a witness to Tony Story.
Meek Mill has had no problem sharing his story on wax through his mixtapes and albums, but now the Philadelphia rapper is taking to print media.
Meek is slated to release Tony's Story on both paperback and e-book on May 1. The release of the book comes shortly before his Dreamchasers 3 mixtape, which drops May 6.
Below is a synopsis of Tony's Story, as well as the book's cover (spotted at HipHopWired):
Tony and Ty had big dreams of getting rich. Although they grew up like brothers, once money and envy entered the equation, greed took over and loyalty went out the door.
After a deadly shooting, the streets of Philly were in an uproar and the lives of many people revolved around revenge. Gold digger Kee capitalized on the built-up tension; but before she could really enjoy the fruits of her labor, she was thrust into the middle of a street war with the cost being her life.
Trust was not an option and revenge was the only thing anyone had in common. Paulie wanted revenge for his cousin; LB wanted revenge for his brother. They both had blood in their eyes and murder in mind; names were called while gunners lurked in the shadows. It became bigger than the almighty dollar and no one was safe. Philly won't be the same after you're a witness to Tony Story.
When New Life Begins Book
Co- Author Kishma A. George
Forewords by Les Brown & Joyce Dungee Proctor
This book will inspire YOU to Push Past the Old & Embrace the New regardless of the circumstances you've endured! This powerful book allows you to indulge in the real life stories of 7 amazing and courageous co-authors.
**Portions of the proceeds will go towards purchasing a transitional home for young women presently in or have aged out of the foster care system in Delaware.**
Order your copy TODAY for $12.95! To purchase your book visit www.kishhomeinc.org or www.whennewlifebegins.wix.com/book Thank you for your support!
**Portions of the proceeds will go towards purchasing a transitional home for young women presently in or have aged out of the foster care system in Delaware.**
Order your copy TODAY for $12.95! To purchase your book visit www.kishhomeinc.org or www.whennewlifebegins.wix.com/book Thank you for your support!
The Love We Had... [Paperback]
Derrick is a graduating senior on a small, black college campus who recently crossed into a fraternity and has every intention of continuing his player ways with best friend and frat brother Mike, until he meets Maya, a quiet and reserved student with a painful past. They immediately fall in love and plan to spend the rest of their lives together but Carl, Maya's unstable ex-boyfriend, has different plans for them. Carl can't live without Maya and won't let her live without him. Dedan Tolbert takes the reader on a non-stop thrill ride from start to finish. Will Maya be enough for Derrick to finally give up his womanizing ways? Will Carl stand in the way of Derrick and Maya walking off into the sunset together? Will painful secrets from all three of their pasts lead to the destruction of everyone's happiness? The answers to these questions will leave you guessing and on the edge of your seat until the final page.
Dennis Rodman writes children's book
(RGJ.COM) Just imagine a book authored by Dennis Rodman being read to children during "story time" at a local library.
It's a scene that could soon become a reality in a library near you.
On Wednesday, the basketball Hall of Famer's children's book, "Dennis The Wild Bull," was released, and Rodman's influence is noticeable right off the bat. The cover is basically Rodman, only in bull (how clever!) form, as it shows a large red bull with red hair, two nose rings, a tattoo and red stubble under his chin.
"They'll see me, literally see me. They'll say, 'Wow, this is just like him,'" said Rodman, a member of the Bulls for three seasons.
Rodman, of course, is one of the craziest personalities the NBA has ever seen, and he's never hidden from the spotlight. There's the dozens of on-court altercations. The run-ins with the law. The time he showed up at New York bookstore to promote one of his other books in a wedding dress and wig and said he was marrying himself. The nine-day marriage to Carmen Electra and fling with Madonna. The wild nights after games. And last, but certainly not least, his fashion "statements."
There's never a dull moment in the five-time champion's life. And now the 51-year-old has a message for today's youth.
"More than anything, I just want little kids today just to understand, ain't no matter what you do in life, be different, rich or poor man, guess what, it's OK to be who you are pretty much and you'll be accepted," Rodman said.
"Dennis The Wild Bull" is a story about Dennis, a bull who was captured from his family, then thrust into a rodeo and forced to live with the other bulls.
Dennis doesn't look anything like the rest, but they eventually accept him and all become friends.
"Once I got to know the other bulls, I liked them," Rodman said. "I enjoyed their company and stuff like that, and they accepted me for who I am no matter how I look."
The ending was supposed to feature Dennis escaping and returning to his family without his friends, but Rodman didn't like that and made sure it wrapped up with the bulls following along.
Can't get enough of this heart-warming story of friendship, loyalty and family? Rodman, who was recently ordered to pay back $500,000 in child support to his ex-wife last month, says two of his children are also pictured on the book's cover.
''For a guy like me to be very eccentric, to even go to extremes to write a children's book with all the wild things I do and make it believable was pretty much incredible,'' Rodman said.
Glad he agrees.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report
It's a scene that could soon become a reality in a library near you.
On Wednesday, the basketball Hall of Famer's children's book, "Dennis The Wild Bull," was released, and Rodman's influence is noticeable right off the bat. The cover is basically Rodman, only in bull (how clever!) form, as it shows a large red bull with red hair, two nose rings, a tattoo and red stubble under his chin.
"They'll see me, literally see me. They'll say, 'Wow, this is just like him,'" said Rodman, a member of the Bulls for three seasons.
Rodman, of course, is one of the craziest personalities the NBA has ever seen, and he's never hidden from the spotlight. There's the dozens of on-court altercations. The run-ins with the law. The time he showed up at New York bookstore to promote one of his other books in a wedding dress and wig and said he was marrying himself. The nine-day marriage to Carmen Electra and fling with Madonna. The wild nights after games. And last, but certainly not least, his fashion "statements."
There's never a dull moment in the five-time champion's life. And now the 51-year-old has a message for today's youth.
"More than anything, I just want little kids today just to understand, ain't no matter what you do in life, be different, rich or poor man, guess what, it's OK to be who you are pretty much and you'll be accepted," Rodman said.
"Dennis The Wild Bull" is a story about Dennis, a bull who was captured from his family, then thrust into a rodeo and forced to live with the other bulls.
Dennis doesn't look anything like the rest, but they eventually accept him and all become friends.
"Once I got to know the other bulls, I liked them," Rodman said. "I enjoyed their company and stuff like that, and they accepted me for who I am no matter how I look."
The ending was supposed to feature Dennis escaping and returning to his family without his friends, but Rodman didn't like that and made sure it wrapped up with the bulls following along.
Can't get enough of this heart-warming story of friendship, loyalty and family? Rodman, who was recently ordered to pay back $500,000 in child support to his ex-wife last month, says two of his children are also pictured on the book's cover.
''For a guy like me to be very eccentric, to even go to extremes to write a children's book with all the wild things I do and make it believable was pretty much incredible,'' Rodman said.
Glad he agrees.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report
Nation's biggest prize for African-American writers goes to Stephanie Powell Watts
By Chris Waddington, staff writer
Stephanie Powell Watts
Snagging the biggest literary prize for African-Americans would please any writer, but the honor feels especially sweet to Stephanie Powell Watts. She grew up poor in rural North Carolina and writes about the people she knew as a fast-food worker, a factory hand and a Jehovah’s Witness preacher knocking on doors.
On Tuesday, Watts won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence — and a $10,000 prize — for her debut story collection, “We Are Taking Only What We Need.” The annual award, administered by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, is named after one of Louisiana’s most prominent authors.
“My writing has always been about trying to give voice to individuals who aren’t heard in our culture: the poor, African-American dirt-roaders that are my people,” Watts said. “In that sense, this award isn’t just for me, but for the communities I came from. I’m proud of that -- and I’m proud of them. Literature belongs to everyone.”
Watts’ collection of 11 stories also was named a finalist for the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. Publishers Weekly hailed it as "a strong debut" in a pre-publication review. Work from the collection won a 2007 Pushcart Prize, appeared in the prestigious “New Stories from the South: Best of the Year” anthology, and was published in notable journals, including the Oxford American.
Watts, who teaches at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, joins a distinguished list of Gaines Award honorees. Previous winners include Dinaw Mengestu, Victor Lavalle, Jeffery Renard Allen, Ravi Howard, and Bogalusa native Olympia Vernon. (We highlighted their achievement in January and focused on Mengestu in a 2011 story).
“It would be enough if this award was simply about excellence and a $10,000 prize, but it means so much more that Ernest Gaines’ name is attached to it. It adds gravitas. It connects all of us to the legacy of a writer that we grew up reading. Even people who don’t know the prize immediately know who he is.”
The Gaines award will be presented to Watts on Jan. 18, 2013, at the Manship Theatre in Baton Rouge.
On Tuesday, Watts won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence — and a $10,000 prize — for her debut story collection, “We Are Taking Only What We Need.” The annual award, administered by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, is named after one of Louisiana’s most prominent authors.
“My writing has always been about trying to give voice to individuals who aren’t heard in our culture: the poor, African-American dirt-roaders that are my people,” Watts said. “In that sense, this award isn’t just for me, but for the communities I came from. I’m proud of that -- and I’m proud of them. Literature belongs to everyone.”
Watts’ collection of 11 stories also was named a finalist for the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. Publishers Weekly hailed it as "a strong debut" in a pre-publication review. Work from the collection won a 2007 Pushcart Prize, appeared in the prestigious “New Stories from the South: Best of the Year” anthology, and was published in notable journals, including the Oxford American.
Watts, who teaches at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, joins a distinguished list of Gaines Award honorees. Previous winners include Dinaw Mengestu, Victor Lavalle, Jeffery Renard Allen, Ravi Howard, and Bogalusa native Olympia Vernon. (We highlighted their achievement in January and focused on Mengestu in a 2011 story).
“It would be enough if this award was simply about excellence and a $10,000 prize, but it means so much more that Ernest Gaines’ name is attached to it. It adds gravitas. It connects all of us to the legacy of a writer that we grew up reading. Even people who don’t know the prize immediately know who he is.”
The Gaines award will be presented to Watts on Jan. 18, 2013, at the Manship Theatre in Baton Rouge.
New Ro Author Writes About Black America
Linda Tarrant-Reid's book can be enjoyed by children and adults.
The cover of Linda Tarrant-Reid's new book is striking. Among the things the eye first focuses on, besides the photograph of President Barack Obama, is a magnifying glass highlighting a black man rowing at the knee of General George Washington in the iconic painting "Washington Crossing the Delaware" by Emanuel Leutze.
The man is thought to be Prince Whipple, whose owner was an aide to Washington. But it is documented that there was a black man on the boat during the crossing.
Tarrant-Reid agreed with a comment that the viewer will never look at that painting again without noticing the person of African descent.
And that comment seems to have been the point of Tarrant-Reid's book Discovering Black America: From the Age of Exploration to the Twenty-first Century (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2012, $29.95).
"I enjoyed the discovery," she said. "I enjoyed learning things I did not know."
Tarrant-Reid said she always had tremendous respect for her ancestors, but working on the book gave her a chance to see their stories in context.
"There were so many great people who contributed to the history of African-Americans," she said, "that I wanted young people to really understand the story."
Tarrant-Reid, a New Rochelle resident who is active in numerous community events, is an editor, journalist and photographer who has written on the history and culture of African-Americans in the New York metropolitan area for the New York Daily News.
She was the managing editor of The Million Man March, contributor and researcher of The Family of Black America, co-editor of Black Star Power: BET Celebrating 20 years and the author ofDiscovering Black New York.
The book contract was signed in 2006, Tarrant-Reid said, and the due date was set for 2008.
However, continuing research pushed the delivery date forward, which turned out to be a fortunate happenstance.
"Everytime I would approach a different period of American history, I would find new stuff about the contributions of African-Americans," Tarrant-Reid said. "I couldn't rush that."
Besides, a 2008 completion date could well have precluded mentioning the election of the first African-American.
"That would have been problematic," Tarrant-Reid said. "Barack Obama had not yet become president."
The result, she said, is a book that begins and ends with historical bookends: the 15th century exploration of the Americas and coastal Africa along with the subsequent enslavement of its citizens by Europeans and the 2008 election of Barack Obama as president.
Tarrant-Reid said, throughout history, slavery was an accepted practice in war.
"When a marauding group of soldiers won, they captured the people and they enslaved them," she said, adding that in ancient times, enslaved people were treated as family members and given property.
"Their job was to work for the rich person," Tarrant-Reid said. "Then they could go back to their homes."
That changed, she said, during the 17th-century British colonization of North America with the institutionalization of "chattel slavery."
"The cruelty, the abuse, the murders, the raping," Tarrant-Reid said. "That was different."
Slaves were property that could be bought, sold and mortgaged.
"The reason they did that was they wanted cheap labor," Tarrant-Reid said, in addition to choosing people of a different skin color so that they could immediately be seen as apart from the landowners and business men.
Part of her process in working on the book, Tarrant-Reid said, was to mine the research for tidbits that weren't so well known and illustrations that weren't the ones everyone else used.
While the book was published under Abrams Books' imprint for young people, she said there is plenty for parents and other adults to gain from reading it.
"Once the book was in-house, (the publisher) could see it has a wide appeal," Tarrant-Reid said. "Parents are going to read it, and it's written very directly, with a no-frills kind of investigatory style."
"My goal was that anybody could open it up at any section, and it was self-contained," she said. "You could learn stuff you might not necessarily know."
An example was Allan Pinkerton, the white Chicago detective, who was chief of intelligence during the Civil War under the Union's Major General George B. McClellan.
Tarrant-Reid said Pinkerton used black spies to gather information.
They included John Scobell, a former Mississippi slave, who assumed different identities and roles to infiltrate enemy ranks.
Another was riverboat worker W.H. Ringgold, who, while forced to help Confederates move troop supplies in Virginia, was able to give Pinkerton information about Rebel fortifications, number of troops and artillery locations.
"I thought that was a fabulous connection," Tarrant-Reid said. "I didn't know (Pinkerton) had gotten his start working for the government in intelligence. Those were the kind of detours I made."
She takes readers through the post-Civil War years, two World Wars, the rise of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and racial unrest to Obama's election.
Part of understanding of what came before, Tarrant-Reid said, is understanding Obama.
"When young people really look at someone like Barack Obama, who is combination of many cultures, having lived in all these different places," she said, "he is a 21st-century person."
"And for this group of children coming up, the world looks more like Barack Obama than anybody else," Tarrant-Reid said.
"In order to be successful, you have to understand their stories," she said. "Hopefully the kids and their parents will be inspired to learn about themselves."
The man is thought to be Prince Whipple, whose owner was an aide to Washington. But it is documented that there was a black man on the boat during the crossing.
Tarrant-Reid agreed with a comment that the viewer will never look at that painting again without noticing the person of African descent.
And that comment seems to have been the point of Tarrant-Reid's book Discovering Black America: From the Age of Exploration to the Twenty-first Century (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2012, $29.95).
"I enjoyed the discovery," she said. "I enjoyed learning things I did not know."
Tarrant-Reid said she always had tremendous respect for her ancestors, but working on the book gave her a chance to see their stories in context.
"There were so many great people who contributed to the history of African-Americans," she said, "that I wanted young people to really understand the story."
Tarrant-Reid, a New Rochelle resident who is active in numerous community events, is an editor, journalist and photographer who has written on the history and culture of African-Americans in the New York metropolitan area for the New York Daily News.
She was the managing editor of The Million Man March, contributor and researcher of The Family of Black America, co-editor of Black Star Power: BET Celebrating 20 years and the author ofDiscovering Black New York.
The book contract was signed in 2006, Tarrant-Reid said, and the due date was set for 2008.
However, continuing research pushed the delivery date forward, which turned out to be a fortunate happenstance.
"Everytime I would approach a different period of American history, I would find new stuff about the contributions of African-Americans," Tarrant-Reid said. "I couldn't rush that."
Besides, a 2008 completion date could well have precluded mentioning the election of the first African-American.
"That would have been problematic," Tarrant-Reid said. "Barack Obama had not yet become president."
The result, she said, is a book that begins and ends with historical bookends: the 15th century exploration of the Americas and coastal Africa along with the subsequent enslavement of its citizens by Europeans and the 2008 election of Barack Obama as president.
