Colored People: A Memoir

Book Description

From an American Book Award-winning author comes a pungent and poignant masterpiece of recollection that ushers readers into a now-vanished "colored" world and extends and deepens our sense of African-American history, even as it entrances us with its bravura storytelling.

Customer Reviews:

A Book to Learn and Remember By.......2007-05-07

Colored People is a wonderful book. It has humor, sadness and illuminates a specific period of time. I liked how his family and town shaped his values and made him what he is today. We are using this book as a Common Reading and also a One Book, One Community Program with the small university town of Shepherdstown. The author is coming and will meet the students who will have all read the book. The topic of race and the civil rights movement are highlighted and will be the topic of many discussions. I highly recommend the book. You will enjoy reading it and if you learn from it, so much the better.

He's done it again.......2007-01-10

An informative, interesting look into the attitudes, situations, and resoucefulness of "Colored People". Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a gifted and sensitive leader of thought and expression of our day.

Courageously Honest Memoir.......2006-05-16

I place Colored People alongside Angela's Ashes as one of the best works of memoir in recent years. He doesn't moralize; he just tells the honest story. This is a story that, to my knowledge, has not been told elsewhere. It is a story about the freedom and comfort and the pain of a segregated commuinty, and the heartbreak that came with leaving some of that world behind. Most things are deeper and more complex than we like to think they are. Colored People brings that concept forward in a way that no other book has. The people whose expressed frustration with not being able to keep the characters straight are missing the point - this isn't a murder mystery and it doesn't make any difference. Buy it. Read it. Share it. I only wish I'd done so when it first came out.

Piedmont childhood.......2005-12-21

Gates fears that Piedmont, West Virginia will cease to exist. His father felt and instructed him that people of the same race should not cling to each other through habit or fear. The author rebels at the notion that he can't be part of other groups, too. Piedmont is in Mineral county. Piedmont as a whole seems to be graying. The town's identity was bound up by the existence of the Westvaco paper mill. Almost all the colored people in Piedmont worked at the paper mill. Until the 1970's the houses were rented from white landowners.

The civil rights era came late to Piedmont. The family watched Dr. King on the news. The author's father was jaundiced about the civil rights movement. His mother was courageous. She sent four brothers to college and was recognized on "The Big Pay-Off". Through his mother, Gates was part of the Coleman clan, a big deal in Piedmont. The Gateses lived in Cumberland. Brown v. Board of Education marked the author and his peers for life. Integration brought interesting cultural clashes.

Gates was marked out to excel from first grade. Gateses had been attending Howard for three generations and Harvard for two. The family, in the beginning, went to the Walden Methodist Church. Gates was afraid of the power of the Holiness Church and he avoided it. His mother became depressed with the change of life when the author was twelve and she was forty six. The mother became a pack rat after a childhood of scarcity. Gates began to cook dinner for the family and he joined the church in his anxiety. A childhood friend urged him to read Dickens and he became a fervid reader. He attended an Episcopal church camp in West Virginia, Peterkin, in 1965. He thought it was like stepping into a dream world. He read NOTES OF A NATIVE SON. For some of the older people in Piedmont integration was experienced as a loss. Gates went to Potomac State for one year and applied for a transfer. He was admitted to Yale.

This is a lovely portrait of a community and a people.

Excellent memoir - a necessary read!.......2005-11-07

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is an extraordinary scholar, particularly on African-American issues. He was born and raised in Piedmont, West Virginia during the time of early racial desegregation and, as a black man, was directly influenced by this dramatically historical period. Gates graduated summa cum laude from Yale University with a degree in history, then received a Ph.D. in English from Cambridge.
He has written for The New Yorker, The Village Voice, Time, The New Republic, and other prominent magazines. In addition to Colored People: A Memoir, Gates has authored and co-authored several books including Figures in Black: Works, Signs, and the "Racial" Self (1987), The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism (1988), and Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man (1997).

The preface to Colored People is a letter from Gates to his daughters, Maggie and Liza and, though the book is dedicated to his father Henry Louis Gates, Sr. and in memory of his mother Pauline Augusta Coleman Gates, the entire autobiography is written in conversational tone, as if Gates were recounting his stories not only to his daughters, but to their entire generation.

Gates' collection of memories describes the era, long since past (both for good and for bad) when blacks and whites were segregated, and the subsequent integration of these colors, and what it was like to live in that world, and be a part of it's evolution. The title Colored People is beautifully appropriate, not only for the shades of black America it represents, but for each and every one of us; black, white, red, yellow: none of us are see-through.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. invites us to live with him in Piedmont, West Virginia, and experience life-black life-through his eyes. We walk through his town, invade his cultural rituals as a welcome guest, experience the love of family and community with him, and suffer the pain and frustration of segregation alongside him. I felt privileged to walk with Gates into segregated, comfortable, welcoming, "safe" black cultural spaces I could never enter otherwise: a black funeral, a black church, a black barbershop, a black family reunion. In contrast, I felt anger and pain at being judged, criticized, and belittled because of skin color.

Gates emphasizes to his readers, through his personal life experiences, the fact that color is only an outside condition that changes with the sunshine. He allows us to see that we are all human beings first, experiencing the same emotions, passions and ambitions as the man next to us, regardless of his color.

He doesn't discount white racism though, nor try to "Uncle Tom" it into something to be scoffed at as negligible. He allows us to know what West Virginia was like in the 1950's through the eyes of a young black man. We feel his warm acceptance when he falls for the affections of a white girl, and when he is recognized for superior intellect among his peers, many of whom are white. We share in the camaraderie he feels when he plays ball with his white friends. But then we are appalled when he is forced to leave the company of their table in a restaurant and stand at the counter, because of his skin color. We get angry because those same white friends don't stick up for him when he is forcibly thrown from a dance club, simply because he is black.

