Inside This Issue:	Message from the Africana Librarian Eric Kofi Acree, ea18@cornell.edu Welcome to the premiere issue of Sankofa, the newsletter of the John Henrik Clarke Africana Studies and Research Center Library (Africana Library). The word sankofa comes from the Akan people of Ghana (West Africa). It is derived from the words SAN (return), KO (go), FA (look, seek and take). This can be translated as meaning, "one must return to the past in order to move forward." The sankofa symbol is often depicted as a bird flying forward, with its head turned backwards. This is based on the Akan belief that the past serves as a guide when looking or moving into the future. Sankofa symbolizes the mission of the Africana Library which in part is to provide a specialized collection which allows library patrons to study the history, culture, and social/political dimensions of peoples of African descent. The intention of the newsletter is to keep you informed as to what is going on in the Africana Library and the Africana Center. The newsletter will highlight new books, videotapes and other materials purchased for the Africana Library. It will also feature selected databases and Web sites that can aid people in the research of Black Studies. We will provide tips on how to enhance your information literacy skills as well as provide you with insight on how to best use Africana Library. Each issue will contain brief articles. The newsletter will be published quarterly.  Resources: Authur, Kojo. Cloth as Metaphor: (Re)-reading the Adinkra Cloth Symbols of the Akan of Ghana. Legon, Ghana: Centre for Indigenous Knowledge Systems, 2001.
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Origins of Black History Month
by
Eric Kofi Acree

February is known as Black History Month (BHM). BHM can be traced back to 1926, when Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard trained scholar and pioneer in Black history, wanted to set aside a time to honor the achievements of African Americans. Woodson son of former American slaves, and founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), saw a growing number of week-long celebrations during the early 1900s. He saw "Boy Scout Week," "Clean-up Week," "Music Week," "Education Week," and "Better Health Week." He felt that a "Negro History Week" was in order. The week that included the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (February 12th) and Frederick Douglass (February 14th) was chosen as the first week to begin this celebration. Woodson was also influenced by Omega Psi Phi, one of the oldest African American fraternities. The Omegas strongly believed that the culture and heritage of African Americans should be celebrated. The celebration of Negro History Week became so popular in the 1940s that Woodson sold Negro History Week kits, posters, and photos which depicted periods of African American history. By 1976, Negro History Week would grow into Black History Month. In the legacy of Woodson, ASALH presses for greater recognition of Black history throughout the year. ASALH understands the importance of studying Black history beyond the month of February.

This year ASALH has declared "The Souls of Black Folk: Centennial Reflections" as the theme for Black History Month. For additional information on the theme, visit http://www.asalh.com/blackhistorytheme.htm.

Resources:
White, Alvin. "Godfather of Black History." Sepia. vol. 25, no. 2, February 1976, p. 58-66.
Goggin, Jacqueline. Carter G. Woodson: A Life in Black History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1993.
Goggin, Jacqueline. "Black History Month/Negro History Week." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Edited by Jack Salzman, David Lionel Smith, and Cornel West. New York: Simon & Schuster and Prentice-Hall, 1996. 352-353.
L. D. Reddick, "Twenty-Five Negro History Weeks," The Negro History Bulletin, volume 13, no. 8, May, 1950, p. 178.

For a listing of events happening during Black History Month around Ithaca check out:

http://www.multicultural-resource.org/events.htm

Professor Robert Harris, ASRC, will speak on the Black History Month theme at the following venues:
Hartford, Ct. Public Library, February 7th
Texas Tech University, Feb. 11th
Carlisle, Pa. Public Library, Feb. 23rd

