On African Knowledge and Intellectual Freedom—The Molefi Kete Asante Reader

 BOOKS BY DR. MOLEFI KETE ASANTE

1. Molefi Kete Asante, Global African American History. London: Routledge, 2010.
2. Molefi Kete Asante and Julie Morgan, Resolve: Communication and Conflict
3. Management. Wadsworth Publishing (scheduled 2010)
4. Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama, Pedagogical Knowledge: What Teachers of African American Children Must Know. Fort Worth: Temba House, in press.
5. Molefi Kete Asante, Erasing Racism. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, Second Edition, 2009.
6. Molefi Kete Asante, Maulana Karenga: An Intellectual Portrait. Cambridge: Polity, 2009.
7. Molefi Kete Asante, Speaking My Mother’s Tongue: Introduction to African American Language. Fort Worth: Temba House, 2009.
8. Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama, eds., Encyclopedia of African Religion. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2008.
9. Molefi Kete Asante, Yoshitaka Miike, Jing Yin, eds. The Global Intercultural Communication Reader. New York: Routledge, 2008
10. Molefi Kete Asante, The Afrocentric Manifesto: Toward an African Renaissance. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008
11. Molefi Kete Asante, The History of Africa: The Quest for Eternal Harmony, Oxford and New York: Routledge 2007
12. Molefi Kete Asante and Emeka Nwadiora, Spear Masters: Introduction to African Religion. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2007.
13. Molefi Kete Asante, Cheikh Anta Diop: An Intellectual Portrait. Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press 2006
14. Molefi Kete Asante, Rhetoric, Race, and Identity: The Architecton of Soul. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2005
15. Molefi Kete Asante and Maulana Karenga, eds., Handbook of Black Studies. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2005.
16. Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama, eds., Encyclopedia of Black Studies. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2005.
17. Molefi Kete Asante, Erasing Racism: The Social Survival of the American Nation. Amherst: NY: Prometheus Books, 2003
18. Molefi Kete Asante, Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change, 2nd Edition. Chicago: African American Images, 2003.
19. Molefi Kete Asante, Customs and Culture of Modern Egypt. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.
20. Molefi Kete Asante, 100 Greatest African Americans. Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2002.
21. Molefi Kete Asante, Scattered to the Wind, fiction, (a African metaphorical saga). Princeton: Sungai Books, 2002.
22. Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama, (eds.) Egypt, Greece, and the American Academy. Chicago: AA Images, 2002.
23. Virginia Millhouse, Molefi Asante, and Peter Nwosu., (Eds), Transcultural Realities. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2001.
24. E. J. Min and Molefi Kete Asante, (Eds.) Social Conflict Between African Americans and Korean Americans. Alexandria, Va.: University Press of America, 2000.
25. Molefi Kete Asante, African American History. Saddle Brook, N.J.: Peoples Publishing Group, 2001, Second Edition.
26. Molefi Kete Asante, Charmaine Harris-Stewart, Theresa Flynn-Nason, and David J. Glunt, Teacher’s Guide for African American History, Second Edition. Maywood, New Jersey: Peoples Publishing Group, 2001.
27. Molefi Kete Asante, Charmaine Harris-Stewart, Theresa Flynn-Nason, and David J. Glunt, Worktext for African American History, Second Edition. Maywood, New Jersey: Peoples Publishing Group, 2001
28. Molefi Kete Asante and Judylynn Mitchell, Discovery Essays for Teachers. Philadelphia: Ankh Publishers, 2001.
29. Molefi Kete Asante, The Egyptian Philosophers. Chicago: African American Images, 2000.
30. Molefi Kete Asante, The Painful Demise of Eurocentrism. Trenton: Africa World Press, 2000.
31. Molefi Kete Asante, Scream of Blood: Desettlerism in Southern Africa. Princeton: Sungai Books, 1999.
32. Molefi Kete Asante and Mark Mattson, African American Atlas. (2nd Edition) New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999.
33. Molefi Kete Asante, The Afrocentric Idea. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition, 1998.
34. Molefi Kete Asante and Renee Muntaqim, African American Names. Maywood, N.J.: Peoples Publishing Group, 1997.
35. Molefi Kete Asante and Augusta Mann, Activity Book for African American History. Maywood, New Jersey: Peoples Publishing Group, 1997 (Pedagogy)
36. Molefi Kete Asante, Charmaine Harris-Stewart, and Augusta Mann, Teacher’s Guide for African American History. Maywood, New Jersey: Peoples Publishing Group, 1997. (Pedagogy)
37. Molefi Kete Asante, Love Dance. Trenton: Sungai Press, 1996.
38. Molefi Kete Asante and Judylynn Mitchell, Classical African Activity Book. Maywood, New Jersey: Peoples Publishing Group, 1996. (Pedagogy)
39. Molefi Kete Asante and Abu Abarry (Eds.), African Intellectual Heritage, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996.
40. Molefi Kete Asante (Ed.), In Their Faces: Situating Alternatives to Afrocentricity, Philadelphia: Temple Institute for Advanced Afrocentric Research, (unpublished) 1994.
41. Molefi Kete Asante, African American History: A Journey of Liberation, Maywood, N.J.: Peoples Publishing Group, An Asante Imprint Book, 1995
42. Molefi Kete Asante, Malcolm X as Cultural Hero and Other Afrocentric Essays, Trenton: Africa World Press, 1995.
43. Molefi Kete Asante, Classical Africa (part of the Asante Imprint series of high school textbooks), Maywood, N.J.: Peoples Publishing Group, Inc., 1993.
44. Molefi Kete Asante and Dhyana Ziegler, Thunder and Silence: The Mass Media in Africa, Trenton: Africa World Press, 1991.
45. Molefi Kete Asante, The Book of African Names, Trenton: Africa World Press, 1991.
46. Molefi Kete Asante and Mark Mattson, Historical and Cultural Atlas of African Americans, New York: MacMillan, 1991.
47. Molefi Kete Asante, Kemet, Afrocentricity, and Knowledge, Trenton: Africa World Press, 1990.
48. Molefi Kete Asante, Umfundalai: Afrocentric Rites of Passage, Philadelphia: National Afrocentric Institute, 1989.
49. Molefi Kete Asante, The Afrocentric Idea, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987. (First Edition)
50. Molefi Kete Asante, Afrocentricity, 3rd edition, Trenton: Africa World Press, 1987.
51. Molefi Kete Asante and W. Gudykunst (Eds.), Handbook of Intercultural and International Communication, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1989.
52. Molefi Kete Asante and Kariamu Welsh Asante (Eds.), African Culture: The Rhythms of Unity, Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Press, 1985.
53. Molefi Kete Asante (Ed.), International Press Seminar Proceedings, Harare: Ranche House, 1982.
54. Molefi Kete Asante, Research in Mass Communication: A Guide to Practice, Harare, Zimbabwe: ZIMCO, 1982.
55. Molefi Kete Asante, African Myths: New Frames of Reference, Harare, Zimbabwe: ZIMCO, 1982.
56. Molefi Kete Asante, et. al., Media Training Needs in Zimbabwe, Harare: Mass Media Trust and Friedrich Naumann Foundation, 1982.
57. Molefi Kete Asante, Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change, Buffalo: Amulefi Publishing Company, 1980.
58. Molefi Kete Asante and A. Sarr Vandi (Eds.), Contemporary Black Thought, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1980.
59. Molefi Kete Asante, E. Newmark, and C. Blake (Eds.), Handbook of Intercultural Communication, Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1979.
60. Molefi Kete Asante and Mary Cassata, Mass Communication: Principles and Practices, New York: MacMillan, 1979.
61. Molefi Kete Asante, Epic in Search of African Kings, Buffalo: Amulefi Publishing Company, 1978.
62. Molefi Kete Asante and Mary Cassata (Eds.), The Social Uses of Mass Communication, Buffalo: SUNY Communication Research Center, 1977.
63. Molefi Kete Asante and J. Frye, Contemporary Public Communication, New York: Harper and Row, 1976.
64. Molefi Kete Asante and Eileen Newmark, Intercultural Communication: Theory Into Practice, Alexandria, VA. : Speech Communication Association, 1976.
65. Molefi Kete Asante, African and Afro-American Communication Continuities, Buffalo: SUNY Center for International Affairs, 1975.
66. Molefi Kete Asante [Arthur L. Smith], Transracial Communication, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1973.
67. Molefi Kete Asante [Arthur L. Smith], Language, Communication, and Rhetoric in Black America, New York: Harper and Row, 1972.
68. Molefi Kete Asante [Arthur L. Smith] and Steve Robb (Eds.), The Voice of Black Rhetoric, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1971.
69. Molefi Kete Asante [Arthur L. Smith], Anne Allen, and Deluvina Hernandez, How to Talk to People of Other Races, Los Angeles: Transcultural Education Foundation, 1971.
70. Molefi Kete Asante [Arthur L. Smith], Toward Transracial Communication, Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Afro-American Studies, 1970.
71. Molefi Kete Asante [Arthur L. Smith] and Andrea Rich, Rhetoric of Revolution, Durham, N.C.: Moore Publishing Company, 1970.
72. Molefi Kete Asante [Arthur L. Smith], The Rhetoric of Black Revolution, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1969.
73. Molefi Kete Asante [Arthur L. Smith], Break of Dawn, Philadelphia: Dorrance Company, 1964.

