Greetings All,
I just recently finished the book, This Gilded African by Wenda Parkinson. The book is about the rise of the Great Toussaint L'Overture. The book talks about the, not only how he out maneuvered the Spanish, English and French, but also about some of the forces that went into shaping his own character.
As you know, I am always looking for inspirational books that I could recommend to our youth and their parents that might help to shape and development their own character.
Needless to say, your recommendations are always appreciated.
Sincerely.
The Black American Teacher
http://www.theblackamericanteacher.blogspot.com/
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
New book website
Brothers and Sisters,
Someone just emailed a cool new website for inspirational books. This is cool. Check it out. However, I would also appreciate if you could get more personal in terms of the books that inspired you and how they contributed to your own character development.
Of course your comments do not have to be as extensive as the blog, but if you could let us know why you are recommending a book for our youth it would be appreciated.
P.S. The new site that was recommended was info@lushenabks.com
Heath W
http://www.theblackamericanteacher.blogspot.com/
Someone just emailed a cool new website for inspirational books. This is cool. Check it out. However, I would also appreciate if you could get more personal in terms of the books that inspired you and how they contributed to your own character development.
Of course your comments do not have to be as extensive as the blog, but if you could let us know why you are recommending a book for our youth it would be appreciated.
P.S. The new site that was recommended was info@lushenabks.com
Heath W
http://www.theblackamericanteacher.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Character Development
Dear Brothers and Sisters;
I believe it is so important to the development of character for our youth to be exposed to strong and positive role models. Ideally this exposure would take place in the physical realm. Nevertheless, the feeding of the mind should not be stunted because our youth have not been fortunate enough to have access to positive role models. I also believe our youth's minds' need to be fed positive role models even in the form of literature. I have decided to dedicate this blog to the sharing of literature for the character development of our youth. I know we all have read books that have had an impact on us. This is our place and time to share the blessings that these books have had on our development. I know there is going to be a myriad of books that people will say impacted their life.
Please do not confine these books to adult books. We also have to instill character development in our very young. Perhaps, parents could read certain books to the very young that deals with character development.
Please note the plot, brief summary and background of the book. How the book impacted you? What age ranges do you think the book would be good for?
For example: The Autobiography of Malcolm X
This is the autobiography of one of the most controversial leaders in the history of Black America. Malcolm X whose given name was Malcolm Little grew up in Omaha Nebraska in the 1940s. His father was killed when he was very young by a group of white men. The killing of his father had the effect of devastating the family, until eventually the family was taken over by social services and the mother went crazy.
Eventually he would leave Nebraska and move to Boston and then to Harlem, where he would become a street hustler. He was then busted for a crime of breaking and entering, which involved some white women. He was sentenced to jail.
While in jail he was converted to the Nation of Islam, which preached Black Nationalism. As he began to learn the knowledge of self through the Nation of Islam he began to clean himself mentally, physically and spiritually.
When he was free from prison he became a spokesman for the The Honorable Elijah Muhammad in the Nation of Islam. As he began spreading the gospel of the Nation, the Nation prospered.
Part of the laws that governed the Nation of Islam in America was marital fidelity. If you were caught with outside relations you could be punished within the Nation and perhaps expelled.
However, Malcolm was soon to learn that his spiritual father had broken the rules of fidelity and outside relations. This would eventually cause a rift between Malcolm and the Nation of Islam, which would be exploited by the enemies of Black people and the Nation.
As Malcolm was separated from the Nation it was easier for the government and his enemies to foment a climate of hate which would ultimately result in his assassination.
Nevertheless, his death would not come before he captured the hearts and minds of Black America. His rise to prominance coincided with his character development guided by the Nation of Islam. A very powerful and important figure in the history of America.
He was the spark in our generation that led to the search for the knowledge of self.
I would highly recommend this book for ages 16 and up
TheBlackAmericanTeacher
Please share!!!
I believe it is so important to the development of character for our youth to be exposed to strong and positive role models. Ideally this exposure would take place in the physical realm. Nevertheless, the feeding of the mind should not be stunted because our youth have not been fortunate enough to have access to positive role models. I also believe our youth's minds' need to be fed positive role models even in the form of literature. I have decided to dedicate this blog to the sharing of literature for the character development of our youth. I know we all have read books that have had an impact on us. This is our place and time to share the blessings that these books have had on our development. I know there is going to be a myriad of books that people will say impacted their life.
Please do not confine these books to adult books. We also have to instill character development in our very young. Perhaps, parents could read certain books to the very young that deals with character development.
Please note the plot, brief summary and background of the book. How the book impacted you? What age ranges do you think the book would be good for?
For example: The Autobiography of Malcolm X
This is the autobiography of one of the most controversial leaders in the history of Black America. Malcolm X whose given name was Malcolm Little grew up in Omaha Nebraska in the 1940s. His father was killed when he was very young by a group of white men. The killing of his father had the effect of devastating the family, until eventually the family was taken over by social services and the mother went crazy.
Eventually he would leave Nebraska and move to Boston and then to Harlem, where he would become a street hustler. He was then busted for a crime of breaking and entering, which involved some white women. He was sentenced to jail.
