Edited by Floyd Dickens, Jr.

Description: An intriguing fictional mystery with quite a twist from your everyday novel; the ordinary becomes extraordinary. It is a story about real people caught in the deepest challenges of faith, love, and how they view religion.

Be prepared to feel the power of fear, suspense, and joy as you join the citizens of small town Sutters Junction. They face a trial so unexpected that no one could have guessed it was the modern world.  Click on the link below to learn more:

http://www.ebookit.com/books/0000001282/Gifts.html

Watch author Jacqueline Dickens talk about her new novel.

 

Book Review: Nigger For Life

by George Murevesi, Radio Host - Africa Live, Radio Awaz107.2  FM, Glasgow, Scotland 

http://www.awazfm.co.uk/george-murevesi.html 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgONIXAGJac  

Dr. Neal Hall cuts with precision not only in the lab but also on the flesh of an establishment, which festers, on lies, indoctrination and institutionalized racism.  The theme may not be favoured by mainstream publishers but Dr. Hall’s technique helps his cause. It gets you engrossed to the last page. It also gets you into that pensive and reflective mood post-reading which makes it a classic.

The seamless flow of one poem into the other is genius; it stands out as a book in the category of poetry. There is also an unpretentious approach which is liberating, no rhymes or your conventional stanzas. It is the reinvention of poetry which makes an explosive theme accessible.

My gut feeling when l first got the book was that it would be another piece of work laden with fantasies of academia. Reading through the first pages l was, however, quickly stripped of this misconception - the book is at the centre of reality. It bares the subtle as well as reiterate the brazen discrimination existent in the world’s biggest economy.

To the victims this is an empowerment, an empowering literary work that unsettles the establishment.  An establishment purporting to be built on the Declaration of Independence yet some of its offspring, to borrow from Animal Farm, are more equal than others.

This magnificent work is tongue in cheek, a no-holds-battle with perpetrators and architects of race structures. Though set in America, people from all walks of life who suffer any form of prejudice and discrimination can relate to it; motives are different but the result is the same.

On another level there is a desperate call in the book, which weaves through all its various poems. This clarion call is to judge people on ability and not heredity. It is surely a world of great promise if all the suppressed people are allowed to unleash their potential. We need not look any further than the contributions of the so called people of colour in all aspects of life, be it film (Will Smith, Denzel Washington etc), sport (Muhammad Ali), music (Nat King Cole) among others. Surely the world would be poorer without the contributions made and which can be made by  people of colour. Discrimination is abominable in any form and should be confined to the dustbins of history centres on the atrocities of race classes. Atrocities perpetrated daily yet pretended not to exist. Perpetrated in all manner yet.

Nigger For Life is a mirror of the generational struggles of the marginalized, marginalized not because of ability but marginalized and thrown onto the margins of society purely on the basis of a perceived wrong skin colour.

Here is a book, not for this year or the next, but for posterity. This anger is resonated in other artworks such as Hip Hop but Nigger For Life articulates it on a simplified and intelligent level yet to be climaxed.

The perpetrators must be ashamed for Nigger For Life is here to expose their duplicity and seeds of evil. A must read for all truth-seekers.

Click here to read another review on our blog. 

 

Raising Him Alone:  An Interview with David Miller

By Vanessa Werts

Across America, in the inner-city and in suburbia, single mothers struggle with raising boys alone. This issue has clearly emerged as one of the most consequential trends facing society today. And David Miller, co-author of the book, Raising Him Alone, is on a personal mission, standing watch, doing his part to support single mothers – Black single mothers in particular – and the positive development of Black males. 

During my interview with Miller at the 2010 National Congressional Black Caucus Book Pavilion, his passion was contagious. Miller’s vision is for the well being of everyone involved in the struggle from the son to the mother or caregiver to the absent-father alike. Therefore, it is only natural that he would be co-founder of the Raising Him Alone Campaign, a national movement that executes the foundational principles he and co-author Matthew P. Stevens address in their book [Raising Him Alone].

Single mother parenting was long thought to be primarily an African-American problem, stemming from poverty and poor education. However over the last decade, it has become an epidemic crossing both racial and class lines. “We started the campaign to really focus on Black and Latina moms,” says Miller. “But we get a tremendous amount of calls from White mothers. The issue is beyond an epidemic.”  

Miller shared with me insights about the book, the campaign, and the community activities and resources dedicated to inspire and inform the millions of single mothers who struggle daily with the challenges of raising boys.

The David Miller Interview

BMIA: What is the Raising Him Alone campaign about?

D. Miller: The campaign is a movement to provide greater access to resources for single mothers and grandmothers throughout this country.

BMIA: Where does your passion for this movement or your connection to this issue come from?

D. Miller: When I was a freshman in college, my best friend was shot and killed standing next to me and I was 19-years-old. I was at Morgan, he was at Morehouse; some guys tried to rob us...they shot my friend in the back and he died in my arms. And since then I’ve dedicated my life to really improving the lives of children and families in this country. And so, I’m real clear that we’ve got to do this work in our communities, or else we’re not going to make it.

BMIA: When does the campaign kick-off?

D. Miller: The campaign kicked-off in January 2009. We did a major launch in two cities: Baltimore and Newark, New Jersey. I invited some dynamic mothers who’ve raised sons to come and help me kick it off. Common’s [rapper, actor] mother, Dr. Mahalia Hines; Mos Def’s [rapper, actor] mother, Sheron Smith; and Talib Kweli’s [rapper, activist] mother, Dr. Brenda Greene. I brought them on-board to help me launch the two cities, and now we’ve expanded to Chicago and Philadelphia. These are our four main cities. But we’re working in communities across this country really doing some very interesting viable Web-based things like using Facebook to create discussion groups with moms. We’re creating a tremendous movement around serious parenting.

BMIA: What has been the response to campaign?

D. Miller: The response has been absolutely overwhelming. We average about forty phone calls and E-mails a week from mothers who are in some of the roughest parts of say, maybe Memphis, DC, or Newark, New Jersey, to moms that have MBA degrees, PhD degrees from excellent colleges and universities, who got divorced and for whatever reason, dad hasn’t stepped up. And so it’s been an amazing cross-section of parents from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

BMIA: Have you in any way included fathers in the campaign?

