Strong Men Keep Coming: The Book of African American Men - Hardcover

Bolden, Tonya

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471252026 ISBN 13: 9780471252023

Publisher: Jossey Bass, 1999

Synopsis

AN EPIC, EVOCATIVE HISTORY–FROM JAMESTOWN TO THE MILLION MAN MARCH "In her own special, provocative language, Tonya Bolden gives a voice to the voiceless, a name to the nameless. Revelations abound in Strong Men Keep Coming, her singular take on the endless parade of black men who have fought, sung, cajoled, tricked, worked, wrote, or roped their way into the American experience. . . . She has assembled a most rewarding cast, a phenomenal coterie of role models and phantoms, and she has done a splendid job of telling their stories."–Herb Boyd, coeditor Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America "Strong Men Keep Coming is long overdue [and] told in glorious detail. Bolden does an excellent job of obtaining information that′s hard to come by."–Mosaic "Tonya Bolden has assembled an eccentric, eclectic, and highly readable collection of portraits of black male achievers. Bolden blends heartfelt tributes with humorous anecdotes."–Washington Post Book World Spanning four centuries, Strong Men Keep Coming captures the dynamic essence of the black male experience in America, shedding new light on towering icons like Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Malcolm X, while illuminating the lives of numerous forgotten strivers and pioneers. By turns triumphant and tragic, this vital collection brings to life the strength, courage, and tenacity of a truly remarkable brotherhood of men.

About this title

About the Author

TONYA BOLDEN is the acclaimed author/editor of ten books, including the bestselling 33 Things Every Girl Should Know, The Book of African American Women, Rites of Passage: Stories About Growing Up by Black Writers from Around the World, and And Not Afraid to Dare.

From the Back Cover

An Epic History from Jamestown to the Million Man March Strong Men Keep Coming "In her own special, provocative language, Tonya Bolden gives a voice to the voiceless, a name to the nameless. Revelations abound in Strong Men Keep Coming, and this is her singular take on the endless parade of black men who have fought, sung, cajoled, tricked, worked, wrote, or roped their way into the American experience. She has assembled a most rewarding cast, a phenomenal coterie of role models and phantoms, and she has done a splendid job of telling their stories." Herb Boyd, coeditor Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America

From the Inside Flap

"Out of shackles [and] blasted Reconstruction dreams, out of Jim Crow’s grip, out of that moment when there was some overcoming and some expectancy that freedom would truly ring through tempests and trials and a straining for the dawn black men in America have endured so much, have achieved so much." from the Introduction Spanning the four centuries from Jamestown to the Million Man March, Strong Men Keep Coming captures the dynamic essence of the black male experience in America. Shedding new light on towering icons, as well as forgotten strivers and pioneers, Tonya Bolden spins exhaustive research and uncommon compassion into a well–crafted, vividly detailed, and entirely absorbing account. Strong Men Keep Coming is about range. Here are the bold experiences of black men in bondage and freedom: the breadth of their achievement in the arts, politics, education, business, sports, science and the strategies they devised for liberation and self–defense from nationalism and revolution to conciliation and integration. Mining fresh insights about cultural heavyweights, including David Walker, Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr., Bolden puts familiar stories in elegant perspective. Her penetrating coverage also brightens the corners of many extraordinary lives that, until now, have remained largely unexamined. Among the book’s portraits are the stories of Josiah Henson, the misunderstood real–life model for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom; Dangerfield Newby, father, husband, and one of John Brown’s ill–fated raiders; Henry Highland Garnet, firebrand antislavery activist and organizer; Isaac Myers, founder of the nation’s first black national labor union; Richard Samuel Roberts, the photographer whose portraits of blacks in the Jim Crow South have become treasured historical documents; Oscar Micheaux, groundbreaking filmmaker; and Neil de Grasse Tyson, one of the most highly regarded astrophysicists in the world. By turns triumphant and tragic, this indispensable collection illuminates the strength, courage, and tenacity of a truly remarkable brotherhood of men.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jossey Bass
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0471252026
• ISBN 13: 9780471252023
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 308