Customer Reviews

African American Lives: The Struggle for Freedom, Volume II

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I was assigned this book for my African American history course (1865-1954). The text covers the Civil Rights Movement, too, though we did not cover that in this course. I thought I knew a lot about African American history, but this book proved me wrong. For example, I never knew that 20% of American soldiers in the First World War were African American. That's one out of five! I also learned about Ida B. Wells Barnett, a courageous woman who wrote extensively about lynching during the post-Reconstruction period, when practically nobody cared. Wells Barnett is the reason we know so many names and details about the thousands of lynchings that occurred in the later 19th Century. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I also appreciate the lists of Further Reading, included at the end of every chapter. I am excited to have this book on my book shelf.