1001 Things Everyone Should Know About African American History

by Jeffrey C. Stewart

A comprehensive and engaging account of the most significant events, individuals, terms, ideas, and social movements that make up the dazzling canvas of African American history—from the National Book Award­–winning author of The New The Life of Alain Locke
 
“An indispensable aid for the study of Black American History.”—Clarence E. Walker, professor of history, University of California, Davis
 
Distinguished historian and National Book Award winner Jeffrey C. Steward illuminates the famous and the obscure, people like Estevanico, the first African explorer in America, and Sojourner Truth, one of the few Black women to participate in both the abolitionist and women’s rights movements. He tells us how the former slave Peter Salem dispatched the hated British major at the battle of Bunker Hill, and how Colin Powell earned his medals in Vietnam. And he reminds us of the artistic contributions of filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, dancer Katherine Dunham, and actor Ira Aldridge.
 
Here is a fact-filled trip through five hundred years of African American history, divided into six broad Great Migrations; Civil Rights and Politics; Science, Inventions and Medicine; Sports; Military; Culture and Religion. So if you want to know who invented the gas mask or dominated college lacrosse in the mid 1950s, or became the first Black cowboy to write his own autobiography, or even who invented the disc jockey technique of “scratching” you’re sure to find it in 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About African American History.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, Race, Reference, Africa

416 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1996

About the author

Jeffrey C. Stewart is a professor of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Jeffrey C. Stewart is a graduate of Yale University, where he received his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in American Studies. He was Director of Research at the Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Museum, a curator at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, and a senior advisor to the Reginald Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture in Baltimore, Maryland. The author of numerous articles, essays and books, Dr. Stewart has taught at Harvard University, Yale University, UCLA, Tufts University, Howard University, Scripps College, and George Mason University before coming to the University of California at Santa Barbara as Professor and Chair of the Department of Black Studies from 2008-2016. During his tenure as chair, he launched an international three day conference, "1968: A Global Year of Student Driven Change," that brought more than 40 activists, scholars, and artists to campus to discuss the activist, critical, aesthetic, and educational implications of 1968 http://www.blackstudies.ucsb.edu/1968/; an outdoor exhibit called the North Hall Display to commemorate the events of 1968 takeover of North Hall that transformed the UCSB curriculum and campus climate; and Jeffrey's Jazz Coffeehouse, a pop-up jazz club situated in a local eatery to reconfigure space with jazz aesthetics--now occurring at Aladdin in Isla Vista. https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?....

Stewart's most recent publication is “Beyond Category: Before Afro-Futurism there was Norman Lewis,” in Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, November 2015), an exhibition catalogue that won the 2017 Alfred H. Barr Award of the College Art Association http://www.collegeart.org/news/2017/0....

Reviews

[Aurora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sad that I took the time to read a book that was so outdated. It made me question everything in every section I read. I wondered about all of the great people who had come before whose stories will not be told in this book and even if future editions are created, there are stories and facts that need to be revealed that won't be because the dead can no longer speak.

[Krystie Herndon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I not only learned a lot from this book, but I also enjoyed reading about people and events of whom I was familiar--being as old as I am, my lifetime is rapidly becoming history. The one thing I found difficult about reading this book, was the editor's historical weaving back and forth: each section began 400 years ago, and moved through American history on different topics. Nevertheless, Stewart was certainly right about so many of the things we all should know about African American history--along with 25 more years' worth of things, since this book was published.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book in a Harlem Bookstore on my visit from Houston. It explained the story of how we got here by slavery with great detail. Also talk about a lot of African American inventions and accomplishments. It was a great read!

[Phdrseuss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned more than I expected. There were many that were new to me and those I've already knew. It's great when you want to lean more about African American history.

[Gabby M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Painful and heartbreaking, turned celebratory and proud.

This book was so hard to read, but you MUST. Perfect resource in understanding blackness past, present and future.

[Jeanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thorough, informative, interesting and easy to read. This book covered all areas/parts of the African American life up to the present time - I was surprised at how up to date the book was. An excellent book

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's African American history month so I decided to give myself a little history lesson. It's filled with snippets of famous and not so famous people and places.

[D Maurice Waddell]

A must have in your library....

[MÉYO · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should be required ready for people in the African American community.