African-American history

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

These selections from the five-volume Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History have been pulled together in a single volume to "present the lives and significance of African Americans in the broadest possible way." That was the goal of the original five-volume set and is the goal of this single volume reference. There are subjects such as abolition, aerospace, basketball, education, slave trade and even zydeco. Each is clearly presented with facts and references to major figures, with a bibliography at the end of each entry. The same format is followed for the entries about a broad range of famous individuals, including those who were active in politics, business and the arts. While the book is organized alphabetically, the extensive cross-referencing gives added depth to any topic or biography. There are black and white photographs of varying quality (not due so much the reproduction, but rather the quality of the originals). The Appendix contains ten tables and statistical data and the index is extensive. For any program that includes studies about America, especially Black studies, this one volume compendium is a terrific resource. It really should be part of every school and public library. My only quibble is that the entries did not include any living African-American children's book authors and illustrators. Also, there were no nonfiction children's books cited in the bibliographies and there have been plenty of good ones about African-Americans from noted authors such as Mary Lyons, Michael Cooper, Fredrick and Patricia McKissack.

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-Selected from the multivolume Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (Macmillan, 1995), these alphabetically arranged entries cover myriad subjects from the "Amistad Mutiny" to the "Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment." Critical and interpretive commentary is offered on many topics: August Wilson is referred to as "Perhaps the leading African-American playwright of his generation...," and zydeco music is compared to Cajun music. Each authoritative, signed essay concludes with a bibliography. The information is easy to access through a thorough table of contents, an index, and cross-references that appear within the articles. Quotations in large print and occasional, captioned black-and-white photographs break up the pages. A useful resource for libraries that do not own a more comprehensive encyclopedia on African-American history.-Janet Woodward, Garfield High School, Seattle, WA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Presents a selection of articles (presented in their entirety) culled from the larger encyclopedia. From Ralph Abernathy to Zydeco the entries cover historical and cultural personalities, organizations, artifacts, and events from 400 years of African American history. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.