Through both the segregation and integration, Gates shares with us what he finds to be of greatest value in his life; that being the love of his family. His memoir is somewhat biographical in this sense, in that the lives of his maternal family, the Colemans, and his paternal family, the Gateses, are shared with us in detail. We learn how Henry Louis Gates, Jr. found the support and strength to become the intellectual force he is today. Through the lives of his family members, we see yet another generation of segregated black America. We learn what it is like to be "kept down" in a dead-end mill job, to be forced to drink from a separate water fountain, to be drawn into a box and dared to cross its lines.

Through the Colemans and the Gateses we experience the freedom of integration, but also the fear and uncertainty of leaving behind a safe and comfortable life we have come to accept, if not love. There is fear and discomfort in change, and we dread its revolution, even as we feel its excitement, through Gates' memories.

Gates' optimistic personality shines throughout his book. It's refreshing to me that, despite his formidable education and vast first-hand knowledge of racism, segregation and integration, his autobiography is not written in lofty, scholarly terminology, but in an easy, relaxed manner that informs, educates and leaves the reader with the impression of having enjoyed a talk with a good friend.

Colored People: A Memoir is a text which, in my opinion, should be a part of every student's university curriculum. Gates' underlying message, that freedom should never be taken for granted, is one that should be ingrained in every American citizen, regardless of color or creed. His personal memoirs, one West Virginia man's record of an era, offer a candid glimpse into the trails of integration few of us today, thankfully, will ever experience. This book is not to be missed by anyone who cares about history, about race, and about multicultural America as we now know it and how it came to be.

Rhonda Browning White

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Inspirational Fascinating & Upbeat
Great Books Come in Small Packages
Genealogy, history, and DNA: A Fascinating Look
Oprah's Roots
Fascinating History Lesson

Finding Oprah's Roots: Finding Your Own
Henry Louis Jr Gates
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0307382389
Release Date: 2007-01-23

Book Description

Finding Oprah’s Roots will not only endow readers with a new appreciation for the key contributions made by history’s unsung but also equip them with the tools to connect to pivotal figures in their own past. A roadmap through the intricacies of public documents and online databases, the book also highlights genetic testing resources that can make it possible to know one’s distant tribal roots in Africa.
For Oprah, the path back to the past was emotion-filled and profoundly illuminating, connecting the narrative of her family to the larger American narrative and “anchoring” her in a way not previously possible. For the reader, Finding Oprah’s Roots offers the possibility of an equally rewarding experience.

Customer Reviews:

Inspirational Fascinating & Upbeat.......2007-07-05

Fascinating book written by Henry Louis Gates Jr. that complements the PBS special of the same name. On the back cover Oprah says, "Knowing your family history is knowing your worth-- your whole worth"...and it goes on. I've done a bit of ancestry work on my father's family personally and I have to say it was amazingly rewarding. An easy to read 172 pages plus an appendix on how to research your own family is a nice contributon to any family bookcase. Gates uses Oprah as an example and explains how you can adapt his search for her roots to your own --starting with oral history. Oprah always says she consults her ancestors prior to any big meeting...and it was rather surprising to find out that her ancestors in Africa are not from the tribe that she thought they were. Plus she is part Native American too. Fun to see copies of the exact records and pix of Oprah's ancestors. Very inspirational.

Great Books Come in Small Packages.......2007-06-24

Don't let the size of this book fool you, it is a tremendous book that has needed to be written for a long time. There are many guides and tools for researching roots, but this one, highly specialized to pre and post slavery sources is exceptional.

Why is it exceptional? 1) It documents a search. 2) It provides inspritation. In demonstrating a typical search (while Oprah is not typical, the search for her roots is) it shows the dynamics of the oral history, specific written records and the larger regional histories. It discusses the uses and limits of DNA.

The photos and documents are excellent. I like the way the full document is shown with the pertinant info blown up.

Everything Oprah does increases my respect for her. This search could have turned up reprobates and losers, but she didn't know that from the start. She approved potential embarrassment on an international level so that people could have this model... this encouragement.

I cried when I saw Oprah's South African school on TV. I almost did, like she did, when I saw the record of her ancestor's actual ownership.

Genealogy, history, and DNA: A Fascinating Look.......2007-04-09

This book is part genealogical guide, part celebrity biography, and part African-American history. Professor Gates has used the family history of Oprah Winfrey as an example of genealogical research and a case study of how education can lift a disadvantaged family out of hardship.

The written record of Oprah's ancestors only goes back to the 1870's census because the last names of slaves were rarely recorded. Here the author delves into the history of slavery in America and (to a lesser extent) in Africa. He also discusses the after-effects of slavery following the Civil War. The use of DNA to trace one's ancestors is also explained.

Although this book will appeal to persons trying to trace ancestors who were slaves, it is valuable to anyone getting started in genealogy. It's also an interesting story of a family who used education to leap beyond the expectations of those around them. You don't need to be a fan of Oprah to enjoy this book.

Oprah's Roots.......2007-03-30

A "must read" for everyone who loves Oprah and/or genealogy. Contains a relatively brief yet detailed bio of Oprah's life, plus insight into the history of Afro American culture in our society and the problems one experiences in family research.