Tarrant-Reid said, throughout history, slavery was an accepted practice in war.
"When a marauding group of soldiers won, they captured the people and they enslaved them," she said, adding that in ancient times, enslaved people were treated as family members and given property.
"Their job was to work for the rich person," Tarrant-Reid said. "Then they could go back to their homes."
That changed, she said, during the 17th-century British colonization of North America with the institutionalization of "chattel slavery."
"The cruelty, the abuse, the murders, the raping," Tarrant-Reid said. "That was different."
Slaves were property that could be bought, sold and mortgaged.
"The reason they did that was they wanted cheap labor," Tarrant-Reid said, in addition to choosing people of a different skin color so that they could immediately be seen as apart from the landowners and business men.
Part of her process in working on the book, Tarrant-Reid said, was to mine the research for tidbits that weren't so well known and illustrations that weren't the ones everyone else used.
While the book was published under Abrams Books' imprint for young people, she said there is plenty for parents and other adults to gain from reading it.
"Once the book was in-house, (the publisher) could see it has a wide appeal," Tarrant-Reid said. "Parents are going to read it, and it's written very directly, with a no-frills kind of investigatory style."
"My goal was that anybody could open it up at any section, and it was self-contained," she said. "You could learn stuff you might not necessarily know."
An example was Allan Pinkerton, the white Chicago detective, who was chief of intelligence during the Civil War under the Union's Major General George B. McClellan.
Tarrant-Reid said Pinkerton used black spies to gather information.
They included John Scobell, a former Mississippi slave, who assumed different identities and roles to infiltrate enemy ranks.
Another was riverboat worker W.H. Ringgold, who, while forced to help Confederates move troop supplies in Virginia, was able to give Pinkerton information about Rebel fortifications, number of troops and artillery locations.
"I thought that was a fabulous connection," Tarrant-Reid said. "I didn't know (Pinkerton) had gotten his start working for the government in intelligence. Those were the kind of detours I made."
She takes readers through the post-Civil War years, two World Wars, the rise of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and racial unrest to Obama's election.
Part of understanding of what came before, Tarrant-Reid said, is understanding Obama.
"When young people really look at someone like Barack Obama, who is combination of many cultures, having lived in all these different places," she said, "he is a 21st-century person."
"And for this group of children coming up, the world looks more like Barack Obama than anybody else," Tarrant-Reid said.
"In order to be successful, you have to understand their stories," she said. "Hopefully the kids and their parents will be inspired to learn about themselves."
NBA "bad boy" Dennis Rodman pens children's book
(CBS News) DETROIT - Former Detroit Pistons' star Dennis Rodman, who made a name for himself in the tabloids as well as on the basketball court, hopes to pass on tough lessons he learned in adulthood through a children's book.
CBS Detroit affiliate WWJ reported that the book, "Dennis the Wild Bull," promises to "convey good lessons to children based on Dennis' own experiences as a world-class athlete while overcoming obstacles as a child.
The NBA Hall of Famer played with the Pistons from 1986-1993, winning two NBA Championships and appearing in the All-Star game in 1990 and 1992. He was the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year in 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons. He retired his jersey last year.
Rodman's successful career came with a turbulent personal life. After a difficult childhood, he established a reputation for himself as a "bad boy," dying his hair different colors, having an affair with Madonna and throwing a parade featuring himself in full makeup and a bridal gown.
He appeared on the VH1 reality show "Celebrity Rehab" with Dr. Drew in 2009, where he revealed his alcoholism, started recovery and tried to make amends with family. He was also admitted to rehab in 2008 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after a domestic violence charge.
He recently reconnected with his father after 42 years of separation and hopes the children's book will help strengthen his relationship with his own children, WWJ reported.
The book is due out later this year and copies, signed by Rodman, can be pre-ordered for $30 at wildrbull.blogspot.com.
CBS Detroit affiliate WWJ reported that the book, "Dennis the Wild Bull," promises to "convey good lessons to children based on Dennis' own experiences as a world-class athlete while overcoming obstacles as a child.
The NBA Hall of Famer played with the Pistons from 1986-1993, winning two NBA Championships and appearing in the All-Star game in 1990 and 1992. He was the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year in 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons. He retired his jersey last year.
Rodman's successful career came with a turbulent personal life. After a difficult childhood, he established a reputation for himself as a "bad boy," dying his hair different colors, having an affair with Madonna and throwing a parade featuring himself in full makeup and a bridal gown.
He appeared on the VH1 reality show "Celebrity Rehab" with Dr. Drew in 2009, where he revealed his alcoholism, started recovery and tried to make amends with family. He was also admitted to rehab in 2008 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after a domestic violence charge.
He recently reconnected with his father after 42 years of separation and hopes the children's book will help strengthen his relationship with his own children, WWJ reported.
The book is due out later this year and copies, signed by Rodman, can be pre-ordered for $30 at wildrbull.blogspot.com.
Michael Vick's book reveals QB's dogfighting mindset- By Dan Hanzus
Next up on Michael Vick's redemption checklist: Release A Honest/Reflective Autobiography.
In an excerpt from his upcoming book, "Finally Free," the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback recalls his state of mind as he became consumed by the illegal dogfighting ring he bankrolled.
"Back when I was involved in those activities, I may have become more dedicated to the deep study of dogs than I was to my Falcons playbook," Vick wrote, in an excerpt provided to USA Today. "I became better at reading dogs than reading defenses.
"That's just so sad to say right now, because I put more time and effort into trying to master that pursuit than my own profession ... which was my livelihood ... which put food on the table for my family."
Vick also writes about deceiving NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as news of his involvement in illicit activities came to light.
"I knew how to lie with a straight face," Vick wrote. "Sad to say, Commissioner Goodell bought into what I was saying, and I think he truly believed me that I was telling the truth. I deeply regret not telling him the truth from the outset.
"It was a very nervous time for me. I knew I was going to try to lie my way through the whole dogfighting case and see if money, good lawyers, and manipulating the system could get me out of the position I was in -- which was a terrible position."
Honest, if not particularly flattering, stuff. "Finally Free" will be released Sept. 4.
In an excerpt from his upcoming book, "Finally Free," the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback recalls his state of mind as he became consumed by the illegal dogfighting ring he bankrolled.
"Back when I was involved in those activities, I may have become more dedicated to the deep study of dogs than I was to my Falcons playbook," Vick wrote, in an excerpt provided to USA Today. "I became better at reading dogs than reading defenses.
"That's just so sad to say right now, because I put more time and effort into trying to master that pursuit than my own profession ... which was my livelihood ... which put food on the table for my family."
Vick also writes about deceiving NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as news of his involvement in illicit activities came to light.
"I knew how to lie with a straight face," Vick wrote. "Sad to say, Commissioner Goodell bought into what I was saying, and I think he truly believed me that I was telling the truth. I deeply regret not telling him the truth from the outset.
"It was a very nervous time for me. I knew I was going to try to lie my way through the whole dogfighting case and see if money, good lawyers, and manipulating the system could get me out of the position I was in -- which was a terrible position."
Honest, if not particularly flattering, stuff. "Finally Free" will be released Sept. 4.
New African American Historical Fiction E-Book, "Gathering of the Owls," Released on the Kindle
blacknews.com -- According to author C.L. Thompson, "It is time to take the reins of future history and start writing the stories ourselves and for ourselves. Major publishing companies have the idea that African Americans don't read enough. So they only sign up authors that write about what they think we want to read about. For example; 'books for reluctant readers'. But on other hand, in our culture, we do communicate primarily by oral means, and place value on what people say, and on what we hear, rather than what we find out through print. As a result, we don't raise our children to place value on reading or writing."
But Thompson has gone beyond traditional design to develop an exhilarating way to influence African Americans to read more without changing who we are and what we are accustom to.
Thompson has written a contemporary African American historical fiction Kindle e-book called, Gathering of Owls: Blood Pressure, The Graphic Novel (see - www.amazon.com/kindle), which has been proven to appeal to universal groups of readers. Not only has this novel evolved to meet the ever changing needs of today's market, but was written to teach about the past, move onward into the future, designed to make reading fashionably cool again, and to ensure the most successful showing possible. Gathering of Owls also comes with an online media center (www.gatheringofowls.com) which is getting millions of visitors and supporters.
The term, 'Evolutionary Technology' simply means an innovation that improves a product in an existing market in ways that customers are expecting. And that's exactly what Gathering of Owls" does.
According to Thompson, "It's like asking someone what they see when they look at a painting. Sometimes, there isn't much to decipher, while often you will have people arguing over the true meaning. Same goes for this graphic novel Kindle e-book; whether you're reading it to gain knowledge or just for the heck of seeing mind- blowing pictures, this is the one to get!"
He continues, "When readers read this book, the panels form a basic framework of thought, around which flow the dialogs in text and the descriptions that make the frame move. It's like watching a motion picture where each graphic panel represents one frame in the reel and your mind is the projector, the screen and the audience."
"The voice that you hear in your head is far stronger in this book than the others, because you're seeing the detailed built, face and nationality of the characters as they speak. Another rather valuable difference is the way this graphic novels' author can drop subtle hints that go a long way in explaining things that are not really in line with the main story, but are important nonetheless. Small things that explain the scene in such detail can only be found in this graphic novel. This is possibly the best e-book graphic novel you can get for your Kindle," says Thompson.
THE STORY
Man's inhumanity to man is the theme of this dynamic novel. In these days of fundamental transparency, Facebook openness, and wickedly revealing WikiLeaks, it's easy to imagine that all is as it is seen, that everything happens out in the open, or at least is swiftly exposed. Don't be deceived. The world still has its secrets and clandestine places that shelter deep dark truths. For this novel, readers will submerge into the underworld, shining a light of consciousness into the dim corners of perdition. Readers stare into the depths, taking a look at dark networks and criminal master minds, cheats and con men, champions, rivals, unnatural wickedness, history, and technology, who seek to exploit the basic impulses; like openness, optimism, freedom, and faith in progress, for better or worse. But, while standing over these people backs and peering into their world; be careful...They are always looking over their shoulders to only stare back. Will readers see a new way, a mirror image of themselves perhaps or just a façade of their imaginations? So it tends to leave two questions. Who are you or who is who? Welcome to theGathering of Owls.
It begins on a Virginia plantation in 1817, and ends up in modern day Africa. Against a backdrop of today's biggest cities, the age-old institution of dealing in slavery focuses on a secret society that has survived 190 years. Now in modern times, the organization not only survived as a secret society, it thrived as one. But with the changing of times, so has CANA Over the years, the organization has split into four branches. And Manican (a high ranking member) has began to see the perfect opportunity to rise to power and ensure his legacy by bringing together all four branches to form one whole once again; while revealing the hidden and often shocking history of a secret society so undetectable, monolithic, and silently corporate that the earlier members dubbed it 'The Owls'.
Gathering of Owls unravels the shrouded world of the transatlantic slave trade. Once known as The Owls, this secret society is now dubbed CANA, with its tentacles reaching around the world. The time has come to unite the four branches of the organization under one leader, but will the merger take place? The book examines the true meaning of freedom. An action packed epic read of unparallel magnitude!
Thompson says, "In the words of Samuel L. Jackson, Gathering of Owls is the right type of kindle e-book, at the right place, at the right time, for a right price."
BOOK DETAILS:
Gathering of Owls: Blood Pressure, The Graphic Novel
By C.L. Thompson
ASIN: B006O5ILM4
Publisher: C.L. Thompson Publishing
Available only at Amazon.com, as a kindle e-book.
But Thompson has gone beyond traditional design to develop an exhilarating way to influence African Americans to read more without changing who we are and what we are accustom to.
Thompson has written a contemporary African American historical fiction Kindle e-book called, Gathering of Owls: Blood Pressure, The Graphic Novel (see - www.amazon.com/kindle), which has been proven to appeal to universal groups of readers. Not only has this novel evolved to meet the ever changing needs of today's market, but was written to teach about the past, move onward into the future, designed to make reading fashionably cool again, and to ensure the most successful showing possible. Gathering of Owls also comes with an online media center (www.gatheringofowls.com) which is getting millions of visitors and supporters.
The term, 'Evolutionary Technology' simply means an innovation that improves a product in an existing market in ways that customers are expecting. And that's exactly what Gathering of Owls" does.
According to Thompson, "It's like asking someone what they see when they look at a painting. Sometimes, there isn't much to decipher, while often you will have people arguing over the true meaning. Same goes for this graphic novel Kindle e-book; whether you're reading it to gain knowledge or just for the heck of seeing mind- blowing pictures, this is the one to get!"
He continues, "When readers read this book, the panels form a basic framework of thought, around which flow the dialogs in text and the descriptions that make the frame move. It's like watching a motion picture where each graphic panel represents one frame in the reel and your mind is the projector, the screen and the audience."
"The voice that you hear in your head is far stronger in this book than the others, because you're seeing the detailed built, face and nationality of the characters as they speak. Another rather valuable difference is the way this graphic novels' author can drop subtle hints that go a long way in explaining things that are not really in line with the main story, but are important nonetheless. Small things that explain the scene in such detail can only be found in this graphic novel. This is possibly the best e-book graphic novel you can get for your Kindle," says Thompson.
THE STORY
Man's inhumanity to man is the theme of this dynamic novel. In these days of fundamental transparency, Facebook openness, and wickedly revealing WikiLeaks, it's easy to imagine that all is as it is seen, that everything happens out in the open, or at least is swiftly exposed. Don't be deceived. The world still has its secrets and clandestine places that shelter deep dark truths. For this novel, readers will submerge into the underworld, shining a light of consciousness into the dim corners of perdition. Readers stare into the depths, taking a look at dark networks and criminal master minds, cheats and con men, champions, rivals, unnatural wickedness, history, and technology, who seek to exploit the basic impulses; like openness, optimism, freedom, and faith in progress, for better or worse. But, while standing over these people backs and peering into their world; be careful...They are always looking over their shoulders to only stare back. Will readers see a new way, a mirror image of themselves perhaps or just a façade of their imaginations? So it tends to leave two questions. Who are you or who is who? Welcome to theGathering of Owls.
It begins on a Virginia plantation in 1817, and ends up in modern day Africa. Against a backdrop of today's biggest cities, the age-old institution of dealing in slavery focuses on a secret society that has survived 190 years. Now in modern times, the organization not only survived as a secret society, it thrived as one. But with the changing of times, so has CANA Over the years, the organization has split into four branches. And Manican (a high ranking member) has began to see the perfect opportunity to rise to power and ensure his legacy by bringing together all four branches to form one whole once again; while revealing the hidden and often shocking history of a secret society so undetectable, monolithic, and silently corporate that the earlier members dubbed it 'The Owls'.
Gathering of Owls unravels the shrouded world of the transatlantic slave trade. Once known as The Owls, this secret society is now dubbed CANA, with its tentacles reaching around the world. The time has come to unite the four branches of the organization under one leader, but will the merger take place? The book examines the true meaning of freedom. An action packed epic read of unparallel magnitude!
Thompson says, "In the words of Samuel L. Jackson, Gathering of Owls is the right type of kindle e-book, at the right place, at the right time, for a right price."
BOOK DETAILS:
Gathering of Owls: Blood Pressure, The Graphic Novel
By C.L. Thompson
ASIN: B006O5ILM4
Publisher: C.L. Thompson Publishing
Available only at Amazon.com, as a kindle e-book.
MARC LAMONT HILL & MUMIA ABU-JAMAL RELEASE POIGNANT BOOK, “THE CLASSROOM AND THE CELL”
(vibe.com)The Classroom and The Cell: Conversations With Black America (Third World Press; December 2011; $14.95) is a collection of conversations between celebrity intellectual Marc Lamont Hill and famed political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. It’s a shining example of African American men speaking for themselves about the many forces impacting their lives. Covering topics such as race, politics, hip-hop culture, education, mass incarceration, and love, their discussions shine a spotlight on some of the most pressing issues in 21st century African American life. The Classroom and The Cell is practical-without being preachy. This is a must-read for the serious fans of Marc Lamont Hill and Mumia Abu-Jamal books.
