With a booming economy that afforded numerous opportunities for immigrants throughout the 1990s, the Twin Cities area has attracted people of African descent from throughout the United States and the world and is fast becoming a transnational metropolis. Minnesota's largest urban area, the region now also has the country's most diverse black population. A closely drawn ethnography, Creating Africa in America: Translocal Identity in an Emerging World City seeks to understand and evaluate the process of identity formation in the context of globalization in a way that is also site specific. Bringing to this study a rich and interesting professional history and expertise, Jacqueline Copeland-Carson focuses on a Minneapolis-based nonprofit, the Cultural Wellness Center, which combines different ethnic approaches to bodily health and community well-being as the basis for a shared, translocal "African" culture. The book explores how the body can become a surrogate locus for identity, thus displacing territory as the key referent for organizing and experiencing African diasporan diversity. Showing how alternatives are created to mainstream majority and Afrocentric approaches to identity, she addresses the way that bridges can be built in the African diaspora among different African immigrant, African American, and other groups. As this thoughtful and compassionate ethnographic study shows, the fact that there is no simple and concrete way to define how one can be African in contemporary America reflects the tangled nature of cultural processes and social relations at large. Copeland-Carson demonstrates the cultural creativity and social dexterity of people living in an urban setting, and suggests that anthropologists give more attention to the role of the nonprofit sector as a forum for creating community and identity throughout African diasporan history in the United States.

Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753–1784) was an American freed slave and poet who wrote the first book of poetry by an African-American. Sold into a slavery in West Africa at the age of around seven, she was taken to North America where she served the Wheatley family of Boston. Phillis was tutored in reading and writing by Mary, the Wheatleys' 18-year-old daughter, and was reading Latin and Greek classics from the age of twelve. Encouraged by the progressive Wheatleys who recognised her incredible literary talent, she wrote "To the University of Cambridge” when she was 14 and by 20 had found patronage in the form of Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon. Her works garnered acclaim in both England and the colonies and she became the first African American to make a living as a poet. This volume contains a collection of Wheatley's best poetry, including the titular poem “Being Brought from Africa to America”. Contents include: “Phillis Wheatley”, “Phillis Wheatley by Benjamin Brawley”, “To Maecenas”, “On Virtue”, “To the University of Cambridge”, “To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty”, “On Being Brought from Africa to America”, “On the Death of the Rev. Dr. Sewell”, “On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield”, etc. Ragged Hand is proudly publishing this brand new collection of classic poetry with a specially-commissioned biography of the author.

For many Americans the mention of Africa immediately conjures up images of safaris, ferocious animals, strangely dressed "tribesmen," and impenetrable jungles. Although the occasional newspaper headline mentions authoritarian rule, corruption, genocide, devastating illnesses, or civil war in Africa, the collective American consciousness still carries strong mental images of Africa that are reflected in advertising, movies, amusement parks, cartoons, and many other corners of society. Few think to question these perceptions or how they came to be so deeply lodged in American minds. Mistaking Africa looks at the historical evolution of this mind-set and examines the role that popular media plays in its creation. The authors address the most prevalent myths and preconceptions and demonstrate how these prevent a true understanding of the enormously diverse peoples and cultures of Africa.Updated throughout, the fourth edition covers the entire continent (North and sub-Saharan Africa) and provides new analysis of topics such as social media and the Internet, the Ebola crisis, celebrity aid, and the Arab Spring. Mistaking Africa is an important book for African studies courses and for anyone interested in unravelling American misperceptions about the continent.

In Human Behavior in the Social Environment from an African American Perspective, leading black scholars come together to discuss complex human behavior problems faced by African Americans and to force the abandonment of conceptualization theories made without consideration of the Black experience. Challenging you to engage in different thinking and develop new theories for addressing the needs of African Americans, this book highlights the assets of black individuals, families, and communities and guides you through program interventions and public policies that strengthen and empower African Americans. You will learn to enhance your clients'coping strategies and resilience by factoring in their strengths rather than focusing on their weaknesses.Human Behavior in the Social Environment from an African American Perspective contextualizes community behavior patterns, gender roles, and changing contemporary identities to challenge your assumptions about African American culture and communities and convince you to rethink your intervention strategies and methods. To further help you fine-tune your service delivery, this book leads you through discussions on: help-seeking behaviors of young street males the association of sociocultural risk factors with suicides the use of emotive behavior therapy to help African Americans cope with the prospect of imminent death advocating for changes in institutions and systems which negatively impact the lives of the poor and the oppressed how social work has ignored one segment of the African American community--young girls in urban settings psychological consequences of coming of age in a hostile environmentSocial workers, community-based groups, policymakers, and other helping professionals owe it to their clients to shrug off culturally incompetent services and care. Using Human Behavior in the Social Environment from an African American Perspective as a guide, you will learn to redress your programs and policies with a sensitivity to the factors and mechanisms that maximize the buoyancy of disadvantaged groups over various stages of their life development.

