Africana Studies

This compact encyclopedia, aimed at students, selects the most important authors, literary movements, and key topics for them to know. Entries cover the most influential and highly regarded African American writers, including novelists, playwrights, poets, and nonfiction writers. The book covers key periods of African American literature--such as the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, and the Civil Rights Era--and touches on the influence of the vernacular, including blues and hip hop. The volume provides historical context for critical viewpoints including feminism, social class, and racial politics. Entries are organized A to Z and provide biographies that focus on the contributions of key literary figures as well as overviews, background information, and definitions for key subjects.

This A-to-Z volume examines the role of African Americans in the political process from the early days of the American Revolution to the present. Focusing on basic political ideas, court cases, laws, concepts, ideologies, institutions, and political processes, this book covers all facets of African Americans in American government. Written by a nationally renowned scholar in the field, the Encyclopedia of African-American Politics, Second Edition will enlighten readers to the struggles and triumphs of African Americans in the American political system.Entries include:Abolitionist MovementBarack ObamaBlack CabinetBlack Panther PartyCivil Rights Act of 1964Emancipation ProclamationEric HolderForty Acres and a MuleFreedmen's BureauHurricane KatrinaInstitutional racismIntegrationismLynchingMalcolm XMillion Man MarchNational Association for the Advancement of Colored PeopleNation of Islam

A timely survey of an important sector of American letters, The Encyclopedia of African-American Writing covers the role and influence of African American cultural leaders, from all walks of life, from the 18th century to the present. Readers will explore what inspired various African-American writers to create poems, plays, short stories, novels, essays, opinion pieces and numerous other works, and how those writings contributed to culture in America today.

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African Americans' historical roots are encapsulated in the lyrics, melodies, and rhythms of their music. In the 18th and 19th centuries, African slaves, longing for emancipation, expressed their hopes and dreams through spirituals. Inspired by African civilization and culture, as well as religion, art, literature, and social issues, this influential, joyous, tragic, uplifting, challenging, and enduring music evolved into many diverse genres, including jazz, blues, rock and roll, soul, swing, and hip hop. Providing a lyrical history of our nation, this groundbreaking encyclopedia, the first of its kind, showcases all facets of African American music including folk, religious, concert and popular styles. Over 500 in-depth entries by more than 100 scholars on a vast range of topics such as genres, styles, individuals, groups, and collectives as well as historical topics such as music of the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and numerous others. Offering balanced representation of key individuals, groups, and ensembles associated with diverse religious beliefs, political affiliations, and other perspectives not usually approached, this indispensable reference illuminates the profound role that African American music has played in American cultural history. Editors Price, Kernodle, and Maxile provide balanced representation of various individuals, groups and ensembles associated with diverse religious beliefs, political affiliations, and perspectives. Also highlighted are the major record labels, institutions of higher learning, and various cultural venues that have had a tremendous impact on the development and preservation of African American music. Among the featured: Motown Records, Black Swan Records, Fisk University, Gospel Music Workshop of America, The Cotton Club, Center for Black Music Research, and more. With a broad scope, substantial entries, current coverage, and special attention to historical, political, and social contexts, this encyclopedia is designed specifically for high school and undergraduate students. Academic and public libraries will treasure this resource as an incomparable guide to our nation's African American heritage.

This two-volume reference seeks to capture the ways in which the tenets and foundations of African American culture have given rise to today's society. Approaching the field from a "street level" perspective, these two volumes cover topics of universal interest in America: rap music, sports, television, cinema, racism, religion, literature, and much more. The Encyclopedia of African American Society is also the first comprehensive yet accessible reference set in this field to give voice to the turbulent historical trends-slavery, segregation, "separate but equal"-that are often ignored in favor of mere facts. This is a definitive, reliable, and accessible entry point to learning the basics about African American society.

This important new reference covers African and African-American religion in sub-Saharan Africa, North America, South America, and the Caribbean, and provides vital insights into its growing worldwide influence in Europe, Asia and the South Pacific. Entries encompass individuals, concepts, specific religions, religious movements and churches, and include: Akan, Aladura, AzusaStreet Mission, Black theology, candomble, Dominicanvodun, the Harrist movement, Jamaa, Macumba, Mission desNoirs, Mt. Sinai Holy Church, Nuer, Pentecostalism,Pocomania, Santería, Southern Christian LeadershipConference, Unification Church, Yoruba,and many more. Photos, illustrations, and source material round out the package.

When Columbus arrived in 1492, the first free black person—a sailor—set foot in the Americas. Over the next 400 years, as slavery spread and became entrenched in the Western Hemisphere, free blacks built communities throughout North and South America, playing a critical role in every region, colony, and country. From Canada to the Caribbean to Chile, they established vital economic and social institutions, championed the cause of abolition, and formed a bridge between the worlds of free whites and enslaved blacks. They worked as artisans, farmers, journalists, ministers, merchants, and shipbuilders. Many free blacks served in the military and fought in every major war, including the American Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Latin American wars for independence. Others served in government, and some—like presidents Bernardino Rivadavia of Argentina and Vicente Guerrero of Mexico—became national leaders. Free people of color in the United States and the Americas hold a unique status in global history. Never before and never since has such a group existed in large numbers anywhere in the world. Long shrouded in obscurity and overshadowed by scholarship on slavery and race, the free black community in the Americas has become a growing and vibrant field of study. Historians have recently uncovered vast material on this important group, revealing how they lived, how they shaped society, and how they transformed the history of every nation in the Western Hemisphere. Encyclopedia of Free Blacks and People of Color in the Americas is the first reference to cover this crucial subject and provides a wealth of information not available anywhere else. Arranged alphabetically, this groundbreaking, two-volume encyclopedia includes articles on all major events, issues, and concepts relevant to the free black community in the United States from the colonial period to the Civil War and in the rest of the Western Hemisphere from the late 1400s to the late 1800s, when emancipation became universal. Nearly 400 signed articles cover every country, colony, state, city, and region in the Americas with a significant presence of free blacks, and biographies, thematic articles, and entries on related subjects shed additional light on this vital and fascinating topic. Entries include: Abolitionist movement in Brazil Zabeau Bellanton Captain Cudjoe Coffee cultivation Education and literacy Forten family Free black artisans French Caribbean Gender attitudes Guerrero (slave ship) Haitian Revolution La Escalera Plot Laws of free birth Legal discrimination on the basis of race Living "as free" Toussaint Louverture Maroons Marriage between free and slave Midwives and traditional healers Negro Convention Movement Rebecca Protten Somerset v. Stewart.  