1. Plan ahead. If you wait to access Course Reserve material assigned to be read for the same day of your class you might be disappointed. There is a good chance that the material will already be charged to one of your classmates. Plan to access the material several days before the assigned reading is due.
2. Call ahead. You may request that material be held for you. For example, if you know that you will be free to come to the library at 3:00 PM, call ahead and ask for a "Hold" to be placed on the item you will need. (A "Hold" can only be placed for "today", not for tomorrow.) If you do not charge the item at the time you specified, the "Hold" is canceled, and the item will circulate to other library patrons.
3. Overnight loans. Most items on Course Reserve may be charged out overnight. It is best to place a "Hold" on the item ahead of time. You may charge the item within two hours of the library's closing and keep it overnight. It will be due within two hours of the time the library opens the next day.
4. Avoid fines. Overdue Course Reserve items are fined for each minute that they are overdue! Be aware of the time the item is due to be returned.
5. Know the hours the library will be open. There is no book drop outside the Africana Library. Therefore, you must plan to return items when the library is open.
6. Bring your quarters! Africana Library does not have change for your bills. If you are planning to use the photocopy machine, plan also to have coins or "fresh" bills. Our vending machine can be used to get change.
7. Renew items. If there is not already a "Hold" on the item, it may be renewed.
8. Check "Course Reserve" through the Cornell Library Catalog. Access the list of all materials on Course Reserve for your class, by entering the Course Number or the name of the instructor. Electronic Reserve materials are also accessed directly from this list, by clicking on the link to each item.
9. Know what to ask for. While members of the library staff are very knowledgeable, don't assume that they know what you are looking for. Check the "Course Reserve Notebook" at the circulation desk, to identify precisely what it is that you need.

Featured Web Sites

American Memory: The African American Odyssey
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/

This online Web site is an outgrowth of a major library exhibition put together by the Library of Congress, which had originally opened in February 1998. The exhibition tells the story of the African American experience through nine chronological periods. Over 240 items document the courage and determination of blacks faced with adverse circumstances, who overcame immense odds to fully participate in all aspects of American society. The exhibit includes the work of abolitionists and the long post-Civil War journey toward equality in employment, education and politics. The exhibition details strategies used to secure the vote, recognize outstanding black leaders, and documents the contributions of black sports figures, soldiers, artists, actors, writers, and others in the fight against segregation and discrimination. (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/collections/aao/aaointro.html)

Samuel L. May Anti-Slavery Collection
http://www.library.cornell.edu/mayantislavery/

Searchable digital collection of pamphlets and leaflets donated to Cornell University by abolitionist and humanitarian Samuel J. May. Covers the anti-slavery struggle at local, regional, national, and international levels during the ante-bellum and Civil War periods in America. Includes essays, sermons, speeches, court proceedings and decisions, etc. Most pamphlets are anti-slavery, but some are pro-slavery. Topics include arguments for and against slavery; the relation of slavery to Biblical teachings; history of slavery around the world, and especially in the United States; the question of whether new American states should be required to give up slavery before joining the Union; the status of fugitive slaves, and whether states harboring them should be required to return them to their former owners; the slave trade and its economic supports, such as the sugar trade; and the organization, principles, and functioning of anti-slavery societies. Activities of churches and women's societies in opposing slavery are heavily documented. Contributors include Gerrit Smith, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Lydia Maria Child, Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, the American Anti-Slavery Society, the New England Anti-Slavery Convention, the Edinburgh Ladies' Emancipation Society, and many others. (Cornell Library Voyager Catalog Summary)

Featured Database

Ethnic Newswatch: Full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the American populations generally not covered in the mainstream media. Groups represented in this database include, African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanic Americans. It provides both English and Spanish language search interfaces. The collection covers a wide range of subjects. Subjects that are covered include the arts, business, education, environment, history, journalism, political science, sociology, and Spanish language and culture.

Africana Graduate Students Thesis Research

Africana Studies and Research Center graduate students are required to write a masters thesis in order to receive their Masters of Professional Studies degree. Second year Africana graduate students provide a brief description of their research.