Go to Amazon and order, The Classroom and The Cell: Conversations With Black America,HERE!
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning journalist and author who has spent the last 29 years on Pennsylvania’s death row. He is the author of six books, including Live from Death Row, All Things Censored, and Jailhouse Lawyers.
Like HelloBeautiful on Facebook to stay on top of your favorite black celebrities
Marc Lamont Hill is Associate Professor of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He also holds an affiliated faculty appointment in African-American Studies at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University. Dr. Hill has lectured widely and provides regular commentary for media outlets such as NPR, MSNBC, and CNN. He is the host of the nationally syndicated television show, “Our World with Black Enterprise.” He is the author of the award-winning book Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity and a co-editor of Media, Learning, and Sites of Possibility and The Anthropology of Education Reader.
You can visit Marc Lamont Hill’s website, HERE!
Go to Amazon and order, The Classroom and The Cell: Conversations With Black America,HERE!
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning journalist and author who has spent the last 29 years on Pennsylvania’s death row. He is the author of six books, including Live from Death Row, All Things Censored, and Jailhouse Lawyers.
Like HelloBeautiful on Facebook to stay on top of your favorite black celebrities
Marc Lamont Hill is Associate Professor of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He also holds an affiliated faculty appointment in African-American Studies at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University. Dr. Hill has lectured widely and provides regular commentary for media outlets such as NPR, MSNBC, and CNN. He is the host of the nationally syndicated television show, “Our World with Black Enterprise.” He is the author of the award-winning book Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity and a co-editor of Media, Learning, and Sites of Possibility and The Anthropology of Education Reader.
You can visit Marc Lamont Hill’s website, HERE!
EXCLUSIVE: Boris Kodjoe Pens Surprise Anniversary Poem for Nicole Ari Parker
By Charli Penn
For every Hollywood divorce scandal you read about that makes you cringe, there’s one that makes you smile. Nicole Ari Parker and Boris Kodjoe’s love story is one of the great ones.
The couple met in 2003 on the set of their hit show Soul Food and quickly realized they shared chemistry both on and off screen. They welcomed their first child, daughter Sophie Tei Naaki Lee on March 5, 2005, and a few months later, on May 21st, they were married in Gundelfingen, Germany. Today, the proud parents of two, will celebrate seven happy years of marriage. As a special anniversary surprise, Boris penned this poem for his lovely wife Nicole, who's been super busy starring in A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway. (Warning: You may need a tissue, ladies!)
My Seven Year Itch
You've always been my itch, so many ways you've touched my body, mind and soul from the moment He designed our paths to cross, finally.
You've always been my itch, so good to me I've wanted you day after day, night after night, making me wonder how my body was able to be without you all this while, before our very first touch.
You've always been my itch, giving wings to my thoughts, encouraging them to unforeseen heights, where I would build our castle in the sky, fit for a king and his queen.
You've always been my itch, filling my spirit with comfort and peace like I hadn't felt since a child in Oma's garden, so familiar and yet so new.
You've always been my itch. My seven year, seven days a week, 24/7 itch I always want, desire, crave, and never ever want to be without.
Not for seven seconds.
Nicole,
Happy 7th anniversary
Let's do this again
I love you more
Aww. Could these two be any more in love? Whenever the cameras catch the Kodjoe family, they’re all smiles – and that makes us smile too. Today, they’ll celebrate seven years of marital bliss and we’re wishing them many, many more. Join us in wishing the Kodjoes a very happy anniversary as we take a look back at their love in pictures.
The couple met in 2003 on the set of their hit show Soul Food and quickly realized they shared chemistry both on and off screen. They welcomed their first child, daughter Sophie Tei Naaki Lee on March 5, 2005, and a few months later, on May 21st, they were married in Gundelfingen, Germany. Today, the proud parents of two, will celebrate seven happy years of marriage. As a special anniversary surprise, Boris penned this poem for his lovely wife Nicole, who's been super busy starring in A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway. (Warning: You may need a tissue, ladies!)
My Seven Year Itch
You've always been my itch, so many ways you've touched my body, mind and soul from the moment He designed our paths to cross, finally.
You've always been my itch, so good to me I've wanted you day after day, night after night, making me wonder how my body was able to be without you all this while, before our very first touch.
You've always been my itch, giving wings to my thoughts, encouraging them to unforeseen heights, where I would build our castle in the sky, fit for a king and his queen.
You've always been my itch, filling my spirit with comfort and peace like I hadn't felt since a child in Oma's garden, so familiar and yet so new.
You've always been my itch. My seven year, seven days a week, 24/7 itch I always want, desire, crave, and never ever want to be without.
Not for seven seconds.
Nicole,
Happy 7th anniversary
Let's do this again
I love you more
Aww. Could these two be any more in love? Whenever the cameras catch the Kodjoe family, they’re all smiles – and that makes us smile too. Today, they’ll celebrate seven years of marital bliss and we’re wishing them many, many more. Join us in wishing the Kodjoes a very happy anniversary as we take a look back at their love in pictures.
New Book Looks Closely at Black History in America
Author Victor Carter Horne works to show how American history is black history and vice versa
CHICAGO (PRWEB)
“I side with nationality and not with race, I side with truth and not with political correctness,” states Victor Carter Horne, author of the new book “A Black Patriot: The Real American” (published by Trafford Publishing). In his book, Horne melds his political and cultural point of view with a detailed discussion ofhistory, political thought and racism.
No only does Horne consider himself a black patriot, he also calls himself a black conservative, a black historian and – above all – a black American. He uses these perspectives to make observations of black culture and black history.
But Horne is not completely comfortable with all the classifications. He says black history is American history. “I am an American because my father, his father and our fathers for generations were Americans,” he says.
Because of his concern for issues he sees in theAfrican American community, Horne focused his attention on defining black Americans’ role in American history. “As I learned the history of this country (my country), I became increasingly patriotic, which seemed to create a contrast to the popular school of thought in my community,” explains Horne, “So I was inspired to share some of the forgotten history that made this country great.”
In “A Black Patriot” Horne works to show readers the unbreakable connection between American history and black history.
About the Author
Victor Carter Horne refers to himself as a self-made historian of African American history – a background he hopes gives him the perspective to help improve community conditions for today’s African American community. Horne has been married for 33 years and has four children, 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He is proud to have created a blessed life for himself after coming from severe poverty and a dysfunctional family. Horne lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Trafford Publishing, an Author Solutions, Inc. author services imprint, was the first publisher in the world to offer an “on-demand publishing service,” and has led the independent publishing revolution since its establishment in 1995. Trafford was also one of the earliest publishers to utilize the Internet for selling books. More than 10,000 authors from over 120 countries have utilized Trafford’s experience for self publishing their books. For more information about Trafford Publishing, or to publish your book today, call 1-888-232-4444 or visit trafford.com.
“I side with nationality and not with race, I side with truth and not with political correctness,” states Victor Carter Horne, author of the new book “A Black Patriot: The Real American” (published by Trafford Publishing). In his book, Horne melds his political and cultural point of view with a detailed discussion ofhistory, political thought and racism.
No only does Horne consider himself a black patriot, he also calls himself a black conservative, a black historian and – above all – a black American. He uses these perspectives to make observations of black culture and black history.
But Horne is not completely comfortable with all the classifications. He says black history is American history. “I am an American because my father, his father and our fathers for generations were Americans,” he says.
Because of his concern for issues he sees in theAfrican American community, Horne focused his attention on defining black Americans’ role in American history. “As I learned the history of this country (my country), I became increasingly patriotic, which seemed to create a contrast to the popular school of thought in my community,” explains Horne, “So I was inspired to share some of the forgotten history that made this country great.”
In “A Black Patriot” Horne works to show readers the unbreakable connection between American history and black history.
About the Author
Victor Carter Horne refers to himself as a self-made historian of African American history – a background he hopes gives him the perspective to help improve community conditions for today’s African American community. Horne has been married for 33 years and has four children, 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He is proud to have created a blessed life for himself after coming from severe poverty and a dysfunctional family. Horne lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Trafford Publishing, an Author Solutions, Inc. author services imprint, was the first publisher in the world to offer an “on-demand publishing service,” and has led the independent publishing revolution since its establishment in 1995. Trafford was also one of the earliest publishers to utilize the Internet for selling books. More than 10,000 authors from over 120 countries have utilized Trafford’s experience for self publishing their books. For more information about Trafford Publishing, or to publish your book today, call 1-888-232-4444 or visit trafford.com.
Michael Baisden and Zane Reception/ Booksigning to be Held in New York City at BookExpo America on June 6th at 5pm
(Courtesy of blacknews.com)
Nationwide (May 7, 2012) -- Amber Communications Group Inc's 2012 African American Pavilion Booth at BookExpo America booth will be hosting a special "Welcome to BookExpo America Michael Baisden" Reception and Booksigning for the internationally renowned author, radio and television talk show personality, and a Celebration and Booksigning of New York Times and Essence Magazine Best-Selling Author Zane and the Strebor Books Legacy, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York City, Wednesday, June 6, 2012, 1:00pm - 5:00pm in the ACGI African American Pavilion Booth. The event will be coordinated by Heather Covington of Disilgold.com, Troy Johnson of AALBC.com and Charisse and Harvey Nunes of The Book Look.
Michael Baisden is undeniably one of the most influential and engaging personalities in broadcast history. His meteoric rise to #1 is redefining radio with the numbers to back it up. The show is syndicated by Cumulus Media and is heard in over 78 markets nationwide with over 8 million loyal listeners daily. Since his radio show debuted nationally in 2005, Mr. Baisden has captured the hearts and minds of millions of Americans with his provocative mix of relationship talk, hot topics, politics and the best of old school with today's R&B. When it comes to entertaining, enlightning and educating, no one in talk radio compares. His high energy and love for interacting with his listeners is just one reason for the popularity and success of The Michael Baisden Show.
Baisden was recently voted, once again, as one of the most influential men in radio. As a prominent social activist, he spearheaded the famous Jena Six march in 2007, advocated for National Free Clinics to get volunteers, was credited by the Obama camp as being one of the major forces behind the historic presidential victory, and was publicly congratulated by President Obama for his efforts and outreach with his One Million Mentors National Campaign to Save Our Kids.
2012 kicked off with the announcement of a partnership with Michael Baisden, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and African American Fraternities for the Mentoring Brothers Campaign to recruit more African American mentors for Black boys. In March 2012 Baisden along with Rev Al Sharpton held a rally in Stanford, FL to protest the injustice over the lack of an arrest in the killing of Trayvon Martin, a teenager who was just walking home from the store. Over 30,000 people attended the rally along with the teenager's parents and other leaders.
According to Simon & Schuster, Michael Baisden is "probably the most successful self-published African American male author out there today." With nearly 2 million books in print both hard and soft cover, his books blend the perfect combination of entertainment, humor, provocation and sexuality. Michael's vibrant personality on and off the air has made him a people magnet.
He began attracting attention with primarily female followers as author and publisher of the highly successful best selling books: "Never Satisfied: How and Why Men Cheat", "Men Cry in the Dark", "The Maintenance Man", "God's Gift to Women" and most recently a hot new book "Never Satisfied: Do Men Know What They Want." Baisden is currently writing his 6th book to be released in 2012. Two of his titles ultimately were adapted into stage plays playing to sold out crowds across the US.
New York Times best-selling author, Zane, is undeniably the largest selling author of her genre in the world. Her books on sex and erotica have sold in the millions. Her company Strebor Books is dedicated to publishing a wide diversity of both fiction and non-fiction books. Strebor Books is committed to finding and developing the careers of cutting-edge authors who take risks with their stories.
A personal vision of Zane's, Strebor Books International examines every aspect and characteristic of the human spirit. From contemporary romance to science fiction, from mystery to erotica, from paranormal to historical, from political to religious, no genre is overlooked amongst the continuously expanding catalog of titles.
Zane has the power of discernment when it comes to ascertaining "the next big thing" as proven with her own success; going from a grassroots publisher to running an imprint of Simon and Schuster in less than five years.
Zane is the creator, scriptwriter and executive producer of "Zane's Sex Chronicles," the highly rated Cinemax series based loosely on her real life, and the upcoming "Zane's The Jump Off," premiering on Cinemax Spring 2013. She is currently writing two feature film screenplays, a broadway musical, and her novel "Addicted" is scheduled to be filmed this summer by Lionsgate.
She is a huge advocate against domestic violence. Her book "Breaking the Cycle," dealing with the effects of domestic violence on children, was the 2006 NAACP Image Award winner for Outstanding Literature. She was featured in the HBO documentary "The Black List," which examined the lives of African-American overachievers like Toni Morrison, Colin Powell, Russell Simmons, Sean "Puffy" Combs, and Chris Rock.
Swiss Public Television has also produced a documentary on Zane entitled "Zane: Queen of Erotica," that was translated into several languages and broadcast throughout the world.
Amber Comminications Group Inc's African American Pavilion at BEA is no stranger to influential men and women alike, particularly those in the literary world. Since ACGI's Publisher/CEO Tony Rose founded the African American Pavilion at BEA in 2004, the event has featured special guest appearances by Magic Johnson, Haki Madhubuti, Wesley Snipes, Tavis Smiley, Zane, Tom Joyner, Kassahun Checole, W. Paul Coates, Dr. Cornell West, George Fraser, Omarosa, Sybil Wilkes, Flava Flav, Coach Tony Dungee, Prodigy of Mobb Deep, Terrie Williams, Dr. Steve Perry (CNN & Random House), Max Rodriguez (The Harlem Book Fair) and Annette Thomas (NAACP Image Awards Literary Coordinator), to name a few.
Along with Michael Baisden and Zane, the 2012 invited guests will include: Book Industry Leaders - Carol Mackey (Black Expressions Book Club), Troy Johnson (AALBC), Ron Kavanaugh (Mosaic Books), Malaika Adero (Atria Books/Simon and Schuster), Dawn Davis (Armistad Press / Harper Collins), Judith Curr (Atria Books/Simon and Schuster), Cheryl Woodruf (Smiley Books), LaToya Smith (Grand Central Publishing), Dante Lee (Diversity City Media), Dr. Farrah Grey (Philanthropist), Wade and Cheryl Hudson (Just Us Books), Clara Villarosa, Lesleigh Underwood (Kensington Press), Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati (Publicist) and Selena James (Kensington Press). Authors will include: Mary B. Morrison, Omar Tyree, Mary Monroe, Victoria Christopher Murray, Irene Smalls, Kevin Weeks, Kevin Johnson, Lynette Velasco, Renee Flagler, James Tanner, Darryl King, Artie Fletcher, Denroy Morgan, Levar Fisher, Dorothy Hughes and many others.
Media personalities covering the event will include: Charisse and Harvey Nunes (The Book Look), Don Thomas (The New York Beacon), Renee Minus White (The Amsterdam News), Calvin Reid (Publishers Weekly), Diane Patrick (Publishers Weekly), Flo Anthony (Entertainment Journalist), Pat Stevenson (The Harlem News), Dr. Bob Lee (WLIB & WBLS talk show personality), Kam Williams (International Reviewer), Michelle Gipson (Written Magazine), Danny Tisdale (Harlem World Magazine), Kyle Donovan (NV Magazine), Sam Chekwas (Black Book News Magazine), Cynthia Horner (Cinnamon CHIPS Publicity - Word Up! and Right On Magazine), Kenneth Harris (Kenthephotographer), Hal and Debbie Jackson (Hal Jackson's Sunday Classics). More media TBA.
BookExpo America, one of the largest book trade exhibits in the world, provides independent African American book publishers, self publishers, authors, Black Interest Imprints at major publishing houses, distributors, literary agents, publicists, librarians and bookstore owners exposure to 20,561 book buyers and booksellers from across the globe. The event takes place at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York City June 5th - 7th 2012.
Now in its ninth year, Amber Communication Group, Inc.'s African American Pavilion Booth at BEA, exhibit space, will showcase African American books, authors, products and publishers. There will be great opportunities to learn, share, educate, sell and network.
There is an open invitation to join book industry professionals and authors for the "6th Annual Black Pack Party", Wednesday June 6th, 6-9pm at Londel's Supper Club, 2620 Frederick Douglas Blvd (at 140th St) Harlem, NYC.
