The Strength of Our Mothers: African & African American Women & Families : Essays and Speeches [Paperback]

Niara Sudarkasa (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0865434972 | ISBN-13: 978-0865434974 | Publication Date: March 1997

African and African American Women and Families: Essays and Speeches

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This ambitious anthology marshalls mountains of anthropological and sociological data to elucidate the essence of the Black family both in the Americas and in the African motherland. The author interprets the difference between African-American and Euro-American family patterns not as deviations from some pristine, universal, ideal family structure, but rather as a function of the ongoing survival strategy of a vibrant tradition that has weathered centuries of social upheaval. Only the enduring African communal principles of "respect, restraint, responsibility, reciprocity, reverence, reason, and reconciliation" could have ensured the survival of the far-flung "African-American Community" as it was uprooted from one continent, transplanted in another, and woven inextricably into the fabric of the same trans-Atlantic empire that sought to drain it dry. Anyone seeking to shore up - or to 'reinvent" - the institution of the family in our inherently and increasingly diverse world will do well to read this book before making any sweeping generalizations about "family values."

About the Author

Niara Sudarkasa is the first woman president of Lincoln University, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the oldest Black university in the United States of America.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Africa World Pr (March 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865434972
• ISBN-13: 978-0865434974
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,201,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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