Dafina Blacksher Diabate Proposed Thesis Title: The African Publishers Network: Empowering Indigenous Publishers through Collective Action

This thesis examines the plight of African-owned book publishers in Anglophone African countries, based on the assertion that the best way for African people to name, define, and speak for themselves within the book publishing process is to own and operate independent publishing institutions. An analysis of the textbook industry as a microcosm of the larger publishing context exposes the numerous obstacles confronting indigenous publishing houses in their quest to provide quality, affordable, relevant books for African readers. Some of the factors that impede the success of these African entrepreneurs include insufficient capital, limited capacity, pervasive poverty of potential customers, as well as the combined impact of European publishers' monopoly of the African market and inefficient government participation in publishing. While many publishers devise ingenious strategies to further their enterprise, the contemporary climate begs for a unified solution. The African Publishers Network represents a proactive initiative, proclaiming its goal of strengthening the indigenous publishing industry. Centering the work of this pan-African alliance, this thesis asserts that the collective structure of the organization enhances its ability to reach its stated goal.

Tasha Hawthorne Proposed Thesis Title: Perpendicular Pathways and Vertical Limits: A Historiography & Iconography of First Black Wives

I am examining the rhetorical trope of First Black Wifery to produce a feminist reading of Coretta Scott King and Winnie Mandela's autobiographies. I'm looking at how this trope arises from their marital relations to fabled political leaders and how these women divorce the signifier "First Black Wife" from its original referent. After the end of a very public relationship and a public assassination, these women emerge anew. So, I query if theirs is a rhetoric of intensification? or If trauma creates a space for these two women to change the direction of an older movement? And, if so, how are these changes reified in our understanding of "First Black Wifery"?

Kandree E. Hicks Proposed Thesis Title: Examining the State of Urban HIV/AIDS Ministry Development in African-American Churches: Are We Building a Holistic Response?

The multiple and highly complex factors that lead people to practice HIV-related risk behaviors (i.e., unprotected sex and injection drug abuse) will not be reduced or completely prevented unless actors in the fight against HIV/AIDS take a holistic stance. In order to understand the varied factors that shape African American churches' HIV/AIDS ministry work, I am continuing to gather HIV and related sociocultural data and working to develop 3-5 church case-examples in Washington, D.C. The intent is to gain insight into the emerging factors that exist among the church case-examples to determine the degree to which they enhance and/or inhibit the churches' ability to respond to HIV/AIDS holistically, meeting the varied needs of those mostly affected by HIV/AIDS.

As I expected, ideals of sexism and homophobia/heterosexism tremendously affect concepts of Black/African-American Christian theology on AIDS and liberation struggle. Presently, I am working to explore these concepts' full impact on HIV/AIDS efforts within a community that is fighting an uphill battle against the epidemic. As one Bishop plainly stated, HIV/AIDS presents itself as a humongous challenge to the Black church that now has to confront the impact of its biases and all of the community's social "isms" in order to effectively engage in war for community health. Thus, my work will (1) illuminate areas for collaboration between faith and public health leaders in HIV/AIDS prevention efforts, (2) examine the impact of the matrices of oppression, such as racism, classism, sexism, and heterosexism on public health work and intra-community accountability, and (3) present opportunities to overcome these interlocking systems of oppression.

Natalie Hodge Proposed Thesis Title: Fighting for Our Education, Fighting for Our Future: Black Women's Leadership in the Black Studies Movement

This study is a comparative historical analysis that locates Black women within the struggle for Black Studies on two U.S. college campuses and provides a more general overview of Black women's participation in the national movement. Furthermore the study connects Black women's student activism to their contemporary work in Black Studies. Seldom recognized for their leadership in the movement to incorporate Black/Africana Studies programs in institutions of higher education during the late 1960's, Black women were at the forefront of the student revolution on college campuses. Their participation in the struggle was not limited to traditional organizational roles for women, but included every dimension of the work being done. The case studies included in this thesis focus on two contributors to this movement, Adrienne Manns Israel of Howard University and Andree McLaughlin of Cornell University, who both actively participated in the struggles on their respective campuses and subsequently made this battle their life's work.