Hosted by AALBC.com, MosaicBooks.com, Linda A. Duggins, Written Magazine and The Book Look. All are invited to party, mix and mingle uptown in Harlem as they celebrate book industry professionals, authors and friends.
For more details, visit www.AfricanAmericanPavilion.com
For further information on exhibiting, book display and book signing at ACGI's African American Pavilion at BEA, contact:
Tony Rose, Publisher/CEO
Amber Communications Group, Inc.
1334 E. Chandler Blvd., Suite 5-D67
Phoenix, AZ 85048
602-743-7211
[email protected]
www.AmberBooks.com
www.AfricanAmericanPavilion.com
www.QualityPress.info
Michael Baisden is undeniably one of the most influential and engaging personalities in broadcast history. His meteoric rise to #1 is redefining radio with the numbers to back it up. The show is syndicated by Cumulus Media and is heard in over 78 markets nationwide with over 8 million loyal listeners daily. Since his radio show debuted nationally in 2005, Mr. Baisden has captured the hearts and minds of millions of Americans with his provocative mix of relationship talk, hot topics, politics and the best of old school with today's R&B. When it comes to entertaining, enlightning and educating, no one in talk radio compares. His high energy and love for interacting with his listeners is just one reason for the popularity and success of The Michael Baisden Show.
Baisden was recently voted, once again, as one of the most influential men in radio. As a prominent social activist, he spearheaded the famous Jena Six march in 2007, advocated for National Free Clinics to get volunteers, was credited by the Obama camp as being one of the major forces behind the historic presidential victory, and was publicly congratulated by President Obama for his efforts and outreach with his One Million Mentors National Campaign to Save Our Kids.
2012 kicked off with the announcement of a partnership with Michael Baisden, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and African American Fraternities for the Mentoring Brothers Campaign to recruit more African American mentors for Black boys. In March 2012 Baisden along with Rev Al Sharpton held a rally in Stanford, FL to protest the injustice over the lack of an arrest in the killing of Trayvon Martin, a teenager who was just walking home from the store. Over 30,000 people attended the rally along with the teenager's parents and other leaders.
According to Simon & Schuster, Michael Baisden is "probably the most successful self-published African American male author out there today." With nearly 2 million books in print both hard and soft cover, his books blend the perfect combination of entertainment, humor, provocation and sexuality. Michael's vibrant personality on and off the air has made him a people magnet.
He began attracting attention with primarily female followers as author and publisher of the highly successful best selling books: "Never Satisfied: How and Why Men Cheat", "Men Cry in the Dark", "The Maintenance Man", "God's Gift to Women" and most recently a hot new book "Never Satisfied: Do Men Know What They Want." Baisden is currently writing his 6th book to be released in 2012. Two of his titles ultimately were adapted into stage plays playing to sold out crowds across the US.
New York Times best-selling author, Zane, is undeniably the largest selling author of her genre in the world. Her books on sex and erotica have sold in the millions. Her company Strebor Books is dedicated to publishing a wide diversity of both fiction and non-fiction books. Strebor Books is committed to finding and developing the careers of cutting-edge authors who take risks with their stories.
A personal vision of Zane's, Strebor Books International examines every aspect and characteristic of the human spirit. From contemporary romance to science fiction, from mystery to erotica, from paranormal to historical, from political to religious, no genre is overlooked amongst the continuously expanding catalog of titles.
Zane has the power of discernment when it comes to ascertaining "the next big thing" as proven with her own success; going from a grassroots publisher to running an imprint of Simon and Schuster in less than five years.
Zane is the creator, scriptwriter and executive producer of "Zane's Sex Chronicles," the highly rated Cinemax series based loosely on her real life, and the upcoming "Zane's The Jump Off," premiering on Cinemax Spring 2013. She is currently writing two feature film screenplays, a broadway musical, and her novel "Addicted" is scheduled to be filmed this summer by Lionsgate.
She is a huge advocate against domestic violence. Her book "Breaking the Cycle," dealing with the effects of domestic violence on children, was the 2006 NAACP Image Award winner for Outstanding Literature. She was featured in the HBO documentary "The Black List," which examined the lives of African-American overachievers like Toni Morrison, Colin Powell, Russell Simmons, Sean "Puffy" Combs, and Chris Rock.
Swiss Public Television has also produced a documentary on Zane entitled "Zane: Queen of Erotica," that was translated into several languages and broadcast throughout the world.
Amber Comminications Group Inc's African American Pavilion at BEA is no stranger to influential men and women alike, particularly those in the literary world. Since ACGI's Publisher/CEO Tony Rose founded the African American Pavilion at BEA in 2004, the event has featured special guest appearances by Magic Johnson, Haki Madhubuti, Wesley Snipes, Tavis Smiley, Zane, Tom Joyner, Kassahun Checole, W. Paul Coates, Dr. Cornell West, George Fraser, Omarosa, Sybil Wilkes, Flava Flav, Coach Tony Dungee, Prodigy of Mobb Deep, Terrie Williams, Dr. Steve Perry (CNN & Random House), Max Rodriguez (The Harlem Book Fair) and Annette Thomas (NAACP Image Awards Literary Coordinator), to name a few.
Along with Michael Baisden and Zane, the 2012 invited guests will include: Book Industry Leaders - Carol Mackey (Black Expressions Book Club), Troy Johnson (AALBC), Ron Kavanaugh (Mosaic Books), Malaika Adero (Atria Books/Simon and Schuster), Dawn Davis (Armistad Press / Harper Collins), Judith Curr (Atria Books/Simon and Schuster), Cheryl Woodruf (Smiley Books), LaToya Smith (Grand Central Publishing), Dante Lee (Diversity City Media), Dr. Farrah Grey (Philanthropist), Wade and Cheryl Hudson (Just Us Books), Clara Villarosa, Lesleigh Underwood (Kensington Press), Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati (Publicist) and Selena James (Kensington Press). Authors will include: Mary B. Morrison, Omar Tyree, Mary Monroe, Victoria Christopher Murray, Irene Smalls, Kevin Weeks, Kevin Johnson, Lynette Velasco, Renee Flagler, James Tanner, Darryl King, Artie Fletcher, Denroy Morgan, Levar Fisher, Dorothy Hughes and many others.
Media personalities covering the event will include: Charisse and Harvey Nunes (The Book Look), Don Thomas (The New York Beacon), Renee Minus White (The Amsterdam News), Calvin Reid (Publishers Weekly), Diane Patrick (Publishers Weekly), Flo Anthony (Entertainment Journalist), Pat Stevenson (The Harlem News), Dr. Bob Lee (WLIB & WBLS talk show personality), Kam Williams (International Reviewer), Michelle Gipson (Written Magazine), Danny Tisdale (Harlem World Magazine), Kyle Donovan (NV Magazine), Sam Chekwas (Black Book News Magazine), Cynthia Horner (Cinnamon CHIPS Publicity - Word Up! and Right On Magazine), Kenneth Harris (Kenthephotographer), Hal and Debbie Jackson (Hal Jackson's Sunday Classics). More media TBA.
BookExpo America, one of the largest book trade exhibits in the world, provides independent African American book publishers, self publishers, authors, Black Interest Imprints at major publishing houses, distributors, literary agents, publicists, librarians and bookstore owners exposure to 20,561 book buyers and booksellers from across the globe. The event takes place at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York City June 5th - 7th 2012.
Now in its ninth year, Amber Communication Group, Inc.'s African American Pavilion Booth at BEA, exhibit space, will showcase African American books, authors, products and publishers. There will be great opportunities to learn, share, educate, sell and network.
There is an open invitation to join book industry professionals and authors for the "6th Annual Black Pack Party", Wednesday June 6th, 6-9pm at Londel's Supper Club, 2620 Frederick Douglas Blvd (at 140th St) Harlem, NYC.
Hosted by AALBC.com, MosaicBooks.com, Linda A. Duggins, Written Magazine and The Book Look. All are invited to party, mix and mingle uptown in Harlem as they celebrate book industry professionals, authors and friends.
For more details, visit www.AfricanAmericanPavilion.com
For further information on exhibiting, book display and book signing at ACGI's African American Pavilion at BEA, contact:
Tony Rose, Publisher/CEO
Amber Communications Group, Inc.
1334 E. Chandler Blvd., Suite 5-D67
Phoenix, AZ 85048
602-743-7211
[email protected]
www.AmberBooks.com
www.AfricanAmericanPavilion.com
www.QualityPress.info
Notable 2011-2012 Books by African-American LGBT Authors
By Toni Newman
I want to applaud African-American LGBT authors of 2011/2012. I have been traveling all over the U.S.A., and here are some of the most notable books by African-American LGBT authors recommended to me by gays, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender African Americans. I want to encourage the LGBT community and avid book readers to read the following books. I have read all the following books and recommend them strongly, and I want to support African-American LGBT authors.
- Mogul by Terrance Dean, released June 14, 2011. It has been nominated in the Bisexual Fiction category for the 2012 Lambda Literary Awards. His first book, Hiding in Hip Hop: On the Down Low in the Entertainment Industry -- From Music to Hollywood, is number six on Flaier.net's list of the top 25 gay books and was an Essence bestseller. Terrance Dean is a speaker, educator, author, and hip-hop head.
- I Rise: The Transformation of Toni Newman by Toni Newman (me), released April 14, 2011. It has been nominated in two categories, Memoirs and Transgender Nonfiction, for the 2012 Lambda Literary Awards. It is number 24 on Flaier.net list of the top 25 transgender biographies. I am a writer, author, and law school student and graduated from Wake Forest University in 1985 with a B.A. in sociology.
- The Bad Seed by Lee Hayes, released June 7, 2011. According to Amazon.com: "Lee Hayes, the critically acclaimed author of Passion Marks, A Deeper Blue: Passion Marks 2, and The Messiah, returns with a delightfully wicked spin on what constitutes a 'bad seed.'"
- Transparent by Don Lemon, released by May 11, 2011. According to Amazon.com: "In this unique memoir, Primetime CNN anchor Don Lemon takes readers behind the scenes of journalism, detailing his own struggle to become one of the most prominent African American men in television news -- and inside some of the biggest stories of our times."
- When Love Takes Over: A Celebration of SGL Couples of Color by Darian Aaron, released June 2, 2011. It profiles 18 African-American "same-gender-loving" couples who are in committed, long-term relationships. According to Amazon.com: "The couples detail how they met, their journey towards self-acceptance, liberation and ultimately how they fell in love and maintain their relationships. All the while defying the myth that two black men are incapable of loving each other for a lifetime."
- Mind Your Own Life: The Journey Back to Love by Aaron Anson, released May 11, 2011. According to Amazon.com: "A brave and deeply personal memoir of one man's quest to rise above the the political and religious rhetoric that had divided and diminished the human spirit for thousands of years. Aaron Anson engagingly writes about his own experiences of growing up a black gay Christian in a deeply religious South."
- I Dreamt I Was in Heaven: The Rampage of the Rufus Buck Gang by Leonce Gaiter, released Aug. 5, 2011. According to Amazon.com: "Leonce Gaiter's noir thriller 'Bourbon Street' was published by Carroll & Graf. His non-fiction has appeared in The Huffington Post, LA Times, The Washington Post, Salon, NY Times, NY Times Magazine and in national syndication. He has worked professionally in the creative ends of the film, recording, and marketing industries."
- The Kid by Sapphire, released July 5, 2011. According to Amazon.com: "Fifteen years after the publication of Push, one year after the Academy Award-winning film adaptation, Sapphire gives voice to Precious's son, Abdul."
- Dangerous Pleasures by Fiona Zedde, released Jan. 25, 2011. According to her website: "Fiona Zedde is a transplanted Jamaican currently living and working in Tampa, Florida. She is the author of six novels -- Bliss, A Taste of Sin, Every Dark Desire, Hungry for It, Kisses after Midnight, and Dangerous Pleasures - as well as three novellas (Pure Pleasure, Going Wild, and Sexual Attraction) published in the collections Satisfy Me, Satisfy Me Again, and Satisfy Me Tonight, respectively."
- Sir, Yes Sir by Mike Warren, released July 12, 2011. According to Amazon.com: "Sir, Yes Sir is the third and final installment detailing the wild and thoroughly entertaining life of Sean Matthews. After A Private Affair, and the sequel, Sweet Swagger, Sean heads to his new duty station in Hawaii with the love of his life by his side. Just as things heat up, Sean meets his father for the first time and is shocked by finding out a deep, dark family secret. Between running for his life, and the threat of being put out of the military, all hell breaks loose, and Sean [is] staring death in the eye."
- Black Like Us: A Century of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual African American Fiction edited by Devon W. Carbado, Dwight McBride, and Don Weise, released Oct. 4, 2011. According to Amazon.com: "Showcasing the work of literary giants like Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, and writers whom readers may be surprised to learn were 'in the life,' Black Like Us is the most comprehensive collection of fiction by African American lesbian, gay, and bisexual writers ever published. From the Harlem Renaissance to the Great Migration of the Depression era, from the postwar civil rights, feminist, and gay liberation movements, to the unabashedly complex sexual explorations of the present day, Black Like Us accomplishes a sweeping survey of 20th century literature."
- Black Fire: Gay-African American Erotica by Jamie Freeman, released Feb. 15, 2011. According to Amazon.com: "Black Fire celebrates the heat and power of sex between black men: the rude B-boys and gorgeous thugs, the worshippers of heavenly ass, and the devoutly religious in their forays through the subterranean grottoes of the down-low world..."
- Queer Pollen: White Seduction, Black Male Homosexuality, and the Cinematic by David A. Gerstner, released March 1, 2011. According to Amazon.com: "Queer Pollen discusses three notable black queer twentieth century artists -- painter and writer Richard Bruce Nugent, author James Baldwin, and filmmaker Marlon Riggs -- and the unique ways they turned to various media to work through their experiences living as queer black men. David A. Gerstner elucidates the complexities in expressing queer black desire through traditional art forms such as painting, poetry, and literary prose, or in the industrial medium of cinema. This challenge is made particularly sharp when the terms 'black' and 'homosexuality' come freighted with white ideological conceptualizations."
- Bi-Curious: Volume 2 by Natalie Weber, released Feb. 12, 2012. According to Amazon.com: "Weber delivers the powerful and provocative tale of a woman whose bi-curious nature gets her into more trouble than she can escape."
- The Sweeter the Juice, edited by Marcus Anthony, released March 15, 2011.According to Amazon.com: "STARbooks Press is proud to release their first collection from Marcus Anthony, featuring stories of men of color and those who lust after them. Featuring the hottest writers in gay erotica, these stories will have you thinking twice about your 'type' and make you pursue a more diverse array of men."
- Lickin' License Part 2: More Sex, More Saga by Intelligent Allah, released Feb. 14, 2012. According to Amazon.com: "Lickin License 2: More Sex, More Saga finds Rich struggling to lead a crime-free life and save his three-way relationship with Candy and Vanessa." Another Amazon.com listing writes, "Candy is a 31 year old money getter who owns Candy's Shop the hottest beauty salon in Harlem. She can have any man she wants, but men are not her thing."
'O.J. Is Innocent And I Can Prove It': In New Book, P.I. William Dear Claims O.J. Simpson's Son Was The Killer
By David Lohr Huffpost
It's often said that the only certainties in life are death and taxes. But you can add "rehashing of the O.J. Simpson case" to that list -- at least for the last 18 years
So it should come as no surprise that a new book has been published about the 1994 murders of Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
In 1995, a California jury acquitted O.J. Simpson of the killings. A civil lawsuit, later filed by the victims' families, resulted in a 1997 judgment finding Simpson liable for the deaths and ordering him to pay $33.5 million in damages.
The latest installment in the Simpson library is not another "If I Did It," in which the former gridiron great speculated on how he might have killed his former wife. Instead, the new book points the finger of guilt away from Simpson and lays the blame on his son, Jason Simpson.
"Everything we have in the book is documented. It is not theory or hypothesis. It is fact," renowned private investigator William C. Dear told The Huffington Post about his book, "O.J. Is Innocent and I Can Prove It."