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• Cultivating Nia: The Daring Resolve of David Walker’s Appeal with a Note on African American Values and Traditions (historyisastateofmind.wordpress.com)
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College student uncovers tape of forgotten Malcolm X speech.

The Past Is Not Done With Us: Student Uncovers Forgotten Malcolm X Speech

Malcolm X/El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, Black Nationalist, and human rights activist. He was a courageous voice for the rights of African Americans in the late 1950s through the mid-1960s. He severely critiqued American for historic and contemporary injustices against black Americans. He is an iconic figure whose legacy continues to be researched and debated today. Malcolm X has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in Molefi Kete Asante’s work 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia (Prometheus Books, 2002).

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THE “TRENDING TOPIC” ENCOMPASSING HISTORY, HUMAN BONDAGE AND FRUIT

Subject: ‘If eight slaves pick 56 oranges…’ Georgia school under fire for racist, violent math homework.” Mail Online (UK)

In an attempt to mix social studies with math, students of Beaver Ridge Elementary school in Norcross were asked to calculate such questions as how many oranges and cotton slaves could pick.

‘I’m having to explain to my…To read more:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083734/If-slaves-pick-56-oranges–Georgia-school-racist-violent-math-homework.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

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Imani and Africana Historicity

The seventh day of Kwanzaa, Imani (Faith), reminds us “to believe with all of our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.” (http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.shtml). The creator and founder of Kwanzaa, Dr. Maulana Karenga, stated that all matters of faith originate with God. Our connection to, and understanding of, the Creator was the sustaining force of our enslaved ancestors who experienced the critical period of social disruption [1] known as the Holocaust of enslavement. Africans responded by exhibiting endurance and transcendence.  When African people brought God with them to the islands and the colonies they also carried history. They transported a soul-force-memory which was distinct, a power that was a reflection and reminder of their greatness. The enslaved and free Africans survived because they had faith in the future. Africans in America have always had a keen sense of the past, calling on this knowledge to negate the concerted use of cultural eugenics. History must be known in order to transfer insights to new African generations.

This is important because we, all of us, are told that the study of history in modern society is antiquated, irrelevant—unimportant to our advancement. There is even contemporary discussion about legal actions to regulate the extent of perceived articulated passion being used by teachers and professors in rendering “difficult histories” (i.e. slavery, colonization, imperialism, war, etc.) or histories believed to promote intragroup solidarity.[2]

In the past we were told many things about our history. We were told that chattel slavery was a condition of perpetuity exclusively for African people—that slavery would last forever. We were told that Jim Crow racial violence and segregation would never end. We were told that a Black man would never hold the office of President of the United States. All of these declarations proved to be false. Each day we can enumerate any number of important concerns and challenges facing people of African descent, but this is just one moment in time. Because we believe in the “righteousness and victory of our struggle,” we possess the opportunity—in this moment—to learn something new about Imani; to re-experience our ability to have faith enough (and an abundance of strength) to create necessary change.  The past may appear alien at times, but history is not a foreign country.[3] The past is personal and subjective, and as great leaders have always recognized, knowledge of the past is powerful. 