Kelly McCloud Proposed Thesis Title: Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.: A Study of Militant Black Leadership in Electoral Politics

I'm writing my thesis on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and his remarkable political career. My focus is on his militant leadership style and the political activities that he was involved in as an activist minister, City Councilman, and U.S. Congressman. Powell was a courageous and determined fighter for African Americans and the poor. My main argument is that Powell was such a great politician and civil rights leader because he functioned as both a political insider and outsider. He was a shrewd negotiator and legistator in Congress and a symbol of Black militancy outside the political establishment. In addition to his elective and symbolic significance, the most crucial issue that my thesis will explore is Powell's attempt to combine Black militancy and protest politics with electoral politics.

Cara Moyer Proposed Thesis Title: Re-Presenting Blackness: Black Independent Cinema, History and Prospects, A Comparative Study of the United States and South Africa

While spending a year living and studying in South Africa, I witnessed the influence the media of the United States has on a global scale. South African theatres and television were flooded with American movies and television shows. I noticed many commonalities in the social and historical situations of the United States and South Africa, and I recognized both countries had used film as a tool for racial oppression, as well as a weapon for social liberation. "Re-Presenting Blackness" examines the history of the representations of Blackness in South Africa and the United States, namely the types of images produced, and through case studies how Black Independent filmmakers have been able to counter those images.

Yusuf Muhammad Proposed Thesis Title: The Ansaaru Allah Community

In 1977, my parents converted to Islam and lived among an isolated community of Black Muslims in Brooklyn, New York. This group of Black Muslims, who called themselves the Ansaaru Allah Community, provided a scene unlike any other in the African American community from 1970 to 1993. I am writing my thesis on this understudied group of Black Muslims. The community was initiated by As Sayyid Al Imaam Isa Al Haadi Al Mahdi, or Isa Muhammad. His followers included former members of the Nation of Islam and African Americans dissatisfied with the Christian Church. Isa Muhammad attempted to establish a community of Muslims economically, socially, and mentally independent from the white world, and in the 1970s, built a magnificent Masjid (Mosque) in Brooklyn, New York which served as the Ansaaru Allah Community's headquarters. The Masjid offered a school, playgrounds, lecture halls, a library, restaurant, and living quarters. Families living in the community practiced a communal lifestyle; each individual played a role in its maintenance. The women of the community wore long, loose white garments with a veil covering the face, and the men wore long garments and turbans. Members of the community learned how to speak Arabic, and raised their children to speak the language. The religious component of the community shifted throughout its existence to include controversial (among Orthodox Muslims) interpretations of the Qur'an, and even a combination of Christianity and Judaism among its teachings. Through their communal lifestyle, cultural tendencies, and interpretation of Islam, the Ansaaru Allah Community distinguished themselves from other Black Muslim movements in America. My research will introduce the Ansaaru Allah Community to Africana scholarship, and tell their story.

Africana Faculty Publications Recently Added to Africana Library

Don Ohadike
Pan-African Culture of Resistance: A History of Liberation Struggles in Africa and the Diaspora
DT31 .O33 2002

Black students in Africa and the Diaspora are aware of some connections among the peoples of the Black World, but their perception of those connections hardly goes beyond recognizing the color of their skin and the history of the Atlantic slave trade. My goal here is not only to contribute to the emerging interest in the history and culture of Africa and the Diaspora, but also to demonstrate the strong connections that exist between them. (Introduction)

This is the first volume of a three volume set of Ali A. Mazrui's most important essays. The eventual three-voulme work will provide readers with a broad spectrum of Professor Mazrui's writing during his four decades as a scholar and public intellectual. This first volume redefines the meaning of Africanity across geographical spaces, time, and cultures. The resulting definition is dynamic. It forces us to reject neo-imperialist paradigms and ontologies of what it means to be African. By encouraging us to think about Africanity as an idea rather than as point of origin, the ideas contained in these essays force us to reposition ourselves in the debate of our place in global cultures and civilizations and they prepare us to take a more active role in social and political affairs. (From back cover)