Dear's 576-page "true account," according to Amazon.com, hit the shelves today, retailing at $18 for the hardcover edition.
In the investigation into the murders of Brown and Goldman, Jason Simpson was never considered a suspect or a person of interest. The 41-year-old lives in Miami, where he reportedly works as a chef. HuffPost was unable to reach Simpson for comment Monday because his phone had been disconnected
But Dear said he has spent nearly two decades looking into the case and assembled a mountain of circumstantial evidence, which, he said, suggests that O.J. Simpson had nothing to do with the murders of Brown and Goldman.
"I flew out two weeks after the murders," he said. "I climbed over the back gate and walked the walkway to the front door, and that's when I realized O.J. could not have done it. But he was there. He was either there at the time or there afterwards [and] became part of the crime."
In his book, Dear claims that he has the knife used in the murders, along with photos and other evidence that suggest the true killer was Jason Simpson, O.J.'s son with his first wife.
"When I tell you we have the weapon -- we found the weapon in Jason's storage facility that he failed to make payments on. We know he carried it -- his initials were carved in the leather sheath," Dear said.
"We have emails from his former roommates that were in college with him. We have our suspect's diaries. We have his forged time card, and we have the vehicle he was driving on the night of the murders," said Dear.
The private investigator also claims to have photos of Jason Simpson wearing the knit cap that was found at the murder scene.
But why? Why would Jason Simpson kill Brown and Goldman?
During O.J. Simpson's trial, prosecutors alleged that the defendant was obsessed with his ex-wife, that he was prone to jealous rages and that he would stalk her.
Dear contends that Jason Simpson has his own demons and suffers from "intermittent rage disorder."
"Our suspect at the time was 5'11" and 235 pounds," Dear said. "He was 24 years old, and he was on probation for assaulting his previous employer with a knife. In addition to that, he's had three attempted suicides and has been in a psychiatric unit."
On the day of the murders -- June 12, 1994 -- O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown attended a dance recital for their daughter. Dear alleges that Jason Simpson was working as a chef in a Beverly Hills restaurant and had put together a special meal for the family. Brown, however, did not attend.
"You're dealing with a young man who just weeks prior had checked into a hospital where he said he was out of his medication and was about to rage," Dear said. "I have no doubt he had no intention of killing her, but [he] confronted her and, as a result, something happened."
Dear said the diaries he obtained, which were allegedly written by Jason Simpson, refer to the young man's obsession with knives and the problems he was purportedly dealing with.
One entry allegedly reads, "It's the year of the knife for me. I cut away my problems with a knife. Anybody touches my friends -- I will kill them. I'm also tired of being Dr. Jekyll [and] Mr. Hyde."
O.J. Simpson was unavailable for comment at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nev., where he is serving a 33-year prison sentence. In 2008, he was found guilty of armed robbery and kidnapping for taking sports memorabilia from a dealer at gunpoint.
While the book's bombshell claims have not been proved -- authorities in California have yet to comment on them -- Dear insisted he can back up every allegation.
"I have been inducted into the Police Officer Hall of Fame as a private investigator, so my credentials are not [that of] some idiot guy just throwing it out there. My reputation is important to me. I would not say any of this without a great deal of backup," Dear said.
Dear also contended that he has managed to convince others that his theory has merit.
"I recently did a speech in front of 533 law enforcement investigators and prosecutors," he said. "The first statement I made was 'How many of you believe O.J. was guilty?' and everyone raised their hand. When [my speech] was over, I asked the same thing and only three people voted guilty. So when you get law enforcement and all these people to take that position, that's a pretty strong position."
So it should come as no surprise that a new book has been published about the 1994 murders of Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
In 1995, a California jury acquitted O.J. Simpson of the killings. A civil lawsuit, later filed by the victims' families, resulted in a 1997 judgment finding Simpson liable for the deaths and ordering him to pay $33.5 million in damages.
The latest installment in the Simpson library is not another "If I Did It," in which the former gridiron great speculated on how he might have killed his former wife. Instead, the new book points the finger of guilt away from Simpson and lays the blame on his son, Jason Simpson.
"Everything we have in the book is documented. It is not theory or hypothesis. It is fact," renowned private investigator William C. Dear told The Huffington Post about his book, "O.J. Is Innocent and I Can Prove It."
Dear's 576-page "true account," according to Amazon.com, hit the shelves today, retailing at $18 for the hardcover edition.
In the investigation into the murders of Brown and Goldman, Jason Simpson was never considered a suspect or a person of interest. The 41-year-old lives in Miami, where he reportedly works as a chef. HuffPost was unable to reach Simpson for comment Monday because his phone had been disconnected
But Dear said he has spent nearly two decades looking into the case and assembled a mountain of circumstantial evidence, which, he said, suggests that O.J. Simpson had nothing to do with the murders of Brown and Goldman.
"I flew out two weeks after the murders," he said. "I climbed over the back gate and walked the walkway to the front door, and that's when I realized O.J. could not have done it. But he was there. He was either there at the time or there afterwards [and] became part of the crime."
In his book, Dear claims that he has the knife used in the murders, along with photos and other evidence that suggest the true killer was Jason Simpson, O.J.'s son with his first wife.
"When I tell you we have the weapon -- we found the weapon in Jason's storage facility that he failed to make payments on. We know he carried it -- his initials were carved in the leather sheath," Dear said.
"We have emails from his former roommates that were in college with him. We have our suspect's diaries. We have his forged time card, and we have the vehicle he was driving on the night of the murders," said Dear.
The private investigator also claims to have photos of Jason Simpson wearing the knit cap that was found at the murder scene.
But why? Why would Jason Simpson kill Brown and Goldman?
During O.J. Simpson's trial, prosecutors alleged that the defendant was obsessed with his ex-wife, that he was prone to jealous rages and that he would stalk her.
Dear contends that Jason Simpson has his own demons and suffers from "intermittent rage disorder."
"Our suspect at the time was 5'11" and 235 pounds," Dear said. "He was 24 years old, and he was on probation for assaulting his previous employer with a knife. In addition to that, he's had three attempted suicides and has been in a psychiatric unit."
On the day of the murders -- June 12, 1994 -- O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown attended a dance recital for their daughter. Dear alleges that Jason Simpson was working as a chef in a Beverly Hills restaurant and had put together a special meal for the family. Brown, however, did not attend.
"You're dealing with a young man who just weeks prior had checked into a hospital where he said he was out of his medication and was about to rage," Dear said. "I have no doubt he had no intention of killing her, but [he] confronted her and, as a result, something happened."
Dear said the diaries he obtained, which were allegedly written by Jason Simpson, refer to the young man's obsession with knives and the problems he was purportedly dealing with.
One entry allegedly reads, "It's the year of the knife for me. I cut away my problems with a knife. Anybody touches my friends -- I will kill them. I'm also tired of being Dr. Jekyll [and] Mr. Hyde."
O.J. Simpson was unavailable for comment at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nev., where he is serving a 33-year prison sentence. In 2008, he was found guilty of armed robbery and kidnapping for taking sports memorabilia from a dealer at gunpoint.
While the book's bombshell claims have not been proved -- authorities in California have yet to comment on them -- Dear insisted he can back up every allegation.
"I have been inducted into the Police Officer Hall of Fame as a private investigator, so my credentials are not [that of] some idiot guy just throwing it out there. My reputation is important to me. I would not say any of this without a great deal of backup," Dear said.
Dear also contended that he has managed to convince others that his theory has merit.
"I recently did a speech in front of 533 law enforcement investigators and prosecutors," he said. "The first statement I made was 'How many of you believe O.J. was guilty?' and everyone raised their hand. When [my speech] was over, I asked the same thing and only three people voted guilty. So when you get law enforcement and all these people to take that position, that's a pretty strong position."
One of Us: UNF music chairman blows horn for African-American music
Submitted by Charlie Patton
Not long after he became chairman of the music department at the University of North Florida, Lenard Bowie decided to teach a course on the history of African-American music.
His problem was that he couldn't find a good, comprehensive textbook, Bowie remembered.
His friend, William Brown, an opera singer and UNF professor, suggested a solution: "Why don't you write your own book, Bowie?"
And so that summer, Bowie began working on his manuscript, expecting to finish it in a year or two. Now, 23 years later, "African American Musical Heritage 1600-Present," subtitled "An appreciation, historical summary, and introduction to music fundamentals," has finally been published.
"I didn't think it would ever happen," Bowie, now 74, said during a recent interview.
Bowie got his start in music as a high school student in Big Sandy, Texas. He had three old brothers who all played horns in the marching band. When he got to high school, Bowie, who had a flair for bass lines, planned to take up the tuba. The band director had a different idea.
"He said he needed trumpet players," Bowie remembered.
So he took up the trumpet. At first, he wasn't good enough to play with the varsity band. But his girlfriend got to ride on the varsity band's bus, and Bowie was determined to ride with her. So he practiced fanatically until he could join her on the bus.
That eventually paid off in a band scholarship to Florida A&M. After A&M, he earned three advanced degrees, a master's from the Manhattan School of Music and both a master's and a doctorate from Yale University.
Bowie had been something of a snob about traditional African-American musical styles. Teachers had told him that if he tried playing jazz it would ruin his technique, and he had never liked blues. But a professor at Yale, who had been researching how African music had been transformed into African-American music, changed Bowie's attitude, he said.
"It opened my eyes to how wrong I was," he said. "Music is just such a great part of who we are as black people."
Bowie was a college professor for 46 years, the first 22 at Florida A&M. In 1980, Brown, who was chairman of UNF's music department at the time, hired Bowie to start UNF's band program. He rose to become chair of the music department in 1989.
He retired in 2004 to spend more time with his wife, Audrey. But she died two weeks later.
The father of three and grandfather of three has spent the past eight years working on his book, which was edited by his oldest daughter, Patrice.
"Patrice took a good book and turned it into a great book," Bowie said.
The book is available for purchase online at Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and Xlibris.com and can be ordered from Xlibris by calling (888) 795-4274, ext. 7879.
The price, which includes six remastered CDs with 117 songs, is $74.99 for trade paperbacks and $82.99 for hardcover copies.
[email protected], (904) 359-4413
His problem was that he couldn't find a good, comprehensive textbook, Bowie remembered.
His friend, William Brown, an opera singer and UNF professor, suggested a solution: "Why don't you write your own book, Bowie?"
And so that summer, Bowie began working on his manuscript, expecting to finish it in a year or two. Now, 23 years later, "African American Musical Heritage 1600-Present," subtitled "An appreciation, historical summary, and introduction to music fundamentals," has finally been published.
"I didn't think it would ever happen," Bowie, now 74, said during a recent interview.
Bowie got his start in music as a high school student in Big Sandy, Texas. He had three old brothers who all played horns in the marching band. When he got to high school, Bowie, who had a flair for bass lines, planned to take up the tuba. The band director had a different idea.
"He said he needed trumpet players," Bowie remembered.
So he took up the trumpet. At first, he wasn't good enough to play with the varsity band. But his girlfriend got to ride on the varsity band's bus, and Bowie was determined to ride with her. So he practiced fanatically until he could join her on the bus.
That eventually paid off in a band scholarship to Florida A&M. After A&M, he earned three advanced degrees, a master's from the Manhattan School of Music and both a master's and a doctorate from Yale University.
Bowie had been something of a snob about traditional African-American musical styles. Teachers had told him that if he tried playing jazz it would ruin his technique, and he had never liked blues. But a professor at Yale, who had been researching how African music had been transformed into African-American music, changed Bowie's attitude, he said.
"It opened my eyes to how wrong I was," he said. "Music is just such a great part of who we are as black people."
Bowie was a college professor for 46 years, the first 22 at Florida A&M. In 1980, Brown, who was chairman of UNF's music department at the time, hired Bowie to start UNF's band program. He rose to become chair of the music department in 1989.
He retired in 2004 to spend more time with his wife, Audrey. But she died two weeks later.
The father of three and grandfather of three has spent the past eight years working on his book, which was edited by his oldest daughter, Patrice.
"Patrice took a good book and turned it into a great book," Bowie said.
The book is available for purchase online at Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and Xlibris.com and can be ordered from Xlibris by calling (888) 795-4274, ext. 7879.
The price, which includes six remastered CDs with 117 songs, is $74.99 for trade paperbacks and $82.99 for hardcover copies.
[email protected], (904) 359-4413
Book Review | The Nicest Kids in Town: Claims of integration on ‘Bandstand’ rebutted
PHILADELPHIA — Matthew F. Delmont set out to write about how the 1950s dance show American Bandstand was an integrated bastion of pop culture, mixing Philadelphia’s black and white teens on television even though the rest of the country was divided by race.
Then he discovered that his premise was wrong.
In the resulting book, The Nicest Kids in Town, the assistant professor of American studies at Scripps College in Claremont, Calif., details howAmerican Bandstand kept African-American teens off the show, despite host Dick Clark’s later claims to the contrary.
There was nothing overt about racism on Bandstand. The show didn’t hang a shingle outside its studio barring African-Americans from the premises.
“What they did was use what could only be described as underhanded tactics,” Delmont said in a phone interview. “They would have a dress code, and black teens would just so happen not to have the right clothes on.”
Bandstand used a core group of 10 to 20 dancers. If other teens wanted to get on the show, they had to write in for passes.
Producers would screen the ticket applications, picking out kids with Polish, Irish and Italian names whom they assumed were white.
In the book, Delmont talks to Walter Palmer, who lived in the West Philly neighborhood during Bandstand’s heyday.
“ Bandstand was segregated,” Palmer told Delmont. “There were white kids from all of the Catholic schools but no black kids.”
Palmer and his friends protested.
“(His group) wrote in with different last names, with Polish, Italian and Irish last names, so they were able to get passes for that day,” Delmont said.
What’s ironic about the show’s exclusionary practices is that West Philly at the time was relatively integrated.
“ Bandstand didn’t want to broadcast that real Philadelphia to the region,” Delmont said.
As recently as last March, when he was interviewed by The New York Times, Dick Clark contended that Bandstand became integrated when he took over as host in 1957.
Clark isn’t quoted in Delmont’s book. Clark’s publicist, Paul Shefrin, said that Clark was never asked.
“I contacted Dick Clark Productions via phone in spring of 2007, and they connected me to his publicist, Paul Shefrin,” Delmont countered. “I called Mr. Shefrin, and he, on behalf of Mr. Clark, declined to comment on the evidence that I had found at that point.”
According to Delmont, Clark didn’t start asserting that Bandstand was integrated until Soul Train became a competitor for American Bandstand
Then he discovered that his premise was wrong.
In the resulting book, The Nicest Kids in Town, the assistant professor of American studies at Scripps College in Claremont, Calif., details howAmerican Bandstand kept African-American teens off the show, despite host Dick Clark’s later claims to the contrary.
There was nothing overt about racism on Bandstand. The show didn’t hang a shingle outside its studio barring African-Americans from the premises.
“What they did was use what could only be described as underhanded tactics,” Delmont said in a phone interview. “They would have a dress code, and black teens would just so happen not to have the right clothes on.”
Bandstand used a core group of 10 to 20 dancers. If other teens wanted to get on the show, they had to write in for passes.
Producers would screen the ticket applications, picking out kids with Polish, Irish and Italian names whom they assumed were white.
In the book, Delmont talks to Walter Palmer, who lived in the West Philly neighborhood during Bandstand’s heyday.
“ Bandstand was segregated,” Palmer told Delmont. “There were white kids from all of the Catholic schools but no black kids.”
Palmer and his friends protested.
“(His group) wrote in with different last names, with Polish, Italian and Irish last names, so they were able to get passes for that day,” Delmont said.
What’s ironic about the show’s exclusionary practices is that West Philly at the time was relatively integrated.
“ Bandstand didn’t want to broadcast that real Philadelphia to the region,” Delmont said.
As recently as last March, when he was interviewed by The New York Times, Dick Clark contended that Bandstand became integrated when he took over as host in 1957.
Clark isn’t quoted in Delmont’s book. Clark’s publicist, Paul Shefrin, said that Clark was never asked.
“I contacted Dick Clark Productions via phone in spring of 2007, and they connected me to his publicist, Paul Shefrin,” Delmont countered. “I called Mr. Shefrin, and he, on behalf of Mr. Clark, declined to comment on the evidence that I had found at that point.”
