Earlier this year, while
waiting between planes at a shopping mall near JFK
International Airport in New York, the following
book title caught my eye. The reason was obvious,
since the next landmark event on our magazine's
exciting agenda is ATA's 30th Jubilee. The topic
deals with African Culture and its effect on North
America. This attractive, well illustrated book
proved to be a great read and will have a treasured
spot in our library. A more detailed book review
will appear later on this page. “Jubilee: The
Emergence of African-American
Culture.” By Howard Dodson; with
essays by Amiri Baraka, Gail Buckley, John Hope
Franklin, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Annette
Gordon-Reed, and Gayraud S. Wilmore. Foreword by
Wynton Marsalis "This is that rare title
that effortlessly spans audience and age-group
divides while it popularizes serious and compelling
scholarship…. Never before have the economic
and cultural histories of slavery come together so
concisely and accessibly…. This is an
explosive, necessary book." --Publishers
Weekly Slaves came to the Americas
from many different parts of the African continent,
bringing with them distinct languages, religions,
and expressive arts. Jubilee shows the many ways
that these diverse peoples united, forged their own
identity, and laid the foundations for truly unique
African-American social, cultural, political, and
economic expressions throughout the Western
Hemisphere. Jubilee is written by Howard
Dodson, Director of The New York Public Library's
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture--one
of the most prominent institutions of black
scholarship in the world. Essays by leading voices
in African-American history and literature explore
topics such as abolition and emancipation, changes
in family life and social development, religion,
and the evolution of language, literacy, and
education through the end of Reconstruction. This
illuminating text is surrounded by more than 200
stunning illustrations, culled from the Schomburg
Center's collection of more than 5 million items.
From slave ship manifests, manumission papers, and
some of the earliest photographs of slaves to
carved items that echo African sculpture and
freedom quilts with African motifs, the book is
richly illustrated in an interactive way that
brings to life this crucial transition from slavery
to freedom. Howard Dodson, Director of
the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
since 1984, is a specialist in African-American
history and a noted lecturer, educator, and
consultant. The Schomburg Center is the world's
most comprehensive public research library devoted
exclusively to documenting and interpreting African
diasporan history and culture. Dodson has published
articles and essays in newspapers, exhibition
catalogues, and professional journals. 2003, 224 pages, over 200
illustrations in color and black and white,
hardcover, $35.00, ISBN 0-7922-6982-9 Purchase
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