D. Miller: Yes. Historically, my background is I’ve written two other books about responsible fatherhood. And so, year one was really to launch the campaign and raise money. Year two has really been focused on launching the largest responsible fatherhood Web site you’ll find in this country which we’re gonna try to connect it with President Obama’s Responsible Fatherhood Initiative. I was in Washington three weeks ago speaking to all of the federal grantees that received responsible fatherhood money. The Web site is going to be for any dad: married dads, divorced dads, military; dads that are incarcerated, to really talk about what does it mean to be an exceptional father. And so dads are an integral part of the campaign.

BMIA: What type of information can single mothers expect from the book, Raising Him Alone?

D. Miller: In the book, we kind of roll out a blueprint of how to raise a son, as well as things like mentoring. Susan Taylor has a national initiative; Michael Baisden has a national initiative on mentoring. The reality is in all those initiatives, we’ve not gotten enough black and brown men to sign up and honor their commitment. So one of the things we talk about is, while we’re trying to find a mentor for the boy, there’s things mom has to do in the home. For example, number one is the boy can never be the man of the house. That’s a mistake that I think mothers make, particularly as boys get to adolescence. Moms say you’re the man of the house because your father is not here.  And what happens with a lot of boys is they think because dad’s not here I need to step up and bring money in. So a lot of boys will start steeling cars, selling drugs… You start to see a lot of pathologies exist because mom has told this 13-year-old that he’s man of the house. So a lot of what we’re trying to do is really work with community-based organizations and work with schools. We’ve created an awesome learning community so mothers can go to our Web site, sign up and they can receive free text messages, free voicemail message about being a good parent…about financial literacy tips. We send out an e-mail blast that goes out to about 11,000 mothers and grandmothers across the country. We’ve created a Facebook group, Single Mothers Raising Boys, with over 1,000 mothers connected to that. The goal is also connecting mothers to resources, things like mental health; things like credit repair; a lot of stuff on co-parenting. I mean when you look at the divorce rates in our community, we’re in trouble. We’re in serious trouble.

BMIA: Have you had any testimonials on the impact of the work you’re doing?

D. Miller: We’ve had some amazing testimonials. I’ll start with Ms. Mildred, a 74-year-old great-grandmother living in the projects in the West Ward in Newark, raising five boys by herself… hypertension and diabetes. When we went to go interview Ms Mildred, we were able to stop her from getting evicted from her apartment. We were able to connect her to free mental health services for both herself and for those boys. Even though the boys are all under 12-years-old, you started to really see some behavioral challenges with those boys. We can document many of the families that we’ve reached as well as the dads that we’ve reached. And that’s one of the reasons why we decided to create the fatherhood Web site. We met a brother in Michigan whose children lived in Atlanta, Georgia and we were able to re-connect him with his children. Because he was a long distance dad, we were able to work with him and work with the mom to develop some strategies. One of the first things we did was recommend that the dad buy a cell phone and mail it to the boy so the boy could call his dad. But we had to go through the mom to help her work through her own issues because they didn’t get married to say, this is something that can happen. And so, even being able to work through something as simple as communication with the father and son is another example.

 

The Raising Him Alone Campaign seeks to create a larger community dialogue around the importance of supporting single mothers raising boys. Through partnerships with a host of organizations, they are mobilizing single mothers and absent-fathers to save our future, particularly our boys.

The siren is blaring. The call to engage the issues in raising healthy, positive boys demands our attention. What price will society ultimately pay if this trend continues? The clock is ticking.

To learn more about Raising Him Alone, the book, and the work co-founders, David Miller and Matthew P. Stevens are doing with the Raising Him Alone Campaign, visit www.RaisingHimAlone.com.

BMIA.com Reporter Vanessa Werts and David Miller

David C. Miller, M.Ed. is the co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer of the Urban Leadership Institute, LLC, (www.urbanyouth.org) a social enterprise that focuses on developing positive youth development strategies. ULI provides strategic planning, professional development, positive youth development concepts and crisis management services.

Thank you Lee McDonald from The Renaissance Group (TRG) for making this interview possible. 

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A Conversation with Pamela Samuels Young

Where are you from? What is your favorite book?

PSY:  I grew up in Compton, California, which gave me a very grounded perspective on life. When I mention my hometown, people automatically assume that I dodged bullets on the way to school every day. But it was nothing like that. I had two strong, hard-working parents, who still live in Compton today. The foundation they laid – faith in God, hard work and education – is responsible for who I am and what I have achieved.

I'm an avid reader who enjoys reading both commercial and literary fiction. I enjoy a broad spectrum of writers, so it's impossible for me to pick a favorite book. But if there's one book that impacted me more than any other, it would have to be Claude Brown's Manchild in the Promised Land. I can still remember stumbling across a copy of the book at my aunt's house when I was about twelve. It was the first book I remember reading that had African-American characters and I was thrilled to be reading about people who looked like me. It was also a very gritty and graphic coming of age story. I promptly "borrowed" the book without asking for permission for fear that my aunt would think I was too young to be reading such a sexually graphic book. After that, I developed an insatiable appetite for African-American fiction. That led me to James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Richard Wright, Toni Morrison and many, many other great writers.

How did you feel when you saw your first book on the shelf?

PSY: I still have a very vivid memory of seeing Every Reasonable Doubt on the shelf at the Barnes and Noble near my home in February 2006. I went to the store on the book's scheduled release date, not really expecting to find it. My stepson and I searched the shelves but couldn't find it. I was about to leave, but decided to, ask for it at the reception desk. To my delight, the clerk found it and led us to the book. I just stood there staring at it. So much blood, sweat and tears led me to this point. My stepson took out his cell phone and snapped a picture of me holding the book. And just as I started to started to tear up, he promptly warned me not to embarrass him by crying in the store.

What is your process for creating a novel? Do the characters speak to you?

PSY: I will spend any where from a few weeks to as long as three months outlining a book before I sit down to write. I also mull over my story a lot. I'm thinking about it in the shower, while I'm standing in line at the grocery story, during my 45-minute commute to work. I can almost see each chapter as if it were a scene in a movie. Only after I have a completed outline do I start writing. And when I write, I go from page one to the last page without doing much editing. For me, it's psychologically motivating to complete that first draft, even if it's so bad I'd never dare show it to anyone. Once I have a finished first draft, then the real writing starts. I revise, and revise and revise some more. That process can last six months or more.

How do you spend your free time?