According to Delmont, Clark didn’t start asserting that Bandstand was integrated until Soul Train became a competitor for American Bandstand
African-American experiences explored in books for children
When my family moved to Chicago in the late 1960s, our neighbor Ginny, picking up on my mother's Southern accent, missed no opportunity to criticize "Rebel" racism. But when my mother described her loving relationship with Sally, her grandmother's black cook, Ginny gasped: "You touched one? How could you touch one?"
The ugly truth of Northern bigotry is just one of the facts no longer off-limits for children's books. This month, Black History Month, brings scores of books dealing with the black experience in America. Here are several worth reading at any time of the year.
* "Miles to Go for Freedom: Segregation and Civil Rights in the Jim Crow Years"(by Linda Barrett Osborne; Abrams, 128 pages, ages 12 and up, $24.95) explores Northern bigotry along with the familiar pain of the Southern variety. The illustrations, from historic photos to a 1926 rejection notice from a famed music school ("I am sorry, but no colored students are accepted at the Peabody Conservatory.") help to tell the tale.
* "We March"(story and illustrations by Shane W. Evans; Macmillan, 32 pages, ages 4 to 7, $16.99) gives a simply worded, colorfully illustrated view of a family's preparation for and participation in the 1963 March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic "I have a dream" speech.
* "Freedom Song: The Story of Henry 'Box' Brown"(by Sally M. Walker, illustrated by Sean Qualls; HarperCollins, 40 pages, ages 4 to 8, $17.99) tells Brown's true story in terms of the songs he sang: work songs, freedom songs and psalms. Qualls' watercolors are joined seamlessly with the story, a quietly powerful indictment of the evils of slavery.
* "Jazz Age Josephine: Dancer, singer - who's that, who? Why, that's MISS Josephine Baker, to you!"(by Jonah Winter, illustrations by Marjorie Priceman; Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 40 pages, ages 4 to 8, $16.99) is long on title but short in length. The story, written in bluesy verse, tells of Josephine Baker's hard early life in St. Louis, and her life as a Jazz Age icon in Paris. Priceman's vivid, fun-filled illustrations are the best part of the book.
* "Ellen's Broom"(by Kelly Starling Lyons, illustrated by Daniel Minter; Penguin, 32 pages, ages 5 to 8, $16.99) makes a humble implement into a treasure. Slaves could not be legally married, but they announced their commitment in a broom-jumping ceremony. When the government recognizes those marriages as binding, Ellen's parents go to the courthouse to register, and Ellen and her sister Ruby transform the broom into something special. Minter's linoleum block prints give the book a homespun feel.
Belle's Grandmama can't read, but she sings like an angel. Belle, 8, can read, and when Grandmama gets a chance to tour the South with a jazz band, Belle gets to go along to help her. "When Grandmama Sings" (by Margaree King Mitchell, illustrations by James E. Ransome; HarperCollins, 40 pages, ages 5 to 9, $16.99) tells its story of traveling in the segregated South with effective subtlety, its evocative watercolors saying as much as the text.
William was fascinated with machinery. When the rain stopped and famine struck his Malawi village, he went to the library and figured out how to build a windmill out of junk to bring light, water and possibilities to his home. The inspiring true story of "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" (by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon; Penguin, 32 pages, ages 6 and up, $16.99) is aided by Zunon's effective collages.
Fifteen poems, written in black dialect in "Freedom's a-Callin Me" (by Ntozake Shange, illustrations by Rod Brown; HarperCollins, 32 pages, ages 8 to 12, $16.99), tell the story of a trip on the Underground Railroad, from conception to freedom. There's one glaring historical error: one poem, "Death or Freedom," depicts Sojourner Truth leading a group of escaped slaves and pulling a pistol on one who wants to give up. Truth was a remarkable woman who accomplished many things, but the leading and the pistol belong to Harriet Tubman. Otherwise, this is a most effective work by Ntozake Shange, who spent some of her childhood in St. Louis and wrote about it in the adult novel "Betsey Brown."
"What Color Is My World? The Lost History of African-American Inventors" (by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld, illustrated by Ben Boos and A.G. Ford; Candlewick Press, 44 pages, ages 8 to 14, $17.99) goes beyond George Washington Carver in a highly readable tale full of fun facts about creators of color, from incandescent lighting genius Lewis Howard Latimer to Lonnie Johnson, the man responsible for the Super Soaker.
"Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans" (story and illustrations by Kadir Nelson; Balzer + Bray, 108 pages, ages 9 and up; $19.99) is a remarkable achievement, a fictional family history with a lot of truth in it. The "Everywoman" narrator tells the black experience from slavery to the present, noting some rarely remarked-upon elements including the wide extent of black intermarriage with American Indians, and ex-slaves' efforts to establish towns of their own in the West. Published last fall, this book won the Coretta Scott King Award for author and a King honor for illustration.
Journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault not only lived through the Civil Rights era; she helped make that history, as one of the first two black students admitted (reluctantly) to the University of Georgia. "To the Mountaintop: My Journey Through the Civil Rights Movement" (Flash Point, 208 pages, ages 12 up, $22.99) is her first-person account of that era, taking readers through the pivotal years of freedom riders and marchers and school integration. Pages from The New York Times help to set the tone. (The full texts of the relevant articles are in an appendix in the back, along with a full index and list of quotation sources, to make this book an excellent resource.)
___
©2012 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Read more: African-American experiences explored in books for children | Aiken Standard
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
The ugly truth of Northern bigotry is just one of the facts no longer off-limits for children's books. This month, Black History Month, brings scores of books dealing with the black experience in America. Here are several worth reading at any time of the year.
* "Miles to Go for Freedom: Segregation and Civil Rights in the Jim Crow Years"(by Linda Barrett Osborne; Abrams, 128 pages, ages 12 and up, $24.95) explores Northern bigotry along with the familiar pain of the Southern variety. The illustrations, from historic photos to a 1926 rejection notice from a famed music school ("I am sorry, but no colored students are accepted at the Peabody Conservatory.") help to tell the tale.
* "We March"(story and illustrations by Shane W. Evans; Macmillan, 32 pages, ages 4 to 7, $16.99) gives a simply worded, colorfully illustrated view of a family's preparation for and participation in the 1963 March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic "I have a dream" speech.
* "Freedom Song: The Story of Henry 'Box' Brown"(by Sally M. Walker, illustrated by Sean Qualls; HarperCollins, 40 pages, ages 4 to 8, $17.99) tells Brown's true story in terms of the songs he sang: work songs, freedom songs and psalms. Qualls' watercolors are joined seamlessly with the story, a quietly powerful indictment of the evils of slavery.
* "Jazz Age Josephine: Dancer, singer - who's that, who? Why, that's MISS Josephine Baker, to you!"(by Jonah Winter, illustrations by Marjorie Priceman; Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 40 pages, ages 4 to 8, $16.99) is long on title but short in length. The story, written in bluesy verse, tells of Josephine Baker's hard early life in St. Louis, and her life as a Jazz Age icon in Paris. Priceman's vivid, fun-filled illustrations are the best part of the book.
* "Ellen's Broom"(by Kelly Starling Lyons, illustrated by Daniel Minter; Penguin, 32 pages, ages 5 to 8, $16.99) makes a humble implement into a treasure. Slaves could not be legally married, but they announced their commitment in a broom-jumping ceremony. When the government recognizes those marriages as binding, Ellen's parents go to the courthouse to register, and Ellen and her sister Ruby transform the broom into something special. Minter's linoleum block prints give the book a homespun feel.
Belle's Grandmama can't read, but she sings like an angel. Belle, 8, can read, and when Grandmama gets a chance to tour the South with a jazz band, Belle gets to go along to help her. "When Grandmama Sings" (by Margaree King Mitchell, illustrations by James E. Ransome; HarperCollins, 40 pages, ages 5 to 9, $16.99) tells its story of traveling in the segregated South with effective subtlety, its evocative watercolors saying as much as the text.
William was fascinated with machinery. When the rain stopped and famine struck his Malawi village, he went to the library and figured out how to build a windmill out of junk to bring light, water and possibilities to his home. The inspiring true story of "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" (by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon; Penguin, 32 pages, ages 6 and up, $16.99) is aided by Zunon's effective collages.
Fifteen poems, written in black dialect in "Freedom's a-Callin Me" (by Ntozake Shange, illustrations by Rod Brown; HarperCollins, 32 pages, ages 8 to 12, $16.99), tell the story of a trip on the Underground Railroad, from conception to freedom. There's one glaring historical error: one poem, "Death or Freedom," depicts Sojourner Truth leading a group of escaped slaves and pulling a pistol on one who wants to give up. Truth was a remarkable woman who accomplished many things, but the leading and the pistol belong to Harriet Tubman. Otherwise, this is a most effective work by Ntozake Shange, who spent some of her childhood in St. Louis and wrote about it in the adult novel "Betsey Brown."
"What Color Is My World? The Lost History of African-American Inventors" (by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld, illustrated by Ben Boos and A.G. Ford; Candlewick Press, 44 pages, ages 8 to 14, $17.99) goes beyond George Washington Carver in a highly readable tale full of fun facts about creators of color, from incandescent lighting genius Lewis Howard Latimer to Lonnie Johnson, the man responsible for the Super Soaker.
"Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans" (story and illustrations by Kadir Nelson; Balzer + Bray, 108 pages, ages 9 and up; $19.99) is a remarkable achievement, a fictional family history with a lot of truth in it. The "Everywoman" narrator tells the black experience from slavery to the present, noting some rarely remarked-upon elements including the wide extent of black intermarriage with American Indians, and ex-slaves' efforts to establish towns of their own in the West. Published last fall, this book won the Coretta Scott King Award for author and a King honor for illustration.
Journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault not only lived through the Civil Rights era; she helped make that history, as one of the first two black students admitted (reluctantly) to the University of Georgia. "To the Mountaintop: My Journey Through the Civil Rights Movement" (Flash Point, 208 pages, ages 12 up, $22.99) is her first-person account of that era, taking readers through the pivotal years of freedom riders and marchers and school integration. Pages from The New York Times help to set the tone. (The full texts of the relevant articles are in an appendix in the back, along with a full index and list of quotation sources, to make this book an excellent resource.)
___
©2012 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Read more: African-American experiences explored in books for children | Aiken Standard
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
10 African-American Authors Everyone Should Read
The majestic Maya Angelou, whom I met years ago at San Francisco’s Glide Memorial Church, once remarked, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Sadly, this agony was once common to millions of African-Americans, whose stories often went untold or unheard, let alone published and read by the world.
Nevertheless, many inspiring and irreplaceable voices heroically surfaced over the years. They belong in the canon of great American authors not solely because of their race, but because they deftly address the perennial concerns of all humanity.
It’s Black History Month, in case you forgot. Not Taiwanese-American NBA Basketball Player Appreciation Month (read: Linsanity), as it might appear from news reports. In that spirit, below find ten African-American authors whose works should rest prominently on every educated American’s bookshelf (or Kindle, Nook, or iPad). Moreover, please consider these authors for great books discussion groups, not just in February, but also every month of the year.
A special shout-out to my friends at Questia, the online research tool for students. Questia compiled this list based on the most-read African-American authors in their library (a list of most influentialAfrican-American authors might also include fellow Omahan, Malcolm X, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis, and President Barack Obama).
To punctuate their support of Black History Month, Questia is offering a reference work about each author below completely free for a month. See the link link after each description.
The Ten Most-Read African-American Authors:
1. Langston Hughes was an American poet, novelist and playwright. He is best known for his work during the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. With famous poems such as “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” and Crotty fave, “Let America Be America Again,”Hughes proudly depicted the lives of poor blacks through the invention of what was called “jazz poetry.” Factoid: my Monk Media client, jazz labelMotema Records, is located inside Harlem’s Langston Hughes House. Free reference work: [Arnold Rampersad, ed. The Collected Works of Langston Hughes. Donald B. Gibson, Author.]
2. Richard Wright authored what were considered “controversial” novels in his time, including Crotty fave Native Son. In 1945, Wright penned the best-seller Black Boy, a seminal portrayal of one black man’s search for self-actualization in a racist society. It paved the way for other successful black writers. Free Reference Work: [“Shouting Curses”: the politics of “bad” language in Richard Wright’s ‘Black Boy.’ Jennifer H. Poulos, Author.]
3. Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist. She is celebrated for novels with epic themes and richly detailed characters, such as in The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved. Though, for better or worse, Ms. Morrison is best known for her memorable, though misunderstood, quote, “Bill Clinton is our first black president.” Free Reference Work: [Toni Morrison’s World of Fiction. Karen Carmean, Author.]
4. Zora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author of four novels and over fifty short stories, plays and essays. Her novelTheir Eyes Were Watching God was written during her fieldwork in Haiti with the Guggenheim Foundation, which provides grants to professionals in the creative arts. Free Reference Work: [Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life. Lori Robison, Author.]
5. Frederick Douglass was a strong public speaker and, after escaping from slavery, prominent leader in the abolitionist movement. Douglass also authored several compelling autobiographies that detailed his experiences in slavery. He served as a striking counter-example to slaveholders’ claims that blacks did not have the intellectual capacity to function as free and independent citizens. Free Reference Work: [Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History. Frederick Douglass, Author.]
6. Alice Walker is an author and activist, best known for the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple, for which she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. It was turned into a successful Steven Spielberg film co-starring Oprah Winfrey, and later into an excellent Broadway musical. Walker was involved in the Civil Rights movement and participated in the 1963 March on Washington. Free reference work: [Alice Walker: 'Color Purple' Author Confronts Her Critics and Talks about Her Provocative New Book. Charles Whitaker, Author.]
7. W.E.B. Du Bois was the first African-American to earn a doctorate from Harvard. He was a member of the early 20th century African-American intellectual elite and helped increase black political representation. He was a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and served as editor for its magazine, The Crisis, to which he contributed many essays. Free reference work: [The Souls of W.E.B. Du Bois: New Essays and Reflections. Lawrence A. Burnley, Author.]
8. Ralph Ellison was a literary critic, scholar and writer. He wrote Shadow and Act, a collection of political, social and critical essays. He served as a professor at Rutgers University and Yale University. In addition, he received a National Book Award in 1953 for his book Invisible Man, which was chosen in 1998 by the Modern Library Association as one of the top 100 Best English-language Novels of the 20thCentury. Invisible Man ranked 19th, ahead of Richard Wright’s Native Son at 20th. Free Reference Work: [Heroism and the Black Intellectual- Ralph Ellison, Politics, and Afro-American Intellectual Life. Jeffrey Gaffio Watts, Author.]
9. August Wilson is an American playwright best known for The Pittsburgh Cycle (often referred to as his “Century Cycle”), which consists of ten plays set in different decades highlighting the black experience throughout the 20th century. Free Reference Work: [Raising the Curtain Again. Phil W. Petrie, Author.]
10. James Baldwin was a novelist, poet and essayist. He explored the unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual and class distinctions in Western societies throughout 20th century America. His novel, Go Tell It On the Mountain, ranked 39th on the MLA list. Free Reference Work: [Contemporary African American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Emmanuel S. Nelson, Editor.]
Nevertheless, many inspiring and irreplaceable voices heroically surfaced over the years. They belong in the canon of great American authors not solely because of their race, but because they deftly address the perennial concerns of all humanity.
It’s Black History Month, in case you forgot. Not Taiwanese-American NBA Basketball Player Appreciation Month (read: Linsanity), as it might appear from news reports. In that spirit, below find ten African-American authors whose works should rest prominently on every educated American’s bookshelf (or Kindle, Nook, or iPad). Moreover, please consider these authors for great books discussion groups, not just in February, but also every month of the year.
A special shout-out to my friends at Questia, the online research tool for students. Questia compiled this list based on the most-read African-American authors in their library (a list of most influentialAfrican-American authors might also include fellow Omahan, Malcolm X, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis, and President Barack Obama).
To punctuate their support of Black History Month, Questia is offering a reference work about each author below completely free for a month. See the link link after each description.
