Black History Month  

The 20th century witnessed both the transformation of black life in the United States and blacks' transformation of life in the United States. Focusing on 100 extraordinary personalities--ten in each of the book's ten chapters (one for each decade), Gates (The Future of the Race) and West (Race Matter), both members of Harvard's Afro-American Studies Department, tell what they dub a "miraculous" story of a people who overcame being systematically shut out from society to become central to national culture. From the scholar W.E.B. Du Bois to the golfer Tiger Woods, the selections stand not as icons or isolated individuals but as links in a continuum of astonishing aspirations confronting an absurd racial abyss. They join in battling despair with hope and unwavering self-confidence. More than a retrospective of the 1900s or a collective biography, this is an inspirational tribute to the straggle that made what has been called the American Century an African American Century.

--Thomas J. Davis, Library Journal, 03630277, 11/15/2000, Vol. 125, Issue 19

Students studying U.S. immigrant groups will benefit from this wonderful series. Each volume begins with the same overview of immigration and some working definitions, plus an introduction offering information important to understanding that particular group. Although the individual volumes have different authors, the tone and writing style is consistent throughout. A brief history of the population's native country emphasizes the conditions that resulted in immigration to the U.S. Chronological chapters follow, each ending with a short discussion of contemporary life. Along the way are maps, special-interest inserts, black-and-white archival photographs, drawings, and interesting facts, all of which make for enjoyable reading. Each volume includes a brief glossary and a useful group-specific time line. The multi-volume American Immigration (Grolier, 1998) takes a chronological approach in its first two volumes, followed by volumes of alphabetical entries. Whether libraries have that title, or the many others on the topic, they will still want to consider these books.

-- Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City School Library Journal 04/01/2005, A Reed Business Information Publication

“An account of how the Catholic Church in urban areas, with its largely ethnic parishes, responded to American racism and the ferment of the civil rights movement. Throughout most of this century, McGreevy (History/Harvard) asserts, Catholic parishes, with their distinctive emphasis on geographical boundaries, constituted a unique combination of educational, religious, and social communities, representing a specifically Catholic style of merging neighborhood and region.” Catholics arriving in America gravitated to areas in which there were Catholic churches, and the neighborhoods developed a clear, intense ethnic identity that did not easily admit outsiders. McGreevy concentrates on the period between WW I, when the Catholic system of parishes and schools aggressively expanded into every section of the cities, and the early 1970s, when the system began to show signs of strain. He is especially interested in exploring how Catholics and African-Americans interacted with one another. There was, early on, clear Vatican impatience with the existence of separate Catholic institutions for blacks. A number of individuals in the Church were uneasy with the unintended results of the parish system: Jesuit John LaFarge worked for greater integration, as did the Federation of Coloured Catholics. Public figures like Bishop Sheen and Cardinal Spellman presented a vision of Catholicism as transcending national and racial boundaries. Many Catholics endorsed integration in principle but fiercely opposed upsetting the ethnic homeostasis of their own parishes. In the 1960s Catholics’ social consciousness was raised by the Second Vatican Council and the civil rights movement. But as the model of integration came to be questioned in the name of respect for diversity, liberal Catholics who had fought against the parish system were, paradoxically, faced with a crisis. For many, their religious affiliation seemed an obstacle that protected a discredited status quo. A thorough, sensitive, and balanced contribution. (photos, not seen)”

-- Books in Print, Kirkus Reviews 19960301

UP FROM SLAVERY

“The autobiography of Booker T Washington is a startling portrait of one of the great Americans of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The illegitimate son of ‘a white man and a Negro slave, Washington, a man who struggled for his education, would go on to struggle for the dignity of all his people in a hostile and alien society.”

THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK

“W.E.B. DuBois’s classic is a major sociological document and one of the momentous books in the mosaic of American literature. No other work has had greater influence on black thinking, and nowhere is the African-American’s unique heritage and his kinship with all men so passionately described.”

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN EX-COLORED MAN

“Originally published anonymously, James Weldon Johnson’s penetrating work is a remarkable human account of the life of black Americans in the early twentieth century and a profound interpretation of his feelings towards the white man and towards members of his own race. No other book touches with such understanding and objectivity on the phenomenon once called “passing” in a white society.

This gripping page-turner offers an intricate account of the concerted vandalism of black Southern churches over the last two decades and focuses on the diverse group of volunteers who came together to rebuild the churches and their communities. The heart of this story belongs to Ammie Murray, a white grandmother who spearheaded the rebuilding and clean-up of small St. John Baptist Church in Dixiana, SC, over more than ten years. South Carolina journalist Johnson places the story of St. John in the maelstrom of black church burnings instigated by the Ku Klux Klan. She also covers the successful lawsuit brought against the KKK by two nearby churches. This touching and compelling story of the heinous effect hate crimes can have on a community delivers the uplifting message that people can overcome the hatred and renew a community. The story is compelling and well written enough to compensate for Johnson's occasional heavy-handedness with foreshadowing. This excellent first effort is highly recommended for public and academic libraries.

—Karen Sandlin Silverman, Ctr. for Applied Research, Philadelphia Library Journal, A Reed Business Information Publication

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s three most important novels are featured in this oompiled work, published by the Library of America.