PSY: Free time? What's that? Writing is how I spend my free time and I love every minute of it. I still work part-time as a lawyer and when I'm not at work, I'm usually someplace writing – be it at home, the library or the nearest Starbucks. Sometimes I write early in the morning before work, other times I'm up until one or two in the morning typing away on my laptop. My most productive writing time is when I can get away from home and lock myself in my timeshare in Palm Desert for a weekend. When I'm in that environment, the writing is non-stop. When I'm writing, I'm happy.

Share with us your latest news and book releases.

PSY: I’m extremely excited about the upcoming release of my fourth legal thriller and first stand-alone novel, Buying Time, which goes on sale November 1st. In Buying Time, Waverly Sloan is a down-on-his-luck lawyer who comes to the aid of terminally ill people in desperate need of cash. Waverly finds investors eager to advance his dying clients thousands of dollars—including a hefty broker's fee for himself—in exchange for rights to their life insurance policies. Once the clients take their last breath, the investors reap a hefty return on their investment. When Waverly's clients start dying sooner than they should, both Waverly, and a high-powered lawyer who’s bucking to become the next U.S. Attorney General, are unwittingly drawn into a perilous web of greed, blackmail and murder.

You can read excerpts from all my books at my website: http://www.pamelasamuels-young.com/

About The Author

Pamela Samuels Young is the Essence bestselling author of the legal thrillers: Murder on the Down Low, In Firm Pursuit, Every Reasonable Doubt and the newly released Buying Time. The former journalist and Compton native is the fiction writing expert for BizyMoms.com and is on the Board of Directors of the Southern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Pamela served as legal consultant to the Showtime television series Soul Food. She is a frequent speaker on the topics of writing and self-empowerment.

Website: http://www.pamelasamuels-young.com/  
Email address: author@pamelasamuelsyoung.com

To schedule a visit with Pamela, email her at author@pamelasamuelsyoung.com

Buying Time by Pamela Samuels Young

 ISBN-10: 098156271X | ISBN-13: 978-0981562711

 Pick up a Copy Today at Amazon
 http://tinyurl.com/buyingtimeamazon

 Pick up a Copy Today at Barnes and Noble
 http://tinyurl.com/buyingtimebnonline


Bookclubs, select one of Pamela’s novels for your   book club meeting and she will join you in person, via webcam or via speaker phone. Read more book excerpts here: http://www.pamelasamuels-young.com/books/index.html.

Thank you Ella Curry of EDC Creations for providing this interview. 

 

BLESSINGS AND PRAISES TO SOPHIA MANNING AND JOY IN THE VALLEY

Sophia, you are on the right track and you have all my blessings. Your book reveals your knowledge of life weaved together with your personal experiences and with great passion for your audiences all together driven by your faith in God. This is an inspirational piece of work! -- Father Zachaeues Kirangu, PhD – Priest, Our Lady of The Assumption.

I read Sophia's book during a time I was going through my own valley. Her personal experience together with the powerful quotes and the everyday practical insight on overcoming life's teachings gave me strength and inspired me to continue walking through the valley with great joy! Sophia's book is not simply another book with general indications for personal growth, it is a book like no other that will make you feel someone is holding your hand as you fulfill your life's purpose. Thank you Sophia for your valuable contribution!  May the Universe conspire to make this book a bestseller for you are a blessing to humanity and deserve it all!  All my love and blessings to you my dear friend! -- Cristina Oliva-Klos; Founder & Managing Director HB International - A School for One World

This is a book that needs to be read. It offers great insight on life and the spiritual help in one’s life. Too often we do not take the time to reflect on ourselves and what has taken us to the journey thru life. Sophia has made this very informative and interesting; you won't be disappointed in any way. – Albert Rayl, Author, Beyond My Wildest Dreams; Beyond My Wildest Dreams, becoming a “Big Game Hunter”; B to B Candle Making, Beginners to Business; Rayl Family Cookbook

Joy In The Valley is "heart-wrenching, soul-stirring and simply engulfing" - want to be inspired or motivated? Read the book! Sophia has raised the bar significantly by communicating the true meaning of "joy" as it relates to everyday life and her writing style has truly intrigued me. - Errol Anthony Wilkes, Actor/filmmaker

About The Author

Sophia Melanie Manning, Founder and Executive Director of Children Are First Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping under-privileged children globally; her mission is to replenish the earth by consciously creating situations to actualize her potential. Sophia is a professional paralegal with a certificate from an American Bar Association Paralegal Institution, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, has completed semesters of Graduate school with studies in Masters of Public Administration and is currently pursuing a Masters in Liberal Arts.

Joy In The Valley is available at most major online retailers.

Michael A. Price, Jr. Dispensing "Uncommon" Sense In a Poetic Fashion Michael A. Price, Jr.

Editorial Review

Right in Front of You: Uncommon Sense in Poetry by Michael A. Price, Jr., is more than just rhyming words in a book. Each one of the poems in this collection contain a moral message as well as thought provoking commentaries on a myriad of subjects that affect us every day. Whether social, political or spiritual, the various themes conveyed in multiple rhyme schemes and poetic styles will definitely leave the socially conscious reader with plenty to think about. Since there are many topics covered, there’s something in these writings that literally everyone will be able to relate to.

Black Men In America.com Review

Michael A. Price, Jr., is an energetic young man with an unabashed confidence about his ability to write, recite and perform.  He must have been a salesman in a former life.  One of the reasons that Price is being featured on this site is because he "made it" happen.  Michael Price, Jr., was given the direct telephone number to Black Men In America.com publisher Gary Johnson.  (Phone number = Opportunity).  Like most successful people, Mr. Price decided to make the most of his opportunity by calling Gary Johnson in an effort to get his book reviewed on the web site.  Once he got in touch with Gary, Michael decided to go a step further and make a personal appointment to meet Gary instead of putting the book in the mail. 

Michael was not pushy, but he would not take "No," for an answer.  Think about it.  Michael had nothing to lose and everything to gain.  As a result, his book, Right in Front of You: Uncommon Sense in Poetry is the first book featured on our site for 2009.

Michael and Gary met at the Black Men In America.com office and once again, Michael saw another opportunity to make an impression.  Rather than do a "meet and greet," Michael decided to do a "meet and perform."  And perform he did.

