Photos from the
Black Book Coalition Event at the
Ulah Café in DC
(Photos
courtesy Lee McDonald)
About the Founders:
MahoganyBooks
- created by an enterprising husband and wife duo in the
Washington DC area,
MahoganyBooks
is positioned to become the premier online destination for
all books relevant to the African Diaspora. Coupling a
dynamic social networking community, robust inventory
selection, easy to use website and provocative literary
content, MahoganyBooks is the
ideal online bookstore dedicated to "Books, Community, Words
& You."
The Renaissance
Group, LLC - comprised of Lee McDonald (former
Karibu Marketing Director) and Charlotte Reid (CEO/Founder
of Intimate Interiors) is a strategic marketing and event
management firm. With over 30 years of outstanding
professional event development and implementation
experience, TRG specializes in communications, brand
development, public relations and community outreach.
Hurston/Wright
Foundation - is the nation's resource center for
writers, readers, and supporters of Black literature. The
only organization of its kind that provides culturally
sensitive services and guidance for Black writers at every
stage of their development.
Description
"As a contribution to
illustrated history from a black point of view,"
writes acclaimed foreword author Charles Johnson,
"Still I Riseis a unique achievement,
one that will be valued -- like Art Spiegelman's Maus:
A Survivor's Tale . . . by students,
educators, collectors, and general readers for a
long time to come." Newly available in an updated
edition, the compelling and irreverent graphic
history that recounts the entire scope of the
African-American experience, now concludes with
Barack Obama's groundbreaking 2008 presidential
candidacy.
Still I Risetraces
the epic struggles and victories of
African-Americans in the face of racist obstacles
and unfathomable hardships. It follows the rise of
slavery; the Nat Turner Rebellion; military
contributions of African Americans; the birth of
modern integration; Freedom Summer; the emergence of
Black Power; the Million Man March; and Hurricane
Katrina. Cultural milestones are also found here,
from the Harlem Renaissance and the Invisible
Man to heritage festivals and artists who
illuminate the complexity of African American life.
Heroic notables and visionaries are introduced:
Frederick Douglass; Sojourner Truth; Madame C. J.
Walker; Ida B. Wells; Malcolm X; Martin Luther King
Jr.; and many more. Lesser-known luminaries are
also featured, including Carter G. Woodson,
the father of Black Studies, and Deadria Farmer-Paellmann,
who campaigned for restitution from modern companies
that played a direct role in slave trade.
The insightful text
is sometimes acerbic, other times perceptively
humorous, and always powerfully honest. The authors'
first-rate scholarship is supplemented with a
healthy dose of attitude, and Bey's illustrations
are both energetic and uncompromising.
Taking its title from a Maya
Angelou poem, Still I Rise is a moving
and inspirational account of the rich history of
African Americans.
Author Bio Noted
African-American entrepreneur Roland Laird is
co-founder of Posro Media, a Trenton, New
Jersey-based company that produced the comic book
series MC Squared: A Man With a Serious Game Plan and
the syndicated comic strip The Griots. The
company has worked and continues to develop a number
of animated and documentary projects for film and
television.
Taneshia Nash
Laird, co-founder of Posro Media, is a
recognized urban revitalization expert. In 2006,
the Network Journal magazine honored her as
one of "Forty Under 40" for her achievements in
business and outstanding community service. Two
years later, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine
appointed Nash Laird to the Urban Enterprise Zone
Authority.
Elihu "Adofo" Bey is a
freelance commercial and comic-book artist based in
Atlanta. In addition to drawing The Griots strip
and the debut issue of MC Squared, Bey has
illustrated album covers and CD booklets for
top-selling recording artists.
Cora Daniels' work has been
published in Fortune, the New York Times,
USA Today, Essence,
O, The Oprah Magazine, Heart & Soul
and
Savoy
magazines; She has served as a commentator on
ABC's
Morning News, CNN, CNBC, BET, NPR
and the
Charlie Rose
show. A current contributing writer at Essence,
Daniels is a former editor at Working Mother
and staff writer at
Fortune,
where she spearheaded their search for the 500 most
influential Black executives in America and
uncovered the first Black corporate pioneers. She is
the author of
Black Power Inc.: The New Voice of Success
and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Cora Daniels is available for interviews,
book signings and appearances.
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Guestbook
to leave a public or private statement, comment or reaction.
Jeff Henderson
Jeff
Henderson was just another inner-city black kid born
into a world of poverty and limited options, where
crime seemed to provide the only way to get out.
Raised mostly by his single mother, who struggled
just to keep food on the table, Jeff dreamed big. He
had to get out and he soon did by turning to what so
many in his community did: dealing drugs. But Jeff
was no ordinary drug dealer; by twenty-one, he was
one of the top cocaine dealers in San Diego, making
up to $35,000 a week. Two years later he was
indicted on federal drug trafficking charges and
sentenced to almost twenty years in prison. Before
he knew what had hit him, he was looking at spending
most of his life behind bars. The street life had
been the only one he'd ever known and even
incarcerated he was too hardheaded to realize that
no good would come of it.