The principal of Imani is a call for us to preserve our history and continue telling our story.

African people possess a long history of storytelling, from ancient creation narratives to the contemporary manifesto.[4] People of African descent in America have advanced forms of public communication, which have connected the ancestral past to the present, and has clearly defined the collective Black ethos as one of freedom and liberation. In the advancement of this theme, the Black journalist emerged a researcher, storyteller, fact finder, recorder, advocate, prophet, propagandist, activist, messenger—and historian. Among the first known writers within this broad context was Olaudah Equiano (Gustavas Vassa), who in his 1789 personal narrative was actually telling a larger story about African life and culture as well as an account of the horrors of the Middle Passage holocaust. He tells us in his opening letter to Parliament that he is an African “…who is actuated by the hope of becoming an instrument towards the relief of his suffering countrymen.”[5] In 1827 John B. Russwurm and Samuel Cornish founded the first Black newspaper, Freedom’s Journal. Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist, statesman, and also a notable journalist, defended Black liberation and helped to define the field of journalism through newspapers, which included the North Star (1847) and Douglass Monthly (1859). J. R. Clifford, civil rights attorney and a founder of the Niagara Movement, made inroads with the publication of the Pioneer Press beginning in 1882. William Monroe Trotter, a self-described agitator, who held a masters and a doctorate from Harvard University, used his position as a newspaper editor to advance the cause of Blacks by establishing The Guardian in 1901; and by challenging President Woodrow Wilson on the issue of racial segregation and the lynching of African Americans. 

During the Harlem Renaissance from the 1920s through the 1930s, the Crisis (1910) and Opportunity (1923) magazines were key publications that gave Black writers publishing outlets denied to them in mainstream White presses. The study of the past, particularly Black public communication, speaks to one world, while the history of the traditional American media with reference to Blacks speaks to another. Both offered competing messages about African people in contemporary America. Using the 1960s Black Power movement as an important locus, the transmission of messages, through many media sources, by Blacks varied—but included clear, concise and potent slogans targeted to the masses: “Say it loud—I’m Black and am proud,” “Black is Beautiful,” “What’s the word—Johannesburg,” “Black Power,” “Nation Time,” “No justice—no peace,” etc.  These kinds of unmistakable messages also constituted the work of Black independent and grassroots newspapers and publications. The Black message was consistently focused on freedom and equality. Mainstream media’s message to and about Blacks was much less empowering, but more pervasive. This particular news was committed to “social network conservation” and the advancement of the racial ideology of “intolerable Blackness.”

The public exchange of ideas reveals that the most important human function in any society is the art and practice of storytelling. Command of the narrative is the only force that displays genuine power in the world. As we manifest Imani in 2012, and enthusiastically engage the momentum of the immense opportunities before us, we, out of human necessity and a legacy of great nobility, remember the power of our history to inform, enlighten, and guide our efforts.

by Dr. Katherine Bankole-Medina

[1] Abdul Alkalimat and Associates, Introduction to Afro-American Studies: A Peoples College Primer. Chicago: Twenty-first Century Books and Publications, 1986.

[2] See the transcribed interview regarding “Tucson Orders Closure of Mexican-American School Program as Ethnic Studies Faces Nationwide Threat” at the Democracy Now website http://www.democracynow.org/2011/12/29/tucson_orders_closure_of_mexican_american

[3]This is a reference to the often quoted line: “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there,” which is from British novelist Leslie Poles Hartley, known best for his 1953 book The Go-Between.

[4] Examples Include: Young, Robert Alexander, “The Ethiopian Manifesto, Issued in Defence of the Blackman’s Rights, in the scale of Universal Freedom (1829),” in Herbert Aptheker (ed.), A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States. Vol. 1, Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1973. pp. 90-93.; from the 1960s James Foreman, The Black Manifesto to the White Christian Churches and the Jewish Synagogues in the United States of America and All Other Racists Institutions. San Marino, CA: TACT, 1969; Control, Conflict, and Change: The Underlying Concepts of the Black Manifesto By James Forman, Chairman, Black Workers Congress, Pamphlet; James Boggs, Manifesto For a Black Revolutionary Party, Philadelphia: Pacemakers Publishing House, 1969; and Robert Lecky and H. Elliott Wright (eds.) Black Manifesto: Religion, Racism, and Reparations, New York: Sheed and Ward 1969; in addition to contemporary texts such as Molefi Kete Asante’s An Afrocentric Manifesto: Toward and African Renaissance. Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2007; and Calvin Hall, African American Journalists: An Autobiography as Memoir and Manifesto, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc. 2009.

[5] Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African Written By Himself Author. London, 1789.

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• Engendering Kuumba to Leave Goodness in the World – Bethune’s Last Will (historyisastateofmind.wordpress.com)
• Historical Lessons in Celebration of Kwanzaa – The First Commitment is Umoja (historyisastateofmind.wordpress.com)
• The Nguzo Saba Seven Principles of Kwanzaa (historyisastateofmind.wordpress.com)
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Engendering Kuumba to Leave Goodness in the World—Bethune’s Last Will

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Kuumba (Creativity) infuses everything we do in life. Kuumba reminds us “To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.” The Kwanzaa Generations, those millions who observe Kwanzaa the world over, have seen the concept applied to art, theater, and literary groups to express our connection and intent to generate positive actions to realize Kuumba. We have also seen the term Kuumba used to name our neighborhood enhancement projects. Here we dedicate the principle to transforming communities that are historically forgotten and discarded. Kuumba is another profound Nguzo Saba philosophy, one that speaks to the aspect of human aesthetics that empowers us to be mindful and proactive about the substance of our community. Ethically, the act of Kuumba applies to our interactions with people—the ability to use our speech and action to leave our community of people more beautiful and beneficial. This is a major part of the founder’s theme, including specifically the message “Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba: An Ethics of Sharing Good in the World” (2010, http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.shtml). Kuumba is the domain of visionaries, those self-possessed in the realm of reciprocity (leaders who recognize their inheritance and develop strategies to leave something greater behind). One such Kuumba Visionary was Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) and is elegantly expressed in her essay “My Last Will and Testament.”