Michael's book contains 33 entries or poems divided into three chapters (Life, America and Spirituality).  Michael can recite every entry from memory and he allowed us to randomly select one entry from each chapter.  Watching Michael A. Price, Jr., recite his work is akin to watching a live performance in a theater.  The energy is there and you find yourself being "drawn in" as you listen and think about what he's saying.  Michael is humble, well grounded and definitely passionate about his work.

Now about the book.  Right in Front of You: Uncommon Sense in Poetry by Michael A. Price, Jr., is more than a book of poetry.  As Price explained to Gary Johnson, "Common sense is dead.  It does not exist in the world that we live in anymore.  Those who have a measure of wisdom are in the minority, therefore "common sense" is now "uncommon."  Each poem is preceded by a brief introduction; which helps put some context and background to the piece and explains what inspired Price to write it. 

Right in Front of You: Uncommon Sense in Poetry by Michael A. Price, Jr., is a thought-provoking book of short entries in a poetic format.  Michael A. Price, Jr., simply wants to do his part to make sure that "common sense" becomes "common" again.  In the end, the reader discovers that the "a ha" moment, key to the puzzle or piece of wisdom that you've been looking for is right in front of you.

Click here to visit our showcase to order Michael's book.  You can read a sample of Michael's work below.

 

Doing Something About It 

Everybody has some words about the problems;

Going on and on and on of how to solve them.

But speaking in itself is no solution,

Unless it leads to positive conclusions.

 

If you are great at word articulation,

Your audience may show appreciation.

But even if the venue is really crowded,

It still boils down to what you’ll do about it.

 

Though it sounds good in human interaction,

Those words must all be followed up with action!

As verbal leaders come a dime a dozen,

Effective, is a trait they often wasn’t.

 

In talking yourself up to being a hero,

The impact may equate to almost zero.

Most people are inclined and tend to doubt it;

Unless you really do something about it.

 

For a message to be seen as being consistent,

Advice should also come with your assistance.

‘Cause that provides the people with some proof,

To know the words you’re speaking as the truth.

 

Just merely talking about a bad situation,

Is futile to the point of irritation.

It’s by your deeds that your word’s worth is counted;

Which is why you must do something about it.

 

We have so many issues to be tending.

The list of them is almost never ending.

So if you think you truly have the answer,

To one of the many social plagues and cancers,

 

Then roll your sleeves and work to make it happen!

To demonstrate that you can be the captain.

‘Cause only then will skeptics not be clouded,

In witnessing you’ve done something about it.

 

-Michael A. Price, Jr.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved

 

---

Aboard the African Star

After working on the book for more than a decade, Haley was stuck -- and desperate

I just love to get out in the ocean. You are really out there, thinking in ways you haven't thought before. The best writing I ever possibly could do was after The Digest helped me go to Africa and Europe, and I was not known and I could just take my time and nobody was pressing me. God, I don't know how long it took me. I was working slowly, slowly. When I had done all the research, nine years, working in between doing articles for other magazines, I was ready to write. I didn't know where to go, didn't know what to do. I knew I had a monumental task. And I got on a cargo ship. I went from Long Beach, California, completely around South America and back to Long Beach. It was 91 days.

There's something about a ship. Usually I go out on freight ships, cargo ships. (I wouldn't get caught on a liner. How can you write with 800 people dancing?) But the freight ships carry a maximum of 12 people, and they tend to be very quiet people.

I work my principal hours from about 10:30 at night until daybreak. The world is yours at that point. Most all the passengers are asleep.

I had written from the birth of Kunta Kinte through his capture. And I had got into the habit of talking to the character. I knew Kunta. I knew everything about Kunta. I knew what he was going to do. What he had done. Everything. And so I would talk to him. And I had become so attached to him that I knew now I had to put him in the slave ship and bring him across the ocean. That was the next part of the book. And I just really couldn't quite bring myself to write that.

I was in San Francisco. I wrote about 40 pages and chunked it out. When you write well, it isn't a question so much of what you want to say, it's a question of feel. Does it feel like you want it to feel? The feel starts coming in somewhere around about the fourth rewrite.

I wrote, twice more, about 40 pages and threw it out. And I realized what my bother was: I couldn't bring myself to feel I was up to writing about Kunta Kinte in that slave ship and me in a high-rise apartment. I had to get closer to Kunta. I had run out of my money at The Digest, lying so many times about when I'd finish so I couldn't ask for any more. I don't know where I got the money from. I went to Africa. Put out the word I wanted to get a ship coming from Africa to Florida. I just wanted to simulate the crossing.

I went down to Liberia, and I got on a freight ship called appropriately enough the African Star. She was carrying a partial cargo of raw rubber in bales. And I got on as a passenger. I couldn't tell the captain or the mate what I wanted to do because they couldn't allow me to do it.

But I found one hold that was just about a third full of cargo and there was an entryway into it with a metal ladder down to the bottom of the hold. Down in there they had a long, wide, thick piece of rough sawed timber. They called it dunnage. It's used between cargo to keep it from shifting in rough seas.

After dinner the first night, I made my way down to this hold. I had a little pocket light. I took off my clothing to my underwear and lay down on my back on this piece of dunnage. I imagined I'm Kunta Kinte. I lay there and I got cold and colder. Nothing seemed to come except how ridiculous it was that I was doing this. By morning I had a terrible cold. I went back up. And the next night I'm there doing the same thing.

Well, the third night when I left the dinner table, I couldn't make myself go back down in that hold. I just felt so miserable. I don't think I ever felt quite so bad. And instead of going down in the hold, I went to the stern of the ship. And I'm standing up there with my hands on the rail and looking down where the propellers are beating up this white froth. And in the froth are little luminous green phosphorescences. At sea you see that a lot. And I'm standing there looking at it, and all of a sudden it looked like all my troubles just came on me. I owed everybody I knew. Everybody was on my case. Why don't you finish this foolish thing? You ought not be doing it in the first place, writing about black genealogy. That's crazy.

I was just utterly miserable. Didn't feel like I had a friend in the world. And then a thought came to me that was startling. It wasn't frightening. It was just startling. I thought to myself, Hey, there's a cure for all this. You don't have to go through all this mess. All I had to do was step through the rail and drop in the sea.

Once having thought it, I began to feel quite good about it. I guess I was half a second before dropping in the sea. Fine, that would take care of it. You won't owe anybody anything. To hell with the publishers and the editors.

And I began to hear voices. They were not strident. They were just conversational. And I somehow knew every one of them. And they were saying things like, No, don't do that. No, you're doing the best you can. You just keep going.