The Ten Most-Read African-American Authors:
1. Langston Hughes was an American poet, novelist and playwright. He is best known for his work during the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. With famous poems such as “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” and Crotty fave, “Let America Be America Again,”Hughes proudly depicted the lives of poor blacks through the invention of what was called “jazz poetry.” Factoid: my Monk Media client, jazz labelMotema Records, is located inside Harlem’s Langston Hughes House. Free reference work: [Arnold Rampersad, ed. The Collected Works of Langston Hughes. Donald B. Gibson, Author.]
2. Richard Wright authored what were considered “controversial” novels in his time, including Crotty fave Native Son. In 1945, Wright penned the best-seller Black Boy, a seminal portrayal of one black man’s search for self-actualization in a racist society. It paved the way for other successful black writers. Free Reference Work: [“Shouting Curses”: the politics of “bad” language in Richard Wright’s ‘Black Boy.’ Jennifer H. Poulos, Author.]
3. Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist. She is celebrated for novels with epic themes and richly detailed characters, such as in The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved. Though, for better or worse, Ms. Morrison is best known for her memorable, though misunderstood, quote, “Bill Clinton is our first black president.” Free Reference Work: [Toni Morrison’s World of Fiction. Karen Carmean, Author.]
4. Zora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author of four novels and over fifty short stories, plays and essays. Her novelTheir Eyes Were Watching God was written during her fieldwork in Haiti with the Guggenheim Foundation, which provides grants to professionals in the creative arts. Free Reference Work: [Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life. Lori Robison, Author.]
5. Frederick Douglass was a strong public speaker and, after escaping from slavery, prominent leader in the abolitionist movement. Douglass also authored several compelling autobiographies that detailed his experiences in slavery. He served as a striking counter-example to slaveholders’ claims that blacks did not have the intellectual capacity to function as free and independent citizens. Free Reference Work: [Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History. Frederick Douglass, Author.]
6. Alice Walker is an author and activist, best known for the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple, for which she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. It was turned into a successful Steven Spielberg film co-starring Oprah Winfrey, and later into an excellent Broadway musical. Walker was involved in the Civil Rights movement and participated in the 1963 March on Washington. Free reference work: [Alice Walker: 'Color Purple' Author Confronts Her Critics and Talks about Her Provocative New Book. Charles Whitaker, Author.]
7. W.E.B. Du Bois was the first African-American to earn a doctorate from Harvard. He was a member of the early 20th century African-American intellectual elite and helped increase black political representation. He was a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and served as editor for its magazine, The Crisis, to which he contributed many essays. Free reference work: [The Souls of W.E.B. Du Bois: New Essays and Reflections. Lawrence A. Burnley, Author.]
8. Ralph Ellison was a literary critic, scholar and writer. He wrote Shadow and Act, a collection of political, social and critical essays. He served as a professor at Rutgers University and Yale University. In addition, he received a National Book Award in 1953 for his book Invisible Man, which was chosen in 1998 by the Modern Library Association as one of the top 100 Best English-language Novels of the 20thCentury. Invisible Man ranked 19th, ahead of Richard Wright’s Native Son at 20th. Free Reference Work: [Heroism and the Black Intellectual- Ralph Ellison, Politics, and Afro-American Intellectual Life. Jeffrey Gaffio Watts, Author.]
9. August Wilson is an American playwright best known for The Pittsburgh Cycle (often referred to as his “Century Cycle”), which consists of ten plays set in different decades highlighting the black experience throughout the 20th century. Free Reference Work: [Raising the Curtain Again. Phil W. Petrie, Author.]
10. James Baldwin was a novelist, poet and essayist. He explored the unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual and class distinctions in Western societies throughout 20th century America. His novel, Go Tell It On the Mountain, ranked 39th on the MLA list. Free Reference Work: [Contemporary African American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Emmanuel S. Nelson, Editor.]
Lauren & Tony Dungy co-author You Can Be A Friend
By JONI B. HANNIGAN
TAMPA (FBW)—Former school teacher Lauren Dungy has been back in the classroom this year promoting the second book she co-authored with her husband, best-selling author and Super Bowl-winning coach, Tony Dungy.
The Dungy’s are members of Central Tampa Baptist Church and Lauren Dungy is an ambassador for iMom, a motherhood program of Family First, a non-profit organization at iMom.com.
You Can Be A Friend, is drawn, in part, from the Dungy’s home life—to include characters Jade, 9, and Eric, 18, modeled after the couple’s daughter and son.
The 32-page beautifully illustrated children’s book features artwork by Ron Mazellan who joined the family at their home in Tampa where he was able to observe them in order to better capture their looks and facial expressions.
The book explores Jade’s feelings over whether to include her wheelchair-using friend in plans for a birthday party at a local water park.
“Limitations can never limit the boundaries of friendship,” a description of the book explains.
In a visit to a school in New Port Richey, Tony Dungy said he and his wife talked about co-authoring books that teach messages about bullying, sharing, and adoption—back when he was still coaching and she visited classrooms with other football wives to read to students.
Writing stories about their own experiences has been the result, the Dungy’s told the St. Petersburg Times.
“These are about typical problems that families go through,” Lauren Dungy told the Times, adding that the books all convey “God’s message that we are to love one another and be friendly and kind to everyone.”
The Dungy’s are members of Central Tampa Baptist Church and Lauren Dungy is an ambassador for iMom, a motherhood program of Family First, a non-profit organization at iMom.com.
You Can Be A Friend, is drawn, in part, from the Dungy’s home life—to include characters Jade, 9, and Eric, 18, modeled after the couple’s daughter and son.
The 32-page beautifully illustrated children’s book features artwork by Ron Mazellan who joined the family at their home in Tampa where he was able to observe them in order to better capture their looks and facial expressions.
The book explores Jade’s feelings over whether to include her wheelchair-using friend in plans for a birthday party at a local water park.
“Limitations can never limit the boundaries of friendship,” a description of the book explains.
In a visit to a school in New Port Richey, Tony Dungy said he and his wife talked about co-authoring books that teach messages about bullying, sharing, and adoption—back when he was still coaching and she visited classrooms with other football wives to read to students.
Writing stories about their own experiences has been the result, the Dungy’s told the St. Petersburg Times.
“These are about typical problems that families go through,” Lauren Dungy told the Times, adding that the books all convey “God’s message that we are to love one another and be friendly and kind to everyone.”
New African American Romance Series from Debut Author Sparkles with First Novel, North Star and iPod Touch Contest
By Angeline M. Bishop
Deborah Gilbert, Senior Editor of Soul Mate Publishing, secured world rights of the Sheridan series which follows the romantic relationships of the Sheridan siblings after the loss of their mother. North Star takes inspirational themes of family bonds and community involvement and gives readers a passionate romance.
North Star, the first title, published in November 2011, will be followed by South Beach, Wild West, and Big East. This February, the North Star iPod Touch contest will promote the great artists on the North Star Soundtrack and Apple's all-new iTune U app, which gives educators and students everything they need on their iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch to teach and take courses. Romance readers should visit www.angelinembishop.com for more contest details.
Inspired by the volunteers of a local community center and her ten year work experience at Rutgers University, Angeline created North Star leads Caresse Aldana and Graham Sheridan. She desires to transport romance readers from their stressful lives with sensual love stories that feature captivating characters with strong family values.
Deborah Gilbert of SMP says: "We're delighted with the success of North Star and proud to announce this new series as Angeline prepares for her first visit to Romance Slam Jam conference in Little Rock, Arkansas this spring. She's a fantastic storyteller and we are very excited to continue our relationship with her."
NORTH STAR is available for ebook purchase online through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Soul Mate Publishing.
About the Author Angeline was born in Washington, D. C., but lived most of her life in New Jersey and considers the 'Garden State' her home. Her childhood passion for writing led to a degree in English Literature and a membership in Romance Writers of America.
She is the 2011 recipient of the Southern Burlington County NAACP's Rising Star award and a current board member of Write of Passage, Inc., a nonprofit organization that supports under-served artists in the Baltimore, MD, area. She provides aspiring novelists with writing resources to help them strengthen their craft.
For more information or interviews please visit the author at www.angelinembishop.com or email[email protected]. Follow @ambishop1 on Twitter for the latest news.
New books for African American History Month
By Nicole Villalpando
Here are some of the books that have come across my desk:
For older children and teens:
“Black Boy White School” by Brian F. Walker is a young adult novel about a black teen from East Cleveland who goes to an exclusive boarding school in Maine. There he finds out what stereotypes he has about his white classmates and what stereotypes they have about him.
“We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March,” by Cynthia Levinson, is the story of 1963, when 4,000 black elementary, middle and high school children in Birmingham, Ala., went to jail to fight for Civil Rights. “We’ve Got a Job,” tells the story of four of these children and features photos from 1963. Levinson will speak about the book on March 4 at 3 p.m. at the Carver Museum, 1165 Angelina St.
For elementary school age:
“Freedom Song, The Story of Henry ‘Box’ Brown,” by Sally M. Walker is the story of a real slave who was born in 1815 and how he coped with slavery by singing the freedom songs his family sang. He later escaped to the Pennsylvania by being shipped north in a box. He survived by staying silent, though he sang in his heart.
“Freedom’s a-Callin Me,” by Ntozake Shange, tells the story of the Underground Railroad in poetry with beautiful paintings by Rod Brown.
Another book by Shange, “Coretta Scott,” is poetry about Coretta Scott King, the woman behind Martin Luther King Jr. Beautiful words and paintings show Coretta as a partner and inspiration for her husband.
“Just as Good, How Larry Doby Changed America’s Game,” by Chris Crowe, tells the story of a black family, who loves the Cleveland Indians, and their pride in Larry Doby, a real-life black baseball player who joined the Indians in 1947, and hit a home run in the World Series in 1948.
“When Grandmama Sings,” by Margaree King Mitchell, is the story of Belle and her grandmother, a jazz singer. Belle goes on tour with her grandmother through the segregated South. While her grandmother sells out theaters, she and her band cannot get served at the whites-only restaurants they pass.
“Heart and Soul, the Story of America and African Americans,” by Kadir Nelson tells the story of black America from the Declaration of Independence to slavery and abolition, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the move to cities in the North, and the end of Jim Crow. The chapters are short and written for late elementary school age. The photos feature famous African Americans like Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman.
“Summer Jackson, Grown Up,” by Teresa E. Harris, is not a black history story, but its character is a 7-year-old black girl who is full of sass and ready to be grown up. My own 8-year-old sassy pants at home has a lot of Summer Jackson in her.
Here are some of the books that have come across my desk:
For older children and teens:
“Black Boy White School” by Brian F. Walker is a young adult novel about a black teen from East Cleveland who goes to an exclusive boarding school in Maine. There he finds out what stereotypes he has about his white classmates and what stereotypes they have about him.
“We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March,” by Cynthia Levinson, is the story of 1963, when 4,000 black elementary, middle and high school children in Birmingham, Ala., went to jail to fight for Civil Rights. “We’ve Got a Job,” tells the story of four of these children and features photos from 1963. Levinson will speak about the book on March 4 at 3 p.m. at the Carver Museum, 1165 Angelina St.
For elementary school age:
“Freedom Song, The Story of Henry ‘Box’ Brown,” by Sally M. Walker is the story of a real slave who was born in 1815 and how he coped with slavery by singing the freedom songs his family sang. He later escaped to the Pennsylvania by being shipped north in a box. He survived by staying silent, though he sang in his heart.
“Freedom’s a-Callin Me,” by Ntozake Shange, tells the story of the Underground Railroad in poetry with beautiful paintings by Rod Brown.
Another book by Shange, “Coretta Scott,” is poetry about Coretta Scott King, the woman behind Martin Luther King Jr. Beautiful words and paintings show Coretta as a partner and inspiration for her husband.
“Just as Good, How Larry Doby Changed America’s Game,” by Chris Crowe, tells the story of a black family, who loves the Cleveland Indians, and their pride in Larry Doby, a real-life black baseball player who joined the Indians in 1947, and hit a home run in the World Series in 1948.
“When Grandmama Sings,” by Margaree King Mitchell, is the story of Belle and her grandmother, a jazz singer. Belle goes on tour with her grandmother through the segregated South. While her grandmother sells out theaters, she and her band cannot get served at the whites-only restaurants they pass.
“Heart and Soul, the Story of America and African Americans,” by Kadir Nelson tells the story of black America from the Declaration of Independence to slavery and abolition, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the move to cities in the North, and the end of Jim Crow. The chapters are short and written for late elementary school age. The photos feature famous African Americans like Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman.
“Summer Jackson, Grown Up,” by Teresa E. Harris, is not a black history story, but its character is a 7-year-old black girl who is full of sass and ready to be grown up. My own 8-year-old sassy pants at home has a lot of Summer Jackson in her.
Little Black Girl Lost 5
The year is 1791 and Lauren Renee Bouvier, formerly known as Ibo Atikah Mustafa, is still in North America—New Orleans to be exact—but she's all alone. She has just seen the murder of the man she loves. Someone's going to pay, not just for the death of Amir Bashir Jibril, the African warrior she ran away with to escape an arranged marriage, but for the death of all the men who died needlessly in the house on Bouvier Hill. They were shot down like dogs for murders they did not commit.
Revenge can be a costly thing. Fortunately, she has plenty of money from Beaumont Bouvier, who purchased her as a favor to the trusted friend who captured her in Nigeria. Beaumont Bouvier is also the man who set her free. She is now being seduced—not by a man, but by freedom, money, and the incredible amount of power she's amassing. Will she be able to carry out her murderous plans? Or will she become so enamored by wealth and influence that she abandons her African heritage to embrace the American Dream?
Revenge can be a costly thing. Fortunately, she has plenty of money from Beaumont Bouvier, who purchased her as a favor to the trusted friend who captured her in Nigeria. Beaumont Bouvier is also the man who set her free. She is now being seduced—not by a man, but by freedom, money, and the incredible amount of power she's amassing. Will she be able to carry out her murderous plans? Or will she become so enamored by wealth and influence that she abandons her African heritage to embrace the American Dream?
Be Careful What You Pray For
New York Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby returns with this delightful sequel to The Best of Everything, in which the infamous Reverend Curtis Black's beautiful daughter, Alicia, is all grown up—and headed for trouble of her own
Her first marriage didn't work out, but that isn't going to stop Alicia Black, the privileged daughter of the charismatic Reverend Curtis Black, from getting what she wants. One month after her wedding to her second husband, she can't believe her good fortune. God has heeded her prayers, blessing her with Pastor JT Valentine, a handsome, dynamic man of the cloth with his own large congregation, just like her father.
Unfortunately, Alicia doesn't understand just how much like Curtis her new husband truly is. She doesn't know that JT has been sneaking around town with other women—or that he only married her to get close to her father's money and fame. But while Alicia is blinded by love, her dad certainly isn't. He warned his little girl that JT simply can't be trusted. After all, it takes one to know one, and who better to see into the darkness of a sinner's heart than Curtis?
It will take a miracle to save the day. But God acts in mysterious ways, and soon a host of lies, longtime secrets, and acts of betrayal comes to light, and Alicia must face some very crucial and life-changing decisions. This time, she's got to be careful what she prays for. . . .
Her first marriage didn't work out, but that isn't going to stop Alicia Black, the privileged daughter of the charismatic Reverend Curtis Black, from getting what she wants. One month after her wedding to her second husband, she can't believe her good fortune. God has heeded her prayers, blessing her with Pastor JT Valentine, a handsome, dynamic man of the cloth with his own large congregation, just like her father.
Unfortunately, Alicia doesn't understand just how much like Curtis her new husband truly is. She doesn't know that JT has been sneaking around town with other women—or that he only married her to get close to her father's money and fame. But while Alicia is blinded by love, her dad certainly isn't. He warned his little girl that JT simply can't be trusted. After all, it takes one to know one, and who better to see into the darkness of a sinner's heart than Curtis?
It will take a miracle to save the day. But God acts in mysterious ways, and soon a host of lies, longtime secrets, and acts of betrayal comes to light, and Alicia must face some very crucial and life-changing decisions. This time, she's got to be careful what she prays for. . . .