Slavery was formally abolished across most of the world by the end of the 19th century, but it continues to lurk in the shadows of the modern world. As with slavery of yesteryear, modern slavery hinges on the exploitation of vulnerable populations--and especially women and children. The result is the same as in bygone centuries, when slavery was practiced in the open: unimaginable misery for those exploited and financial gain for the exploiter. Modern Slavery: A Documentary and Reference Guide is an invaluable resource for students, researchers, academics, policymakers, community leaders, and others who want to learn about modern-day slavery. Covering forms of modern slavery that include sex trafficking, labor trafficking, and domestic servitude, the book provides a complete examination of the modern-day anti-slavery movement. Its coverage includes historical antecedents, the various and sometimes opposing schools of thought about how to combat modern slavery, and the legislative processes that united them and resulted in a groundbreaking approach to combating human trafficking. The book uses primary source material, including survivor stories, witness testimony, case law, and other materials to discuss the nature and scope of modern-day slavery, the grassroots movement to stop it, and U.S. leadership in the international arena. Examples of primary source material include the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (2005); remarks and statements from Presidents Bush, Clinton, and Obama on human trafficking and modern slavery; the United Nations' Office of Drugs and Crime report, A Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (2009); excerpts from the U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report, including harrowing victims stories from around the world (2013 and 2014); and excerpts from 2015 Senate hearings, including testimony from Holly Austin Smith, trafficking survivor, and from Malika Saada Saar, Human Rights Project for Girls.

With information on over 500 organizations, their founders and membership, this unique encyclopedia is an invaluable resource on the history of African-American activism. Entries on both historical and contemporary organizations include: * African Aid Society * African-Americans for Humanism * Black Academy of Arts and Letters * Black Women's Liberation Committee * Minority Women in Science * National Association of Black Geologists and Geophysicists * National Dental Association * National Medical Association * Negro Railway Labor Executives Committee * Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association * Women's Missionary Society, African Methodist Episcopal Church * and many more.

Women have had a complex experience in African American culture. The first work of its kind, this encyclopedia approaches African American literature from a Women's Studies perspective. While Yolanda Williams Page's Encyclopedia of African American Women Writers provides biographical entries on more than 150 literary figures, this book is much broader in scope. Included are several hundred alphabetically arranged entries on African American women writers, as well as on male writers who have treated women in their works. Entries on genres, periods, themes, characters, historical events, texts, places, and other topics are included as well. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and relates its subject to the overall experience of women in African American literature. Entries cite works for further reading, and the encyclopedia closes with a selected, general bibliography. African American culture is enormously diverse, and the experience of women in African American society is especially complex. Women were among the first African American writers, and works by black women writers are popular among students and general readers alike. At the same time, African American women have been oppressed, and texts by black male authors represent women in a variety of ways. The first of its kind, this encyclopedia approaches African American literature from a Women's Studies perspective, and thus significantly illuminates the African American cultural experience through literary works. Included are several hundred alphabetically arranged entries, written by numerous expert contributors. In addition to covering male and female African American authors, the encyclopedia also discusses themes, major works and characters, genres, periods, historical events, places, and other topics. Included are entries on such authors as: ; Maya Angelou ; James Baldwin ; Frederick Douglass ; Nikki Giovanni ; June Jordan ; Claude McKay ; Ishmael Reed ; Sojourner Truth ; Phillis Wheatley ; And many others. In addition, the many works discussed include: ; Beloved ; Blanche on the Lam ; Iknow Why the Caged Bird Sings ; The Men of Brewster Place ; Quicksand ; The Street ; Waiting to Exhale ; And many more. The many topical entries cover: ; Black Feminism ; Black Nationalism ; Conjuring ; Children's and Young Adult Literature ; Detective Fiction ; Epistolary Novel ; Motherhood ; Sexuality ; Spirituality ; Stereotypes ; And many others. Entries relate their topics to the experience of African American women and cite works for further reading. Features and Benefits: ; Includes hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries. ; Draws on the work of numerous expert contributors. ; Includes a selected, general bibliography. ; Offers a range of finding aids, such as a list of entries, a guide to related topics, and an extensive index. ; Supports the literature curriculum by helping students analyze major writers and works. ; Supports the social studies curriculum by helping students use literature to understand the experience of African American women. ; Covers the full chronological range of African American literature. ; Fosters a respect for cultural diversity. ; Develops research skills by directing students to additional sources of information. ; Builds bridges between African American history, literature, and Women's Studies.