When we want to tell exalted stories of people who exemplify the spirit of Kuumba, we include the life and legacy of Mary McLeod Bethune. She was born in Maysville, South Carolina ten years after the formal end of slavery in the United States. As a child, she shared the field labor that most Africans were engaged in at that time. While she had never known the legacy of enslavement as a child, her parents and several of her 16 brothers and sisters were born into slavery. She demonstrated an aptitude and passion for reading and writing from an early age. Bethune, who was a deeply spiritual person her entire life, cultivated a desire to become a missionary in Africa and with support attended Scotia Seminary in Concord, North Carolina and the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. As she prepared to go to Africa, Bethune was told that there were no available missionary positions there for blacks. She became a mission teacher in Mayesville, Florida, began outreach to jailed prisoners, and assisted the wrongfully accused.  As an instructor she taught in Georgia and South Carolina, maintaining a tremendous desire to assist the communities around her in any way she could. Her goal was to build a school for black girls. In 1904 she established the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, Florida. She worked tirelessly to construct what later became Bethune-Cookman College. In their historical narratives Scholars appreciate the tremendous effort on the part of Bethune to establish this school; how she started this bold initiative with $1.50 and a handful of students. Bethune engaged in grassroots fundraising and literally performed every function (administrative, janitorial, procurement, cooking, teaching, etc.) in order to ensure the success of the school. Her institution-building efforts eventually moved her school from an empty one room house to a 32 acre campus by 1923. Bethune-Cookman University grew to more than 80 acres by 2004.

Bethune approached her activism and administrative work with the same creative determination and zeal she used to build her girls school. She was influenced by the Booker T. Washington model of self-sufficiency along with industrial training and continued her activism within a number of organizations. In the public sector, she was a state leader in the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), and she established the National Council of Negro Women in 1935. In 1936 she began federal government service (the first African American woman to do so) with The National Youth Administration. By the time The National Youth Administration was closed in 1943, Bethune had assisted hundreds of thousands of African Americans in job training, employment, and educational funding. Her close friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt defied the white racist social proscriptions of the time. As a result she developed what became “the Black Cabinet,” a small group of unofficial African American advisors to President Roosevelt. She was the first black woman to advise United States Presidents in both official and unofficial capacities. In spite of this, she remained an activist in most areas of Black life, constantly advocating for “…full equality in the abundance of life.”[1] The Bethune-Cookman University website describes her as “…a world-renowned educator, civil and human rights leader….”[2] She received countless national and international honors and awards during her lifetime, has been connected to several major historic sites, and featured in numerous inventories of influential African Americans. She was ranked number 10 among “America’s greatest women” in 1930. In 1939 she received NAACP’s Spingarn Medal, and was interviewed by sociologist and educator Charles S. Johnson. She was the only Black woman to have input on the United Nations charter in 1945. Bethune received the Haitian Medal of Honor and Merit in 1949. In 1999 she was featured among “100 Most Fascinating Black Women of the Twentieth Century” in Ebony Magazine, and in 2002, African American Studies scholar Molefi Kete Asante cited Bethune in his book 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia.

As many scholars have noted, the accomplishments in Mary McLeod Bethune’s life on behalf of African Americans, indicates that she should be viewed as a preeminent stateswoman.[3] She labored to “build a better world” in the spirit of Kuumba. Consistent with her lifelong character of giving back to the community, Bethune addressed the African American Nation with a series of final “legacies” enumerated in “My Last Will and Testament.” She bequeaths the following “legacies” to Black people:

1.      “Love”

2.      “Hope”

3.      “The Challenge Of Developing Confidence In One Another”

4.      “Thirst For Education”

5.      “Respect For The Uses Of Power”

6.      “Faith”

7.      “Racial Dignity”

8.      “A Desire To Live Harmoniously With Your Fellow Men”

9.      “A Responsibility To Our Young People”

This is a moving piece that not only reflects a thoughtful Kuumba Vision but represents some of the highest ideals of Africana Womanism.[4] Bethune’s “Last Will and Testament” is an elegant ethical and philosophical discourse and training guide on the development of leaders. The legacies speak to committed individuals who can address the needs of their people and position themselves within a global context.

One of her most inspirational passages comes from number seven, “I Leave You Racial Dignity.” Bethune recognized that she must tell African American people, especially the children, what society refused to tell them—that their origins were as unique, worthy, valuable and sacred as all others.

In this document she placed African Americans in world history, as opposed to the margins of society. She reveled in her black skin color, a physical attribute that was treated with disdain during her time. Bethune transformed the social anxiety over African skin pigment into a gift; and reconfigured the shared hardships of Blacks into a motivation tool for success. Even when she tells Blacks to be “…less race conscious and more conscious of individuals and human values…,” there is no ambiguity or hesitation about the emphasis she gives to racial self-respect.  For Bethune, our blackness is our humanity and it is priceless. Bethune’s “My Last Will and Testament” is a birthright, the only entitlement that possesses merit. Mary McLeod Bethune was a Kuumba Visionary, a woman whose value has yet to be fully captured. One biographer wrote:

“Her birth was recorded nowhere; the notices of her death appeared on the front pages of newspapers over the country. Many people in America and in Africa and in Asia wrote eulogies praising her.”[5]

She engendered Kuumba in the world, and having received goodness, she gave it back to the people in the form of cultural capital.

By Dr. Katherine Bankole-Medina

[Important Bethune research sites: The Mary McLeod Bethune Collection at Bethune Cookman University and the Mary McLeod Bethune House in Washington, DC.]

——————————————————————

[1] Quote from Bethune’s response to the 1954 Brown V. Board of Education case overturning the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling (“Separate but Equal” doctrine) which appeared in the Chicago Defender.

