Freedom on My Mind: The Columbia Documentary History of the African American Experience

"Freedom on My Mind" reveals the richly diverse and complex experience of black people in America in their own words, from the Colonial era of Benjamin Banneker to the present world of Kweisi Mfume and Clarence Thomas. Personal correspondence, excerpts from slave narratives and autobiographies, leaflets, significant addresses and speeches, oral histories and interviews, political manifestos, and important statements of black institutions and organizations are brought together to form a volume that testifies to the boundless creative potential of black Americans in indefatigable pursuit of the dream of freedom.

Arranged thematically, the selections illustrate the politics of resistance -- as reflected through gender and sexuality, kinship and community, work and leisure, faith and spirituality. They also highlight the contributions of women to black identity, history, and consciousness, and offer excerpts from the work of some of the finest stylists in the African American canon. A general introduction as well as short introductions and bibliographies for each document further enhance the usefulness of the book for students and researchers.

Manning Marable is director of the Institute for Research in African American studies and professor of history at Columbia University. He edited Dispatches from the Ebony Tower (Columbia, 2000) and is the author of Black Leadership (Columbia, 1998); W.E.B. Du Bois: Black Radical Democrat; and Speaking Truth to Power: Essays on Race, Resistance, and Radicalism among other books. He lives in New York City.