While in jail he was converted to the Nation of Islam, which preached Black Nationalism. As he began to learn the knowledge of self through the Nation of Islam he began to clean himself mentally, physically and spiritually.
When he was free from prison he became a spokesman for the The Honorable Elijah Muhammad in the Nation of Islam. As he began spreading the gospel of the Nation, the Nation prospered.
Part of the laws that governed the Nation of Islam in America was marital fidelity. If you were caught with outside relations you could be punished within the Nation and perhaps expelled.
However, Malcolm was soon to learn that his spiritual father had broken the rules of fidelity and outside relations. This would eventually cause a rift between Malcolm and the Nation of Islam, which would be exploited by the enemies of Black people and the Nation.
As Malcolm was separated from the Nation it was easier for the government and his enemies to foment a climate of hate which would ultimately result in his assassination.
Nevertheless, his death would not come before he captured the hearts and minds of Black America. His rise to prominance coincided with his character development guided by the Nation of Islam. A very powerful and important figure in the history of America.
He was the spark in our generation that led to the search for the knowledge of self.
I would highly recommend this book for ages 16 and up
TheBlackAmericanTeacher
Please share!!!
Saturday, December 30, 2006
The Chess Advantage (Scholarships)
The Chess Advantage,
There are certain advantages to learning to play chess. Aside from the fact that chess is a great game, it also teaches players to think strategically. This ability to reason and think strategically has apparently found its admirers in academia. So much so that educational institutions are willing to pay and offer scholarships to students that are elite chess players.
There are a number of institutions that are willing to offer scholarships for chess champions. The rational is that those that have attained the status of elite in the world of chess also possess the qualities to make them successful students.
Texas Tech, the University of Maryland and Connecticut are some of the schools that offer scholarships for elite chess players. Some of the best scholarships cover tuition, room and board, and are worth over $69,400 over four years.
Also, let us not forget that the federal government is providing over $790 million in funding for the 2006-07 academic year and 4.5 billion over the next five years. The contacts for the Academic competitiveness and Smart Grants are Samara Yudor and Casey Ruberg (202) 401-1576
The Black American Teacher
There are certain advantages to learning to play chess. Aside from the fact that chess is a great game, it also teaches players to think strategically. This ability to reason and think strategically has apparently found its admirers in academia. So much so that educational institutions are willing to pay and offer scholarships to students that are elite chess players.
There are a number of institutions that are willing to offer scholarships for chess champions. The rational is that those that have attained the status of elite in the world of chess also possess the qualities to make them successful students.
Texas Tech, the University of Maryland and Connecticut are some of the schools that offer scholarships for elite chess players. Some of the best scholarships cover tuition, room and board, and are worth over $69,400 over four years.
Also, let us not forget that the federal government is providing over $790 million in funding for the 2006-07 academic year and 4.5 billion over the next five years. The contacts for the Academic competitiveness and Smart Grants are Samara Yudor and Casey Ruberg (202) 401-1576
The Black American Teacher
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Racism in America
This is my first post. Welcome to my world. What caught my attention today was a CNN report on racism in America. It was report on a small city in Texas called Vidor. Vidor is one of those cities in the south that is still stuck in its racist past. The reason I started this blog is because I think as Black Americans we need a constant reminder of how ugly things could get. More importantly, we also need to pay our respect to those who have sacrificed to give us the opportunities that we have available today.
Now back to the story. CNN visited a city named Vidor Texas to address its racist image. Vidor was one of those cities that that was known as a sundown city. The Ku Klux Klan openly marched and blacks were not allowed to be seen on the streets after sundown. Apparently, this was approximately 50 years ago. Well, you may say to yourself, 50 years ago there was alot of states that had some serious issues. This is true. However when a report on Vidor was going to aire on CNN in Vidor, CNN was blacked out to the residents of Vidor. It was pretty obvious that there was some in Vidor that did not want the people of Vidor to look in the mirror. When CNN decided to find out why was the issue of racism in America blacked out? It was explained away as technical difficulties. Ladies and gentleman, we must be ever vigilant and never forget the price we paid for this "freedom" that we enjoy today. We have a long way to go, but we cannot afford to give back the gains that we have made.
Talk to you soon,
The Teacher
Now back to the story. CNN visited a city named Vidor Texas to address its racist image. Vidor was one of those cities that that was known as a sundown city. The Ku Klux Klan openly marched and blacks were not allowed to be seen on the streets after sundown. Apparently, this was approximately 50 years ago. Well, you may say to yourself, 50 years ago there was alot of states that had some serious issues. This is true. However when a report on Vidor was going to aire on CNN in Vidor, CNN was blacked out to the residents of Vidor. It was pretty obvious that there was some in Vidor that did not want the people of Vidor to look in the mirror. When CNN decided to find out why was the issue of racism in America blacked out? It was explained away as technical difficulties. Ladies and gentleman, we must be ever vigilant and never forget the price we paid for this "freedom" that we enjoy today. We have a long way to go, but we cannot afford to give back the gains that we have made.
Talk to you soon,
The Teacher
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)