Voices of the African American Experience [3 Volumes]

Biographical Note:

LIONEL C. BASCOM is Professor of Journalism at Western Connecticut State University and is the editor of A Renaissance in Harlem: Lost Stories of an African Community (1999) as well as author of numerous other books and essays.

From early accounts of free blacks in the Colonies to slave narratives recorded by Works Progress Administration employees in the 1930s to a recent speech by Senator Barack Obama, this collection offers a treasure trove of carefully selected primary documents from and concerning African Americans. It is among the largest and widest-ranging collection of documents on the entire African American experience in print. Voices of the African American Experience provides access to fresh voices from history until today in more than 130 documents. Examples include speeches, articles, mission statements, ephemera, testimony, letters, sermons, prayers, spirituals/songs, slave narratives, memoirs, essays, interviews, and more. Key official documents and important communications from noted African Americans are of course present, while making the words of ordinary African Americans from the past easily accessible to the general public. Each document is introduced and contextualized, making this set especially valuable and helpful in student research.
The documents are organized in chronological order. Each document is sourced and the document introduction includes information such as parties involved, location, significance, and impact. A chronology and selected bibliography further aid in the writing of history term papers and African American History Month reports. Sample documents include:

Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, and Surprising Deliverance of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man, 1760

Josiah Henson, Thirty Years a Slave, 1849

Frederick Douglass, Slave Holding Provisions in the Constitution, March 26, 1860

The Gullah Proverbs, 1861

What the Southern Negro Is Doing for Himself, by Samuel J. Barrows, 1891

Negro National Anthem, 1897

Restaurant Accommodations, 1903

Twenty-one Negro Spirituals, 1934-1938

Harlem Cocktail Party, Dorothy West, 1934-1939

Bullet or Ballot: Malcolm X, 1964

Jesse Jackson's 1984 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address, 1984

A More Perfect Union Speech, Barack Obama, March 18, 2008

"Described by editor Bascom (A Renaissance in Harlem: Lost Voices of an American Community) as 'a document collection, rather than a history, ' this three-volume set forms an engaging compilation of narratives, speeches, sermons, and historical documents on the African American experience. Arranged chronologically, the 145 articles cover African American involvement in the Americas from 1600s to 2008, with Volume 1 ending shortly after Reconstruction, Volume 2 ending in the Great Depression, and Volume 3 culminating with president-elect Obama's election night speech in January 2009. . . . this work does a respectable job of pointing to some of the obstacles African Americans have had to overcome in the United States. Academic or public libraries that own To Make Our World Anew or TV shows such as the PBS video series Eyes on the Prize could use this as a companion."

Library Journal

"Voices of the African American Experience is a three-volume scholarly compendium of primary testimonies and sources of African-American history . . . offering an unparalleled glimpse into the lives of African-Americans during the past four hundred years, in their own words. . . . A thoroughly accessible resource sure to fascinate readers of all backgrounds, Voices of the African American Experience deserves the highest recommendation especially for public and college library collections."

Midwest Book Review - Wisconsin Bookwatch

"Editor Bascom (English, Western Connecticut State U.) has compiled a collection of documents that reflect the experiences of African Americans from their early days as an enslaved people to their eventual status as Americans. Spanning a time period beginning with the initial importation of slaves to the English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia to 2008, this three-volume set includes almost 150 documents. The documents include relevant acts of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, correspondence, speeches, essays, interviews, and more. Authors range from Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams to James Baldwin and Al Sharpton. Entries are listed in chronological order and brief introductions place the entries in context. A substantial chronology of African American history also is included, as is a selected bibliography."

Reference & Research Book News

"Three volumes of text provide an exhaustive review of history through the inclusion of 145 documents that are presented in date order. Each entry includes a brief expository statement that provides framing and context for the reader. A substantial chronology precedes the entries, and a selected bibliography supplements the text. ...Recommended for large public libraries, and smaller academic collections."

MultiCultural Review

"The majority of the selections in these volumes cannot be found with an online search; most are from non-digitized physical collections. And with the growing emphasis on the use of primary resources in schools, this set will be a valuable addition to a high school library. Public libraries whose patrons include historical or sociological researchers will also find it useful."

VOYA

"...this set will be an asset to reference collections in academic and public libraries. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through graduate students in American history, political science, and sociology; general readers."

Choice

"Bascom's work is an excellent addition to all public and academic library collections."

ARBA

"This wide-ranging survey will prove useful in high school, public and academic libraries."

Lawrence Looks at Books

Review Citations:

• Library Journal 06/15/2009 pg. 95 (EAN 9780313343476, Hardcover)
• Multicultural Review 10/01/2009 pg. 70 (EAN 9780313343476, Hardcover)
• Voice of Youth Advocates 12/01/2009 (EAN 9780313343476, Hardcover)
• Choice 01/01/2010 (EAN 9780313343476, Hardcover)
• Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2009 pg. 54 (EAN 9780313343476, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:Bascom, Lionel C

LIONEL C. BASCOM is Professor of Journalism at Western Connecticut State University and is the editor of A Renaissance in Harlem: Lost Stories of an African Community (1999) as well as author of numerous other books and essays.