[2]Bethune-Cookman University, ”Our Founder-Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune,” http://www.cookman.edu/about_BCU/history/our_founder.html.

[3] Audrey Thomas McCluskey and Elaine M. Smith (eds.) Mary McLeod Bethune: Building a Better World, Essays and Selected Documents. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002.

[4] See Clenora Hudson-Weems, Africana Womanism: Reclaiming Ourselves, 4th revised edition, Bedford, 2004.

[5] E.G. Sterne, Mary McLeod Bethune, NewYork: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957, p. 268.

RECOMMENED READING:

Bethune, Mary Mcleod. (1935). “The Association For The Study Of Negro Life And History: Its Contribution To Our Modern Life.” Journal Of Negro Life And History, 2, 400—410.

___________(1938). “Clarifying Our Vision With The Facts” Journal Of Negro Life And History, 23, 10—15.

___________(1939). “The Adaptation Of The History Of The Negro To The Capacity Of The Child.” Journal Of Negro Life And History, 24, 9—13.

___________(1950). “The Negro In Retrospect And Prospect.” Journal Of Negro Life And History, 35, 9—19.

___________(1951). “The Torch Is Ours.” Journal Of Negro Life And History, 36, 9— 11.

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KWANZAA MOSAIC: AFRICAN HERITAGE COMMEMORATION*

Cultivating Nia: The Daring Resolve of David Walker’s Appeal with a Note on African American Values and Traditions

The Kwanzaa principle Nia (Purpose) reminds us of our commitment to living a meaningful life in support of African people. The essence of Nia is “to make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness” (http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.shtml). African American history and culture is replete with examples of people who dedicated their entire life to this singular purpose. Nia requires the courage to pledge one’s life to a goal greater than oneself. Nia stresses that we carry forth our commitment with consistency, integrity, and bravery. One individual who exemplified the spirit of Nia was David Walker (1785-1830). We know him from his collection of essays entitled the Walker’s Appeal, In Four Articles, Together with a Preamble to the Colored Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly to those of the United States of America, known as David Walker’s Appeal.[1] Walker was fortunate to have operated within a period of early America where free Africans were vigorously responding to the consolidation of slavery, while at the same time advocating for the upliftment of northern free Black communities. David Walker’s Appeal is considered a crucial text in Africana historical studies, representing a severe assessment of the system of slavery in the United States in the early period of the Abolitionist Movement.

Walker called on free Africans to continue to support abolitionism and reminded enslaved Africans that they had a responsibility to secure their freedom. Walker stated: “my object is, if possible, to awaken in the breasts of my afflicted, degraded and slumbering brethren, a spirit of enquiry and investigation respecting our miseries and wretchedness in this Republican Land of Liberty!!!!!” Walker spoke directly to the nation when he prophesized that a divine reckoning would occur if American slavery did not end. Having migrated from the south to the north, Walker was well aware of the risks of writing and distributing the Appeal. It was considered provocative, rebellious, and militant because it advocated that Blacks take up arms to win their freedom. The south saw the Appeal’s implications for the entire Black population, and moved to convict Blacks in possession of the pamphlet with the criminal offense of conspiracy. Slaveholders were also concerned about strengthening and upholding bans on reading and writing for enslaved Africans. Walker understood that the proslavery faction intended to keep Africans ignorant and filled with the belief that their existence meant unending service to the slave power. To respond to that idea Walker said: “they want us for their slaves, and think nothing of murdering us in order to subject us to that wretched condition—therefore, if there is an attempt made by us, kill or be killed.” Further, he openly challenged slaveholder’s contradictory Christian conceptions of good conduct: “…being Christians enlightened and sensible, they are completely prepared for such hellish cruelties.”

Walker warned that slaveholders “…will have enough of us (Africans) by and by—their stomachs shall run over with us; they want us for their slaves, and shall have us to their fill.” Walker admonished Christians for the mistreatment and mis-education of African people because in his mind the great sin of slavery could only be absolved by “repenting” (through abolitionism).

As a function of Nia, Walker’s singular ambition, his life theme, was to deliver the message, as a free Black man, that the enslavement of African people, the harshest, most cruel example in the history of the world, must be stopped. Throughout the Appeal Walker reiterated the right of Africans to secure their freedom: “The man who would not fight under our Lord and Master Jesus Christ in the glorious and heavenly cause of freedom and of God—to be delivered from the most wretched, abject and servile slavery, that ever a people was afflicted with since the foundation of the world, to the present day—ought to be kept with all of his children or family, in slavery, or in chains, to be butchered by his cruel enemies.”

For African people, having a purpose in life transcends the need to react to the imposition of difficult circumstances; it is the cultivation of character (or as Black mothers used to say “walk with a sense of purpose”). There are several notable contemporary academic and trade books on such African American values, a subject that has been at the forefront of Black cultural nationalist thought for decades. Some diverse and notable examples of these texts include: Joyce A. Ladner‘s The Ties that Bind; Timeless Values for African American Families (2000), Teresa L. Fry Brown’s God Don’t Like Ugly: African American Women Handing on Spiritual Values (2000), Jawanza Kunjufu‘s Restoring the Village, Values, and Commitment: Solutions for the Black Family (1997), James L. Conyers, Jr., Afrocentric Traditions (Vol. 1, 2005), Maat, the Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt by Maulana Karenga and Jan Assmann (2006), and Odu Ifa: The Ethical Teachings by Maulana Karenga (1999). For African Americans, we have generations of wisdom and knowledge which speaks to the best of our values and traditions—our Nia. The purpose of David Walker’s Appeal was to unite Africans in consolidated thought and action in order to eradicate the institution of slavery in the United States.

by Dr. Katherine Bankole-Medina

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[1] See David Walker, “Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World: Our Wretchedness in Consequence of Slavery,” in African Intellectual Heritage: A Book of Sources edited by Molefi Kete Asante and Abu S. Abarry, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996, pp. 627-636; and for the full text of the third edition see David Walker’s Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in particular, and very expressly, to those of the United States of America, Introduction by James Turner, Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 1993; see also a digital edition in pdf David Walkers Appeal Third Edition 1830.

