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Book Displays: Black History 2/24

A historical file on books on display at the Monroe University Libraries - and the occasion for which they were displayed

Dr. Donald E. Simon Memorial Library (BX) - Black (African-American) History Month - February 2024

Selected Books on Black/African-American History

A Fool's Errand : Creating the National Museum of American American Culture

In its first four months of operation, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture surpassed one million visits and quickly became a cherished, vital monument to the African American experience. And yet this accomplishment was never assured. Outlining the challenges of site choice, architect selection, building design, and the compilation of an unparalleled collection of African American artifacts, Bunch also delves into his personal struggles--especially the stress of a high-profile undertaking--and the triumph of establishing such an institution without mentors or guidebooks to light the way. His memoir underscores his determination to create a museum that treats the black experience as an essential component of every American's identity. This inside account of how Bunch planned, managed, and executed the museum's mission informs and inspires those in the nonprofit and business worlds who wish to understand how to succeed--and do it spectacularly--in the face of major political, structural, and financial challenges.

Reclaiming the Black Past : The use and misuse of African American history in the Twenty First Century

The past and future of Black history In this information-overloaded twenty-first century, it seems impossible to fully discern or explain how we know about the past. But two things are certain. Whether we are conscious of it or not, we all think historically on a routine basis. And our perceptions of history, including African American history, have not necessarily been shaped by professional historians. In this wide-reaching and timely book, Drawing on a range of compelling examples, Dagbovie explores how, in the twenty-first century, African American history is regarded, depicted, and juggled by diverse and contesting interpreters--from museum curators to filmmakers, entertainers, politicians, journalists, and bloggers. Underscoring the ubiquitous nature of African-American history in contemporary American thought and culture, each chapter unpacks how black history has been represented and remembered primarily during the "Age of Obama," the so-called era of "post-racial" American society

Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice : Foreign Policy, Race, and the New American Century

Lusane has created a groundbreaking analysis of the intersection of racial politics and American foreign policy. This insightful work critically examines the roles played by former Secretary of State Colin Powell and current Secretary of State (and former National Security Advisor) Condoleezza Rice in the construction of U.S. foreign policy, exploring the ways in which their racial identity challenges conventional notions about the role of race in international relations. Neither Powell nor Rice consciously allowed their racial identity to substantially influence or characterize their participation in the defense and projection of U.S. hegemony, Lusane argues, but both used their racial identity and experiences strategically in key circumstances to defend Bush administration policies. This is but one sense in which their race, despite their reluctance to be seen as racial figures, is significant in relation to U.S. foreign policy. Criticism of Powell's and Rice's policies, for example, is often blunted by race. Black liberals may be reluctant to condemn them, while white liberals may be afraid criticism could be interpreted as racial bias, especially since conservatives of both races argue that such criticism is probably racist. Lusene asks whether there is a black consensus on foreign policy and, if so, what its dimensions, driving forces, and prospects for stability are. How can a progressive alternative to the current U.S. foreign policy be realized? Are Powell and Rice merely functionaries, or did they substantially determine the direction of U.S. foreign policy? What will their legacies be?

The Making of a Black Scholar : From Georgia to the Ivy League

This captivating and illuminating book is a memoir of a young black man moving from rural Georgia to life as a student and teacher in the Ivy League as well as a history of the changes in American education that developed in response to the civil rights movement, the war in Vietnam, and affirmative action. Born in 1950, Horace Porter starts out in rural Georgia in a house that has neither electricity nor running water. In 1968, he leaves his home in Columbus, Georgia thanks to an academic scholarship to Amherst College lands in an upper-class, mainly white world. Focusing on such experiences in his American education, Porter's story is both unique and representative of his time. Porter attends Georgia's segregated black schools until he enters the privileged world of Amherst College. He graduates (spending one semester at Morehouse College) and moves on to graduate study at Yale. He starts his teaching career at Detroit's Wayne State University and spends the 1980s at Dartmouth College and the 1990s at Stanford University. Porter writes about  the challenges of graduate study at Yale, and his meetings with such writers and scholars as Ralph Ellison, Tillie Olsen, James Baldwin, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. He ends by reflecting on an unforeseen move to the University of Iowa, which he ties into a return to the values of his childhood on a Georgia farm. In his success and the fulfillment of his academic aspirations, Porter represents an era, a generation, of possibility and achievement."

Benjamin Banneker : Surveyor, Astronomer, Publisher, Patriot

The first biography of a major figure in early US and African American history A household name and unparalleled hero revered in every African American household, Benjamin Banneker was a completely self-taught mathematical genius who achieved professional status in astronomy, navigation, and engineering. His acknowledged expertise and superior surveying skills led to his role as coworker with the Founding Fathers in planning our nation's capitol, Washington, DC. His annual Banneker's Almanac was the first written by a black and outsold the major competition. In addition, he was a vocal force in the fight for the abolition of slavery. Yet, despite his accomplishments, there has been no biography of this important man--until now. Written by an author with strong ties across the Washington-Maryland-Virginia area where abolitionist societies revered Banneker, this long overdue biography at last gives the hard-earned attention this prominent hero and his accomplishments deserve.

