"The selections are uniformly uplifting, with affirming messages about the heritage, strength and dreams of African Americans."—Publishers Weekly In this compelling collection of words and pictures, the voices of thirteen major poets, including Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and Walter Dean Myers, rise in response to the dazzling vistas and emotionally vivid portraits of award-winning artist Tom Feelings. A unique and moving collaboration that celebrates the sustaining spirit of African creativity.
One of the most pivotal moments in American history is brought to light through stirring, thought-provoking eyewitness accounts from people who have played active roles in the civil rights movement over the past 50 years.
My Soul Looks Back and Wonder is a book designed to share with young people who are experiencing challenges in their lives. This book aspires the young generation that obstacles can be overcome; that success can be attained despite the hurdle; and various ways to achieve their goals.
This is the story of Dr. Geneva Smitherman, aka "Dr. G," the pioneering linguist often referred to as the "Queen of Black Language." In a series of narrative essays, Dr. G writes eloquently and powerfully about the role of language in social transformation and the academic, intellectual, linguistic, and societal debates that shaped her groundbreaking work as a Black Studies O.G. and a Womanist scholar-activist of African American Language. These eleven essays narrate the development of Dr. G’s race, gender, class, and linguistic consciousness as a member of the Black Power Generation of the 1960s and 70s. In My Soul Look Back In Wonder, Dr. G links the personal to the professional and the political, situating the struggles, and successes, of a Black woman in the Academy within the historical experiences and development of her people. As Dr. G enters her eighth decade, in this Black Lives Matter historical moment, she seeks to share the meaning and purpose of a life of study and struggle and its significance for all those who seek racial and social justice today.
There are thousands of great women of God who were pioneers of the faith and the gospel. Though many of their names are lost to us forever, the record of their exploits for the sake of the Kingdom are engraved in the eternal and living chronicles of heaven. They represent the hues and colors of Gods rainbow and are present in the history of every denomination, faith and religion. Women have dug out churches, cleaned them, closed them and built them. They were visionaries, ground-breakers, pathfinders, the bridges that brought us over, trend-setters, armor-bearers, leaders, agents for change and disciples. They cooked, cried, sang, marched, testified, organized, did the holy dance, counseled, and prayed while everybody else slept. They carried the "work" on their bare knuckles, tear drops, hips, lips and hearts. In the pages of this delightful book filled with powerful scriptural revelation, candor, insight and instruction, Elaine Rose Penn delivers a challenge to women called to the gospel ministry to be true to their femininity, and adhere to a high standard of excellence and accountability in the conduct of their service to Christ.
Higher education leadership continues to shift as new individuals move into positions of authority and management within the ranks of academia. These new leaders that come from within the academic and teaching ranks share their stories, experiences, and challenges of not only being black, gifted, and educated, but they speak very candidly about their journey to becoming more seasoned, proficient, and skilled. The narratives and encounters they share provide meaningful insight into the realm of black leadership at the college level, and constitute a guide and tool for handling conflict and change as an academic leader.
Including music by various gospel composers as well as hymns and spirituals made famous by Mahalia Jackson, this is a joyous celebration of the life and music of the world's greatest gospel singer: a humble, deeply religious woman whose expressive, full throated voice carried her from a three room shanty in New Orleans to appearances before presidents and royalty. The joy and inspiration of her heartfelt songs provide a counterpoint to the urgent messages delivered by her friend, Martin Luther King. Standing at his side, Mahalia Jackson became the musical voice of the civil rights movement. Mahalia uses simple staging, only three actors, and piano and organ accompaniments to showcase 22 great gospel numbers in a moving, often humorous musical tribute.
The rock and roll music that dominated airwaves across the country during the 1950s and early 1960s is often described as a triumph for integration. Black and white musicians alike, including Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis, scored hit records with young audiences from different racial groups, blending sonic traditions from R&B, country, and pop. This so-called "desegregation of the charts" seemed particularly resonant since major civil rights groups were waging major battles for desegregation in public places at the same time. And yet the centering of integration, as well as the supposition that democratic rights largely based in consumerism should be available to everyone regardless of race, has resulted in very distinct responses to both music and movement among Black and white listeners who grew up during this period. Rock and Roll, Desegregation Movements, and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era: An "Integrated Effort" traces these distinctions using archival research, musical performances, and original oral histories to determine the uncertain legacies of the civil rights movement and early rock and roll music in a supposedly post-civil rights era.
