"Africa, the cradle of humanity, is a snake that swallows its own tail, a circle that has no beginning or end, a cosmos that is wholly inclusive, without limits or boundaries of any measurable kind. Africa is the sacred birth-mother to mankind, and thus her blessing and heritage embrace us all. Here, in African-American Alphabet, Gerald Hausman and Kelvin Rodriques seek to capture the vast wisdom and heritage of Mother Africa and to honor the common spirit that binds us, as a people, to our shared genesis." "African-American Alphabet is an historic and poetic A-to-Z collection of legends, traditions, and symbols that represents the great depth and breadth of African, Caribbean, and African-American culture. A work that, among other things, reinterprets slavery as an historical and cultural legacy, African-American Alphabet explores and illustrates the many ways that African-Americans and West Indians of the past bravely sought empowerment in the face of cruelty and suffering through the disciplines of magic, dance, drum, song, and story." "Each chapter is introduced by a key word whose significance to the culture is then demonstrated through examples of poetry, song, essay, interview, and myth, with material dating as far back as ancient Egypt or as recently as today." "Over fifty entries, including * Banjo * Conjure * Duppy * Father * Juba * Indigo * Nine Night * Obeah * Serpent * and Trickster are accompanied by over one hundred stunning photographs and illustrations."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER B is for Beautiful, Brave, and Bright! And for a Book that takes a Bold journey through the alphabet of Black history and culture. Letter by letter, The ABCs of Black History celebrates a story that spans continents and centuries, triumph and heartbreak, creativity and joy. It’s a story of big ideas––P is for Power, S is for Science and Soul. Of significant moments––G is for Great Migration. Of iconic figures––H is for Zora Neale Hurston, X is for Malcom X. It’s an ABC book like no other, and a story of hope and love. In addition to rhyming text, the book includes back matter with information on the events, places, and people mentioned in the poem, from Mae Jemison to W. E. B. Du Bois, Fannie Lou Hamer to Sam Cooke, and the Little Rock Nine to DJ Kool Herc.

An ABC book celebrating and inspiring diversity A Is for All the Things You Are: A Joyful ABC Book is an alphabet board book developed by the National Museum of African American History and Culture that celebrates what makes us unique as individuals and connects us as humans. This lively and colorful book introduces young readers, from infants to age seven, to twenty-six key traits they can explore and cultivate as they grow. Each letter offers a description of the trait, a question inviting the reader to examine how he or she experiences it in daily life, and lively illustrations. The book supports understanding and development of each child's healthy racial identity, the joy of human diversity and inclusion, a sense of justice, and children's capacity to act for their own and others' fair treatment.

"Using the alphabet to introduce its contents, this book includes topic such as abolitionists, cowboys, Harlem Renaissance, and Kwanzaa"--Provided by publisher.

In this book, conceptual photographer Wendy Ewald researches the ability of language to create barriers or alliances between groups according to gender, age, and race. In collaboration with different groups of children she created four alphabets: a Spanish alphabet with English-as-Second-Language students in North Carolina, an African-American alphabet with students at an elementary school in Cleveland, a White Girls alphabet at a boarding school in Massachusetts, and an Arabic alphabet with students at a middle school in Queens, New York. The children collaborated with Ewald to create photographs of objects they chose to represent each letter of their alphabets, objects they picked with a particular eye to the cultural nature of the alphabet they were defining. The result is a dynamic, colorful, idiosyncratic, and overwhelmingly cross-cultural lexicography.

Displays the alphabet while illustrating the contributions of African American people.

This Coretta Scott King Honor Book is an A-to-Z look at 25 poems and one African spiritual, brilliantly illustrated in tempera and gouache. If you have been lucky enough to attend one of Bryan's public performances of African-American poetry, you will hear his enthralling voice as you read this anthology.--Booklist. Full color.

Since 1619, when Africans first came ashore in the swampy Chesapeake region of Virginia, there have been many individuals whose achievements or strength of character in the face of monumental hardships have called attention to the genius of the African American people. This book attempts to distill from many wonderful possibilities the 100 most outstanding examples of greatness. Pioneering scholar of African American Studies Molefi Kete Asante has used four criteria in his selection: the individual''s significance in the general progress of African Americans toward full equality in the American social and political system; self-sacrifice and the demonstration of risk for the collective good; unusual will and determination in the face of the greatest danger or against the most stubborn odds; and personal achievement that reveals the best qualities of the African American people. In adopting these criteria Professor Asante has sought to steer away from the usual standards of popular culture, which often elevates the most popular, the wealthiest, or the most photogenic to the cult of celebrity. The individuals in this book - examples of lasting greatness as opposed to the ephemeral glare of celebrity fame - come from four centuries of African American history. Each entry includes brief biographical information, relevant dates, an assessment of the individual''s place in African American history with particular reference to a historical timeline, and a discussion of his or her unique impact on American society. Numerous pictures and illustrations will accompany the articles. This superb reference work will complement any library and be of special interest to students and scholars of American and African American history.

From A to Z, Alphabet of Black Cultures is a picture book celebrating a world connected by African heritage.

"A childrens photo book ... was created to give black children a modern way to learn the alphabet. This book touches on below surface black experiences and gives black children a book, where they are actively represented."--Author's website.