In the Company of Black Men : the African influence on African American culture in New York City

Traces the development of African-American community traditions over three centuries From the subaltern assemblies of the enslaved in colonial New York City to the benevolent New York African Society of the early national era to the formation of the African Blood Brotherhood in twentieth century Harlem, voluntary associations have been a fixture of African-American communities. In the Company of Black Men examines New York City over three centuries to show that enslaved Africans provided the institutional foundation upon which African-American religious, political, and social culture could flourish. Arguing that the universality of the voluntary tradition in African-American communities has its basis in collectivism--a behavioral and rhetorical tendency to privilege the group over the individual--it explores the institutions that arose as enslaved Africans exploited the potential for group action and mass resistance.  Presenting a dramatic shift from previous work which has viewed African-American male associations as derivative and imitative of white male counterparts, In the Company of Black Men provides a ground-breaking template for investigating antebellum black institutions.

A Renaissance in Harlem : Lost essays of the WPA

More than fifty "lost" essays by Dorothy West, Ralph Ellison, and others portray Harlem during the Great Depression, the finest period of self-discovery in African-American history between the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's. Written for the WPA writer's project and the stored unseen in the Library of Congress, these forgotten writings capture the voices of war veterans, Pullman porters, prostitutes, preachers, and even the black trail blazer who became the first American to reach the North Pole.  From the "rent party" described by Frank Byrd, where paying guests "partook freely of fried chicken, pork chops, pigs feet, and potato salad, not to mention homemade "crawn liquor" to Dorothy West's portrayal of Amateur Night at the Apollo, "A Renaissance in Harlem -- a work filled with humor, compassion, hope and outrage -- is an essential historical record of the African-American experience. 

Eugene Bullard : Black Expatriate in Jazz-Age Paris

Although he was the first African American fighter pilot, Eugene J. Bullard is still a relative stranger in his homeland. An accomplished professional boxer, musician, club manager, Bullard found in Europe a degree of respect and freedom unknown to blacks in America. There, for twenty-five years, he helped define the expatriate experience for countless other African American artists, writers, performers, and athletes. This is the first biography of Bullard in thirty years and the most complete ever. It follows Bullard's lifelong search for respect from his poor boyhood in Jim-Crow Georgia to his attainment of notoriety in Jazz-Age Paris and his exploits fighting for his adopted country, for which he was awarded the Croix de Guerre. Lloyd provides a new look at the black expatriate community in Paris, taking readers into the cabarets where Bullard rubbed elbows with Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, and even the Prince of Wales. Lloyd also uses Bullard's life as a lens through which to view the racism that continued to dog him even in Europe in his encounters with traveling Americans. When Hitler conquered France, Bullard was wounded in action and then escaped to America. There, his European successes counted for little: he spent his last years in obscurity and hardship but continued to work for racial justice. E

Into the Tiger's Jaw : American's First Black Marine Aviator

On 6 June 1950 when Frank Petersen enlisted in the Navy, he had no idea that he was embarking on a career that would cover almost forty years. The eighteen year old from Kansas was following in the footsteps of innumerable young men before him; join the Navy and see the world. He looked for excitement, adventure, and possessed a yearning to escape the too familiar confines of pre-Brown-versus-Board-of-Education Topeka. Navy boot camp led to electronics school where he applied for the Navy's aviation cadet program. Against seemingly overwhelming odds, Seaman Apprentice Petersen was accepted. Upon graduation, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, becoming the first African American pilot in the history of that elite organization. This was the first of many "firsts" in an exciting and momentous career that included combat in Korea and Vietnam, and ended with Petersen retiring as the first African-American flag officer and to date the only three-star general in the history of the United State Marines.

Black Books Galore's Guide to Great African American Children's Books

These are exciting times for African American children's literature. Never before have there been so many titles available. Now the three mothers who founded Black Books Galore! --the nation's leading organizer of festivals of African American children's books --share their expert advice on how to find andc hoose the best. This fully annotated guide opens the door to a wonderful world of reading for the children in your life. Here are the most positive, the best-written, and the most acclaimed books in every category, including board books, story and picture books, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, history, biography, fables, and more. Invaluable for parents, teachers, and librarians, this easy-to-use, illustrated reference guide features: * Quick, lively descriptions of 500 books, plus 200 additional recommendations.

Harlem U. S. A.

The contents of this book, in part, have been taken from various issues of Freedomways.

The African-American Kitchen

Contains more than 250 recipes from Africa, the Caribbean, & the United States for such dishes as Tanzanian baked bananas, pumpkin meat loaf, & baked ham.

Flying Free : America's First Black Aviators

This book traces to the African Americans in aviation, focusing particularly on pioneers.

               THIS RESEARCH OR "LIBGUIDE" WAS PRODUCED BY THE LIBRARIANS OF MONROE UNIVERSITY             

    EMAIL: library@monroeu.edu -- Bronx Campus (646) 393-8333 / New Rochelle Campus (914)-740-6437