And I knew exactly who they were. They were Grandma, Chicken George, Kunta Kinte. They were my cousin, Georgia, who lived in Kansas City and had passed away. They were all these people whom I had been writing about. They were talking to me. It was like in a dream.

I remember fighting myself loose from that rail, turning around, and I went scuttling like a crab up over the hatch. And finally I made my way back to my little stateroom and pitched down, head first, face first, belly first on the bunk, and I cried dry. I cried more I guess than I've cried since I was four years old.

And it was about midnight when I kind of got myself together. Then I got up, and the feeling was you have been assessed and have been tried and you've been approved by all them who went before. So go ahead. And then I went back down in the hold. I had a terrible head cold, flu-ish like. I had with me a long yellow tablet and some pencils. This time I did not take my clothing off like I'd been doing. I kept them on because I was having such a bad cold. I lay down on the piece of timber.

Now Kunta Kinte was lying in this position on a shelf in the ship, the Lord Ligonier. She had left the Gambia River, July 5, 1767. She sailed two months, three weeks, two days. Destination Annapolis, Maryland. And he was lying there. And others were in there with him whom he knew. And what would he think?

What would be some of the things they would say? And when they would come to me in the dark, I would write. And that was how I did every night, only ten nights. From there to Florida. I remember rushing through the big, big Miami Airport. Flew back to San Francisco. Got with a doctor, and he kind of patched me up.

I sat down with those long yellow tablets and transcribed. And I began to write the chapter in Roots where Kunta Kinte crossed the ocean in a slave ship. That was probably the most emotional experience I had in the whole thing.

Come around about 1:30 in the morning, you've been working since 10:30 and decide you're going to take a little break. So you get up and you walk up on the deck. And you put your hand on the top rail, your foot on the bottom rail, and you look up. The first most striking thing is, man, you look up and there are heavenly objects as you never saw them before. You find yourself looking at planets at sea. And what you start to realize, you never saw clear air before. In some latitudes, down off West Africa, South America, on the night of a full moon, there are times you get into an illusion -- if you could just stretch a little further you feel like you could touch it. And you are out there amidst all Gods firmament and then you stand and you feel through the soul of your shoe a fine vibration and you realize that's man at work. That's a huge diesel turbine, 35 feet down under the water driving this ship like a small island through the water. Still standing there, now you start hearing a slight hissing sound. You realize that's of the ship cutting through the resistance of the ocean. With all that going on, feeling these man things and seeing the God things, that's about as close to holy as you are going to ever get.

Edited from a talk at Reader’s Digest, October 10, 1991, four months before Alex Haley’s death

Excerpted from the book Alex Haley: The Man Who Traced America’s Roots by Alex Haley. Copyright © 2007 The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. Published by The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.; April 2007; $17.95US; 978-0-7621-0885-5.

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (1921-1992) was an African American writer who was best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Roots. A writer of distinction and a contributing editor for Reader’s Digest, Haley's first major work was The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965.

Growing up, Haley had heard stories about his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte, and became interested in tracing his family to its deepest roots. It was Lila Acheson Wallace, cofounder of The Digest, who commissioned Haley to do the research that would create a groundbreaking article in the magazine. When Reader's Digest published the first excerpts from Roots in our May and June 1974 issues, we said it was an epic work, "destined to become a classic of American literature." That has proved to be an understatement.

In just five months after the book hit stores in 1976, more than one million hardcover copies were purchased. Since then, Roots has taken its place among the greatest bestsellers of all time as the number of copies has grown to over six million worldwide. Its impact on television was also historic: Some 130 million Americans watched at least part of the 12-hour drama, making it the highest-rated miniseries ever.

Roots changed the way we think about race in this country and profoundly affected the lives of many people, especially African Americans.

For more information, please visit www.rd.com/returnToRoots.do.

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Excerpt
The following is an excerpt from the book Untapped
by John Ghazvinian
Published by Harcourt, Inc.; April 2007;$25.00US; 978-0-15-101138-4
Copyright © 2007 John Ghazvinian

Since 1990 alone, the petroleum industry has invested more than $20 billion in exploration and production activity in Africa. A further $50 billion will be spent between now and the end of the decade, the largest investment in the continent's history -- and around one-third of it will come from the United States. Three of the world's largest oil companies -- the British-Dutch consortium Shell, France's Total, and America's Chevron -- are spending 15 percent, 30 percent, and 35 percent respectively of their global exploration and production budgets in Africa. Chevron alone is in the process of rolling out $20 billion in African projects over a five-year period.

The overwhelming majority of this new drilling activity has taken place in the so-called "deep water" and the "ultradeep" of the Gulf of Guinea, the roughly 90-degree bend along the west coast of Africa that can best be visualized as the continent's "armpit." Its littoral zone passes through the territorial waters of a dozen countries, from Ivory Coast in the northwest down to Angola in the south, and a good deal of its geology shares the characteristics that have made Nigeria a prolific producer for decades. Indeed, a number of unexpectedly productive fields have been discovered in the Gulf over the past decade. But although the Gulf of Guinea has lately been sub-Saharan Africa's most exciting region for the oil industry, it is hardly the only "prospective" part of the continent (to borrow the industry term). The parched semideserts of southern Chad and southern Sudan have recently added hundreds of thousands of barrels a day to global markets, and a growing chorus of voices is now touting the East African margin as the industry's "next big thing."

But be it east or west, jungle or desert, it is a safe bet that where the drillers go, the politicians, strategists, and lobbyists are not far behind. Washington in particular has taken a keen interest in Africa's growing significance as an oil-producing region since the headline discoveries of the late 1990s. In December 2000 the National Intelligence Council, an internal CIA think tank, published a report in which it declared unambiguously that sub-Saharan Africa "will play an increasing role in global energy markets," and predicted that the region would provide 25 percent of North American oil imports by 2015, up from the 15 percent or so at the time. (This would put Africa well ahead of Saudi Arabia as a source of oil for the United States.) In May 2001 a controversial and fairly secretive energy task force put together by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney declared in its report: "West Africa is expected to be one of the fastest-growing sources of oil and gas for the American market."

