Author Description

Africa, the cradle of humanity, is a snake that swallows its own tail, a circle that has no beginning or end, a cosmos that is wholly inclusive, without limits or boundaries of any measurable kind. Africa is the sacred birth-mother to mankind, and thus her blessing and heritage embrace us all. Here, in African-American Alphabet, Gerald Hausman and Kelvin Rodriques seek to capture the vast wisdom and heritage of Mother Africa and to honor the common spirit that binds us, as a people, to our shared genesis. African-American Alphabet is an historic and poetic A-to-Z collection of legends, traditions, and symbols that represents the great depth and breadth of African, Caribbean, and African-American culture. A work that, among other things, reinterprets slavery as an historical and cultural legacy, African-American Alphabet explores and illustrates the many ways that African-Americans and West Indians of the past bravely sought empowerment in the face of cruelty and suffering through the disciplines of magic, dance, drum, song, and story. Each chapter is introduced by a key word whose significance to the culture is then demonstrated through examples of poetry, song, essay, interview, and myth, with material dating as far back as ancient Egypt or as recently as today. Over fifty entries, including * Banjo * Conjure * Duppy * Father * Juba * Indigo * Nine Night * Obeah * Serpent * and Trickster are accompanied by over one hundred stunning photographs and illustrations.