Fascinating History Lesson.......2007-03-07

I purchased this book a couple of days ago -- I am a huge Oprah fan. I read the book in one sitting as I wasn't able to put it down. Finding Oprah's Roots expanded both my heart and mind. It is a history lesson and an emotional/spiritual experience. This is a positive and uplifting book even though truly looking at the facts of slavery is painful. Bravo to Oprah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. I have heard Oprah's quote from Toni Morrison (Toni Morrison giving credit to James Baldwin) before, but when I read it in the context of this work, I openly wept. I highly, highly recommend this book for everyone. It is truly inspirational and has made me want to work on my Family Tree so I can "sit with my ancesters."

The Harvard Guide to African-American History: Foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Harvard University Press Reference Library)

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The Harvard Guide to African-American History: Foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Harvard University Press Reference Library)
Adam Biggs , Richard J. M. Blackett , John H. Bracey , Nathaniel Bunker , Barbara A. Burg , Clayborne Carson , Raquel Von Cogell , Thomas Cripps , Eric Foner , Henry Louis, Jr. Gates , John Gennari , Nancy L. Grant , and Betty Kaplan Gubert
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0674002768

Book Description

This landmark guide covers research into every aspect of African-American life and work, offering a compendium of information and interpretation about almost 400 years of African-Americans' experiences as an ethnic group and as Americans.

The first part of the Guide contains 12 essays on historical research aids, from traditional archival and reference materials to the Internet. The second and largest part presents comprehensive and chronological bibliographies, prepared by John Thornton, Peter H. Wood, Gary B. Nash, Stephanie Shaw, Richard J. M. Blackett, Eric Foner, Leon F. Litwack, Joe W. Trotter, Jeffrey Conrad Stewart, Nancy L. Grant, Darlene Clark Hine, Clayborne Carson, John H. Bracey, Adam Biggs, and Corey Walker. The third part contains listings of resources on the special subjects of women, prepared by Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham; geographical areas; and autobiography and biography, prepared by Randall K. Burkett, Leon F. Litwack, and Richard Newman. A companion CD-ROM packaged with the book makes more than 15,000 bibliography entries available for computer searching.

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Historical Fiction original
A vivid account of slave life
An unpublished masterpiece?
You have to enjoy this style of writing
An enthralling legacy

The Bondwoman's Narrative
Hannah Crafts , and Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0446690295

Amazon.com

If Gates is right (his introduction and appendix should convince just about everyone), The Bondwoman's Narrative is a tremendous discovery. But is it a lost masterpiece? No. The novel draws so heavily on the conventions of mid-19th-century fiction--by turns religious, gothic, and sentimental--that it does not have much flavor of its own. The beginning of chapter 13 is a close paraphrase (virtually a cribbing) of the opening of Dickens's Bleak House. This borrowing seems to have escaped Gates, although he does quote the assessment of one scholar, the librarian Dorothy Porter Wesley, who had owned the manuscript before he acquired it, that "the best of the writer's mind was religious and emotional and in her handling of plot the long arm of coincidence is nowhere spared." Although not a striking literary contribution, The Bondwoman's Narrative is well worth reading on historical grounds, especially since it was never published. As Gates argues, these pages provide our first "unedited, unaffected, unglossed, unaided" glimpse into the mind of a fugitive slave. --Regina Marler

Book Description

Few events are more thrilling than the discovery of a buried treasure. Some years ago, when scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was leafing through an auction catalog, he noticed a listing for an unpublished, clothbound manuscript thought to date from the 1850s: "The Bondwoman's Narrative, by Hannah Crafts, a Fugitive Slave, Recently Escaped from North Carolina." Gates realized that, if genuine, this would be the first novel known to have been written by a black woman in America, as well as the only one by a fugitive slave. He bought the manuscript (there was no competing bid) and began the exhilarating task of confirming the racial identity of the author and the approximate date of composition (circa 1855-59). Gates's excited descriptions of his detective work in the introduction to The Bondwoman's Narrative will make you want to find promising old manuscripts of your own. He also proposes a couple candidates for authorship, assuming that Hannah Crafts was the real or assumed name of the author, and not solely a pen name.If Gates is right (his introduction and appendix should convince just abouteveryone), The Bondwoman's Narrative is a tremendous discovery. But is it a lost masterpiece? No. The novel draws so heavily on the conventions ofmid-19th-century fiction--by turns religious, gothic, and sentimental--that it does not have much flavor of its own. The beginning of chapter 13 is a close paraphrase (virtually a cribbing) of the opening of Dickens's Bleak House. This borrowing seems to have escaped Gates, although he does quote the assessment of one scholar, the librarian Dorothy Porter Wesley, who had owned the manuscript before he acquired it, that "the best of the writer's mind was religious and emotional and in her handling of plot the long arm of coincidence is nowhere spared." Although not a striking literary contribution, The Bondwoman's Narrative is well worth reading on historical grounds, especially since it was never published. As Gates argues, these pages provide our first "unedited, unaffected, unglossed, unaided" glimpse into the mind of a fugitive slave.--Regina Marler

Download Description

Told in the voice of a young female slave on a plantation in North Carolina, this story recounts her adventures as she makes her way to freedom in the North. Hannah Crafts is a house slave on a wealthy plantation, but her life is about to change when her master is betrothed to a woman who conceals a tragic secret. Running away with the mistress of the plantation, Hannah finds herself pursued by slave hunters, imprisoned by a mysterious and cruel captor, helped by sympathetic strangers, forced to serve a demanding new mistress and, finally, making her way to freedom. The Bondwoman's Narrative is a unique tale and perhaps the only known novel written by a fugitive female slave and provides a fascinating view into American life and literature in the mid-1800s.

