We are proud to support and provide detailed information on book titles that enhance our knowledge and understanding of Black Heritage. There is plenty of resources available to help us achieve a better outlook and perspective, Skyline is happy to assist in this way. Below you will find strong book titles that are well worth checking out in full detail.
We have included active links that will take you to well known book vendors where various purchase options may be available. Some titles are available in paperback as well as ebook options. Amazon prime customers may be able to read these titles for free if you have a ‘Prime Account’.
Book Recommendation #1
Christopher Columbus & the African Holocaust Slavery & the Rise of European Capitalism by John Henrik Clarke
“This short but timely work gives the reader a sense of the urgency of African and world history at this moment in time…. Like many of the Aftican-centered scholars who were Dr. Clarke’s teachers and his source of inspiration, he not only gives you accurate analysis and the descriptions of history, he provides prescription of what Africans have to do to bring into being a new day”–from Forward.
Book Recommendation #2
The Making of a Slave by Willie Lynch
The Willie Lynch Letter and The Making of A Slave is a speech delivered by Willie Lynch to an audience on the bank of the James River in Virginia in 1712 regarding control of slaves within the colony. The speaker, William Lynch, is said to have been a slave owner in the West Indies, and was summoned to Virginia in 1712; in part due to several slave revolts in the area prior to his visit, and more so because of his reputation of being an authoritarian and strict slave master. The Willie Lynch Letter is an account of a short speech given by Willie Lynch, in which he tells other slave owners that he has discovered the “secret” to controlling enslaved Africans by setting them against one another.
Book Recommendation #3
The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson
The Mis-Education of the Negro is a book originally published in 1933 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson. The thesis of Dr. Woodson’s book is that blacks of his day were being culturally indoctrinated, rather than taught, in American schools. This conditioning, he claims, causes blacks to become dependent and to seek out inferior places in the greater society of which they are a part. He challenges his readers to become autodidacts and to “do for themselves”, regardless of what they were taught.
History shows that it does not matter who is in power… those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they did in the beginning. Here is a quote from the book:
“When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his ‘proper place’ and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.”
The thesis of Dr. Woodson’s book is that African-Americans of his day were being culturally indoctrinated, rather than taught, in American schools. This conditioning, he claims, causes African-Americans to become dependent and to seek out inferior places in the greater society of which they are a part. He challenges his readers to become autodidacts and to “do for themselves”, regardless of what they were taught: History shows that it does not matter who is in power… those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they did in the beginning.
Book Recommendation #4
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Du Bois
The Souls of Black Folk is a 1903 work of American literature by W. E. B. Du Bois. It is a seminal work in the history of sociology, and a cornerstone of African-American literature.
The book contains several essays on race, some of which the magazine Atlantic Monthly had previously published. To develop this work, Du Bois drew from his own experiences as an African American in American society. Outside of its notable relevance in African-American history, The Souls of Black Folk also holds an important place in social science as one of the early works in the field of sociology.
In The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois used the term “double consciousness”, perhaps taken from Ralph Waldo Emerson (“The Transcendentalist” and “Fate”), applying it to the idea that black people must have two fields of vision at all times. They must be conscious of how they view themselves, as well as being conscious of how the world views them.
Book Recommendation #5
What They Never Taught You In History Class by Indus Khamit Kush
This new, two-volume edition of “What They Never Told You In History Class” is the first major revision in over fifteen years. It contains a wealth of new information that has never been included in any previous edition. It has now been divided into two volumes.
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