This Book was really wonderful. I never thought that it would touch my heart as it did. The author wrote this book from his head and didn't leave anything out. All the struggles slaves went through made me upset but I am glad to say, "thank God it wasn't me."

I've always been taught that slavery in America was a very bad thing. Like everybody, I saw Roots on TV and was very moved. So I was pretty surprised when many years later reading this book moved me again. It was very well written. But is was also very disturbing because it tells it like it really was, when in colonial days the colonists were taking black people from Africa and bringing them here by force. There are a lot of interesting and again disturbing statistics in the book about the numbers of slaves involved in the slave trade and so forth. The book doesn't cover the Civil War and all that, though. So you'll have to get that stuff from a different book.

This is a great book to get get a background on the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's and 60's. I read it when I began trying to learn about the CRM and some of the key players.

I think that this book is a valued companion to Taylor Branch's epic work "Parting the Waters". Together, they make an unbeatable pair of study aids for one of America's most turbulent periods.

While P.T.W. is a more dispassionate third person chronicle, E.O.T.P. is more personally driven. It brings to life individuals like Bayard Rustin, Stokley Carmichael, John Lewis and other giants (known and obscure) of the movement. Events from the Till lynching to the Attica riots as seen through the eyes of those on the scene (sometimes, those making the scene).

Fascinating reading.

It is hard to find a historical reader which deals with this area. Most are about the philosophical or print images. While some try to say all of black history is about black manhood, that is not accurate. This reader is important because it deals with manhood in a systematic, historical way, using historical methodology. The first vol. is excellent. I await the second.

It was an immense pleasure to read A Question of Manhood. This trail blazing and illuminating anthology of black men's history and masculinity will surely prompt many, perhaps grudgingly at times, to abandon some of their long held beliefs about the nature of the experiences of black males in American history. This excellent collection of essays will remind lay readers and scholars that a gendered analysis of women and men's history is not optional but quite necessary. Indeed, this book examines the critical role that the intersection of gender, race, and class has played in the lives of black men in American history. A Question of Manhood examines American culture at the macro level by using family, work, sexuality, and social reform movements to provide context to an unprecedented black male history.

One of this books primary strengths is its ability to underscore the strength, creativity, character, and fluid nature of black masculinity throughout early American history; an appraisal which thankfully subverts the popular myth of the nihilistic, irresponsible, ravaging black male. The book's "juice," however, flows from its ability to elucidate the impact of African cultural antecedents upon African American concepts of masculinity, resistance as a racialized as well as gendered phenomenon, and occupations, such as barbering, as frequent axis' of African American male articulations of masculinity and "blackness". Magnificently constructed, this book stands as a sensitive yet powerful testament to the dynamism of black men's history. Straight forward, devoid of superfluous jargon, and replete with substantive analysis, this anthology will certainly appeal to a wide audience. Academicians and lay readers will fine this work enlightening, lucid, and timely.

Hine Sight is a collection of Darlene Clark Hine's essays on black women's history. She is one of the most prominent historians in the field and has helped to define it, which makes the reading of this book all the more interesting. The essays printed here have already been printed numerous times in other journals and anthologies, a testimony to their (and her) importance to the field. It is a wonderful introduction to black women's history, with both theoretical and historical articles included. Because it is a collection of articles, it becomes slightly repetitious - so for an advanced student of black women's history, I would recommend a look at one of Hine's monographs.

I never thought I was so interested in politics until I read this book. I Picked it up at the library when I was reading about the Underground railroad. Henrietta was engaging and even funny sometimes. There were of course some hard to read accounts. But this is a very important topic even if the content is very emotional. This book was to the point yet poignant. All in all it was a very good read. It was informative and was from a point af view (African American) that is too often left out of the history books. I learned a lot and it made me just want more. I would definately suggest it for reading for anyone.

Strike those last three sentences, I am very tired and finishing a 20 page paper. I have no idea why I decided to up and review this book in this state. I must be suffing from starbucks poisoning or something. the editors do incorporate a variety of opinions of both genders and do an excellent post modern job of it to boot. Sorry there.
I would also like to review this frapachino I got for free a few hours ago. It was cold and caffinated, but did not have enough "mocha" for my taste.

A diverse variety of essays on black women in slavery that covers America's perculiar institution from its inception to shortly after the Civil War. The book is seeking to create a fuller picture of the lives of African American women during this time but is constantly fighting within itself over exactly what picture is. It has a difficult time simultaneously representing black women as empowered individuals with their own culture and as victims of a vicious system that presses unwanted physical and cultural contact on them. Some of the essays are poorly written and obviously missing key elements in their focused attempt to prove their argument, others are superbly written and try to account for as many aspects of culture as is possible. One particularly enlightening essay is "Africa to the Americas?" by Claire Robertson, in which she debunks a number of widely spouted partial truths about African culture that Americanists often use to justify gender relations among slaves. Another essay, Wilma King's "Suffer With Them Till Death" is absolutely awful. Its thesis seems to be that slave mothers loved their children and it begins with the well-duh line, "Slave parents had unusually heavy responsibilities."
Despite the fact that the essays argue among themselves and are sometimes hit and miss, the attempt to display a wide variety of opinion of behalf of the editors is a valiant one that only fails by the fact that all the essays are by women. In one sense, this is quite understandable as most of the scholarship on the subject has been done by women. In another sense, I would have liked to see more diverse authors and since several pieces were written precisely for the book, it would have been easy it seems to request on for the sake of diversity.
Not a light read, but the opinions are diverse enough that it is an excellent source to prove your thesis no matter what your argument on gender during slavery might be.