Customer Reviews:

Historical Fiction original.......2006-02-26

A fascinating and horrifying account of a slave woman's experience. While fiction, the story appears to be based on the life of an actual Hannah. Don't be put off by the long introduction. It becomes more significant after reading the narrative itself.

This book gives a great emotional account of the horrors of slavery. It is amazing the vocabulary the author had without being formally educated.

This book will stay with me for a while.

A vivid account of slave life.......2005-12-15

In her novel, Crafts illustrates her life as a slave over the course of many years. Starting at a place cursed by a linden tree, things only seem to get worse. Though she is taught to read, her teachers are punished and banished from her life. Her early years are filled with much more than learning, however. She witnesses many horrific aspects of slave life, which are depicted vividly by use of imagery and her colorful similes. In her story she attempts to obtain freedom with her new mistress, but the success is cut short.
By the middle of the story, the reader can easily assess that slave life is neither desirable nor easy. Crafts and her mistress are captured with only more hardships following. Crafts depicts for the reader her passing from one master to the next after her mistress's death. Things only continue to get worse until she brings the reader along with her on her flight to freedom.
Though met by a series of mishaps throughout the novel, Crafts finally obtains freedom to live life with her husband and her recently found mother. No doubt, the reader is happy to see something pleasant finally happen for Crafts. The reader is left with not only a sense of happiness for the author, but with a vibrant image of what it took to get there. The Bondswoman's Narrative is most certainly a good choice for anyone wanting a harsh, yet inspiring, account of what slave life was truly like.

An unpublished masterpiece?.......2004-10-10

As background for this slave's narrative, we are introduced to John Hill Wheeler, writer, who had published HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA, 1584-1851), who served as assistant secretary to the U. S. President Franklin Pierce (always one of my favorites) in 1854. There is a good photograph of Wheeler and a painting of his wife, Ellen, with her two sons by Thomas Sully who made the youngest look like a sleeping angel.

There is also a photo depiction of the abduction of his slave, Jane Johnson with her family, off the Steamer Washington on July 18, 1855, in Philadelphia "by force" by a gang of Negroes led by an abolotionist. Since he was unable to locate and reclaim his servants, Jane was subsequently replaced by Hannah -- who escaped in the Spring of 1857. He must have been a hard taskmaster.

One interesting thing (for me) was a mention of John Brown's (of Harper's Ferry, West VA fame) hanging in Charleston, VA. It was observed that he died as he lived, "game." He certainly was no coward.

I found too much redundancy in the introduction by Henry L. Gates, Jr., and the narrative itself. Absorbed in finding and preserving black culture in written form, he spends a lot of effort propounding on his conclusions, instead of the facts. Like a local writer involved in uncovering ancient history, he uses too many "that's" proving he is not scholary. To me, it shows a definite lack of education and too much emphasis on self promotion, so that whatever is printed will be thought or taken as the truth, the whole truth and nothing else.

As with all autobiographical material it is hard to tell what is fact and where the fiction begins. An old acquaintance now deceased who had been in the Merchant Marines in his younger years and received much enjoyment in bewildering strangers with his detailed stories, told me how he manufactured "truth." Add a few relevant facts which can be substantiated and names of real people and presto! it's history -- not fiction.

As with science, the individual authors are expounding on their own theories, not facts per se. It's the same in any field and any "case" history. Mr. Gates wanted to prove this narrative was authentic; therefore, he spent more effort with his "proof" than the slave's account itself.

Something that old can never be proven beyond a doubt. Now Clifford Irving's bogus biography of Howard Hughes was ill-timed. Had he waited until after the person's demise, there would always be doubt and nothing to prove he was a liar.

I don't believe a slave would know some of the words used by this writer. By including family background and descriptions of events, it is taken as the authentic tale of a real Hannah Crafts. He did too much surmising "what if's" to have run down the actual writer to New Jersey -- to have been the runaway slave from North Carolina.

I found the marked out words and phrases to be distracting (also detracting). It would have helped to have the edited parts left out; the 21 chapters would have sufficed without so much explanation and additions (in brackets). Instead of making this clearer, it befuddles the story itself.

I'm not a user of the word "that" which is grossly overused in newspapers today. About ten years ago, I typed the lengthy "memoir" of my ex-husband, a college English professor, and edited at intervals throughout. Of course, he proof-read every page before having the entirety copied and bound to distribute to members of his family. Sometimes, he agreed to my "clarifications"; at others, he'd say, "but we didn't talk that way." Growing up in a tiny hamlet between Shelbyville and Chapel Hill (where he'd been born) in Middle TN, and being about fifteen years my senior, he'd experienced things and feelings totally opposite to what I had in Knox County (East TN). My reasons to "edit" were for the benefit of those who'd be reading his memories, not to change events -- and he finally agreed with me.

Perhaps I should have left things exactly the way he expressed them, no matter how grammatically incorrect they were, as now that is what I am wishing Mr. Gates had done with this manuscript. The things he marked through seemed inconsistent vocabulary for such a young, uneducated woman confined in "the peculiar institution", and I'd have preferred not to have to think about them.

The textual annotations did not add to the story and were a bit too detailed. You can analyze a situation "to death." Some things are better left to the reader's imagaination.

This story is as old as the hills. Didn't he see the similarities between characters of this narrative and those in SHOW BOAT? Sad but true. Life is not always easy for those without power or money.

