Heroic Africans


Book Description

Issued in connection with an exhibition held Sept. 20, 2011-Jan. 29, 2012, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and at the Rietberg Museum, Zeurich, at later dates.




Heroism and the Supernatural in the African Epic


Book Description

Western criticism has largely failed to acknowledge the distinctiveness of African literary aesthetics. This book revises traditional literary canons in examining the social, cultural and emotional specificity of African epics and highlighting distinguishing features, such as the significance of the fantastic and its use in the epic dramatic structure.




Heroic imperialists in Africa


Book Description

From the height of ‘New Imperialism’ until the Second World War, three generations of heroes of the British and French empires in Africa were selected, manufactured and packaged for consumption by a metropolitan public eager to discover new horizons and to find comfort in the concept of a ‘civilising mission’. This book looks at imperial heroism by examining the legends of a dozen major colonial figures on both sides of the Channel, revisiting the familiar stories of Livingstone, Gordon and Kitchener from a radically new angle, and throwing light on their French counterparts, often less famous in the Anglophone world but certainly equally fascinating.




Martin Luther King Jr., Heroism, and African American Literature


Book Description

Defiance of the law, uses of indirection, moral lapses, and bad habits are as much a part of the folk-transmitted biography of King as they are a part of writers' depictions of him in literary texts. Harris first demonstrates that during the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, when writers such as Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, and LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) were rising stars in African American poetry, King's philosophy of nonviolence was out of step with prevailing notions of militancy (Black Power), and their literature reflected that division. In the quieter times of the 1970s and 1980s and into the twenty-first century, however, treatments of King and his philosophy in African American literature changed. Writers who initially rejected him and nonviolence became ardent admirers and boosters, particularly in the years following his assassination. By the 1980s, many writers skeptical about King had reevaluated him and began to address him as a fallen hero.




Heroism and the Supernatural in the African Epic


Book Description

There exists a strong tendency within Western literary criticism to either deny the existence of epics in Africa or to see African literatures as exotic copies of European originals. In both cases, Western criticism has largely failed to acknowledge the distinctiveness of African literary aesthetics. This book revises traditional literary canons in examining the social, cultural and emotional specificity of African epics. Mariam Konate Deme highlights the distinguishing features that characterize the African epic, emphasizing the significance of the fantastic and its use as an essential element in the dramatic structure of African epics. As Deme notes, the fantastic can be fully appreciated only against the cosmological background of the societies that produce those heroic tales. This book not only contributes to the scholarship on African oral literature, but also adds reshapes our understanding of heroic literature in general.




African-American Heroes of the Civil War


Book Description

Yes, you're familiar with Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. But what about William Carney, Charlotte Forten, Francis Dumas, and 15 other African-Americans who played key roles during the War Between the States? African-American Heroes of the Civil War brings to light the stories and contributions of 20 individuals who made a difference during America's bloodiest conflict. Six in-depth biographies cover: Andre Cailloux William Carney Robert Smalls Frederick Douglass Harriet Tubman Charlotte Forten Fourteen additional mini-biographies capture the stories of other African-Americans who fought or worked for victory during the war. Extensive teacher materials include worksheets for building comprehension skills, suggestions for a culminating assessment project, and more. Photos, puzzles, and graphics throughout the text make African-American Heroes of the Civil War a complete compendium of this often overlooked facet of American history. A perfect supplement to history, ELA, and even life skills classes. See other Heroes of the Civil War titles







African American War Heroes


Book Description

Detailed profiles bring stories of African American heroism in the U.S. armed forces to life, from the American Revolution through the conflict in Afghanistan. African American war heroes remain largely unsung, their courage and valor relegated to the less traveled corners of history. This work seeks out those heroes—soldiers, sailors, flyers, and marines—who earned their nation's highest medals in defense of freedom and equality. Some of these men and women died on the battlefield. Others returned to civilian life in a segregated country. What they share across time and circumstance is devotion to duty and to the country they defended, even in the face of personal and racial prejudice. Entries profile decorated African Americans from all of the U.S. conflicts since the Revolutionary War. In addition to providing basic biographical data, each profile offers a detailed account of the individual's heroic actions. The book also offers sidebars on events and topics relevant to African Americans in the U.S. armed forces, such as histories of the 54th Massachusetts and the Tuskegee Airmen.




We Have Been Believers


Book Description

In this, the first full-scale black systematic theology in twenty years, James Evans emerges as a major and distinctive voice in American theology.Seeking to overcome the chasm between church practice and theological reflection, Evans situates theology squarely in the nexus of faith with freedom. There, with a sure touch, he uplifts revelatory aspects of black religious experience that reanimate classical areas of theology, and he creates a theology with a heart, a soul and a voice that speaks directly to our condition.




From Trickster to Badman


Book Description

To protect their identity and values, Africans enslaved in America transformed various familiar character types to create folk heroes who offered models of behavior both recognizable to them as African people and adaptable to their situation in America. Roberts specifically examines the Afro-American trickster and the trickster tale tradition, the conjurer as folk hero, the biblical heroic tradition, and the badman as outlaw hero.