African Culture and History

Along with textual information, Williams uses over 400 visual guides to take the reader through an immersive history within the continent of Africa. Ranging from themes surrounding culture, war, and slavery, this first edition book proceeds in chronological order and provides material that is easy to consume with the aid of maps, photographs and prints. 

Using cultural context and an understanding of Black lifestyle, Smitherman attempts to establish a framework for the various dialects of language spoken within the Black community. She argues that Black English is set apart from traditional English rhetoric due to its ties back to Africa. By alluding back to history along with the use of grammatical structure, the author sets on an endeavor to showcase how language can play a large part within a whole.

An autobiography written by Ethel Waters that documents her experience as an African-American woman performer. Starting from a rough childhood, she was able to rise to stardom in the early twenty-first century. The book contains some images of the infamous singer and also holds an autograph from Ethel herself.