Nina Mjagkij has assembled an excellent collection of wide-ranging, engagingly written essays that illuminate the lives of both well-known and obscure African Americans across the long decaades since slavery's end. Portraits of African American Life since 1865 is a treasure trove of fresh insights and exciting biographical details about provocative African Americans who command our attention.
Darlene Clark Hine, ... Read moreauthor of Black Victory: The Rise and Fall of the White Primary in Texas Portraits of African American Life since 1865 offers what many essay collections do not—a shared approach by its fourteen contributors to captivatingly provide little-known histories of African American women and men from the end of slavery to the present. Perhaps most impressive is the volume's readability: each chapter begins with a concise abstract of the contributor's essay and then goes on to present straightforward historical accounts of the lives of often overshadowed and unsung heroes of racial uplift. Indeed, the useful ways in which each contributor ties the individual life stories of the book to well-known historical events and figures makes the collection a rare resource for expanding one's knowledge of African American history and culture.
Journal Of African American Studies
Professor Mjagkij and her colleagues have produced a set of sharp interpretations and much more. Each of these essays provides a wealth of information for scholars at every stage of development. The general reader will find intellectual stimulation; the bright undergraduate will get a crash course historical methods; the dissertation student will be brought rapidly up to speed; the senior scholar will find a convenient refresher in matters adjacent to his or her own specialty. Everyone will find something original and useful in these exciting articles—I certainly did.
Wilson J. Moses, professor of history, The Pennsylvania State University This remarkable collection of essays shows that the struggles of African Americans were not only led by prominent national leaders but also by courageous men and women who worked in their shadows. Using the biography as a lens through which to view and interpret black life and culture, Nina Mjagkij and her collaborators extend the boundaries of African American history.
Dr. Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., University of Buffalo Show Less