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.

Human Behavior in the Social Environment from an African-American Perspective, Second Edition is an updating of the classic text that presents leading black scholars discussing complex human behavior problems faced by African-Americans in today’s society. This new edition provides fresh theories and the latest practical interventions not in the first edition that show, for example, how to enhance a client’s coping strategies and resilience by focusing on their strengths rather than their weaknesses. This edition includes a new foreword by former Surgeon General, Dr. Joycelyn Elders. Human Behavior in the Social Environment from an African-American Perspective, Second Edition acquaints practitioners with the Black experience, and provides the latest innovative methods of working with this diverse population. This edition also offers new insights on evaluating practice initiatives. Experts and scholars explore and interpret individual and group behaviors, the strength and resilience of the black family, the stresses and problems affecting children, the significant problem of the affects of colorism, the self-esteem and identity issues of biracial children, violence in the criminal justice system, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the stress and behaviors resulting from belonging to the armed services, and other behavior stemming from progression through the life cycle. Chapters include charts and tables of data, extensive references, and study questions for deeper study for students. Topics in Human Behavior in the Social Environment from an African-American Perspective, Second Edition include: the importance of the consideration of the black experience in analyzing black behavior behavior as a response to a hostile social system the black church’s role in leading African-Americans resiliency perspective as a positive force the use of strength behaviors for socialization and survival strategies to strengthen roles of fathers in African-American families military culture as a microcosm of the wider society the psychological effects of skin color on self-esteem the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and its effects refreshing social work practice to better meet the needs of African-American girls examination of a study on the help-seeking behaviors of young African-American males empirically based creative intervention strategies to alleviate black-on-black crime analysis of street gang behaviors with a program to address it influences of hip hop culture strategies to lessen substance abuse in children practices that help assist administrators and social workers to lessen school violence Human Behavior in the Social Environment from an African-American Perspective, Second Edition is a supplementary text that is valuable for undergraduate and graduate students, human service practitioners, mental health and medical counselors, policymakers, school officials, and criminal justice personnel.

Stephen C. Ferguson II provides a philosophical examination of Black popular culture for the first time. From extensive discussion of the philosophy and political economy of Hip-Hop music through to a developed exploration of the influence of the postmodernism-poststructuralist ideology on African American studies, he argues how postmodernism ideology plays a seminal role in justifying the relationship between corporate capitalism and Black popular culture. Chapters cover topics such as cultural populism, capitalism and Black liberation, the philosophy of Hip-Hop music, and Harold Cruse's influence on the “cultural turn” in African American studies. Ferguson combines case studies of past and contemporary Black cultural and intellectual productions with a Marxist ideological critique to provide a cutting edge reflection on the economic structure in which Black popular culture emerged. He highlights the contradictions that are central to the juxtaposition of Black cultural artists as political participants in socioeconomic struggle and the political participants who perform the rigorous task of social criticism. Adopting capitalism as an explanatory framework, Ferguson investigates the relationship between postmodernism as social theory, current manifestations of Black popular culture, and the theoretical work of Black thinkers and scholars to demonstrate how African American studies have been shaped.

From the earliest texts of the colonial period to works contemporary with Emancipation, African American literature has been a dialogue across color lines, and a medium through which black writers have been able to exert considerable authority on both sides of that racial demarcation. Dickson D. Bruce argues that contrary to prevailing perceptions of African American voices as silenced and excluded from American history, those voices were loud and clear. Within the context of the wider culture, these writers offered powerful, widely read, and widely appreciated commentaries on American ideals and ambitions. The Origins of African American Literature provides strong evidence to demonstrate just how much writers engaged in a surprising number of dialogues with society as a whole. Along with an extensive discussion of major authors and texts, including Phillis Wheatley's poetry, Frederick Douglass's Narrative, Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and Martin Delany's Blake, Bruce explores less-prominent works and writers as well, thereby grounding African American writing in its changing historical settings. The Origins of African American Literature is an invaluable revelation of the emergence and sources of the specifically African American literary tradition and the forces that helped shape it.