You have to enjoy this style of writing.......2004-07-10

This book may have great value as a historical document, however, I evaluate it from the 'fun to read' point of view. I did not find it a greatly enjoyable read. It is written in the old novel style- "Perils of Pauline" comes to mind. Neither did I find that I learned much about it was like to live like a slave during that time. I am now reading a historical novel in which there are a few pages describing a slave market in the USA during the Revolution; which gave me a much clearer picture than Bondwoman's Narrative did. The description of how the field hands lived left me wishing to read more about that, and in fact, I felt I did not even get a good picture of how the house servants lived. There was quite a bit of philosophizing during the entire book so the author came across as an intellectual. In this respect, her comments about the death of a fellow runaway slave towards the end of the novel were very interesting to me.

An enthralling legacy.......2003-12-12

Written in the 1850s by Hannah Crafts and edited for a modern readership by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The Bondwoman's Narrative is the only known novel authored by a female African American slave, and perhaps the first novel ever written by a black woman. Describing the story of "passing" as a young slave treks toward freedom, The Bondwoman's Narrative is an enthralling legacy which is especially recommended for university African-American literature collections and community library large print fiction shelves.

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A new beginning
A Promethean Study of Race
DuBois' Ideas Are Still Revalent in Contemporary America
An Honest Book
A "publishing event," not a book

The Future of the Race
Henry Louis Jr Gates , and Cornel West
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679763783
Release Date: 1997-01-14

Amazon.com

In a ground-breaking collaboration, and taking the great W.E.B. Du Bois as their model, two of our foremost African-American intellectual address the dreams, fears, aspirations, and responsibilities of the black community--especially the black elite--on the eve of the twenty-first century.

Book Description

Almost one-hundred years ago, W.E.B. Du Bois proposed the notion of the "talented tenth," an African American elite that would serve as leaders and models for the larger black community. In this unprecedented collaboration, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Cornel West--two of Du Bois's most prominent intellectual descendants--reassess that relationship and its implications for the future of black Americans. If the 1990s are the best of times for the heirs of the Talented Tenth, they are unquestionably worse for the growing black underclass. As they examine the origins of this widening gulf and propose solutions for it, Gates and West combine memoir and biography, social analysis and cultural survey into a book that is incisive and compassionate, cautionary and deeply stirring.

"Today's most public African American intellectual voices...West and Gates have made a valuable contribution."--Julian Bond, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Brilliant...a social, cultural and political blueprint...that attempts to illumine the future path for blacks and American democracy."--New York Daily News

"Henry Louis Gates., Jr., and Cornel West are among the most renowned American intellectuals of our time."--New York Times Book Review

Customer Reviews:

A new beginning.......2006-12-28

I have said it before but for give me, I am a West Reader. This was the first West/Gates piece I read when I was in high school. It started my love for social science learning. The book not only is a piece of great insight on DuBois' "The Talented Tenth and Guidging Hundreth" but follows up on the topic with more indepth information on leadership in the African American race. Reading it once will leave you stuck, in order to really get a real of what the words mean you must read it over and over and study it to see what DuBois was saying years ago and how West and Gates assists him in showing the need for leadership in the African American race.

A Promethean Study of Race.......2003-02-18

In two visionary essays on the modern validity of W.E.B. Du Bois' "The Talented Tenth," Professors Gates and West have collaborated on a book that will enlighten anyone interested in race relations in America for years to come. To summarize "The Future of the Race" does not do it justice. Suffice it to say that the scholarship of these "three" learned men elevates the topic of race to higher ground. If you are looking for an easy read, or easy answers to racial issues, this book is not for you. On the other hand, if you dare to examine your own feelings about racism, I can't think of a better way to begin than by reading this book. I disagree with the reviewer from Chapel Hill who described the book as the "patter' of "public intellectuals." It's too easy to dismiss scholarly works as a product of academia, but thanks to intellectual giants like Du Bois, the essays of Gates and West have been made possible. Thank you, professors.

DuBois' Ideas Are Still Revalent in Contemporary America.......2002-12-07

This book picks apart the ideas of the most influential black scholar of the 20th century, W. E. B. DuBois. Gates and West talk of about the situation in black America and how black Americans should go about changing the poverty stricken race through DuBois' idea of the talented tenth. The Talented Tenth is the idea that the top 10% of a race will help save the rest of the race. West and Gates show how this idea can be a solution to many problems in the black community but they also talk of the problems that occur within the talented tenth. In this landmark publication, West and Gates, the top black modern scholars, come together to create a powerful book that lays out the truth for blacks in America.

An Honest Book.......2000-04-06

I've always enjoyed reading and listening to Cornel West, his ideas and observations are honest, regardless of public reaction. Maybe I enjoyed the book because I didn't compare the authors to Du Bois, I took them for who they are, modern day intellectuals. I found even the preface intriguing. There's a powerful observation in the preface that has been sitting heavily on my heart, "Being a leader does not necessarily mean being loved; loving ones community means daring to risk estrangement and alienation from that very community..." This is something we deal with on a daily basis in the black community, we're afraid to do the right thing because we're preoccupied with "keeping it real." Like I said, I appreciate the honesty from both authors and I would suggest this book to anyone interested in the present state of Black America. (But don't solely look to them to nurse the ills that plague our community, just meditate on their observations, the answers come when we put our heads together). Thanks.

A "publishing event," not a book.......1999-12-25

The essays here are fairly good, although anyone familiar with the authors will have heard a lot of the patter before. And the piece by W.E.B. Du Bois--why is that in here? The implicit comparison that Gates and West make of themselves and Dr. Du Bois is absurd. One difference between these men and Du Bois is clear: he never published fluff. Again and again, Du Bois gave us original, groundbreaking scholarship. It has been many years since either of these brilliant gentlemen has offered anything of the kind. But that's the fate of "public intellectuals," apparently--they become more and more public, and less and less intellectual. There is not much here.

