Welcome to the Africana Excerpts page, where authors, musicians and filmmakers share their work with you! We hope you will find these selections personally enriching and helpful for your research.
These excerpts appear by special permission of the authors and publishers, and may not be presented elsewhere without permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the copyright statement for each excerpt for specific information.
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 Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
God Has A Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time © 2004 by Desmond Tutu, With Douglas Abrams New York: Doubleday
Dear Child of God, if we are truly to understand God loves all of us, we must recognize that He loves our enemies, too. God does not share our hatred, no matter what the offense we have endured. We try to claim God for ourselves and for our cause, but God's love is too great to be confined to any one side of a conflict or to any one religion.
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 Peace on Earth: Morgan Heritage: Freedom
Legendary reggae group Morgan Heritage share their song "Freedom," a beautiful message of peace. The members of Morgan Heritage seek to "always make sure that our music touches the soul. Even if it's only something simple, it should touch the heart of everyone..."
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 Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Renowned scholar and historian Henry Louis Gates shares The African-American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Country © 2000, by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Cornel West. New York: Free Press
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 Gloria Wade-Gayles
Inspiring reflections on life, faith and family from one of our most gifted and prolific Griots.
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 African American Families Past and Present
The selections offered here give testament to the strength and resilient spirit of the African American family unit through the years of bondage, fragmentation and social upheavals encountered from the Middle Passage through the passage of the Civil Rights Bill.
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 African American History
Read some classics or discover new research on the rich mosaic of African American history.
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 African Voices/African Roots
Africans in the New World are a people with strong ties to ancestry and traditions. Throughout the Diaspora, the African maintained some degree of his past, imparting it to the future in African tales of trickster animals and larger than life heroes, in naming practices, children’s games and front porch stories told to generations of children of the strong men and women who came before them.
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 African/Native American
Here we present works that document the alliance of indigenous peoples of the Americas, West Indies and Brazil with enslaved Africans. In these alliances, dissimilar people forged a bond based on what they had in common – the desire to live free of oppression. They combined their talents, skills and bravery to create new social and cultural entities throughout the Diaspora.
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 Biographies
Read about the lives of remarkable African Americans
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 Creole Identities
Diverse experiences of the Diaspora forged new cultural identities and traditions
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 Gifts for Young Readers
Looking for books to inspire young readers? Sample works that celebrate cultural diversity and introduce young readers to the richness of world cultures.
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 Genealogy and Oral History
The Oral Historian or Griot tradition is fundamental to West African culture. The Griot is responsible for learning and reciting the history of a family group, tribe or royal lineage. Alex Haley’s Roots introduced African Americans to the Griot or Jeliba. The tradition came to the New World with us and continues today in the works of our storytellers from Zora to Maya and all the Big Mamas and Pawpaws who know the value of recalling the past.
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 Literature and Folklore
Enriching selections of African American writing, folklore, drama, and more. Sample classics or discover new favorites.
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 Teachers' Resources
Lesson plans, online resources and much more for grades K through 12.
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Copyright 2004 The University of South Florida and The Africana Heritage Project. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. For more information, contact the Africana Heritage Project via e-mail.
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