Discusses the oral and written life histories and other personal testimonies of African Americans. It clears up the realities behind invisible enclaves and spotlight of the immigrant's own history. Professor John H. McWhorter argues that modern America is the home to millions of immigrants who were born in Africa. He notes that their cultures and identities are separated between Africa and the U.S. However, his vision of an unencumbered, native-born black ownership of black is considered optimistic. Transnational identities of immigrants and their children are formed, negotiated and projected primarily within their experiences.
Fox discusses Lydia Cabrera, a novelist and short story writer many consider the mother of Afro-Cuban studies. Examined are her contributions to Cuba's Africanized popular culture, as well as her bridging the cultures of France, Africa and Cuba.;
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
289 p, explores the multiple ways that Africans have affected political, economic, and cultural life throughout the region. Focusing on areas traditionally associated with Afro-Latin American culture such as Brazil and the Caribbean basin, this innovative work also highlights places such as Rio de La Plata and Central America, where the African legacy has been important but little studied.
New York Cambridge Mass.: Russell Sage Foundation Harvard University Press
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
413 p, The story of West Indian immigrants to the United States is considered a great success. Many of these adoptive citizens have prospered, including General Colin Powell. But Mary Waters tells a very different story about immigrants from the West Indies, especially their children. She finds that when the immigrants first arrive, their knowledge of English, their skills and contacts, their self-respect, and their optimistic assessment of American race relations facilitate their integration into the American economic structure
Evaluates two British ethnographic studies claiming to find evidence of teachers' racist attitudes and behaviors toward Afro-Caribbean students that contributed to student underachievement