That
is, until he was assigned to one of the least
desirable prison jobs: washing dishes. That job
helped turn his whole life around. It gave him
access to the prison kitchen and he became
fascinated watching his fellow prisoners cook for
the thousands of other inmates and prison officials.
Henderson learned to cook in prison. Not cocaine,
but food. And his dream was born: Once outside, he
would become a chef.
It
was a tough, seemingly impossible journey for an
ex-con. Few chefs would give him the opportunity to
cook in their restaurants. And once hired, he
endured racism and sabotage in the kitchen. But
Henderson refused to accept rejection. Driven by a
dream and an unshakable will to succeed, Chef Jeff
worked hard to overcome unimaginable adversity and
eventually reached the top of his profession,
becoming executive chef at Café Bellagio in Las
Vegas.
Alive with the energy of the streets, the sober
reality of prison, and the visceral thrill of being
inside the fast-paced kitchens of great restaurants,
Cookedis an intense, intimate tale of
crime, punishment, and redemption—a deeply poignant
story of how the worst wrong can lead to the most
extraordinary right.
Click here
to visit Chef Jeff's official web site.
Click
On Photo To Enlarge
Pop A Celebration of Black Fatherhood
By Carol Ross; Foreword by Samuel
L. Jackson
“My daughter taught me everything I know
about being a father. I learned from her
that no matter what is in your past, your
children are right here in your present
moment, looking up at you, calling you
“daddy,” needing you and you needing them –
Samuel L. Jackson
Like a burst of energy waiting to be harnessed,
black fathers are showing up everywhere! As a
new year begins to take shape, something lingers
in the air and its becoming quite clear that the
topic of interest is black fatherhood! Alongside
Will Smith, Tyler Perry and Ice Cube to name a
few, acclaimed author/photographer Carol Ross focuses
on this very special subject. “It is not that they have suddenly appeared, it
is that we are just starting to open our eyes
and truly see them.” From Hollywood to the New
York Times, everyone is creating images or
talking about black fathers and Carol Ross is no
exception. In
fifty-one visually stunning, emotionally
compelling portraits, Ross presents a positive,
heartwarming, and caring view of the
relationships between black men and their
children. Ross’s inspiring perspective on black
fatherhood is long overdue.
Within richly textured duotone photographs, Ross
portrays a group of devoted fathers whose
portraits with their children are accompanied by
a poignant,
personal
recollection. Film star Samuel L. Jackson,
photographed with his daughter, provides an
honest and moving foreword. From college
professors, filmmakers, technicians,
construction workers, and corporate
executives—along with well-known executives,
directors, entertainers, and actors, such as Antonio "L. A." Reid, Ruben Santiago-Hudson,
Funk Master Flex, Doug E. Doug, and Melvin Van Peebles, Ross has brought
together black men from all walks of life, whose
common bond is their profound love for their
children.
POP:
A Celebration of Black Fatherhood
(Stewart, Tabori & Chang; ISBN 13:
978-1-58479-598-8; $29.95 U.S. / $35.95 Canada;
Publication date: May 2007).
About the Author
Carol
Ross, photographer & author of POP: A
Celebration of Black Fatherhood, began
her storytelling through photography as a ten
year-old when her mother gave her a camera.
After several years in front of the camera in
Los Angeles, Ms. Ross returned to New York,
discovering that “photography could be a means
to share with the world a place to see itself as
beautiful, interesting and intricate.”
“From a universal perspective,” says Ross,
regardingPOP: A Celebration of Black Fatherhood,“I'd
like for people to come away reflecting on the
value of the human potential. I could easily
say that I want them to just feel good about
black fathers but I think it requires much more
than that to really have the impact I'm looking
for. As a society we've made an almost unified
decision to only acknowledge what is missing
from this community of men and as a result, we
have all lost greatly a sense of worth, a proper
perspective and the ability to expand on
something so uniquely beautiful.” A
fine art and portrait photographer for nine
years in New York and Los Angeles, Ms. Ross
lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and
son.
Pop: A Celebration of Black Fatherhood
By Carol Ross
Stewart, Tabori & Chang
144 pages; 51 duotone photographs
ISBN: 978-1-58479-598-8
Price: U.S. $29.95/Can $39.95
Publication
Date: May 2007
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you think?
If you would
like to respond to this article
click here
and sign our
Guestbook to leave a public or private statement, comment or reaction.
Ten Things
Every Black Man Must Do Before He Dies Price: $12.95 Shipping: $4.00 US
138 pages | ISBN: 0-978505-6-1-1
"Page-turner" is the term people frequently use when
referring to Julius Kane's new book, 'Ten Things
Every Black Man Must Do Before He Dies'. Kane's
unique style and social conscience is apparent
throughout his work and is exactly what gives the
book it's soul. Each sobering chapter offers readers
an informative, straight forward look into the
current state of Black America. Kane teaches us the
must do's while masterfully explaining the must not
do's.
African-American women will equally learn, benefit
and enjoy knowing their man's mindset, agenda and
aspirations, as well as the role she'll play in his
future. 'Ten Things Every Black Man Must Do Before
He Dies' is bold, funny, cynical and down right
honest. Other writers will soon follow suit with
their own lists of must do's. In the meantime, hold
on tight and take an unflinching look into Julius
Kane's mind.
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