African American Studies

NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR'S CHOICESAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE RECOMMENDED BOOKWINNER OF THE BANCROFT PRIZE From the acclaimed author of Fordlandia, the story of a remarkable slave rebellion that illuminates America's struggle with slavery and freedom during the...

It is sometimes said that death is the last taboo, but it was not always so. For centuries, religious establishments constructed decorated ossuaries and charnel houses that stand as masterpieces of art created from human bone. These unique structures...

An outbreak of a disease known as the black vomit prevents the English from strengthening their hold in The New World in the eighteenth century, with huge repercussions; the untimely death of an emperor prevents Chinese and Portuguese explorers from...

Schama explores the mysterious contradictions of the Dutch nation that invented itself from the ground up, attained an unprecedented level of affluence, and lived in constant dread of being corrupted by happiness. Drawing on a vast array of period...

The Emancipation Proclamation is the most important document of arguably the greatest president in U.S. history. Now, Edna Greene Medford, Frank J. Williams, and Harold Holzer -- eminent experts in their fields -- remember, analyze, and interpret the...

The America of the 1980s is often caricatured as a time of yuppie greed and self-absorption. But what was driving that decades rampant pursuit of individual pleasure? What were the cultural forces behind Madonna's "Material Girl" and Oliver Stone's Wall...

A strong, uncompromising voice that dreams of a better America, Judge Bailey has experienced the ugliness of both racism and fear. Yet he has not stepped back. What a wonderful life to share. -- Nikki Giovanni, from her ForewordWhen four black college...

In The Durhams of Fairfield: An African American Genealogy, Robert L. Uzzel traced his wife Debra's roots to the slaves of the family of Robert Winfield Durham. Evidence indicates that Gobi, the patriarch of the Durham family, along with his wife Mary...

When my family moved out from Burlington, Vermont, to a dirt road in rural Essex Center, our life immediately began to suffer the series of challenges and small disasters that quickly sort out the clueless city guy from the true Vermonter. This...

There is hope to heal the racial divide. Is the dream of equality Dr. King envisioned still alive today? Can our historic national hurts still be healed? How can we rise above the racial tension threatening the nation? The Dream King is the astonishing...

Two rival analogies compete for our attention: the law of the jungle, and the sacred canopy. As for the former, life consists of the survival of the fittest. As for the latter, the divine mandates serve as a framework for social ethics. This is in...