James Haskins’s Followers (39)

James Haskins

Born

in Demopolis, AL, The United States

September 19, 1941

Died

July 06, 2005

Genre

Biographies & Memoirs, Children's Books, Young Adult

edit data

Haskins, James (1941–2005), author of nonfiction books for juveniles and adults, biographer, educator, critic, editor, and educational consultant. Born into a large family in a racially segregated middle-class section of Demopolis, Alabama, where he was not allowed to visit the town's public library, James S. Haskins was deeply affected by the swirl of events related to the mid-century civil rights movement. He received his bachelor's degree in history at Alabama State College, but limited career opportunities in the South in the early 1960s led him to seek employment in New York City. Two years of selling newspaper advertisements and working as a Wall Street stockbroker brought him to the realization that he was better suited for a career Haskins, James (1941–2005), author of nonfiction books for juveniles and adults, biographer, educator, critic, editor, and educational consultant. Born into a large family in a racially segregated middle-class section of Demopolis, Alabama, where he was not allowed to visit the town's public library, James S. Haskins was deeply affected by the swirl of events related to the mid-century civil rights movement. He received his bachelor's degree in history at Alabama State College, but limited career opportunities in the South in the early 1960s led him to seek employment in New York City. Two years of selling newspaper advertisements and working as a Wall Street stockbroker brought him to the realization that he was better suited for a career in education and thus he applied for a position in the New York City public school system. After teaching music at several locations, he found a job teaching a special education class at P.S. 92. Obsessed with the plight of his inner-city pupils, he was glad to discuss their problems with anyone who would listen, including a social worker who encouraged him to write his thoughts and experiences in a diary. This resulted in the publication of his first book, Diary of a Harlem Schoolteacher (1969), which was widely acclaimed. This initial success attracted the attention of major publishers who approached him to write books for children and adolescents.

An admitted need to reconcile social disparities and a desire to interpret events to young people and to motivate them to read and be influenced by accomplished individuals—particularly deprived youth whom he felt had far too few role models to read about—led him to author more than one hundred books on a diverse array of topics. Written for a general audience of juveniles, his titles include The War and the Protest: Viet Nam (1971), Religions (1973), Jobs in Business and Office (1974), The Consumer Movement (1975), Your Rights, Past and Present: A Guide for Young People (1975), Teen-age Alcoholism (1976), The Long Struggle: The Story of American Labor (1976), Who Are the Handicapped (1978), Gambling—Who Really Wins (1978), Werewolves (1981), and The New Americans: Cuban Boat People (1982).

Haskins launched his college teaching career in 1970 and continued lecturing on psychology, folklore, children's and young adult literature, and urban education at schools in New York and Indiana before landing a full-time professorship in the English department at the University of Florida at Gainesville in 1977. That same year he authored The Cotton Club, a pictorial and social history of the notorious Harlem night club, which seven years later was transformed into a motion picture of the same name directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Among his books intended for adults or college-level readers are The Psychology of Black Language (1973) with Dr. Hugh Butts; Black Manifesto for Education (1973), which he edited; Snow Sculpture and Ice Carving (1974); Scott Joplin: The Man Who Made Rag-time (1978); Voodoo and Hoodoo: Their Tradition and Craft as Revealed by Actual Practitioners (1978); Richard Pryor, A Man and His Madness (1984); and Mabel Mercer: A Life (1988). He has contributed numerous critical essays and reviews to periodicals. Still, he is best known for his biographies, tailored for elementary and high school students. Most of these recount the triumphs of well-known contemporary African Americans, with whom many young people readily identify. The long list of persons he has profiled (often using the pen name Jim Haskins) include Colin Powell, Barbara Jordon, Thurgood Marshall, Sugar Ray Leonard, Magic Johnson, Diana Ross, Katherine Dunham, Guion Bluford, Andrew Young, Bill Cosby, Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, Shirley Chisholm, Lena Horne, and Rosa Parks. Biographies of prominent individuals who are not African American include Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, Shirley Temple Black, Corazón Aquino, Winnie Mandela, and Christopher Columbus.

...more

Combine Editions
James Haskins’s books

Average rating: 3.81 · 1,769 ratings · 313 reviews · 210 distinct works • Similar authors

	Delivering Justice: W.W. Law and the Fight for Civil Rights by James Haskins, Benny Andrews (Illustrator), James Haskins 4.15 avg rating — 153 ratings — published 2005 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Voodoo and Hoodoo: The Craft as Revealed by Traditional Practitioners 3.50 avg rating — 138 ratings — published 1990 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Get on Board: The Story of the Underground Railroad 3.43 avg rating — 93 ratings — published 1993 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Separate But Not Equal: The Dream and the Struggle by James Haskins, James Haskins really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 75 ratings — published 1998 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Day Martin Luther King Jr. Was Shot by James Haskins, James Haskins 4.20 avg rating — 46 ratings — published 1992 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	One More River to Cross: The Story of Twelve Black Americans 3.69 avg rating — 51 ratings — published 1992 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bricktop 3.89 avg rating — 44 ratings — published 1983 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mr. Bojangles: The Biography of Bill Robinson by James Haskins, N.R. Mitgang (Goodreads Author) 3.80 avg rating — 41 ratings — published 1988 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Count Your Way Through China (Count Your Way Around the World Series) 3.69 avg rating — 42 ratings — published 1987 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Scottsboro Boys 4.14 avg rating — 36 ratings — published 1994	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by James Haskins…

Quotes by James Haskins (?)

“I always advise students who like to read that they should read everything form license plates on cars to signs on the highway, fiction, nonfiction, newspapers, magazines—I mean everything. You never know what you might learn or when and where you can use the information.”
― Jim Haskins, Rosa Parks: My Story

2 likes

“... he pretty much made me feel like there's no use struggling anymore, that most everybody that dies goes to hell, and heaven isn't anything but a great wilderness.”
― Jim Haskins

1 likes

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
WACKY READING CHA...: Authors, A - Z (2017)	60	70	Jan 21, 2018 08:31AM
Precinct 81: Round 8 - Task 3	24	15	Sep 18, 2018 11:31AM
Precinct 81: There Is Mole To This Then I Thought	3691	51	Jan 20, 2019 12:55PM
Children's Books: March 2020: Ireland: Then and Now	63	22	Jul 10, 2020 09:15PM
The Lost Challenges: Words in a Word Game #10 - Swimming Holes	119	86	Oct 14, 2020 03:44PM
The Lost Challenges: Summer Camp Challenge	101	106	Nov 30, 2020 11:54PM
Crazy Challenge C...: 2021 Summer Spell Challenge- Let's Go on a Picnic	137	73	Feb 26, 2022 01:06PM

More…

James Haskins’s Followers (39)

James Haskins

Combine EditionsJames Haskins’s books

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
James Haskins’s books