Leave No Child Behind: Preparing Today's Youth for Tomorrow's World

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Development is essential

Leave No Child Behind: Preparing Today's Youth for Tomorrow's World
James Comer
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0300109679

Book Description

The call-to-arms to “leave no child behind” in America has become popularly associated with the Bush administration’s education plan—a plan that actually diverges greatly from the ideals of the Children’s Defense Fund, which originated the concept. Here, in a bold and engaging new book, Dr. James Comer reclaims this now-famous exhortation as a tool for positive and substantive change.
Far removed from the federal government’s focus on standardized testing as the panacea for our educational ills, Dr. Comer’s argument—drawn from his own experiences as the creator of the School Development Program—urges teachers, policymakers, and parents alike to work toward creating a new kind of school environment.
In so doing, Dr. Comer reignites a crucial debate as he details the evolution and many successes of his School Development Program since its inception thirty-five years ago, and he illustrates how his model for change has proven effective in public schools throughout the country. Most important, he offers proof that students from all backgrounds can learn at a high level, adopt positive behavioral attitudes, and prepare for a fulfilling adult life, if they learn in schools that provide adequate support for their complete development--schools that know that leaving no child behind should be much more than just a convenient political slogan.

Customer Reviews:

Development is essential.......2005-09-21

Comer's book offers an essential addition to curriculum and a complex description of the many instances of practice in which his proposal has been tested and found useful. One point that he did not mention is that throughout the country education is considered to be a social science in which all processes and relationships are causal; as he does say there is a presumption of no choice on the part of children. This seems to me to go hand-in-hand with the fact that except for the work of Matthew Lipman and Richard Paul philosophy is never taught at the primary and secondary school. Comer's book makes sense!

Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement

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Should be required reading for all young people
Facinating Reading
Excellence
Alan needs to spend more time mastering the art of helmsman
Inspiring and Informative

Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement
Kareem Abdul-jabbar , and Alan Steinberg
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0380813416
Release Date: 2000-07-03

Amazon.com

With all the flair of his last-second game-winning sky hooks, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar delivers a well-written and important collection highlighting the lives of America's greatest black heroes. Taking his title cue from John Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, Abdul-Jabbar brings to life the exploits of a wide variety of African Americans, including Estevanico, a Moorish slave who discovered Arizona and New Mexico; Cinque, a kidnapped African slave who led a mutiny aboard the slave ship Amistad and later won his freedom in the U.S.; and Harriet Tubman, who brought hundreds of slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad.

In a time when the media beams negative images of African Americans around the world, Black Profiles in Courage is indispensable for young adults of other races as well as African-American youth, showing that attributes like courage are not coded by color. For those young blacks who feel distant from America because of racism, books like this are a small but potent antidote against prejudice, reminding them of the important contributions African Americans have made to their country. --Eugene Holley, Jr.

Book Description

In this ideal introduction to black history, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar examines the lives of heroic African Americans and offers their stories as inspiring examples for young people, who too rarely encounter positive black role models in history books or in the media.

Profiled here are Peter Salem, the volunteer soldier who turned the tide at Bunker Hill; Joseph Cinque, leader of a daring revolt on the slave ship Amistad; Frederick Douglass, self-taught writer-orator and escaped slave who forced President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation years ahead of schedule; Harriet Tubman, who led at least three hundred slaves to freedom; Lewis Latimer, whose scientific work was integral to the achievements of Bell and Edison; and many more.

Shining a bright light on the touchstones of character, these exemplary stories reemphasize the integral role of African Americans in weaving the fabric of our nation and form an empowering legacy from which Americans of all ages can draw inspiration, wisdom, and pride.

Customer Reviews:

Should be required reading for all young people .......2007-05-30

I bought this book in hardcover when it first came out and since then have bought several copies to give to other people, both black and white, both young and old. Without fail, this book has impacted people, and every one of them has told me how much they learned from this wonderful book.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did a masterful job in gathering these inspiring stories from what has been, unfortunately, the footnotes of history, if they were acknowledged at all. The achievements by black Americans and their contributions to this country have been largely ignored by historians until recently. And even today, many black Americans who were not taught as young people about their heritage remain oblivious to what should be a matter of great pride.

We have taken great steps to equalize human rights, but we still have a way to go to completely obliterate the racial prejudice many of us grew up with. Books like this by people with the stature of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will help get us to where we should be--respecting people of all races, colors and creeds.

Facinating Reading.......2005-10-10

I found this book to be very informative and very well writen! I particularly enjoyed learning true historical facts that have long been misrepresented, or clouded with partial information. I highly recommend this book to any reader who enjoys history and is interested in learning truth.

Excellence.......2005-08-01

What's more remarkable than the informative nature of this text is how it came to be...
An African American sport icon who gained success through one of the primary avenues African Americans have to reach affluence (sports and entertainment) just to use it as an avenue to actually uplift the intellectual level of his community. Well done!
I can't tell you how many tears it brings to my eyes to see a brother who achieve greatness through the stereotypical avenue of sports and actually use his greatness to do the truly great...uplift his people. Though there have been lists and books previous to his on the same subject, it has rarely been done by a person with such influence among youth, and for that I credit him unlike other past atheletes who simply use their stardom to sell grills, orange juice, or try and become rappers.

Peace to the God

Alan needs to spend more time mastering the art of helmsman.......2002-05-12

I don't know about the book, but the author brings an entire new meaning to the term, "head up".

Call me Ishmal......

Inspiring and Informative.......2000-05-23

Simply put, I love this book. I like the fact that it summarizes the lives of so many African Americans including the famous and the still unknown. I highly recommend this book to any reader seeking information about the lives and consequent impact of some of our heroes.