In the following months, a group of congressmen, lobbyists, and defense strategists came together under the umbrella of the African Oil Policy Initiative Group, and began preaching the message that the Gulf of Guinea was the new Persian Gulf, and that it should become a strategic priority for the United States, even to the point of requiring an expanded military presence. A series of well-placed articles in the American media followed, some breathlessly announcing the inauguration of a new Middle East off the shores of Africa. Before long, the influential Center for Strategic and International Studies had chimed in with a couple of reports, its most recent, in July 2005, claiming that "an exceptional mix of U.S. interests is at play in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea."

During these years, a number of prominent lawmakers in Washington began getting excited about the possibility of shifting some of America's oil dependence from the Middle East to Africa. One former senior official charged with African affairs recalls Kansas Senator Sam Brownback rushing up to him one afternoon in October 2002, positively glowing with excitement. "What do you think about bases in Africa?" Brownback asked. "Wouldn't that be great?"

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But does Africa measure up to the hype? After all, the entire continent is believed to contain, at best, 10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves, making it a minnow swimming in an ocean of seasoned sharks. Africa is unlikely ever to "replace" the Middle East or any other major oil-producing region. So why the song and dance? Why all the goose bumps? Why do so many influential people in Washington let themselves get so carried away when they talk about African oil?

The answer has very little to do with geology. Africa's significance as an oil "play," to borrow the industry lingo, lies beyond the number of barrels that may or may not be buried under its cretaceous rock. Instead, what makes the African oil boom interesting to energy security strategists in both Washington and Europe (and, increasingly, Beijing) is a series of serendipitous and unrelated factors that, together, tell a story of unfolding opportunity.

To begin with, one of the more attractive attributes of Africa's oil boom is the quality of the oil itself. The variety of crude found in the Gulf of Guinea is known in industry parlance as "light" and "sweet," meaning it is viscous and low in sulfur, and therefore easier and cheaper to refine than, say, Middle Eastern crude, which tends to be lacking in lower hydrocarbons and is therefore very "sticky." This is particularly appealing to American and European refineries, which have to contend with strict environmental regulations that make it difficult to refine heavier and sourer varieties of crude without running up costs that make the entire proposition worthless.

Then there is the geographic accident of Africa's being almost entirely surrounded by water, which significantly cuts transport-related costs and risks. The Gulf of Guinea, in particular, is well positioned to allow speedy transport to the major trading ports of Europe and North America. Existing sea-lanes can be used for quick, cheap delivery, so there is no need to worry about the Suez Canal, for instance, or to build expensive pipelines through unpredictable countries. This may seem a minor point, until you look at Central Asia, where the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, stretching from Azerbaijan through Georgia and into Turkey, and intended to deliver Caspian crude into the Mediterranean, had to navigate a minefield of Middle East politics, antiglobalization protests, and red tape before it could be opened. African oil faces none of those issues. It is simply loaded onto a tanker at the point of production and begins its smooth, unmolested journey on the high seas, arriving just days later in Shreveport, Southampton, or Le Havre.

A third advantage, from the perspective of the oil companies, is that Africa offers a tremendously favorable contractual environment. Unlike in, say, Saudi Arabia, where the state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco has a monopoly on the exploration, production, and distribution of the country's crude oil, most sub-Saharan African countries operate on the basis of so-called production-sharing agreements, or PSAs. In these arrangements, a foreign oil company is awarded a license to look for petroleum on the condition that it assume the up-front costs of exploration and production. If oil is discovered in that block, the oil company will share the revenues with the host government, but only after its initial costs have been recouped. PSAs are generally offered to impoverished countries that would never be able to amass either the technical expertise or the billions in capital investment required to drill for oil themselves. For the oil company, a relatively small up-front investment can quickly turn into untold billions in profits.

Yet another strategic benefit, particularly from the perspective of American politicians, is that, until recently, with the exception of Nigeria, none of the oil-producing countries of sub-Saharan Africa had belonged to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Thus they have not been subject to the strict limits on output OPEC imposes on its members in an attempt to keep the price of oil artificially high. The more non-OPEC oil that comes onto the global market, the more difficult it becomes for OPEC countries to sell their crude at high prices, and the lower the overall price of oil. Put more simply, if new reserves are discovered in Venezuela, they have very little effect on the price of oil because Venezuela's OPEC commitments will not allow it to increase its output very much. But if new reserves are discovered in Gabon, it means more cheap oil for everybody.

But probably the most attractive of all the attributes of Africa's oil boom, for Western governments and oil companies alike, is that virtually all the big discoveries of recent years have been made offshore, in deepwater reserves that are often many miles from populated land. This means that even if a civil war or violent insurrection breaks out onshore (always a concern in Africa), the oil companies can continue to pump out oil with little likelihood of sabotage, banditry, or nationalist fervor getting in the way. Given the hundreds of thousands of barrels of Nigerian crude that are lost every year as a result of fighting, community protests, and organized crime, this is something the industry gets rather excited about.

Finally, there is the sheer speed of growth in African oil production, and the fact that Africa is one of the world's last underexplored regions. In a world used to hearing that there are no more big oil discoveries out there, and few truly untapped reserves to look forward to, the ferocious pace and scale of Africa's oil boom has proved a bracing tonic. One-third of the world's new oil discoveries since the year 2000 have taken place in Africa. Of the 8 billion barrels of new oil reserves discovered in 2001, 7 billion were found there. In the years between 2005 and 2010, 20 percent of the world's new production capacity is expected to come from Africa. And there is now an almost contagious feeling in the oil industry that no one really knows just how much oil might be there, since no one's ever really bothered to check.

All these factors add up to a convincing value proposition: African oil is cheaper, safer, and more accessible than its competitors, and there seems to be more of it every day. And, though Africa may not be able to compete with the Persian Gulf at the level of proven reserves, it has just enough up its sleeve to make it a potential "swing" region -- an oil province that can kick in just enough production to keep markets calm when supplies elsewhere in the world are unpredictable. Diversification of the oil supply has been a goal -- even an obsession -- in the United States since the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s. Successive U.S. administrations have understood that if the world is overly reliant on two or three hot spots for its energy security, there is a greater risk of supply disruptions and price volatility. And for obvious reasons, the effort to distribute America's energy-security portfolio across multiple nodes has taken on a new urgency since September 11, 2001. In his State of the Union address in January 2006, President Bush said he wanted to reduce America's dependence on Middle East crude by 75 percent by 2025.

