America Books - Page 12

Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing

Jane Margolis

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Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Education -> Technology & Distance Learning -> Computers & Technology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The number of African Americans and Latino/as receiving undergraduate and advanced degrees in computer science is disproportionately low, according to recent surveys. And relatively few African American and Latino/a high school students receive the kind of institutional encouragement, educational opportunities, and preparation needed for them to choose computer science as a field of study and profession. In Stuck in the Shallow End, Jane Margolis looks at the daily experiences of students and teachers in three Los Angeles public high schools: an overcrowded urban high school, a math and science magnet school, and a well-funded school in an affluent neighborhood. She finds an insidious "virtual segregation" that maintains inequality.

Two of the three schools studied offer only low-level, how-to (keyboarding, cutting and pasting) introductory computing classes. The third and wealthiest school offers advanced courses, but very few students of color enroll in them. The race gap in computer science, Margolis finds, is one example of the way students of color are denied a wide range of occupational and educational futures. Margolis traces the interplay of school structures (such factors as course offerings and student-to-counselor ratios) and belief systems—including teachers' assumptions about their students and students' assumptions about themselves. Stuck in the Shallow End is a story of how inequality is reproduced in America—and how students and teachers, given the necessary tools, can change the system.

The Race Card: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations Worse

Richard Thompson Ford

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

What do Katrina victims waiting for federal disaster relief, millionaire rappers buying vintage champagne, Ivy League professors waiting for taxis, and ghetto hustlers trying to find steady work have in common? All have claimed to be victims of racism. These days almost no one openly expresses racist beliefs or defends bigoted motives. So lots of people are victims of bigotry, but no one’s a bigot? What gives? Either a lot of people are lying about their true beliefs and motivations, or a lot of people are jumping to unwarranted conclusions—or just playing the race card.  As the label of “prejudice” is applied to more and more situations, it loses a clear and agreed-upon meaning. This makes it easy for self-serving individuals and political hacks to use accusations of racism, sexism, homophobia, and other types of “bias” to advance their own ends. Richard Thompson Ford, a Stanford Law School professor, brings sophisticated legal analysis, lively and eye-popping anecdotes, and plain old common sense to this heated topic. He offers ways to separate valid claims from bellyaching. Daring, entertaining, and incisive, The Race Card is a call for us to treat racism as a social problem that must be objectively understood and honestly evaluated.

Let's Talk About Race

Julius Lester

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

important message for kids to know 4 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Everyone has a story that is made up of lots of things like when they were born, what race they are, who their parents are and lots more. This book is all about race. It teaches us that we are really all the same deep down. Everyone is a person that deserves to be treated with respect no matter what color their skin is.

The book is full of colorful images. The book is not too long to read all at once and it has a great message.

We would recommend this to teachers and anyone who works with children. The book is a great way to open discussions on racism, and treating others with respect and kindness regardless of who they are, where they live, the color of their skin, or what clothes they wear.

We're all the same... 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Children should be taught about who they are, both inside and out, getting to know others before they prejudge them, and that it's what is inside of each of us that makes us special. Additionally, they should understand that what we are inside is important regardless of our race, the color/texture of our hair, where we live, or how rich or poor we are. Newberry Honor Book Author Julius Lester explores these areas in his latest book for children LET'S TALK ABOUT RACE.

I enjoyed LET'S TALK ABOUT RACE and think it is a wonderful tool for helping children understand the differences in those around them and that no one is better than anyone else simply because they are different in some way. I encourage parents and educators to share this book with their children at the early stages when they begin questioning their bodies and comparing them to others. It is clearly understood after reading this bright and vibrantly painted book that "beneath everyone's skin are the same hard bones."

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

Editorial Review:

The author introduces the concept of race as only one component in an individual's or nation's "story."

Crazy in America: The Hidden Tragedy of Our Criminalized Mentally Ill

Mary Beth Pfeiffer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Crazy in America is a call to action for all caring people 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

For years, I have watched the homesless people walk up and down the main streets in the city closest to where I live, the thought crossing my mind that these are the result of budget cuts which closed the nearby psychiatric center. While I'd read about the crisis for this same population, (Many of the articles were written by the same author as Crazy in America, Mary Beth Pfeiffer, an advocate for these people for many years.) the extent and the consequences of this institution's closing, and others across America, was never as clear as they have become as a result of reading this book.
Pfeiffer's heartbreaking case studies document the problem the mentally ill confront within the penal system, a system never intended to deal with this personnel. Through these tragic case studies, the author demonstrates that a system that punishes the mentally ill in the same ways it treats other prisoners is a set-up for these victims. At the same time that her book focuses on and evokes sympathy and compassion for the mentally ill, it also causes the reader to question how our prisons function for anyone in America.
While this book may hold particular interest for workers in the mental health field, it is of importance for employees in our schools, judicial system, and for anyone who has a mentally ill person in his/her family. It seems this book reaches out to everyone, and hopefully, will encourage people to work toward the changes in a system that is broken for a large percentage of the people involved in it. We must watch over those incapable of caring for themselves.
This is a must read for any socially responsible person in America.
As for the author, a superb example of investigative reporting! Well done!!!

