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The Reconstruction 'decade' as it was called, lasted from approximately 1865 until 1877: the 'official' end of this period was marked by the removal of Union troops from the South. The Reconstruction Act of 1867 created the Freedman's Bureau, which opened schools and set up cooperatives to help newly freed African Americans make a successful adjustment to freedom and citizenship This era saw the rise of the first Historically Black Colleges such as Fisk, Howard, Talladega, Tuskegee, Morehouse, Atlanta, and Hampton (544). Three important laws were passed in the early years of Reconstruction. The 13th Amendment made slavery illegal; the Fourteenth Amendment extended the government's protection to African Americans; the Fifteenth Amendment extended the vote to black men. The latter, as our text points out, caused a rift among progressive organizers, particularly feminists. Government preferred to give the vote to black men only (and usually only those who owne...

"Commenting on the literally hundreds of slave narratives published during the antislavery crusade, Ephraim Peabody, a contemporary writer, noted that they were 'calculated to exert a very wide influence on public opinion' because they contained 'the victim's account of the workings of this great institution.' Among the autobiographies  by former slaves, a few were especially effective in presenting a clear picture of the nature and operation of that 'peculiar institution.' The most famous were Frederick Douglass'   Narrative , published in 1845, William W. Brown's   Narrative , published in 1853. Northup's account is considered one of the most authentic descriptions of slavery from the viewpoint of the slave himself. Ulrich B. Phillips, who doubted the value and authenticity of many of the slave autobiographies wrote of Northup's book: '...this one has a tone which engages confidence. Its pictures of plantation life and labor a...

New York City-based writer, Colson Whitehead, has experienced a phenomenal success in the last year, with his New York Times number one best seller, Underground Railroad receiving not only the Pulitzer Prize, but also the Carnegie Medal for Fiction, and the National Book Award. His writing career began after graduating from Harvard, when he worked for the Village Voice as a reviewer of 'music, books, and television' ( 1 ). He was born and raised--and currently resides--in Manhattan. Underground Railroad is the featured novel in the program Memphis Reads. It is Whitehead's sixth book; the preceding six were all recipients of awards.  They are:  The Intuitionist John Henry Days Apex Hides the Hurt Sag Harbor Zone One Colson Whitehead will be speaking in Memphis during the month of September at Christian Brothers University (9/5) and Rhodes College (9/5).

Tuesday, April 3 Universal Life Building Ribbon Cutting, 10 a.m., corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Danny Thomas Boulevard An iconic building in Memphis, the Universal Life Building, has undergone an extensive renovation to return to its original glory. It will serve a new purpose as the hub for minority business development in Memphis. Mountaintop Speech Commemoration, 6 – 9 p.m., Mason Temple, 930 Mason Street The ceremony will honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s prophetic Mountaintop speech on the night of April 3, 1968. The program will feature national leaders, artists, and dignitaries.  Wednesday, April 4 Reenactment of “I AM A MAN” Photograph, 8 – 11 a.m., 333 Beale Street The Withers Collection Museum and Gallery will celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the 1968 sanitation workers with a reenactment of the iconic “I AM A MAN” photograph from the 1968 sanitation workers strike. The photo will be taken from a helicopt...

"The most militant voice among the early African American protest writers belonged to David Walker, whose call to violent resistance against slavery so alarmed authorities in the South that they were reputed to have put a price on his head" (Gates, et al. 159). As many African American activists would later intone, the key to overcoming oppression was solidarity and autonomy: one had to stand together with his fellows, secure in the knowledge of his own rights and potential and assert against a common enemy. Only then would freedom be attained. David Walker (1796-1830) would be among the first to risk his life to bring the message of freedom to African Americans and to challenge, head-on, a white power structure determined to prevent his success.  Walker was born in Cape Fear, NC, to a free mother and an enslaved father who passed away before David was born. The law of the land dictated "partus sequitur ventrem" (that which is brought forth follows the wom...

The following is a sampling of many of my favorite Africana authors, novels, and theoretical works. This list of course, is by no means comprehensive, as the variety of compelling works available by writers of the African diaspora is very broad and dynamic. However, the following are among the most noteworthy and influential. The Slave Narrative/Reconstruction Clotel; Or The President's Daughter by William Wells Brown Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs Bullwhip Days: The Slaves Remember edited by James Mellon When I Was a Slave , edited by Norman R. Yetman Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass or My Bondage and My Freedom Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington Narrative of Sojourner Truth Women's Slave Narratives by Annie L. Burton, et al. 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from The Civil War to WWII by Douglas A. Blackmon A Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Craft...

"Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender." (Alice Walker) Alice Walker, (born 1944), the first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her novel, The Color Purple . The author of multiple novels, volumes of poetry, collections of short stories, children's books, and essays, she is perhaps best known for the landmark novel that focuses on Celie, a disaffected black woman from the rural South who has been deliberately disconnected from her children. Our text points out that Walker was interviewed in 1973 by scholar Mary Helen Washington, in which the author professed a commitment to portraying the lives of black women in her novels. Gates, et al. observe that Walker "described the three types of black women characters she felt were missing from much of the literature of the United States. The first were those who were exploited both physically and emotionally, whose lives were narrow and confining, and who were driven sometimes to madness, ...