The Souls of Black Folk (Bantam Classics)

Average customer rating:

Great W.E.B .DUBOIS
The Soul Of All Folk:
souls of black folk
Post (US) Slavery understanding
Vital for Historical Understanding

The Souls of Black Folk (Bantam Classics)
W.E.B. Du Bois
Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0553213369
Release Date: 1989-06-01

Amazon.com

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) is the greatest of African American intellectuals--a sociologist, historian, novelist, and activist whose astounding career spanned the nation's history from Reconstruction to the civil rights movement. Born in Massachusetts and educated at Fisk, Harvard, and the University of Berlin, Du Bois penned his epochal masterpiece, The Souls of Black Folk, in 1903. It remains his most studied and popular work; its insights into Negro life at the turn of the 20th century still ring true.

With a dash of the Victorian and Enlightenment influences that peppered his impassioned yet formal prose, the book's largely autobiographical chapters take the reader through the momentous and moody maze of Afro-American life after the Emancipation Proclamation: from poverty, the neoslavery of the sharecropper, illiteracy, miseducation, and lynching, to the heights of humanity reached by the spiritual "sorrow songs" that birthed gospel and the blues. The most memorable passages are contained in "On Booker T. Washington and Others," where Du Bois criticizes his famous contemporary's rejection of higher education and accommodationist stance toward white racism: "Mr. Washington's programme practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races," he writes, further complaining that Washington's thinking "withdraws many of the high demands of Negroes as men and American citizens." The capstone of The Souls of Black Folk, though, is Du Bois' haunting, eloquent description of the concept of the black psyche's "double consciousness," which he described as "a peculiar sensation.... One ever feels this twoness--an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder." Thanks to W.E.B. Du Bois' commitment and foresight--and the intellectual excellence expressed in this timeless literary gem--black Americans can today look in the mirror and rejoice in their beautiful black, brown, and beige reflections. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Book Description

"The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." Thus speaks W.E.B. Du Bois in The Souls Of Black Folk, one of the most prophetic and influental works in American literature. In this eloquent collection of essays, first published in 1903, Du Bois dares as no one has before to describe the magnitude of American racism and demand an end to it. He draws on his own life for illustration, from his early experiences teaching in the hills of Tennessee to the death of his infant son and his historic break with the conciliatory position of Booker T. Washington.

Far ahead of its time, The Souls Of Black Folk both anticipated and inspired much of the black conciousness and activism of the 1960's and is a classic in the literature of civil rights. The elegance of DuBois's prose and the passion of his message are as crucial today as they were upon the book's first publication.

Download Description

First published in 1903, this eloquent collection of essays exposed the magnitude of racism in society. The book endures today as a classic document of American and political history.

Customer Reviews:

Great W.E.B .DUBOIS.......2007-09-23

I love this book. It is part of the best of the works of the great W.E.B. DUBOIS. My active reading of this book expanded my knowledge more on what it takes to be a blackman in America. It is a piece of identification that everyblack person in America is looking to verify about their race in the U.S.
It's a great book.

The Soul Of All Folk:.......2007-03-04

"The Soul Of Black Folk" Is a book I think everyone should read regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, color, or creed simply because there's something in it for all. W.E.B. Dubois' engaging book falls more inline with the panorama of all American experiences, not just the Black experiences alone: if that makes any sense?
This fine book was originally published in 1903 and is still a significant piece of literature today. The anecdotes that are shared in this book belong in the lexicon of American history, but what's most striking are Dubois' references to Negro music called the sorrow songs, which of course spanned through hundreds of years of sanguineous slavery. And it was these same songs that set the foundation of Gospel, the Blues, Rock n Roll, and the American dream.
The reason I'm using this terminology is because in-spite of the torture blacks suffered they still managed to sing amazing songs such as "Steal Away," and "Poor Rosy." (Some songs were in reference to allegorical content).
Furthermore, the British rock-band Led Zeppelin is a fine example of individual intellectualism insofar as embracing American Negro culture considering they were influenced by this book because in 1968, Led Zeppelin's first album debuted and not only did they cover blues favorites written by Willie Dixon, but they also covered Negro spirituals, which Du Bois referred to as the "Sorrow Songs."
Led Zeppelin's song "How Many More Times" is an opus of Negro "Sorrow Songs." It's amazing that it took the bluesy cadence of an English rock band to pay homage to the very people whose hardship and strife inspired them to borrow the lyrics and the music from this book. It's a wonderful sight to see when people like Jimmy Page and Robert Plant take the time to learn about Black Americanism and about themselves. It just goes to show that all Americans should embrace their African heritage because without acknowledging the Black experience it's impossible to be a true American.
It's upsetting to note that in today's America racism is so rampant that the subject of Rock n Roll history can't even be encroached upon like it was in the 1960's civil rights movement, due to the fact that the political language has significantly changed.
(In layman's terms we can't be honest with ourselves and discuss the sheer fact that racism still dictates our everyday lives simply because the corporate world creates the phony left/right paradigm and ad-hominems through the media, which leaves America with an erroneous history).
Anyway, music played a major role during the 1960's. It helped people prosper through the horrific struggle for independence. The poetry that the slaves introduced over two-hundred years ago would yet again set the recalcitrant atmosphere that was needed when Blacks won the right to vote in 1965. And it was that moment in history that systemic change began. It was almost like an ancestral eidolon cascading over America with the strength and perseverance of a god in love with his people.

Moreover, Dubois elaborates on many subject matter with a linguistic style coming across as the perfect salubrious prolepsis for today's readers.

