Recently in Books & Authors Category

Jacki-O will be a special guest author during the 1st "Hiphop & Books" Rally that will take place on Saturday, April 26, 2008 in Jackson, MS. She is pictured in the center with students of Crystal Springs High School in March 2008.

The event will kickoff the "Hiphop & Books" tour that will crisscross the nation during the year, with the hope of encouraging lovers of hiphop to spread the addiction of staying in school and literacy.

visit www.hiphopandbooks.com

Tonight American Masters profiles writer and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston on PBS. Don't miss it. READ MORE...

Note: This documentary was excellent. If you can catch a rerun, it will be worth your time. I especially enjoyed seeing the historical footage of Florida and the people. Florida holds a special place in my heart.

Reference:
PBS.org

Photo Credit: Institute for Intercultural Studies /Library of Congress

Black Star News interviewed Republican intellectual and best-selling author Shelby Steele. He spoke on various issues including Barack Obama, Affirmative Action, segregration, his biracial experience, and some of him written work.

On Obama's accent:

"BSN: What I’m curious about Obama is, where did he get his Black accent, if he wasn’t raised around Black people, but by a white mother from Kansas? Does his voice sound authentic or adopted to you? I figured you might have an insight about this since your mother’s white, too.

SS: It sounds a little hollow. Sometimes, he’s Martin Luther King, sometimes, he a Black militant from the Sixties, then he’s a Baptist minister. He can be so different. There’s not yet an Obama voice. That troubles me on other levels. It’s hard to know what bag he’s going to come out of when he takes to the podium. You’re making the point that, given his background, he doesn’t have the flava’, that he’s a bit artificial and struggling to get there. Yeah, sure, that is part of what I talk about in the first half of the book. I think this need to belong has trailed him all of his life." READ MORE...

Photo credit: Rita Steele

I slept through the Grammys this year. When I woke up it was 8:20pm est, saw Rihanna and Morris Day and that was all I remember. Well Senator Obama beat out former Presidents Clinton and Carter for a Grammy Award for "Best Spoken Album" for his autobiographical recorded book "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream." Obama is on a roll this year.

In a new book coming out in August, it is reported that legendary football Georgia running back and 1982 Heisman Trophy winner, Herschel Walker reveals he has multiple personalities. Multiple personality disorder is a medical condition where a person has two or more identifiable personalities. Walker played for Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants.

I wonder how long he has had this, and how many personalities he has? He needs to go on Oprah or Maury. This will be interesting. Now when he goes on his book tour, people are going to be watching to see if other people "jump out" of him. READ MORE...

Photo Credit: Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images

This is a new book I purchased over the summer and loaned to someone to read. Lol, I still don't have it back yet. But here is an excerpt from the book. I purchased after watching the author, Harriet A. Washington, give a book presentation on Book C-Span. The woman did her research, and she discussed roadblocks to gaining access to information and how those barriers were torn down. The book basically chronicles the history of blacks in this country as subjects of medical research experiments, many unwillingly and/or unknowlingly, and may for the basis for the reason why many are distrustful of the medical establishment. The book is entitled: "Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present"

Book Excerpt:

"During the 1830s, a Dr. T. Stillman ran serial advertisements in the
Charleston Mercury for his infirmary, in which he principally treated skin
diseases. On October 12, 1838, he made a fascinating addendum:

“Wanted: FIFTY NEGROES. Any person having sick negroes, considered
incurable by their respective physicians and wishing to dispose of them
[emphasis added] . . . the highest cash prize will be paid upon application
as above.”

Yesterday I was in the Barnes and Noble bookstore checking out books, before going to see Denzel's movie American Gangster, and I ran across Rain Pryor's new book (book cover above). Rain, the daughter of late comedian Richard Pryor is expecting her first child also. I quickly glanced at her site and saw many of the photos online are printed in her book.

One interesting caption in a photo with her dad remarked on how she was spending quiet time with him. The photo was of her with him lying across a bed just relaxing. She commented about how a woman was always lurking around, and this seemed like a time to seize the moment, and monopolize on the time she could spend with dad. The photo was telling with that caption. It is nice to get a peek into her upbringing as biracial and Jewish. I am thinking about buying this book.

Her website is www.rainpryor.com

"Entertainer Bill Cosby speaks with NBC's Tim Russert of "Meet the Press" about the preconceived notions that black children have that he believes are leading them to feel worthless." WATCH VIDEO
-Meet the Press