Editorial Review:

Crazy in America shows how people suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, and other serious psychological illnesses are regularly incarcerated because alternative care is not available. Once behind bars, they are frequently punished again for behavior that is psychotic, not criminal. A compelling and important examination of a shocking human rights abuse in our midst, Crazy in America is an indictment of a society that incarcerates its weakest and most vulnerable citizens — causing them to emerge sicker and more damaged.

BLACK BOURGEOISIE

Shervert, md Frazier

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

I would give it ten stars if I could 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

When I became a thinker and was searching for knowledge (Thanks to rappers like Chuck D, X- Clan and BDP) about truth, one of the first books I read was E. Franklin Frazier's Black Bourgeoise. It inflamed passions then as does now of the black elite (and middle class) who he felt were inffectual and were more concerned about their own personal glory than about the race's moblity. Fraizer traces the history of the black middle and upper class trajectory through the 1950's, It may sound dated but since Cosby's tirade two years ago and his 'call out'tours and other black intellectuals and writers critiques on the black poor's behavior and their failure to curtail it (mainly because black america is divided by class even more than since segregation) makes this book even more relevant. You will be amazed as the more things change they remain the same a black upper and middle class who has great racial self- hatred towards themselves and the black poor.

THE "LUMBPEN-BLACK-BOURGEOISIE" EXPOSED! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

E. Franklin Frazier's *Black Bourgeoisie* first published in 1957, is as relevant today as it was then. Frazier stated that his primary purpose for the "study is to make a sociological analysis of the black bourgeoisie."

The study examines the status of the black bourgeoisie and how they, as a class, came about in the American society. He assesses black enterprise within the economy and the significance of black business. p.23

Frazier argues that the black bourgeoisie "lacking a cultural tradition and rejecting identification with the Negro masses on the one hand, and suffering from the contempt of the white world on the other, the black bourgeoisie has developed a deep-seated inferiority complex. In order to compensate for this feeling of inferiority, the black bourgeoisie has created in its isolation what might be described as a world of make-believe in which it attempts to escape the disdain of whites and fulfill its wish for status in American life." pp.24-25.

As I understand it, when this work was first published about 50 year ago, it made the black "middle class" very uncomfortable. Naturally, they were quite critical of Frazier and the work.

Many aspects of Frazier's assessment of the black bourgeoisie, in terms of their modus operandi and business dealings, could easily be applied to the behavior of the native bourgeoisie in former colonial territories in Central America, South America, Africa, India and Asia. Andre Gunder Frank used the term "lumpen-bourgeoisie" to explain the behavior of the native business class in Latin America.

The "black bourgeoisie," essentially, in their attempt to accumulate wealth, facilitates the exploitation of the black population by big corporations and the political elites.

This "lumpen-black-bourgeoisie" therefore, preys upon the black majority perpetuating and intensifying the underdevelopment and poverty already inflicted upon the poor by their historical circumstances, by politicians, corporations and the big financial bourgeois.

Frazier's book is not dated. It remains a worthwhile reading for students and general readers.

For further information on the African Diaspora bourgeoisie/Globalization See also:

In-Dependence from Bondage: Claude McKay and Michael Manley: Defying the Ideological Clash and Policy Gaps in African Diaspora Relations

Never Been a Time: The 1917 Race Riot That Sparked the Civil Rights Movement

Harper Barnes

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Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> African Americans -> History

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The dramatic and first popular account of one of the deadliest racial confrontations in the 20th century—in East St. Louis in the summer of 1917—which paved the way for the civil rights movement.

In the 1910s, half a million African Americans moved from the impoverished rural South to booming industrial cities of the North in search of jobs and freedom from Jim Crow laws. But Northern whites responded with rage, attacking blacks in the streets and laying waste to black neighborhoods in a horrific series of deadly race riots that broke out in dozens of cities across the nation, including Philadelphia, Chicago, Tulsa, Houston, and Washington, D.C. In East St. Louis, Illinois, corrupt city officials and industrialists had openly courted Southern blacks, luring them North to replace striking white laborers.  This tinderbox erupted on July 2, 1917 into what would become one of the bloodiest American riots of the World War era. Its impact was enormous. “There has never been a time when the riot was not alive in the oral tradition,” remarks Professor Eugene Redmond. Indeed, prominent blacks like W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and Josephine Baker were forever influenced by it.

Celebrated St. Louis journalist Harper Barnes has written the first full account of this dramatic turning point in American history, decisively placing it in the continuum of racial tensions flowing from Reconstruction and as a catalyst of civil rights action in the decades to come. Drawing from accounts and sources never before utilized, Harper Barnes has crafted a compelling and definitive story that enshrines the riot as an historical rallying cry for all who deplore racial violence.