Sorry to digress, but another high point in the book was Dubois' rebuttal to Booker T. Washington's bourgeois attitude. Even today many Black scholars quote Booker T, but the inquiry was...is that wise? Well, according to Dubois, promulgating Booker T's message was rather pernicious and would only lead to more draconian virulence. Booker T's stance on waiting for White America to become simpatico to the needs of the Negro, while hoping for acceptance to proliferate from them in due time was not realistic at all.
Dubois strongly felt that Booker T's ideas were a depravity, a mummery, and an insult. Waiting for the bully to stop picking on you never works; for some reason Booker T couldn't contemplate that this scenario he was promulgating was ambiguous. If the powers that be are unwilling to negotiate with you then you have no other recourse but recalcitrancy. Booker T was in favor of slow progression, but just imagine what America would be like if Blacks took on Booker T's mindset? Life would be very different that's for sure.
Dubois hits on many touching moments in his memoirs and the personal lives of his students, which everyone reading this will enjoy. "The Soul Of Black Folk" is required reading for all. Give this book a chance! Dubois' writings are an inspirational experience!

souls of black folk.......2006-02-28

was worthless...was not the correct match for my class book requirement. Never used it...if someone wants it you can have it for free

Post (US) Slavery understanding.......2006-02-05

Important literature that tells of post emancipation United States and the problem of the color line. Perspective amazing.

Vital for Historical Understanding.......2005-12-31

Written originally in 1903 both as a gift to African Americans and a gift from an African American, "The Souls of Black Folk" describes through one man's (W. E. B. Du Bois) eyes the consciousness of turn-of-the-century African Americans. Using his own life as a social and psychological model, Du Bois traces the inner life of post-Emancipation and post-Reconstruction African Americans. Whether one agrees with all, most, little, or none of Du Bois' conclusions, any serious student of African American history and self-understanding can't afford to bypass this work.

One of the most intriguing aspects is his candid comparison of his views with Booker T. Washington. Washington promoted a more modest, slower-paced changing of the status quo. He also emphasized what today would be called vocational education as the surest way for African Americans to advance. Du Bois was not totally critical, at times lavishing praise on Washington for his many valiant achievements. However, he was not timid in his appraisal that Washington had trusted too much in European Americans and too little in African Americans.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction." He has also authored "Soul Physicians," "Spiritual Friends," and the forthcoming "Sacred Friendships: Listening to the Voices of Women Soul Care-Givers and Spiritual Directors."

Three Classic African-American Novels : Clotel, Iola Leroy, The Marrow of Tradition (Vintage Classics)

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Three Classic African-American Novels : Clotel, Iola Leroy, The Marrow of Tradition (Vintage Classics)
William W. Brown , Frances Ellen Watkins Harper , and Charles Chesnutt
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679727426
Release Date: 1990-08-11

Book Description

William Wells Brown, Frances E.W. Harper, and Charles W. Chesnutt, three black writers who bore witness to the experience of their people under slavery, create a portrait of black life in the 19th century in these three novels.

Li'l Dan, the Drummer Boy: A Civil War Story

Average customer rating:

Power of the Drum
Brilliant Artwork, Important Story

Li'l Dan, the Drummer Boy: A Civil War Story

Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0689862377

Book Description

Li'l Dan, a slave on a Southern plantation, loves to play his drum. When a company of Union soldiers announce that the slaves have been set free, Dan has no place to go, so he follows the soldiers, who make him their mascot. But Confederate soldiers attack, and Dan discovers that he is the only one who can save his friends.

The only children's book ever written and illustrated by legendary American artist Romare Bearden, Li'l Dan, the Drummer Boy was just recently discovered. Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. has written a personal introduction to the book, describing his own memories of the artist while Bearden created this memorable tale.

On an accompanying CD, Dr. Maya Angelou, three-time Grammy Award winner for spoken word recordings, reads the text.

Customer Reviews:

Power of the Drum.......2005-01-15

LI'L DAN, THE DRUMMER BOY is a story about a young boy who uses his special talents to save a company of Union soldiers. Dan learned to play the drum as a result of a lot of perseverance and lessons from a slave who lived on the same plantation. One day, he runs into a group of Union soldiers who explain that he and all other slaves are now free. Later, when the company runs into some Confederate soldiers, Dan uses quick thinking and his drum to try and save the day.

LI'L DAN, THE DRUMMER BOY is not just a pleasant and educational children's book, but also an important addition to African-American literary history. The book is the only children's book written and illustrated by the renowned artist, Romare Bearden. The illustrations in the book reflect his trademark artistic style, and as a result, the book not only sheds light on the Civil War era but is an excellent introduction to an important African-American artist.

The book also includes an audio CD which features Maya Angelou reading the story aloud. While her performance is not breathtaking, it does allow children to either read along or follow along with the illustrations as she reads. Overall, this is a wonderfully packaged piece of children's literature.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Brilliant Artwork, Important Story.......2003-10-14

My 7 year old daughter wants to be both a drummer, like her father and an artist like her aunt. Her two favorite books this year are Lil Dan and DRUM, CHAVI, DRUM! This book is about a slave who learns to make and play drum sounds and when he is freed, through his drumming, he saves others. DRUM, CHAVI, DRUM! is about a little Cuban barrio working-class girl who is not allowed to play Conga drums becasue she is a girl. She and her best friend sneak to the largest Latino festival in the United States: Little Havana Calle Ocho Festival and she finds a way to show everyone that she was born to be a drummer. Both tales moved my daughter (and me). If you have a creative child that loves art and music, these are the two books to get not only for their inspiring tales, but also for the lively writing and the beautiful illustrations.

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