Atlas of African-American History

by James D. Ciment

Building on the authoritative text of the first edition, Atlas of African-American History, Revised Edition chronicles the important cultural, historical, political, and social experiences of African Americans through the years. Completely updated and revised, this fascinating book features numerous full-color maps - 18 of which are new - that engage readers with easy-to-grasp facts, figures, and images of everyday life. Ten new black-and-white photographs, eight new full-color photographs, and four line illustrations enliven the text.Coverage includes: the dramatic 1839 journey of the Amistad, including its successful slave rebellion; the labor activism of Albert and Lucy Parsons, an interracial couple who led the eight-hour-day movement and the national railroad strike; the accomplishments of Matthew Henson, who, with Robert Peary, discovered the North Pole in 1909; the post - World War II influences that drove the economic rise of a new black middle class; analysis of how the cultural contributions of writers, actors, athletes, musicians, and other artists helped define American culture during the 1960s and 1970s; and the rise of hip-hop and rap from a local South Bronx phenomenon into a powerful industry capable of launching other businesses. The coverage also includes: demographic profiles of the health, education, employment, income, spending habits, homeownership, and other benchmarks of African Americans, as well as how these compare with those of other Americans; the powerful role of theater, comedy, TV, and film in presenting and shaping the image of African Americans from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s; and the persistent social, racial, and economic issues that still confront America, as highlighted by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Genres: History

Paperback

First published June 1, 2001

Reviews

[Erin Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly readable history of the Black experience in the US that keeps Black agency in the forefront of the story throughout. The first and last chapters are weaker than the rest - the first because it tries to be too much (African history is a BIG topic) and the last because it gets too into minutiae and statistics about the then-current (late 90s) difference in economic, education, and health indicators between Black and white Americans. The remaining chapters are excellent. In particular, the coverage of the Civil War and the emphasis on the diversity of ways in which enslaved Black men and women self-liberated was phenomenal. The section on Reconstruction and the post-Reconstruction era was excellent and explained a lot about how state and local governments trapped Black farmers in the sharecropping system. Overall I highly highly recommend this book.

[Zen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really glad to find an condensed version of "what I feel I should have learned in high school". I really want to give it five stars because I learned a lot and made lot of connections in my head from the bits and pieces floating around in there. However, it read like a high school text book and took me three renewals from the library to actually read the whole thing. I wish there was a more entertaining condensed version, but at least now I can go on to more meaty texts, like autobiographies with some sense of context.

[Jade Saleem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Atlas about African American history - needed in all classrooms.