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"A comprehensive reference work that every family should own." —MICHAEL JORDAN "It is most appropriate that the first real encyclopedia of Africa and her Diaspora is the fruit of a collaboration between an African American and an African. The result of their efforts is a meticulously edited volume that depicts, in all their variety, the cultures of the African continent and her peoples." —WOLE SOYINKA, Nobel Laureate for Literature 1986 and Chair of the Editorial Board "At the start of the twentieth century, W.E.B. Du Bois imagined an Encyclopaedia Africana to do for the black world what Britannica had done for the white world. Now, at the end of the century, two professors from Harvard, his alma mater, have made that dream a reality." —QUINCY JONES, Grammy-winning arranger, composer and producer, and multimedia entrpreneur "An indispensable tool for people of all races who wish to gain a better understanding and deeper appreciation of the spirit of African Americans and of black culture around the world." —KWEISI MFUME, President and CEO, NAACP "Africana’s very existence shows how far African American people have come since W.E.B. Du Bois first dreamed of an Encyclopaedia Africana at the start of this century. It’s great to have one volume that shines light on the rich truth of black life, which our society has too long left in the shadows. —JESSE JACKSON, Founder, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition “From 1909 my father, W.E.B. Du Bois, dreamed of editing a comprehensive encyclopaedia of Africa and the Black diaspora. He pursued this dream his entire life, culminating in the establishment of the Secretariat of the Encyclopaedia Africana in Accra, Ghana in 1961, an ongoing project that seeks to create an encyclopaedia about Africa produced by Africans. Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., inspired by my father’s original idea, have made a magnificent contribution to African and African American Studies and the Humanities with Africana. Dr. Du Bois would have been proud." —DAVID G. DU BOIS previous | |