To give voice to the historic election of President Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, this anthology of essays, poetry, and creative non-fiction documents the conversation on President Obama's campaign within the African American community, and the dialogue after his election and since he has taken the Oath of Office. Included are perspectives on the historical moments during President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, the finale of the 2008 general election, and Obama's new plans and policies since he took office in January 20, 2009. Editors Lita Hooper, Michael Simanga, and Sonia Sanchez have assembled an impressive list of forty-four contributors to capture the energy and excitement, the expectation and hope. Featured are works from Lita Hooper, Michael Sigmanga, Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka, Haki Madhubuti, Askia Toure, Quincy Troupe, Chuck D, Pearl Cleage, Natasha Trethewey, Tony Medina, Jessica Care Moore, Nathan McCall, Jasmine Guy, Farai Chideya, Keith Gilyard, Opal Moore, Sharan Strange, and Tina McElroy Ansa.
Haki R. Madhubuti
Brilliant Flame! Amiri Baraka
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Brilliant Flame! Amiri Baraka is an intergenerational collection of writing from poets, dramatists, musicians, educators, historians and cultural workers and theorists examining the work and influence of Amiri Baraka. The dramatist, novelist and poet, Amiri Baraka is one of the most respected and widely published African-American writers. With the beginning of Black Civil Rights Movements during the sixties, Baraka explored the anger of African-Americans and used his writings as a weapon against racism. Also, he advocated scientific socialism with his revolutionary inclined poems and aimed at creating aesthetic through them. Amiri Baraka’s writing career spans over nearly fifty years and has mostly focused on the subjects of Black Liberation and White Racism. Often recognized as a key founder of the Black Arts Movement, Amiri Baraka was a prolific writer and world-renowned poet. While this book provides its contributors a forum in which to examine his poetic and artistic aesthetics, Brilliant Flame! will more importantly bring to the forefront Baraka’s reach as political activist, historian and cultural visionary.
Kwaku Person-Lynn
First Word
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An informative collection of narratives (in their words) from some of the most prominent and important Black scholars, artists. From Kwaku Person-Lynn: The most important thing to remember is that the person I am talking with has a body of knowledge that needs to be preserved for the next generation. We needed to hear our history and culture from our perspective….To know that thousands were listening to the teachings of John Henrik Clarke, Cheikh Anta Diop, Yosef-ben-Jochannan, Ivan Van Sertima, Frances Cress Welsing, W.E.B. DuBois, Asa Hilliard, Na’im Akbar, and many others was transformative to so many lives.
Herb Boyd
Harlem Renaissance Redux
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There has been a surfeit of books on the storied Harlem Renaissance, but Herb Boyd has given this historical era a fresh reprise. While the usual decade or more of turn of events and characters are present, Boyd's connects the period with other cultural and political developments. He shows how the Harlem Renaissance is ineluctably bound with the Garvey movement, particularly with a coterie of writers who shared their genius with Garvey's Negro World publication along with their contributions in such breakthrough books and political organs as Alain Locke's The New Negro, the Crisis, The Messenger, and Opportunity magazine.
B. J. Bolden
Urban Rage in Bronzeville
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An examination of the work of Gwendolyn Brooks with the background of the current socio-political scene in Chicago's Bronzeville in its heyday.
Haki R. Madhubuti
Tough Notes
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From the author of the best-selling Black Men, Obsolete, Single, Dangerous?: The Afrikan American Family in Transition, Claiming Earth: Race, Rage, Redemption, and Heartlove: Wedding and Love Poems, comes this profound series of letters, notes, and written conversations to young boys and men. In this moving text, Haki R. Madhubuti, poet, publisher, editor, educator, and institution builder, hopes to guide young men in search of direction to make good choices and wise, informed decisions on the road to a healthy life. Madhubuti writes as a caring father and resourceful teacher, with the insight of one who has benefited from his elders.
Alice J. Palmer
The World is Watching
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This valuable book, with contributors who are both practitioners and theoreticians, arrives with seriousness, containing essays and interviews of men and women with workable answers which have been refined over the years as a result of decades of grassroots, governmental, corporate, university, NGO, and other real-world experiences and confrontations. I use the word confrontations advisedly, Buzz, Alice and their son David have long and unblemished histories of working with all people. I have never known them to shy away from progressive struggles and to always be intimately involved with the burning and drowning issues of our planet. -From Foreword by Haki R. Madhubuti
Bryonn Bain
The Ugly Side of Beautiful
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Racially profiled and wrongfully imprisoned during his second year at Harvard Law School, hip-hop activist Bryonn Bain successfully sued the New York City Police Department and wrote the ""Village Voice ""cover story ""Walking While Black."" Now Bain has taken his own disturbing experiences of racial profiling and personal demoralization and turned them into teachable moments for an entire nation. ""The Ugly Side of Beautiful ""takes an unflinching look at the injustices of our prison system and strives to help us think outside the cage.
Kalamu ya Salaam
The Magic of Juju
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A contextual historical examination of the civil rights movement and the artists who inspired it, this recollection depicts this storied era and how these artists signified the affecting change they helped create. The exploration details the development of the Black Arts Movement--from precursor activities such as the Umbra Workshop to transitional activities such as Ntozake Shange's choreopoem ""for colored girls who considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf""--and gives in-depth information about the role of prominent poets, such as Amiri Baraka, and the influence of black music.
Tony Medina
Role Call
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""Welcome to the 21st Century"" bids the opening line of this literary ""multimedia"" experience, brought to us by three leading Black author-activists of the post-Civil Rights Movement generation. This collection of more than 300 poems, essays, paintings, photos, and mixed media representations features myriad voices of the generation bridging the gap between the children of the Civil Rights Movement and those of the present hip hop movement.
Asa G. Hilliard
Testing African American Students
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Educational experts and psychologists expound upon the handling of testing and language for African American students.
Haki R. Madhubuti
Taking Bullets
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Taking Bullets: Black Boys and Men in Twenty-First Century America Fighting Terrorism, Stopping Violence, and Seeking Healing starts a national debate on Black male empowerment with an urgency for the survival of a generation of Black men and boys who are confronted with disparity and adversity on the streets of every city in America. Haki Madhubuti speaks directly to these young men with an empathic understanding of their plight, yet he sees hope and a vision for their future. In Taking Bullets, he challenges community leaders, educators, and all of those individuals who directly impact the lives of our young men to develop sustained strategies to confront and challenge the systematic problems of police violence, mass incarceration and economic disparity.