Living Ujamaa—Remembering The Open Market Classroom With Notes on Black Spending

The Kwanzaa Principle of Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) (http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.shtml) is a means of ensuring shared wealth and resources. It values the best forms of African communal living supporting the ideal that genuine prosperity belongs to the people. The underlying theme here is that people should not be exploited and oppressed so that the few may benefit. Ujamaa means that we build our own businesses and institutions with excellence and integrity and we sustain our businesses so that we may better serve our communities. Often when we discuss the principle of Ujamaa historically, we refer to Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee, and the National Negro Business League. Regarding the latter, Washington and Emmitt Scott delivered a speech in 1914 outlining the mission of the business league, using basic numerical data to draw attention to the successes African Americans were experiencing in farming. (http://btwsociety.org/library/speeches/11.php)[1] We also reference Madame C. J. Walker’s million dollar enterprises in personal services to Black women and the efforts of her biographer A’Lelia Bundles (the  great great granddaughter of Madame C. J. Walker) to preserve her legacy (http://www.madamcjwalker.com/index.html). It is important that we recall the accomplishments of black business men and women of the past. Much good has come from black entrepreneurs, who used the concept of Ujamaa for the benefit of our family, community, and culture. Their example tasks us to consider how we use our resources for the ultimate advancement of the group, rather than our ability to simply amass financial wealth and resources for individual gain. Like Washington, Walker offered training, created jobs, provided services, and donated money to causes that elevated the Black community. Also, a half century later, we should not forget the economic leverage illustrated in the 1960s, and specifically the Montgomery Bus Boycott, forewarning the demise of Jim Crow.

Ujamaa and the Open Market Classroom

Thirty years ago African “street vendors” were prevalent in many cities, especially in Washington, D.C. For students at Howard University, the street vendors were, in reality, extensions of the Black diaspora and the business tradition of open markets. It was/is a global profession, found everywhere in the world. At Howard the vendors were on campus, often just outside of Douglass Hall, but sufficient distance from the Administration Building. From what we could discern, they almost always had a vendor’s license, and despite the fact that most were viewed as simply making an honest living, they were considered a nuisance for municipal regulation, and the brick and mortar establishments far from Georgia Avenue. For a time, like those vendors well-established on Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem, New York (at the original African Market) these merchants participated in a bustling, vibrant business. The street vendors on and around Howard University’s campus, perhaps unlike some peddlers, were on a mission. Rain or shine the vendors were generally a reliable class of entrepreneurs. They gave off no sense of any re-sale irregularity. Most importantly, they sold quality materials, hard to find items—mostly comprising culturally specific objects, books, incense, perfume oil, African attire, jewelry—and occasionally food. They directed the students to Hodari Ali’s Pyramid Bookstore and the Blue Nile on Georgia Avenue. They talked about their homeland, usually the West Indies or Africa and constantly challenged students about their knowledge of Black history and culture.

Many seemed more interested in conducting their own Open Market Classroom then making a sale. If students didn’t have money to pay, they would wait until the next time. Often highly developed intellectuals themselves, they challenged students who were culturally dislocated, and ceaselessly engaged students whom showed promise of a “liberated mind.” Unbeknownst to most students, the vendors operated within the hidden or sometimes parallel economies of America, difficult to tax, and unreliable as a constant revenue stream for local districts. In the larger cities, places where blacks, especially men could not gain employment, or some, like their “over-educated” immigrants peers, found small incomes. Within this particular hidden economy, Blacks supported one another in the spirit of Ujamaa. This was before economic globalization; before the complaints from mainstream businesses, before market men and women were removed from urban campuses and “downtown” streets; and before the African Market in Harlem, as we knew it (dynamically exuberant, bustling, African intra-ethnic, African intra-cultural, and international), was closed (and relocated). But prior to all of this, and only citing this specific example, Ujamaa was not only practiced, it was studied and discussed. The Black small businessmen came to Black schools and sold Black products in the Black community, to Black students. They were self-employed, if not gainfully employed, and this segment of the African American community made culturally conscious decisions about where to spend their dollars, and on what. These street vendors, like their counterparts all over the world—Asia, South America and Africa—found their livelihoods eliminated, or if they initially survived witnessed their businesses (which were often so much more) regulated out of existence.

A Note on African-American Spending

There are specific media messages regarding how African Americans spend their money; and an excess of statistical data demonstrating the spending wealth of Blacks. Every year these statistics are discussed citing how much money Blacks spend on frivolous and potentially harmful items. We are also routinely informed about the kinds of items black celebrities’ purchase and how much they spend. The message, within the subtext, is that Blacks waste their vast wealth on unnecessary items and services. The effort supports a well-worn black economic pathology notion in the public domain. It is a carefully guided view of the numbers, but the slant consistently fails to account for the irony that masses of Blacks still grapple with poverty and the average income of African Americans is not above $40,000 per year. Phillip Jackson has suggested that Blacks currently exist in “deep poverty.”[2] These statistics never include information regarding how much blacks spend on transportation (except to highlight automotive sales), housing (30 %), childcare, food—basic support and sustenance items. The data is rarely aligned with statistics from the general U.S. population; does not account for the persistent wealth gap, and hastens to even acknowledge discriminatory barriers. 

African American are likely to spend more for nearly every basic need, especially Blacks who live in predominately Black communities, and this includes (as has been shown in recent years) higher interest rates on consumer loans (credit and banking). According to one report African-Americans possess the ability to spend $913 billion a year (2008, Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia) but advertisers are not necessarily interested in targeting the African-American market through advertising because they fail to see race (within the cultural context). They appear currently interested in seeking the Spanish language or Latino market. One estimate suggests that by 2012-2013 the annual monetary wealth available to African Americans will be 1 trillion (not counting the recession). The need to know African American, Latino, and teenage spending patterns is keen. For Blacks, advertisers, marketers, and consumer data-gatherers collect information about how Blacks refer to themselves as a group and have focused on the “urban market” a code word for Blacks. This urban market analysis includes nearly every popular culture nuance, or deviance (no matter how absurd or fleeting), that is then interpreted as “black culture.” Advertisers believe that African Americans have momentous spending power, which is concentrated in urban areas, and it can be collected from the youth through the media vehicles of television, music, radio, internet (especially social networks), and magazines.

