African American National Biography: 12-Volume Set

by Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Editor), Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (Editor)

Overview

The African American National Biography presents history through a mosaic of the lives of thousands of individuals, illuminating the abiding influence of persons of African descent on the life of this nation from the arrival of Esteban in Spanish Florida in 1529 through to notable black citizens of the present day.

The original eight-volume set has now been expanded to twelve handsome volumes in its second edition, bringing the total number of lives profiled to nearly 5,000. The AANB continues to grow along with the field of African American biographical research, providing for continuous updates to the online edition, each entry written and signed by distinguished scholars. This is a remarkable achievement, a tenfold increase over the number of biographies contained in 2004's award-winning and substantial African American Lives, and featuring such notable new entries as Cory Booker, C. Vivian Stringer, and Michelle Obama.

In addition to Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King Jr., the AANB includes a wide range of African Americans from all time periods and all walks of life. Lives profiled include those already recognized as giants of black history, figures whose stories have never been told and that readers will be discovering for the first time, and living people who are shaping the era in which we now live. The names within are both famous and nearly-forgotten. In the words of AANB editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., "These stories, long buried in the dusty archives of history, will never be lost again. And that is what scholarship in the field of African American Studies should be all about."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199920778
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/15/2013
Series:	Oxford African American Historical Reference
Edition description:	2nd Revised ed.
Pages:	7588
Product dimensions:	15.90(w) x 10.90(h) x 12.50(d)

About the Author

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University.

Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and Afro-American Studies, Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Harvard University, and Editor of The Harvard Guide to African American History.

Table of Contents

List of Articles
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Introduction
Editorial Note

AFRICAN AMERICAN NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY

Directory of Contributors
African American Prizewinners
Index by Birthplace
Realm of Renown

Editorial Reviews

Gr 8 Up -Laying another cornerstone for studies of African-American history and culture, the prolific author fronts a host of scholarly contributors to present detailed profiles of more than 4000 people, past and present. Along with all of the "canonical figures" from Esteban to Frederick Douglass, readers are introduced to an array of Bakers ranging from Josephine and Frankie to renowned librarian Augusta; ex-slave Charlie Aarons; midwives Margaret Charles Smith and Onnie Lee Logan; Oprah Winfrey; and numerous other businesspeople, scientists, politicians, performers, athletes, laborers, artists, scholars, and soldiers. The alphabetically arranged articles open with a quick identifying phrase; close with recommended print and, often, archival resources; and in between present a dense but revealing mix of biography and analytical comments (even in grade school, Civil Rights activist Bayard Rustin "displayed a precocious talent for dissent"). Access is an issue; aside from highlighting the names of fellow entrants, plus an occasional name-variant "see" note, there are no cross-references, and the indexes in the final volume are limited to long lists of names under birthplaces, awards, and broad occupational categories. The photographs and other black-and-white illustrations are scanty, small, and poorly reproduced. Nonetheless, conceived as a complement for The American National Biography (2002) and unique in its breadth, this monumental work supersedes the selective edition published as African American Lives (2004, both Oxford) and belongs in every substantial print reference collection. Future updates will be added to the online version in the publisher's AfricanAmerican Studies Center.-John Peters, New York Public Library

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