Blues People: Negro Music in White America

Leroi Jones

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Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"The path the slave took to 'citizenship' is what I want to look at. And I make my analogy through the slave citizen's music -- through the music that is most closely associated with him: blues and a later, but parallel development, jazz... [If] the Negro represents, or is symbolic of, something in and about the nature of American culture, this certainly should be revealed by his characteristic music."

So says Amiri Baraka in the Introduction to Blues People, his classic work on the place of jazz and blues in American social, musical, economic, and cultural history. From the music of African slaves in the United States through the music scene of the 1960's, Baraka traces the influence of what he calls "negro music" on white America -- not only in the context of music and pop culture but also in terms of the values and perspectives passed on through the music. In tracing the music, he brilliantly illuminates the influence of African Americans on American culture and history.

Secret Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother

Jana Wolff

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Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

This book is not for those that expect Adoptive Moms to be perfection 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is one of the books I tell any perspective adoptive Mom to read....the entire adoption process is at times frustrating and mind boggling. There are plenty of other great books that explain adoption ethics, respect for birthfamilies, the emotional loss of the adoptee, and how to make sure that you are supportive of the needs of the adopted child.
This book is strictly for women who want to vent and don't feel there is anywhere "safe" enough to let it all hang out, and don't even like that they even had the thought. This is for the darkest and most honest parts of ourselves. It isn't that I felt this way all the time, or even most of the time, but since I am human there were times when this book let me know that I wasn't alone or a horrible person for being fed up....fed up with the process, fed up with the adoption workers, and yes fed up with some of the perspective Birthmothers that we came into contact with. Not because I wanted the baby at all costs but because it is all so surreal. I can imagine that some birthmoms and even adoptees might be offended by some of the book...but it isn't written for them.

Editorial Review:

This fiercely honest and funny book answers questions no one else dares to ask: What if I don't like the kid I get? Will my child ever feel like mine? If this is the happiest day of my life, why am I so sad? Will she want the baby back? Will I want to return him? The book garnered rave reviews from Betty Jean Lifton, Jamie Lee Curtis, Cathy Guisewite, Adoptive Families of America, San Francisco Chronicle, and hundreds of readers. New, revised edition now in paper.

Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America

Mamie Till-Mobley, Christopher Benson

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Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

There are many heroes of the civil rights movement—men and women we can look to for inspiration. Each has a unique story, a path that led to a role as leader or activist. Death of Innocence is the heartbreaking and ultimately inspiring story of one such hero: Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till—an innocent fourteen-year-old African-American boy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and who paid for it with his life. His outraged mother’s actions galvanized the civil rights movement, leaving an indelible mark on American racial consciousness.

Mamie Carthan was an ordinary African-American woman growing up in 1930s Chicago, living under the strong, steady influence of her mother’s care. She fell in love with and married Louis Till, and while the marriage didn’t last, they did have a beautiful baby boy, Emmett.

In August 1955, Emmett was visiting family in Mississippi when he was kidnapped from his bed in the middle of the night by two white men and brutally murdered. His crime: allegedly whistling at a white woman in a convenience store. His mother began her career of activism when she insisted on an open-casket viewing of her son’s gruesomely disfigured body. More than a hundred thousand people attended the service. The trial of J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, accused of kidnapping and murdering Emmett (the two were eventually acquitted of the crime), was considered the first full-scale media event of the civil rights movement.

What followed altered the course of this country’s history, and it was all set in motion by the sheer will, determination, and courage of Mamie Till-Mobley—a woman who would pull herself back from the brink of suicide to become a teacher and inspire hundreds of black children throughout the country.

Mamie Till-Mobley, who died in 2003 just as she completed this memoir, has honored us with her full testimony: “I focused on my son while I considered this book. . . . The result is in your hands. . . . I am experienced, but not cynical. . . . I am hopeful that we all can be better than we are. I’ve been brokenhearted, but I still maintain an oversized capacity for love.” Death of Innocence is an essential document in the annals of American civil rights history, and a painful yet beautiful account of a mother’s ability to transform tragedy into boundless courage and hope.


From the Hardcover edition.

When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America

Paula J. Giddings

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

When and Where I Enter is an eloquent testimonial to the profound influence of African-American women on race and women's movements throughout American history. Drawing on speeches, diaries, letters, and other original documents, Paula Giddings powerfully portrays how black women have transcended racist and sexist attitudes--often confronting white feminists and black male leaders alike--to initiate social and political reform. From the open disregard for the rights of slave women to examples of today's more covert racism and sexism in civil rights and women'sorganizations, Giddings illuminates the black woman's crusade for equality. In the process, she paints unforgettable portraits of black female leaders, such as anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells, educator and FDR adviser Mary McLeod Bethune, and the heroic civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer, among others, who fought both overt and institutionalized oppression.

When and Where I Enter reveals the immense moral power black women possessed and sought to wield throughout their history--the same power that prompted Anna Julia Cooper in 1892 to tell a group of black clergymen, "Only the black woman can say 'when and where I enter, in the quiet, undisputed dignity of my womanhood, without violence and without suing or special patronage, then and there the whole . . . race enters with me.'"