By any yardstick you want to use, Dawayne Williams had a very tough childhood. He and his younger brother were raised in the projects in Washington, DC by a single-mom while his dad (who denied paternity anyway) was in and out of prison for a variety of criminal offenses. Consequently, Dawayne grew up ...

With Father's Day looming on the horizon, I'm sure plenty of folks are starting to think about buying a meaningful gift for the man in their life. Well, any dad with a young son would undoubtedly appreciate this timeless classic, first published a decade ago, by Irene Smalls, the award-winning author of 15 children's books and 3 interactive storytelling CDs designed with African American youngsters in mind. . . .

Mshindo 1 and Brother G. co-producers and co-creators of the film "Zulu Mech 1," with Wesley Snipes, co-producer and star, and Tony Rose at the Amber Communications Group, Inc. booth. . . .

America's slave past is being analyzed as never before, yet it remains one of the most contentious issues in U.S. memory. In recent years, the culture wars over the way that slavery is remembered and taught have reached a new crescendo. From the argument about the display of the Confederate flag over the state house in Columbia, South Carolina, to the dispute over Thomas Jefferson's relationship with his slave Sally Hemings and the ongoing debates about reparations, the questions grow ever more urgent and more difficult. . . .

"Linguicide is the linguistic equivalent of genocide. Genocide involves conscious acts of physical massacre; linguicide, conscious acts of language liquidation. This is precisely the fate of African languages in the diaspora… If history is replete with the death of languages, there have also been cases where languages have been resurrected from the dead. Israel, for instance, needed the resurrection of Hebrew to reconnect with the ancient memory…
The African continent's relationship to the world has thus far been that of donor to the West. Africa has given her human beings, her resources, and even her spiritual products… African languages are essential for the decolonization of African minds as well as for the African renaissance… All this calls for a very different attitude toward our languages on the part of African governments and the African intelligentsia."   -- from pages 17,65, 127 & 128. . . .

This informative how-to tome is the first, original e-book from Alpha/Penguin, the publisher of the popular "Complete Idiot's" line of guides. This means it is available only in digital format to be read electronically via computer or a Kindle. Like Wiley's "for Dummies" imprint, "Complete Idiot's" offerings are designed with beginners in mind, and break down each title's subject-matter into readily-digestible layman's terms. . . .

It is a testament to the omni-directional influence of Barack Obama that a coloring book about African history would close with a quote from the President and a picture of him and the rest of the First Family. This makes one automatically wonder whether black Americans still need to look to distant ancestors from another continent for heroes, if the leader of the country is already one of their own. . . .

"Who am I? It's a fundamental question for everyone, of course, but for African-Americans, it has particular resonance. Since our history in America is filled with grand contradictions, marginalization, and grotesque lies, African-Americans have largely been left alone in the dark to grapple with the issue of who we are.
Our shared experience as people of African-American descent have been marked by an endless wave of mixed messages, leaving questions that lack finite answers. . . .

Born into slavery in Georgia, Tom Wiggins was both blind and autistic. After discovering music, Tom was playing piano by age four. In 1908, he died an international musical celebrity in New York City.
"The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist" by Diedre O'Connell tells the story of this unassuming man who could never forget a tune. He toured the country and the world, playing for packed music halls and private audiences, for celebrities and royalty. . . .

American culture has become obsessed with the intricate details of celebrity lives. People have also become increasingly interested in their own ancestry, which has been propelled by sites like Genealogy.com.
Harvard scholar and renowned author Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has combined the appeal of both and has written a captivating, thoroughly researched new book entitled "In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past." . . .