African Americans

Soul Food and Living Water: Spiritual Nourishment and Practical Help for the Black Family

By Yoland Powell and William J. Powell

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"As God-conscious families, we all struggle to maintain a vibrant faith that will lead to strength and happiness in the midst of declining social values and daily challenges. Marital commitment, child rearing, financial stewardship and family harmony are problems that can become intensely magnified, draining our joy and ability to sufficiently thrive. Overflowing with Biblical teaching, practical examples and real encouragement, Soul Food and Living Water provides the spritual nourishment you and your family need. Written in culturally sensitive language, reflecting the rich heritage and strong's faith of African Americans, Soul Food and Living Water refreshes and equips families for today's challenges."

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True Vine: A Young Black Man's Journey of Faith, Hope, and Clarity

By John W. Fountain

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John Fountain grew up surrounded by a caring, religious family who believed in him, but that didn't stop him from finding the familiar track of early fatherhood and college drop-out. His family's faith brought him out of the spiral and on the road to becoming an award-winning journalist for the New York Times.

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The Miracles of Mentoring: How to Encourage and Lead Future Generations

By Thomas W. Dortch, Jr., and The 100 Black Men of America, Inc.

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This thoughtful and practical guide to mentoring is based on the program implemented by the 100 Black Men of America organization. They give advice on the most effective ways volunteers can affect young lives including starting programs in schools, neighborhoods and workplaces.

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Jazz: A History of America's Music

By Geoffrey C. Ward

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This book, written with Ken Burns, accompanies the PBS TV series of the same name. It traces the evolution of jazz from its birth in New Orleans through big band, swing, bebop, fusion, acid, and avant-garde. Covered also are the well-known and the not-so-known musicians of jazz - black and white. The photographs that accompany the text are fascinating.

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Freedom: A Photographic History of the African American Struggle

By Manning Marable and Leith Mullings

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This photographic journey of the African-American struggle for equality chronicles the battle to eliminate slavery up to the Civil Rights era and beyond. The 600 images include blacks and whites, heroes and the unheralded, public acts of protest and private moments of victory.

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Black Genius and the American Experience

By Dick Russell

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Offering inspiring and surprising results, and interweaving past and present, this book explores the roots of black achievement in America. It includes portraits of people such as Wynton Marsalis, Ralph Ellison, Paul Robeson, and Muhammad Ali.

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Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood

By Leonard Pitts, Jr.

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Some men have broken the cycle of violence and some have not. Their stories and those of their children provide an in-depth look at an important issue in American life.

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The Rebellious Slave: Nat Turner in American Memory

By Scot French

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Rather than presenting a traditional account of the slave rebellion that Turner led, French (African-American studies, U. of Virginia) traces the continuing discourse on race, slavery, America's tradition of revolutionary violence, and what to do with Turner's remains since his hanging in 1831.

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The Negro Cowboys

By Philip Durham and Everett L. Jones

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"More than five thousand Negro cowboys joined the round-ups and served on the ranch crews in the cattleman era of the West. Lured by the open range, the chance for regular wages, and the opportunity to start new lives, they made vital contributions to the transformation of the West. They, their predecessors, and their successors rode on the long cattle drives, joined the cavalry, set up small businesses, fought on both sides of the law. Some of them became famous: Jim Beckwourth, the mountain man; Bill Pickett, king of the rodeo; Cherokee Bill, the most dangerous man in Indian Territory; and Nat Love, who styled himself 'Deadwood Dick.' They could hold their own with any creature, man or beast, that got in the way of a cattle drive. They worked hard, thought fast, and met or set the highest standards for cowboys and range riders."
Originally published in 1965.

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