Black America

Gr 7 Up—The coverage in this unusual work is presented state by state, with each chapter opening with a discussion of black American life in Colonial times and proceeding to the present. Chapters include a historical overview, a time line, a discussion of the cultural contributions of African Americans, and a listing of notable African American residents, and close with an extensive bibliography that provides a list of print and electronic sources on the African American experience in that state. The material describes what black Americans in each place have in common—for example, that they share a history of discrimination and of adhering to messianic Christianity to a lesser or greater extent. The volume also maintains that experiences differ from state to state, with African American life in 1920s Vermont, for example, differing substantially from that in Mississippi at the same time, and segregation in the South leading to the creation by blacks of unique cultural and educational institutions, a phenomenon that did not necessarily hold true in the North. A great introduction to black history.—Carol Jones Collins, Hanover Park High School, East Hanover, NJ