Living Ujamaa and the Battle for Black Dollars

Ujamaa means challenging the discourse on cooperative economics and interpretations of black spending and investing patterns in the United States. For every anecdotal “black pathology” report, there are other documents which contradict these ideas. If we are to consider the implications of the 2009 Selig analysis and the 2000 Pew Internet and American Life Project,[3]  African Americans:

1.      Tend to see themselves as a distinct racial and cultural people in spite of messages and debates perennially challenging this;

2.      For the most part, still live in the south with large concentrations of Blacks in the major U.S. cities;

3.      Spend their money in areas of large Black concentration;

4.      Read magazines (news and entertainment) and books. Blacks read Ebony, Jet, Essence, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Black Enterprise. Blacks who read magazines say that reading enhances their mental ability;

5.      Are thought to be most interested in communications (rather than personal care and food which are not in the top 5);

6.      Cause major corporations to spend millions of advertising dollars targeting the Black population;

7.      Influence American culture.

The first item is important because it speaks to the challenges blacks have when external forces seek to frame Africanity. Historically blacks have ties to the south and to urban cities. This does not necessarily mean that they spend their money within Black communities. Regarding the issue of literacy, and knowledge acquisition, the opposite of number four is usually presented to describe the African American experience. That Blacks read Black magazines, especially those which were read by their parents and grandparents is not surprising. It is notable that blacks equate the activity with intellectual improvement; and that communications technology is of greater consumer interest. Major corporations have spent advertising dollars on Blacks, interrogating Black culture so as to enable them to craft a winning appeal. That African Americans influence American culture in profound ways is not new; what is interesting is how American culture seeks to select what it deems as representative of Black culture as a whole. Just as important as the act of spending within our communities, Ujamaa tasks us to be mindful of the implications of what we buy and invest in—how does it support the needs and interests of the community?

Blacks have the power to create economic justice; and where necessary demand economic parity for our communities. We can use our resources to elevate our neighborhoods. Some of this data indicates that our expenditures in some cases are already being used, and can be used to support, much higher levels of Ujamaa. This means that businesses and advertisers external to our communities and at cross purposes with the needs of the community, will continue to increase advertisement crusades in order to remove resources, especially capital. Ujamaa, cooperative economics, demands conscious vigilance so that what we do economically resonates with the masses.

by Dr. Katherine Bankole-Medina

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[1] Booker T. Washington, Emmitt J. Scott, “National Negro Business League Address,” Convention Hall, Muskogee, OK, August 19, 1914.

[2] Phillip Jackson, “Remembering The Millions The American Dream Left Behind” Wednesday, September 10, 2008, http://www.thenewblackmagazine.com/view.aspx?index=1580; see also Michelle Singletary, “Blacks still lag behind by key measures,” The Boston Globe, February 19, 2006.

[3] Executive Summary of the Multicultural Economy Report, “The Multicultural Economy 2009,” by Jeffrey M. Humphreys in GBEC, Vol. 69, No. 3, The University of Georgia, Third Quarter 2009, Selig Center for Economic Growth (see pp. 2-5, “Buying Power by Race”); “African-Americans and the Internet,” by Tom Spooner, Lee Rainie, Pew Internet & American Life Project, October 22, 2000.

SELECTED READING:

Monique Cohen (with Mihir Bhatt and Pat Horn), Women Street Vendors: The Road to Recognition. New York: Population Council 2000.

John Cross, “Street Vendors, Modernity and Postmodernity: Conflict and Compromise in the Global Economy,” The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, V. 20, No. 1/2, 2000, pp. 29-51.

Ama Mazama, Kwanzaa ou la Célébration du Génie Africain, Menaibuc, 2005.

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The Historical Significance of the Million Man March, the Old Media, and an Ujima Message

The creator and founder of Kwanzaa, Dr. Maulana Karenga has stated that Ujima, the principle of collective work and responsibility is “a commitment to active and informed togetherness on matters of common interest.  It is also recognition and respect of the fact that without collective work and struggle, progress is impossible and liberation unthinkable”  (http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.shtml).  There is no question that Ujima is a measureable aspect of life (people must do something tangible and in tandem to produce something identifiable), a matter of concern, a function of communication, and accountability. We are often inspired by how Black people, seemingly disparate in their social, cultural and political thinking, will exhibit Ujima, when by all accounts; they are dissuaded from collective expressions of racial self-respect and Umoja. Ujima, collective work and responsibility, as Dr. Karenga has pointed out, is also an internalized ethos which guides one’s life so that the community benefits. Historically speaking, our goal has always been the realization of liberation. Even within our internal conflicts the goal was the same. It was true for DuBois and Washington, Washington and Trotter, and DuBois and Garvey. Within their own zones they exercised Ujima, where they differed in terms of strategy and maintained lines that would not be crossed; they continued their liberation struggles while simultaneously critiquing, and sometimes in denouncing, their peers. Karenga stated that we have a collective culture and a collective identity, one that “…encourages a vigorous capacity for self-criticism and self-correction…” This is an ancient and neo-African ethos, one that presupposes worth and wealth in self-assessment and earnest acts of compensation for transgressions against others. This thought capacity supports organizational congruence and this form of harmony facilitates the considerable collective work and responsibility necessary for collective success.

Consider a few examples from the late 1960s and early 1970s. During this time Blacks developed and supported the cultural, political and social writings of a new generation, honing their skills within the context of the Black Power Movement. The leading literary architect of the Black Arts Movement, Amiri Baraka established Jihad Press (which was later renamed “People’s War”). He was a man who had prolifically published plays, essays and poetry by 1967 including his “Poem for Black Hearts.” In that same year, John A. Williams published The Man Who Cried I Am, a testament to Black survival from the 1940s through the 1960s;[1] while Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael) and Charles Hamilton published Black Power, a defense of the disquieting term that called for the highest expression of Ujima in the Black struggle. Toni Morrison published her novel The Bluest Eye in 1970 liberating generations of African girls from self-hatred wrought from what Dr. Kokovah Zauditu-Selassie calls “the malevolent gaze” of white aesthetics.[2] African American protest writing like Baraka’s work, and many others, addressed the conflicting issues within racial integration framework and the thrust of Black Nationalism, generating decades of scholarly discourse.