10 Best African-American Romance Movies
The 10 best African-American romance movies show that love and romance is alive and well in the black community, just as its always been. Some of these films are quite familiar, while others are a little on the obscure side. But each and every one of these movies concerns romantic love to one degree or another.
- "Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns" Brenda, played by Angela Bassett, is ready for a new start when this movie begins. After just losing the dad she never knew, she heads for Georgia to meet with the family and she just might find the love she needs there, too.
- "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" Taken from a play, this movie follows the love lives of three black women. In the movie, men don't come off looking all that good. It's a needle in a hay stack issue.
- "Waiting to Exhale" Forest Whitaker directed this film. He did a fine job of being empathetic to a wronged woman. This film suggests that good romance is hard to come by.
- "Jungle Fever" Nobody is better than Spike Lee when it comes to African-American issues. In this instance, he takes on romance about love in the the African-American community.
- "Three Can Play That Game" What can a reality show do to a relationship? No darn good, most likely. This romance movie looks at what happens to an African-American man when his girlfriend gets a makeover.
- "The List" Wayne Brady stars in this African-American romance movie about a man who gets shown the door by his girlfriend. He then puts together a wish list for the perfect replacement.
- "Premium" This film features a woebegone actor who not only has trouble getting good parts, but also ends up having woman trouble, too. When things go wrong, sometimes they really go wrong.
- "He's on My Mind" Men are difficult to understand. Kayla King, played by Sherial McKinney makes it her job to figure them out. Good luck. This is as much a mystery movie, if you will, as it is a romance.
- "Love Chronicles: Secrets Revealed" Don't you hate radio talk show hosts that think they have all the answers? Well, if you do, you'll love this movie. This romance movie concerns a radio advice host that has troubling keeping his own marriage together.
- "Peaches" Powerful executives think they can get away with anything. In this romance movie, Dorien Wilson's character finds out that temptations can be a little too strong and nearly impossible to overcome.
Must read African American books.
The Autobiography of Malcom X
This story was filled with irony, and by this story i mean me actually reading and reviewing this book. I like irony, I am a sarcastic person myself. The fact that I initially picked this book off the shelf becauseMalcom X‘s picture on the cover looks like actor Denzel Washingtonmakes me grin.
The real story at hand is of a brave man who walked in danger, for he had taken the suffering of a suppressed people, and made it a suffering of his own. A man who was unreservedly comitted to liberating the black man, who had been trained to conceal his real thoughts as a mere matter of survival. A man who took the matter of freeing the black man, rather than integrating him into a society that crushed him and then penelized him for not being able to stand up.
I like to devide Malcom X’s life into two major parts. His childhood troubles, jail and joining the Nation of Islam into the first part, and his travel to Makkah for Hajj into the second. Although, first part is threefold the second part in duration, my biased eyes and heart naturally leant towards the second.
After a troubled childhood, teenagehood of crime and jail, Malcom finally joined the Nation of Islam – which is not by any means related to true Islam. The X denotes freedom of the last name given to him by the white slave master of his grandfather, and every member of the nation was given that X.
A seperation from the nation however, led Malcom to seek the real truth of Islam, and travel to Makkah, where he beautifully describes the signs of God in form of warmth and brotherhood of the Muslims, and the true colorblindness of Islam. Despite a comic note of trouble at the customs office of the Jeddah airport – even all the way back in 1964 -, his descriptions made me doubt my sense of appreciation of things we take for granted in this holy land. His amusement with everyone eating and drinking out of the same plates and cups, sitting on the same rug and sleeping in the same room, being of all colors and races in the context of America’s bold racism were like a page out of National Geographic as he wold describe. What he believed could not exist in America, existed in front of his bare eyes. He did not catch me more than when he articulated in one word that feeling I get when I first see the Ka’aba : Numbness. To this day, I haven’t read or heard a better description.
Finally, he caught my eye and my centers of logic with yet another wise quote, after seeing America’s race troubles, and sensing a sound solution in further study of true Islam, when he said: All Islam needs is a PR firm.
Malcom X was assasined in 1965 at the age of forty, which only carries you think about what he accomplished in a lifetime shorter than that given to most. One wonders what he could have done had God willed and lengthen his life. Truly, a man of the people.
The real story at hand is of a brave man who walked in danger, for he had taken the suffering of a suppressed people, and made it a suffering of his own. A man who was unreservedly comitted to liberating the black man, who had been trained to conceal his real thoughts as a mere matter of survival. A man who took the matter of freeing the black man, rather than integrating him into a society that crushed him and then penelized him for not being able to stand up.
I like to devide Malcom X’s life into two major parts. His childhood troubles, jail and joining the Nation of Islam into the first part, and his travel to Makkah for Hajj into the second. Although, first part is threefold the second part in duration, my biased eyes and heart naturally leant towards the second.
After a troubled childhood, teenagehood of crime and jail, Malcom finally joined the Nation of Islam – which is not by any means related to true Islam. The X denotes freedom of the last name given to him by the white slave master of his grandfather, and every member of the nation was given that X.
A seperation from the nation however, led Malcom to seek the real truth of Islam, and travel to Makkah, where he beautifully describes the signs of God in form of warmth and brotherhood of the Muslims, and the true colorblindness of Islam. Despite a comic note of trouble at the customs office of the Jeddah airport – even all the way back in 1964 -, his descriptions made me doubt my sense of appreciation of things we take for granted in this holy land. His amusement with everyone eating and drinking out of the same plates and cups, sitting on the same rug and sleeping in the same room, being of all colors and races in the context of America’s bold racism were like a page out of National Geographic as he wold describe. What he believed could not exist in America, existed in front of his bare eyes. He did not catch me more than when he articulated in one word that feeling I get when I first see the Ka’aba : Numbness. To this day, I haven’t read or heard a better description.
Finally, he caught my eye and my centers of logic with yet another wise quote, after seeing America’s race troubles, and sensing a sound solution in further study of true Islam, when he said: All Islam needs is a PR firm.
Malcom X was assasined in 1965 at the age of forty, which only carries you think about what he accomplished in a lifetime shorter than that given to most. One wonders what he could have done had God willed and lengthen his life. Truly, a man of the people.
The Coldest Winter Ever
By Sister Souljah - Pocket Star Books (2006) - Paperback - 534 pages - ISBN 1416521690
The stunning national bestseller now features an illuminating discussion with Sister Souljah -- her secret thoughts on creating the story that has sold more than one million copies worldwide and introduced readers everywhere to the real ghetto experience. Here are answers to the questions fans everywhere have been asking; the meanings and inspirations behind such memorable characters as Winter, Midnight, and Santiaga; and insights into why and how Souljah conceived of one of the most powerful novels of our time.
The stunning national bestseller now features an illuminating discussion with Sister Souljah -- her secret thoughts on creating the story that has sold more than one million copies worldwide and introduced readers everywhere to the real ghetto experience. Here are answers to the questions fans everywhere have been asking; the meanings and inspirations behind such memorable characters as Winter, Midnight, and Santiaga; and insights into why and how Souljah conceived of one of the most powerful novels of our time.
Fight the Power: Rap, Race, and Reality
Review"Chuck D is the towering artist of Hip-Hop culture....His voice challenges all of us!"
--Cornel West, author of Race Matters
"Fight the Power will raise some hackles, generate some furor, and, most importantly, get people thinking about the way things are, and why."
--Chicago Sun-Times
"Gives free rein to hip-hop's longest-standing cultural watchdog....Anyone who expresses support for both Tupac and C. Delores Tucker in one book is worth listening to."
--The Source -- ReviewProduct DescriptionGeorge Clinton has called Chuck D "the Bob Dylan of Rap." Since the early eighties, his provocative and brilliant lyrics have raised controversy with seemingly every conservative group in the country. His championing of black leaders from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X to Huey Newton and Minister Farrakhan brought the issue of black empowerment to mainstream radio and MTV. Long before Ice-T made waves with his song "Cop Killer" and Snoop Doggy Dogg and Gangsta Rap infiltrated the media, Chuck D was unsettling the Arizona Government and calling the country's attention to their refusal to recognize Martin Luther King Day. His song "By The Time I Get To Arizona" inspired massive media attention and a special edition of Nightline with Chuck as the featured guest.His rejection of celebrity and his constant community activism have made him a hero. For the past five years he's been touring colleges and universities, delivering three hour lectures on everything from the music industry's corruption of young talent, the history of black music from Blues to Rap, his own controversial lyrics, problems in the black community, self-empowerment, contemporary culture and current political leaders to Public Enemy's rise to international stardom. All while maintaining his solo and Public Enemy's recording careers.
Fight the Power examines a multitude of complex social, racial and artistic issues. In his unmistakable voice, Chuck discusses the role of heroes and role models in the black community, Hollywood's negative images of blacks, the effect of gangsta rap, its images on the country's youth and the war between east and west coast rappers that may have spawned the murder of Tupac Shakur, the role of athletes and entertainers in eroding and strengthening values, and other vital contemporary concerns. Candid, thoughtful, and in your face, Fight the Power, the first substantial book by a rapper, offers readers a look into the culture of hip hop and the future of Black culture.
--Cornel West, author of Race Matters
"Fight the Power will raise some hackles, generate some furor, and, most importantly, get people thinking about the way things are, and why."
--Chicago Sun-Times
"Gives free rein to hip-hop's longest-standing cultural watchdog....Anyone who expresses support for both Tupac and C. Delores Tucker in one book is worth listening to."
--The Source -- ReviewProduct DescriptionGeorge Clinton has called Chuck D "the Bob Dylan of Rap." Since the early eighties, his provocative and brilliant lyrics have raised controversy with seemingly every conservative group in the country. His championing of black leaders from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X to Huey Newton and Minister Farrakhan brought the issue of black empowerment to mainstream radio and MTV. Long before Ice-T made waves with his song "Cop Killer" and Snoop Doggy Dogg and Gangsta Rap infiltrated the media, Chuck D was unsettling the Arizona Government and calling the country's attention to their refusal to recognize Martin Luther King Day. His song "By The Time I Get To Arizona" inspired massive media attention and a special edition of Nightline with Chuck as the featured guest.His rejection of celebrity and his constant community activism have made him a hero. For the past five years he's been touring colleges and universities, delivering three hour lectures on everything from the music industry's corruption of young talent, the history of black music from Blues to Rap, his own controversial lyrics, problems in the black community, self-empowerment, contemporary culture and current political leaders to Public Enemy's rise to international stardom. All while maintaining his solo and Public Enemy's recording careers.
Fight the Power examines a multitude of complex social, racial and artistic issues. In his unmistakable voice, Chuck discusses the role of heroes and role models in the black community, Hollywood's negative images of blacks, the effect of gangsta rap, its images on the country's youth and the war between east and west coast rappers that may have spawned the murder of Tupac Shakur, the role of athletes and entertainers in eroding and strengthening values, and other vital contemporary concerns. Candid, thoughtful, and in your face, Fight the Power, the first substantial book by a rapper, offers readers a look into the culture of hip hop and the future of Black culture.
James Baldwin - The Fire Next Time
It's shocking how little has changed between the races in this country since 1963, when James Baldwin published this coolly impassioned plea to "end the racial nightmare." The Fire Next Time--even the title is beautiful, resonant, and incendiary. "Do I really want to be integrated into a burning house?" Baldwin demands, flicking aside the central race issue of his day and calling instead for full and shared acceptance of the fact that America is and always has been a multiracial society. Without this acceptance, he argues, the nation dooms itself to "sterility and decay" and to eventual destruction at the hands of the oppressed: "The Negroes of this country may never be able to rise to power, but they are very well placed indeed to precipitate chaos and ring down the curtain on the American dream."Baldwin's seething insights and directives, so disturbing to the white liberals and black moderates of his day, have become the starting point for discussions of American race relations: that debasement and oppression of one people by another is "a recipe for murder"; that "color is not a human or a personal reality; it is a political reality"; that whites can only truly liberate themselves when they liberate blacks, indeed when they "become black" symbolically and spiritually; that blacks and whites "deeply need each other here" in order for America to realize its identity as a nation.
Yet despite its edgy tone and the strong undercurrent of violence, The Fire Next Time is ultimately a hopeful and healing essay. Baldwin ranges far in these hundred pages--from a memoir of his abortive teenage religious awakening in Harlem (an interesting commentary on his first novel Go Tell It on the Mountain) to a disturbing encounter with Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad. But what binds it all together is the eloquence, intimacy, and controlled urgency of the voice. Baldwin clearly paid in sweat and shame for every word in this text. What's incredible is that he managed to keep his cool. --David Laskin
From Publishers WeeklySpeakers or headsets will have to be turned up to listen to Jesse L. Martin's low, slow reading of Baldwin's classic long essay on racism and African-American identity. Martin seeks to be respectful of Baldwin, but he ends up rendering the meaning and the force of his work relatively inert. Pausing in poorly selected places, placing emphasis where little should be placed, Martin does not convey the precision and anger of Baldwin's prose. Instead, Baldwin's book becomes Great Literature, to be intoned and honored, but not truly grasped. Readers with an interest in Baldwin's work will be far better served by reading his prose to themselves than having Martin read it to them. A Vintage paperback.(Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Yet despite its edgy tone and the strong undercurrent of violence, The Fire Next Time is ultimately a hopeful and healing essay. Baldwin ranges far in these hundred pages--from a memoir of his abortive teenage religious awakening in Harlem (an interesting commentary on his first novel Go Tell It on the Mountain) to a disturbing encounter with Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad. But what binds it all together is the eloquence, intimacy, and controlled urgency of the voice. Baldwin clearly paid in sweat and shame for every word in this text. What's incredible is that he managed to keep his cool. --David Laskin
From Publishers WeeklySpeakers or headsets will have to be turned up to listen to Jesse L. Martin's low, slow reading of Baldwin's classic long essay on racism and African-American identity. Martin seeks to be respectful of Baldwin, but he ends up rendering the meaning and the force of his work relatively inert. Pausing in poorly selected places, placing emphasis where little should be placed, Martin does not convey the precision and anger of Baldwin's prose. Instead, Baldwin's book becomes Great Literature, to be intoned and honored, but not truly grasped. Readers with an interest in Baldwin's work will be far better served by reading his prose to themselves than having Martin read it to them. A Vintage paperback.(Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr
Review"Brings us King in many roles--philosopher, theologian, orator, essayist, interviewee, and author." -- -- San Francisco Chronicle Review
"Here, in [King's] own words, are the philosophy and strategy of nonviolent protest . . . King's persuasiveness comes through again and again." -- -- The New York Times Book Review
"The most powerful and enduring words of the man who touched the conscience of the nation and the world." -- -- The Kansas City StarProduct Description"We've got some difficult days ahead," civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., told a crowd gathered at Memphis's Clayborn Temple on April 3, 1968. "But it really doesn't matter to me now because I've been to the mountaintop. . . . And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land."
These prohetic words, uttered the day before his assassination, challenged those he left behind to see that his "promised land" of racial equality became a reality; a reality to which King devoted the last twelve years of his life.
These words and other are commemorated here in the only major one-volume collection of this seminal twentieth-century American prophet's writings, speeches, interviews, and autobiographical reflections. A Testament of Hope contains Martin Luther King, Jr.'s essential thoughts on nonviolence, social policy, integration, black nationalism, the ethics of love and hope, and more
"Here, in [King's] own words, are the philosophy and strategy of nonviolent protest . . . King's persuasiveness comes through again and again." -- -- The New York Times Book Review
"The most powerful and enduring words of the man who touched the conscience of the nation and the world." -- -- The Kansas City StarProduct Description"We've got some difficult days ahead," civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., told a crowd gathered at Memphis's Clayborn Temple on April 3, 1968. "But it really doesn't matter to me now because I've been to the mountaintop. . . . And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land."
These prohetic words, uttered the day before his assassination, challenged those he left behind to see that his "promised land" of racial equality became a reality; a reality to which King devoted the last twelve years of his life.
These words and other are commemorated here in the only major one-volume collection of this seminal twentieth-century American prophet's writings, speeches, interviews, and autobiographical reflections. A Testament of Hope contains Martin Luther King, Jr.'s essential thoughts on nonviolence, social policy, integration, black nationalism, the ethics of love and hope, and more