Copyright © 2007 John Ghazvinian

John Ghazvinian has a doctorate in history from Oxford. He has written for Newsweek, The Nation, Time Out New York, and other publications. Born in Iran and raised in London and Los Angeles, he currently lives in Philadelphia, where he is a visiting fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

To learn more about John Ghazvinian click here to visit his web site.

Thanks to Anna Suknov, FSB Associates (www.fsbassociates.com)

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Spiritual Shackles rides the energy of an extraordinary foster-home family. This episodic story moves through the lives of five children as they grow from infancy into adults, children who by coincidence or destiny are brought together in the home of reclusive, yet beautifully mysterious woman that cherishes African spiritual beliefs. With these beliefs imparted, these "divine children" move on to become avant-garde players during turbulent times, challenging established attitudes and the status quo, questioning everything, including bedrock religious beliefs. This journey through conflicting ideas intertwines smoothly with a suspenseful love affair that is richly anchored in ancient African lore.

If you're ready, take a journey that will mesmerize your senses, challenge your intellect while at the same time have you rolling on the floor in gut busting laughter. Enter the world of Spiritual Shackles, hang on to the excitement and enjoy the journey.

About the Author

Author Jumal currently resides in Southern California with his wife, Phyllis. He enjoys jazz, officiating track and field, both teaching and playing chess, storytelling and traveling where he’s most recently returned from trips to Bahia, Brazil and Belize.  To learn more visit his official web site at:  http://www.spiritualshackles.com/index.php.

Author Jumal has authorized a discount for Black Men In America.com site visitors.  For a limited time you can buy “Spiritual Shackles” for $7.00 off the retail price.  Click here to place your order directly to author Jumal. 

• Regular Price: $28.95
• Hardcover: 518 pages
• Publisher: Griot (September 1, 2005)
• ISBN: 0964498502
• Black Men In America.com Special Price $21.95

Click here to buy now!

 

LL Cool J's Platinum Workout
By LL Cool J and Dave Honig with Jeff O'Connell
Published by Rodale
December 2006; $27.95US/$34.95CAN; 9781594866081

While it may seem impossible to imagine, LL Cool J didn't always have a diesel body -- he chiseled it the old-fashioned way, with hard work and discipline. Together with his longtime trainer, Dave "Scooter" Honig, LL developed a revolutionary workout system that not only burns away body fat for good but also built the amazing muscle and flawless physique you see in every one of his latest music videos. 

In LL Cool J's Platinum Workout, LL lets you in on the secrets of his transformation with his uniquely creative, yet no-nonsense regimen -- enlivened with humor and sheer force of personality -- he will inspire you to enjoy working out as never before, while building a body you never thought possible. LL Cool J and Scooter Honig blend standard free-weight lifts, plyometrics, fighters' moves, calisthenics, endurance training, and much more to create what they call their "combination platter" -- a highly effective, dynamic, and diversified total-body workout. Whether you are just starting a program or looking to get to the next level, you can choose from four levels of fitness, from Bronze to Platinum, including: 

• The Bronze Body: A 4-week beginners' program that will take inches off your waist and boost your energy. 
• The Silver Body: A 5-week program for intermediates that increases strength while also maintaining muscular and cardiovascular endurance. 
• The Gold Body: An advanced 9-week program that turns the body into a muscle-building and fat-burning machine -- complete with six-pack abs and as much energy as LL Cool J.
• The Platinum Body: A hard-core 3-week fat-torching program LL used for the "Control Myself" video -- a new level in ripped-to-the-bone fitness and sex appeal.
• Plus, The Diamond Body: A special 4-week program for women who want to shape up fast for summer or a special event. 

Jam-packed with photos of LL demonstrating the exercises and complete with meal plans and recipes that will fuel your workouts while promoting fat loss, LL Cool J's Platinum Workout will transform your body and the way you think about exercise -- for life.

Author
LL Cool J is a three-time Grammy-winning rapper, television and movie actor, and bestselling author. With 11 consecutive platinum albums, he is considered one of a select few artists who brought rap and hip-hop culture from the underground to the mainstream. He previously authored the best-selling I Make My Own Rules. He lives on Long Island, New York. 

Dave "Scooter" Honig is a noted expert in boxing conditioning and has worked with champion athletes and celebrities for many years. He lives in New York City. 

Jeff O'Connell is an executive writer for Men's Health magazine and recently coauthored The PowerFood Nutrition Plan. He divides his time between New York City and Emmaus, Pennsylvania. 

Excerpt
The following is an excerpt from the book LL Cool J's Platinum Workout 
by LL Cool J And Dave Honig With Jeff O'Connell
Published by Rodale; December 2006; $27.95US/$34.95CAN; 9781594866081
Copyright © 2007 by James Todd Smith

9 Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight

I’m used to pushing it to the outer limits when recording new joints, but losing body fat to shape up isn’t an exercise in extremes; it’s a matter of balance. Do too much or too little of one thing and you may not lose body fat as quickly as you expect. To achieve the best results, practice the discipline of moderation. If you’re not seeing the results you want, consider that the reason may be one of the following, and use my personal quick fix to correct the problem in short order.

1. You’re adding muscle mass faster than you’re losing body fat. This is a best-case scenario -- your program is working, but you just aren’t recognizing it. If the scales are giving you bad news, it could be because you’re increasing your muscle mass faster than you’re losing body fat. Muscle mass is heavier than body fat, and when your body starts to make this shift, it adds muscle mass more quickly than it sheds body fat. LL’s quick fix: All you need in this case is an attitude adjustment. Use your mirror, pay attention to how your clothes are fitting, and take the compliments you receive to heart. They’re all much better gauges of your success than a number on a scale. If everything seems to be pointing to success except the needle, ignore it.

2. You’re eating too much. If you’re committing this sin, you probably know it without my telling you more about it. If you’re going to lose body fat, you have to be in a calorie deficit. There’s a limit to how many calories you can burn by exercising each day, so you have to limit caloric intake to make sure you’re in a deficit. LL’s quick fix: One thing you may have noticed when you started this program is that your appetite increased. Channel that into opportunity: Emphasize healthy low-calorie foods such as vegetables and lean protein sources so that you can still consume a large volume of food without stuffing yourself full of unwanted calories. Satiety (that satisfied feeling from eating) can be achieved with fewer calories when you eat crunchy, low-calorie foods such as vegetables.

