Voices of Historical and Contemporary Black American Pioneers [4 volumes]

by Vernon L. Farmer, Evelyn Shepherd-Wynn

Overview

The stories of black American professionals, both historic and contemporary, reveal the hardships and triumphs they faced in overcoming racism to succeed in their chosen fields.

This extraordinary four-volume work is the first of its kind, a comprehensive exploration of the obstacles black men and women, both historic and contemporary, have faced and overcome to succeed in professional positions. Voices of Historical and Contemporary Black American Pioneers includes the life and career histories of black American pioneers, past and present, who have achieved extraordinary success in fields as varied as aviation and astronautics, education, social sciences, the humanities, the fine and performing arts, law and government, and medicine and science. The set covers well-known figures, but is also an invaluable source of information on lesser-known individuals whose accomplishments are no less admirable.

Arranged by career category, each section of the work begins with a biographical narrative of early black pioneers in the field, followed by original interviews conducted by the editors or autobiographical narratives written by the subjects. In all, more than 150 scholars and professionals share inspiring insights into how they persevered to overcome racism and succeed in an often-hostile world.

• Stories of 150 outstanding black American scholars and professionals from varied career fields, drawn from biographies, autobiographies, and original interviews
• Excerpts from six original works
• 160 photographs

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313392245
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/15/2012
Pages:	1465
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 10.00(h) x 5.40(d)

About the Author

Vernon L. Farmer, PhD, is professor of educational leadership in the College of Education at Grambling State University, Grambling, LA.

Evelyn Shepherd-Wynn, EdD, is assistant professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences at Grambling State University, Grambling, LA.

Editorial Reviews

"This four-volume reference resource examines the lives of some 150 black professionals, offering important information from the standpoint of their careers and also very clear and succinct points of view to which readers may not be exposed in the formal college or university classroom setting. . . . Summing Up: Highly recommended." - Choice

"The expansive work covers a multitude of professionals whose influence has spread across the United States and around the world, and even those who have visited outer space, portraying those who have experienced notable success in their fields while overcoming significant adversity. . . . This work will be a worthy addition to black history collections as well as secondary libraries that need to expand their contemporary biography sections." - Library Journal

From the Publisher

Farmer (educational leadership, Grambling State Univ.; Meeting the Challenge of Cultural Diversity in Higher Education in the New Millennium) and Shepherd-Wynn (English, Grambling State Univ.; coeditor, with Farmer, Teaching Culturally Diverse College Students in a Pluralistic Society) present the stories of 150 African American pioneers in various fields through interviews, personal stories, and primary-source documents. The expansive work covers a multitude of professionals whose influence has spread across the United States and around the world, and even those who have visited outer space, portraying those who have experienced notable success in their fields while overcoming significant adversity. The alphabetically arranged volumes are organized by profession and cover medicine and science; law and government; aviation, the armed forces, and astronautics; and education, social sciences, and humanities. Entries offer a brief biography of the individual followed by transcripts of original interviews or a narrative written by the subject. The set includes a foreword by medical pioneer Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Sr. and an afterword by former NASA astronaut Guion S. Bluford, Jr. VERDICT This work will be a worthy addition to black history collections as well as secondary libraries that need to expand their contemporary biography sections. While not exhaustive, it is a good place to kick-start research.—Wayne R. Cherry, Jr., First Baptist Acad., Houston

Library Journal