Most of us know that the month of February is African American History month.  “African American Firsts: Famous, Little-Known and Unsung Triumphs of Blacks in America”,  (Revised Edition), by Joan Potter, would be an excellent book to dip into and read throughout this month, or at any time of the year.  Yes, this Revised Edition includes Barack Obama as First African American President of the United States – and of course he is on the cover, along with illustrious people such as Lena Horne (first African American vocalist to sing with a white orchestra, in the 1930s) and Richard Wright (first African American to have a novel that became a Book-of-the-Month Club selection: “Native Son”, published in 1940).

“African American Firsts”  is divided in several wide-ranging sections, which include Entertainment,  Law and Government,  Military, Religion, Literature, Sports, and more.   Therefore, there is at least one section in this book that would hold almost anybody’s interest.

Each person is introduced in a question and answer format.  Each answer is presented with a few paragraphs.  There are pictures throughout, but not for every person featured.  To give you an idea of what the format is like — and since this is African American History month, I’ll choose this person:

“  Who  Created the First Black History Week?

Carter G. Woodson, born in 1875, was known by many as the “father of black history”.  Forced to work in the coal mines of West Virginia as a teenager, Woodson was unable to attend high school until he was twenty.  A brilliant student, he went on to study at the University of Chicago, Harvard, and the Sorbonne in Paris.

Working as a public school teacher and principal in Washington, D.C., Woodson saw that his students had little knowledge of the contributions made by African Americans to the country’s history and culture.  To help fill this void in American education, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915, and a year later he began publishing the Journal of Negro History, for which he wrote hundreds of articles and book reviews.

In 1926 Woodson created the first of what was to be an annual celebration of African American achievement.  In the beginning, the celebration lasted for one week and was called Negro History Week.  In 1976 it was extended to last for the entire month of February, and is now known as African American History Month”.

I had not heard of Woodson until I read this.  It is him we have to thank for African American History Month.

I admit I have not yet read all of “African American Firsts”, but I know I will eventually.  I have been first  reading through what interests me the most, such as the section on Literature.  From that section, I’ve learned a few things (and more books I want to add to my TBR pile, or to re-read!).  Some facts:

• The first African American to publish a novel was William Wells Brown in London, 1853.  It was titled “Clotel, or the President’s Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States”.  This novel was the story of a girl fathered by President Jefferson and born to his African American housekeeper. 
• The first (published) mystery novel by an African American was “The Conjure Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem”  in 1932 by Rudolph Fisher, a physician.  He passed away just a few years later at the age of 37.
• The first novel written by an African American woman to sell over a million copies was “The Street” by Ann Petry, published in 1946 and is the story of a young woman struggling to raise her son in Harlem.
• Alice Walker was the first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, for “The Color Purple” in 1983.

“African American Firsts” would be an excellent addition to the reference section of any library, and would be well-suited for middle school age and up.  At 458 pages total (including index, etc), there are many, many African Americans featured in this book.  My copy is in paperback format.  I like books that teach me interesting facts, and this one is no exception. 

Disclosure:  This book was sent to me free, for review through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

Additionally, although I’m not participating in The Classics Circuit this month, please visit the blogs that are touring  February’s “Harlem Renaissance Tour” .

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 2:12 PM and is filed under Americans, Early Reviewer program, Library Thing, biography, book review, books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.