Black Reparations in the Era of Globalization E185.89 .R45 M39x 2002

Are Africans and people of African descent owed reparations for centuries of enslavement, exploitation and racial degradation? If such a debt is owed, who is to pay it and by what kind of calculation? Is the compensation to be based on the pain of the enslaved or the profit of the slaver? These are only a few of the questions posed in this brilliant analysis of the issues. (From back cover)

Africana Graduate Student Publication Recently Added to Africana Library

Siga Fatima Jagne (Class of 1989)
Postcolonial African Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook Reference PL80810 .P585x 1998

Postcolonial African writers have been, and currently are, engaging a major intervention in counterdiscursive and revisionist projects impacting the academic world since the fifties. Grasping the multiple coordinates of their intense investigations, deliberations and debates underlying their literary productions involves an equally challenging, often overwhelming, but increasingly gratifying task. As editors of this reference sourcebook, Siga Jagne and I [Pushpa Naidu Parekh] are passionately involved in making a commitment to effecting this task while recognizing that any grasping is also letting go any understanding is also a concession to the irreducibilities of mind and spirit...In response to these realities, we bring together in this systematic reference volume over fifty bio-bibliographical and critical entries on selected known and emerging writers from diverse African countries, writing mainly in English and French. (Preface)

Reference books still remain among the best places to go to begin the research process. Reference books usually provide library patrons with quick answers to questions or specific facts. Listed below are new titles added to the Africana Library reference collection. Reference books are housed in a separate area in the library.

Africa: An Encyclopedia for Students (4 volumes) - DT3 .A249x 2002

African American Autobiographers: A Sourcebook - PS366 .A35 A36x 2002

African Biography (3 volumes) - CT1920 .A39x 1999

African American Poets: Lives, Works and Sources - PS153 .N5 P48 2002

Best Literature By and About Blacks - Z1229 .N39 R53x 2000

Civil Rights in the United States (2 volumes) - E184 .A1 C47x 2000

Discovering Black New York: A Guide to the City's Most Important African American Landmarks, Restaurants, Museums, Historical Sites, and More - F128.9 .N4 T37x 2001

Encyclopedia of African History and Culture (3 volumes) - DT3 .P27x 2001

Harlem Renaissance: A Gale Critical Companion (3 volumes) - PS153 .N5 H245x 2003

The Harvard Guide to African-American History - E185 .H326x 2001

Guide to African American and African Primary Sources at Harvard University - Z3509 .B87x 2000

Literary Adaptations in Black American Cinema - PN 1995.9 .N4 L87 2002

Notable Black American Scientists - Q141 .N725x 1999

Postcolonial African Writers - PL8010 .P585x 1998

Traditional African Names - CS 2377 .M87x 2000

For a complete listing of new acquistions to Africana Library visit, http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/Library/Acquisitions.html.

Happenings at Africana Studies & Research Center

• Throughout the semester ASRC offers a series of lectures. This semester the theme of the colloquium series is "War and political conflicts and resolutions in Africa." For additonal information on the dates, times, location and title of each lecture check out http://www.asrc.cornell.edu/programs.html.
• ASRC will be hosting the 27th Annual New York African Studies Association Conference on April 4th and 5th, 2003. For more details on the conference and how to submit abstracts visit http://www.asrc.cornell.edu/call4papersnyasa.html.
• Congratulations are directed toward Professors Gerald Jackson and Abdul Nanji for being recognized Program "Of The Month" for the best educational program for the month of November 2002. This award is given out by Cornell's Community Development, which is part of Campus Life. It is presented by a student group called National Residence Hall Honorary. Professors Jackson and Nanji sponsored a weekend bus trip to Harlem, New York for Cornell students. In part the bus trip allowed Cornell students to interact with residents of Harlem and Cornell Alums. Students were able to experience the rich culture of Harlem, and see the play Harlem Song.
  

Africana Library Staff

Eric Kofi Acree, ea18@cornell.edu
http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/newsletter/feb2003.htm
Last Update: July 17, 2007