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Writings
of Runoko Rashidi
Introduction to African Civilizations /
African Presence in Early Asia /
Introduction to the Study of African Classical Civilizations
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Building African Libraries Project
An Appeal from Runoko Rashidi and
Hamara Holt The library project of the Sunrise School in
Accra, Ghana is underway. This project is a book and fund
raising drive that, through our efforts, will provide much
needed reading and study materials for the children of the
Sunrise School, ages 6 - 14 years, grades 1 - 9.
Every child deserves a quality education, and access to books is
essential to the development and expansion of young minds. We
are all children of Africa and its future is not only in our
hands, but in the hands of its young people. Education of
Africans is crucial to our fight for liberation, not only of
the continent, but of all Africans globally. No library
anywhere in our world should be empty, especially not a school
library, and especially not in Africa.
Unfortunately, far too many libraries in the birthplace
of humanity are just that, empty, and frankly, given
our resources, this tragedy is inexcusable. This is a small
effort that has the potential to make a huge impact in the lives of
some of our children. If we are truly serious about the
sovereignty of our people, mentally, physically, and
politically, we can pull together and make this project a
success.
On behalf of the Building African Libraries committee, I would
like to thank all of you in advance for your generosity and
undying dedication to the future of Africa.
Please send all of your book and fund donations to:
Hamara Holt
P.O. Box 764
College Station
New York, NY 10030
Please address all checks and money orders to: Building African
Libraries Foundation
Receipts will be kept for every donation ( books and funds ),
and will be issued in triplicate – one to Dr. Rashidi, one to
our Foundation board (BAL), and one to the donor. We will be
working with the National Heritage Foundation, and they will also keep
records of each donation. Your receipt from the BAL Foundation,
and your cancelled check will provide proof of your donation.
All donations over $250 will be issued a charitable receipt
directly from the NHF as well.
All book donations should be appropriate for children ages 6 -
14.
We are seeking books on history, literature, science, math, etc.
Textbooks and storybooks would be greatly appreciated as
well ( please keep in mind the age range of students when
selecting your book donations).
In love of Africa,
Runoko Rashidi and Hamara Holt
Make liberal use also of
The
Global African Presence
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Runoko
Rashidi is a historian, research specialist,
writer, world traveler, and public lecturer
focusing on the African foundations of world
civilizations. He is particularly drawn to the
African presence in Asia, Australia, and the
Pacific Islands, and has coordinated numerous
historic educational group tours worldwide.
Dr. Rashidi is highly sought after for radio,
television, and newspaper interviews, having
been interviewed on hundreds of radio broadcasts
and TV programs. He has made presentations at
more than 125 colleges, universities, secondary
schools, libraries, book stores, churches and
community centers. On the international circuit
he has lectured in over 50 countries.
Dr. Rashidi is the author of Introduction to the
Study of African Classical Civilizations. He
edited, along with Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, The
African Presence in Early Asia, considered "the
most comprehensive volume on the subject yet
produced". Dr. Rashidi also authored The Global
African Community: The African Presence in Asia,
Australia and the South Pacific. In December
2005 Dr. Rashidi released his first text in
French, A Thousand Year History of the African
Presence in Asia. He is the author of the
forthcoming work Black Star: The African
Presence in Early Europe.
As an essayist and contributing writer, Dr.
Rashidi's articles have appeared in more than
seventy-five publications. His historical essays
have been featured in the Journal of
Civilizations Anthologies, and cover the global
African presence.
Included among the notable African scholars that
Runoko has worked with and been influenced by
are: John Henrik Clarke, John G. Jackson, Yosef
ben-Jochannan, Chancellor James Williams,
Charles B. Copher, Edward Vivian Scobie, Ivan
Van Sertima, Asa G. Hilliard III, Karen Ann
Johnson, Obadele Williams, Charles S. Finch,
James E. Brunson, Wayne B. Chandler, Legrand H.
Clegg II, and Jan Carew.
As a traveler, Runoko has visited one hundred
countries, colonies and overseas territories in
a twelve year period beginning in 1999.
Dr. Rashidi believes that his main mission in
life is to help make Africans proud of
themselves, to help change the way Africa is
viewed in the world and to help reunite a family
of people that has been separated far too long
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The Eyes of Willie McGee
A
Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in the Jim
Crow South
By
Alex Heard
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Salvage the Bones
A Novel by Jesmyn Ward
On one level, Salvage the Bones is a simple story about a poor black family that’s about to be trashed by one of the most deadly hurricanes in U.S. history. What makes the novel so powerful, though, is the way Ward winds private passions with that menace gathering force out in the Gulf of Mexico. Without a hint of pretension, in the simple lives of these poor people living among chickens and abandoned cars, she evokes the tenacious love and desperation of classical tragedy. The force that pushes back against Katrina’s inexorable winds is the voice of Ward’s narrator, a 14-year-old girl named Esch, the only daughter among four siblings. Precocious, passionate and sensitive, she speaks almost entirely in phrases soaked in her family’s raw land. Everything here is gritty, loamy and alive, as though the very soil were animated. Her brother’s “blood smells like wet hot earth after summer rain. . . . His scalp looks like fresh turned dirt.” Her father’s hands “are like gravel,” while her own hand “slides through his grip like a wet fish,” and a handsome boy’s “muscles jabbered like chickens.” Admittedly, Ward can push so hard on this simile-obsessed style that her paragraphs risk sounding like a compost heap, but this isn’t usually just metaphor for metaphor’s sake. She conveys something fundamental about Esch’s fluid state of mind: her figurative sense of the world in which all things correspond and connect. She and her brothers live in a ramshackle house steeped in grief since their mother died giving birth to her last child. . . . What remains, what’s salvaged, is something indomitable in these tough siblings, the strength of their love, the permanence of their devotion.—WashingtonPost |
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Incognegro: A Memoir of
Exile and Apartheid
By Frank B. Wilderson, III
Wilderson, a professor,
writer and filmmaker from
the Midwest,
presents a gripping account
of his role in the downfall
of South African apartheid
as one of only two black
Americans in the African
National Congress (ANC).
After marrying a South
African law student, Wilderson reluctantly
returns with her to South
Africa in the early 1990s,
where he teaches
Johannesburg and Soweto
students, and soon joins the
military wing of the ANC.
Wilderson's stinging
portrait of Nelson Mandela
as a petulant elder eager to
accommodate his white
countrymen will jolt readers
who've accepted the
reverential treatment
usually accorded him. After
the assassination of
Mandela's rival, South
African Communist Party
leader Chris Hani, Mandela's
regime deems Wilderson's
public questions a threat to
national security; soon,
having lost his stomach for
the cause, he returns to
America.
Wilderson has a
distinct, powerful voice and
a strong story that shuffles
between the indignities of
Johannesburg life and his
early years in Minneapolis,
the precocious child of
academics who barely
tolerate his emerging
political consciousness.
Wilderson's observations
about love within and across
the color line and cultural
divides are as provocative
as his politics; despite
some distracting
digressions, this is a
riveting memoir of
apartheid's last days.—Publishers
Weekly
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
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2000
____ 2005
Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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ChickenBones Store
(Books, DVDs, Music, and more)
posted 24 August 2005 / update
26 December 2011
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