3. You’re not eating enough. “Enough” in this case may mean that you’re not eating enough calories; you’re not eating often enough, or both. If you habitually eat only a large meal or two a day, you may be under eating. Strangely, this can allow calories to be stored as body fat. When you eat a large quantity of food in a sitting and then neglect to eat for hours on end, your body tends to hoard the calories it doesn’t need from these infrequent meals as body fat. LL’s quick fix: To find success, eat fewer calories in a sitting, and eat more frequently. This may mean actually increasing the total number of calories you consume a day, but your body will be more inclined to burn them than to store them as body fat. Strive to take in up to six meals a day, distributing the number of calories you consume fairly equally from one meal to the next.

4. You’re not training enough. If you’re following the program as I’ve laid it out, you’re training enough. The only suggestion I can offer is to train with more intensity. If you’re not keeping up, but you’re doing what you can, then just keep going at your pace. Your results will come. On the other hand, if you’re skipping workouts because you’re busy or because you don’t feel like it, you’re just not going to achieve results that are as impressive as you want. LL’s quick fix: The first thing you have to realize is that you do have time to work out. Get in 15 minutes here and there each day. Make the commitment. That’s when you’ll see real results.

5. You’re training too much. This may be a shocker, but training too much, too hard, or both can undermine progress. Keep in mind that the workouts themselves tear down your body. You make progress and grow after training, during recovery. LL’s quick fix: If you are overtraining (see “Don’t [Over]Train in Vain” on page 190 for more on this), you may need to back off on your training volume or frequency. You should limit weight training to about 4 days a week, and you should include at least 1 -- if not 2 -- full rest days each week.

6. You’re not performing enough cardio. When you’re weight training, you’re jacking up your metabolic rate by encouraging calorie burning and adding muscle mass. Cardiovascular training (walking, jogging, running, or using any of the gym machines such as treadmills, bicycles, or stairclimbers) is also important for burning calories and ultimately for burning body fat. LL’s quick fix: Make sure that you perform as much cardio as the program prescribes.

7. You’re performing too much cardio. Many people think they can climb onto a treadmill and just keep moving until their body is perfect. That’s not the case. Performing an excess of cardio (either in intensity, frequency, or duration) can take your body over the edge into a state of overtraining, and it can burn muscle mass rather than body fat. Either way, your cardio actually can end up working against your goal of shedding body fat and adding lean muscle mass. LL’s quick fix: If you think this is the case, cut back on your cardio somewhat -- either the length of sessions, the frequency, the intensity, or a combination of these variables.

8. You’re eating too many carbs. If you consume a high percentage of your calories from carbohydrates, you may be impeding your ability to shed body fat -- and you may not be encouraging enough muscle growth if you’re simultaneously not eating enough protein. Carbs, especially sugary or starchy carbs, can make you feel sluggish and negatively affect your blood sugar. They can also encourage you to store body fat. LL’s quick fix: To avoid this problem, cut back on carbs in general, relying more on slow-burning sources such as oatmeal, brown rice, and yams, which have a less negative impact on your blood sugar levels. Particularly avoid consuming sugary and starchy carbs by themselves. These include sodas, pasta, white bread, and candy.

9. You’re not eating enough carbs (before and after you work out). Nutrition is complex and specific to each individual. You need to cut back on sugary carbs in general, but you want to include them before and after your workouts, when they will help drive nutrients into your cells. Pre- and post-workout, they deliver nutrients to your muscles, stimulated by your workouts, rather than to your body-fat stores. LL’s quick fix: Consume as many as 50 grams of simple carbs in the half hour both before and after you work out. (Check labels to see how large of a portion this equates to).

Reprinted from: LL Cool J's Platinum Workout by LL Cool J and Dave Honig with Jeff O'Connell. Copyright © 2007 by James Todd Smith. Permission granted by Rodale, Inc., Emmaus, PA 18098. Available wherever books are sold or directly from the publisher by calling at (800) 848-4735.

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Books of Interest To Women

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Women to Women: Perspectives of Fifteen African-American Christian Women

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The Strength of Our Mothers : African and African American Women and Families : Essays and Speeches

The Colorblind Career: What Every African-American, Hispanic-American and Asian-American Needs to Succeed in Today's Tough Job Market

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Written by Herself: Literary Production by African American Women, 1746-1892

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Women's Minds/Women's Bodies: The Psychology of Women in a Biosocial Context

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White Women's Christ and Black Women's Jesus : Feminist Christology and Womanist Response

Black Fatherhood II: Black Women Talk about Their Men

The Women's Guide to Homeopathy: The Natural Way to a Healthier Life for Women

Crowns: A Portrait of Black Women in Church Hats

Women and Love: Finding True Love while Staying True to Yourself: The Eight Make or Break Experiences in Women's Lives

Selling is a Woman's Game: 15 Powerful Reasons why Women Can Outsell Men: 15 Powerful Reasons why Women Can Outsell Men

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My Mother Prayed for Me: Faith Journaling for African American Women

Not without a Struggle: Leadership Development for African American Women in Ministry

Signs and Symbols: African Images in African American Quilts

Celebrating Life: African American Women Speak out about Breast Cancer

No Mountain High Enough: Secrets of Successful African American Women

An Unbroken Circle: Linking Ancient African Christianity to the African-American Experience

24 Reasons Why African Americans Suffer; A Critical Analysis of an African American Teenage Subculture

Women's Words, Women's Stories: An American Daybook

God Made Me Beauty-Full: Building Self-Esteem in African-American Women

Writing Women's Lives : American Women's History through Letters and Diaries

Women Connecting with Women Study Guide with Leader's Notes: Equipping Women for Friend-to-Friend Support and Mentoring

Fine Beauty: Beauty Basics and beyond for African-American Women

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Women Helping Women: A Biblical Guide to the 20 Major Issues Women Face

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Moon Marked and Touched by Sun: Plays by African-American Women

The Coupling Convention: Sex, Text, and Tradition in Black Women's Fiction

The Book of African-American Women

The Proud Sisters: The Wisdom and Wit of African-American Women

The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Women : Women Doctors Reveal over 2,000 Self-Help Tips on the Health Problems That Concern Women the Most

Conversions and Visions in the Writings of African-American Women

The Voices of African American Women : The Use of Narrative and Authorial Voice in the Works of Harriet Jacobs, Zora Neale Hurston, and Alice Walker

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As I Am: Young African American Women in a Critical Age

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