African American Almanac: 400 Years of Triumph, Courage and Excellence

by Lean'tin Bracks Ph.D., Jessie Carney Smith (Foreword by)

Overview

The most complete and affordable single-volume reference of African American culture available today, this almanac is a unique and valuable resource devoted to illustrating and demystifying the moving, difficult, and often lost history of black life in America.

Celebrating centuries of achievements, the African American Almanac: 400 Years of Triumph, Courage, and Excellence provides insights on the influence, inspiration, and impact of African Americans on U.S. society and culture. A legacy of pride, struggle, and triumph is presented through a fascinating mix of biographies—including 750 influential figures—little-known or misunderstood historical facts, enlightening essays on significant legislation and movements, and 445 rare photographs and illustrations.

Covering politics, education, religion, business, science, medicine, the military, sports, literature, music, dance, theater, art, film, and television, chapters address the important events and social and cultural changes that affected African Americans over the centuries, followed by biographical profiles of hundreds of key figures, including Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Josephine Baker, Amiri Baraka, Daisy Bates, George Washington Carver, Ray Charles, Bessie Coleman, Gary Davis, Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Michael Eric Dyson, Duke Ellington, Medgar Evers, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Eric H. Holder Jr., Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, LeBron James, Mae C. Jemison, Martin Luther King Jr., Queen Latifah, Jacob Lawrence, Kevin Liles, Thurgood Marshall, Walter Mosley, Elijah Muhammad, Barack Obama, Gordon Parks, Rosa Parks, Richard Pryor, Condoleezza Rice, Smokey Robinson, Wilma Rudolph, Betty Shabazz, Tavis Smiley, Clarence Thomas, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Ross Tubman, C. Delores Tucker, Usher, Denmark Vesey, Alice Walker, Booker T. Washington, Kanye West, Reggie White, Serena Williams, Oprah Winfrey, and Malcolm X.

Explore a wealth of milestones, inspiration, challenges met, and lasting respect! The African American Almanac’s helpful bibliography and extensive index add to its usefulness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781578593231
Publisher:	Visible Ink Press
Publication date:	11/04/2011
Series:	The Multicultural History & Heroes Collection
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	560
Sales rank:	1,117,180
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Lean’tin L. Bracks is Chair of the Department of Arts and Languages at Fisk Universityin Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Bracks has had her work included in publications such as Freedom Facts and Firsts, The Black Scholar, African American National Biography, and Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture. Awards include Outstanding Teaching in the Humanities, Who’s Who Among American Teachers, and an honorary degree from her undergraduate institution, Kenyon College, in Gambier, Ohio. She completed her graduate work at the Universityof Nebraska in Lincoln

Editorial Reviews

"*Starred Review* This is an affordable, concise, and overall first-rate resource for high-school, public, and academic libraries. Editors’ Choice: Reference Sources, 2012"— Booklist

"Through historical overviews and hundreds of biographies, Bracks thoughtfully illuminates "a legacy of pride, struggle, and triumph" that is part of the black experience in the US."— Choice

"excellent overview of African American contributions to the United States"— Library Journal

"This excellent reference work on the contributions of African-Americans to the history and culture of the United States provides accessible reference and biographical information on a wide range of important events and people."— Book News

"Bracks impressive work is clearly for the educated lay-person, curious researcher, or studious scholar. Bracks has done well in presenting a fair account of the topics, making this an obvious addition to high school and college libraries everywhere"— Children's Literature

"This almanac highlights the considerable contributions African Americans have made to the fabric of U.S. society and culture. Perhaps most inspiring about this collection is that it also features the lives of lesser known leaders, artists, and political figures who may have been forgotten if it were not for their inclusion."— The Children's Book Review

"A one of a kind fantastic book of reference.... It renders a profound look at history by way of the African American experience."— Birmingham Times

"Celebrating centuries of achievements, the African American Almanac provides insights on the influence, inspiration, and impact of African Americans on U.S. society and culture."— Denver Urban Spectrum

From the Publisher

The opening chapter of Bracks's (arts & languages, English, Fisk Univ.; Writings on Black Women of the Diaspora: History, Language, and Identity) concise almanac examines the arrival of the first Africans to the Americas and the rise of black nationalism after the Civil War. Subsequent chapters cover topics such as civil rights, politics, education, religion, literature, sports, and the military. Each chapter begins with a history of major associated events and people and ends with a series of biographies, some of which lack sufficient detail. For example, the entry on Ida B. Wells-Barnett provides too little about her antilynching campaign. The piece on Charles Drew doesn't mention that Drew resigned as director of the U.S. National Blood Bank program during World War II because he objected to the segregation of blood donations from whites and African Americans. BOTTOM LINE This mostly excellent overview of African American contributions to the United States will be a welcome addition to school, public, and community college libraries.—Diane Fulkerson, Univ. of South Florida Polytechnic, Lakeland

Library Journal