Students at black and white schools, and in the community-at-large, advocated for equal rights in all areas including initiating the call for Black Studies departments and Black courses by protesting, boycotting, sitting-in and shutting down campuses. In 1968 two track stars, elite athletes, were triumphant at the Olympics in Mexico City. Under other circumstances they would have passed through history merely as “a credit to their race,” and that would have been enough for some. Yet Tommy Smith and John Carlos silently and powerfully protested the second-class citizenship of African Americans, amplified by the raised gloved black fist. Recall also that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.altered some of his perspectives about the tone of the Civil Rights Movement, and especially his sentiments of wariness over and rejection of the Vietnam War (and in 1968 Dr. King gave his support to the Memphis sanitation workers and delivered his “Mountain Top/Promised Land Speech” foreshadowing his own assassination). In the 1960s and 1970s the power of African American writers, academics, and activists in the pursuit of freedom is evident. Some of these people practiced Ujima to some extent, but all of these people expressed the philosophical intent of collective work and responsibility.

In the spirit of Ujima, historians are obliged to ask what else might have been accomplished had we used our ethos of collective work and responsibility and created stronger, impenetrable networks of cooperation and support. Optimal and effective group cohesiveness cannot be a possibility for others, and at the same time, presented to Black people as unnecessary and inconceivable. We have proven that our strength emanates from the internal/eternal spiritual perspective, rather than the exterior/materialistic view of our selves. For example, on October 16, 1995 a multitude of Black men and boys from across the nation and parts of the globe met in Washington, D.C. to express the spirit of Ujima in resolving the adverse social conditions impacting African American people. It was the Million Man March, a powerful expression within the Black Nationalist tradition. In terms of contemporary protest events, there had been nothing like this before. The mainstream media went into a tailspin. Even though the coverage was frenetic, in many quarters the primary focus was on the conflicting messages provided to African Americans about the significance of the event. The media was informing society as a whole of their perceptions of what was going on with African Americans; while attempting to interpret to Blacks what they should think about the event.

Media outlets especially seized upon the organizational thrust of the Nation of Islam and its leader the Minister Louis Farrakhan. They then suggested that Black women were not necessarily welcomed. Despite the incredible high estimation that more than 1 million Black males attended the event, the projected federal attendance figure was less than a half million. These kinds of numbers were tacitly offered as demonstrative of the shortcomings of this massive event. However, the implications of the event were acknowledged by many Blacks. Immediately, Spike Lee created a major motion picture based on the Million Man March called Get on the Bus in 1996. The film traces the lives and attitudes of Black men as they make their way across country to attend the Million Man March on a commercial bus. The film received critical acclaim and featured some of the best actors in the U.S. The Ujima message in the film seeps through as they try to move the bus out of a ditch together, and at the same time, attempt to understand and work out their internal and ideological issues. However, 15 years later, the general media coverage over the Million Man March seems like an incredible ruse, a long forgotten recollection of just another “negro march.” The memory of the Million Man March is hardly reflected in current events that mimic the serious effort of Black men, while summarily dismissing the critical quality-of-life issues impacting the Black community, conditions which are multi-faceted and pervasive. Scholars and activists have since noted the concerted reporting bias regarding The Million Man March—that in numerous media outlets (contemporary to and post Million Man March), when much smaller numbers meet it is heralded as a movement in and of itself and covered broadly in the mass media (see Earl et al on newspaper coverage) [3].

The relationship between the goals of Ujima and the deficient coverage of the Million Man March masks a secret worthy of study—that The Million Man March was more powerful than the old media understood or disclosed. For Africans it was an important application of Ujima with immediate and long-term reverberations. For others it was (at the very least) a wakeup call about the force of contemporary Black Power. The event laid the basis for the equally compelling Million Woman March (October 25, 1997 in Philadelphia) and the family march in 2000. Other groups seized upon the palpable energy of these Black marches. A million Mom march for gun control emerged, along with a march about cannabis, labor, and voting irregularities. A recent incarnation was “The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” that took place last fall (October 30, 2010) on the National Mall featuring television personalities Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert (this march drew about 215,000 people). Notwithstanding the imitative drive of social and political movements, the message of the Million Man March is that when we use the power of Ujima, we accomplish great things. There were countless affirming outcomes of the march, evident in people who transformed their lives, determined to improve the Black community.  The secret also speaks to the issue of racism—that because the force of our strength is boundless and race relations so seemingly superficial, our extraordinary expressions of power are immediately diminished and reinterpreted against our aims. Ujima requires we recognize our responsibility to work together to end the negative media messages about people of African descent and to effectively convey our best efforts. In other words, we understand and positively reassert just how powerful we really are.

by Dr. Katherine Bankole-Medina

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[An authoritative accounting of the event can be found in these two works: Million Man March/Day of Absence: A Commemorative Anthology, Speeches, Commentary, Photography, Poetry, Illustrations & Documents by Haki R. Madhubuti and Maulana Karenga (Third World Press, 1996); and The Million Man March/Day of Absence: Mission Statement by Maulana Karenga (University of Sankore Press, 1995)].

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[1] See the online exhibit at the University of Rochester, department of Rare Books, special collections and preservation, “Writers of Consequence: The Art of John A. Williams,” http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=2972.

[2] Interview with 2010 Toni Morrison book award scholar Dr. Kokovah Zauditu-Selassie on “The Malevolent Gaze” in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye,” Monday, December 27, 2010.

[3] Jennifer Earl, Andrew Martin, John D. McCarthy, and Sarah A. Soule, “The Use Of Newspaper Data In the Study Of Collective Action,” Annual Review of Sociology, V30, 2004, pp. 65-30.

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