5 comments about The Best that I Can Be: An Autobiography.

1. Rafer Johnson, to me, exemplifies the perfect American athlete. Besides winning the 1960 Rome Olympics Decathlon in record points, he also won gols at the 1955 Pan American Games and took silver medal at Melbourne, AUS Olympic Decathlon! Rafer was known for promoting special olympics, and won numerous awards for sportsmanship over the years! Mr Johnson was one of those few in every million or so that truly set and still sets the standard of what being a true American, athlete and humanitarian is all about!!!!!!!!!! Rafer excelled in high school in football, averaging 17 yards a carry, batted .400 in baseball, averaged 17 points a game in basketball and averaged over 9 yards a carry in football while in high school. But Rafer's specialty was track and field. Going to UCLA, Rafer was offered a scholarship to play football but his real love was track and field. His high school coach took him to a decathlon meet near where 2 time decathlon winner Bob Mathias lived in Tulare, CA. Rafer told his coach:"gee coach, I could have beaten most of those guys there"! Rafer took on and beat such greats in the 50's as Russian decathlon whiz Vasily Kuznyetsov and fellow UCLA teammate and later his arch rival in '60 Rome Olympics CK Yang. Mr Johnson was flag bearer for USA Team in '60 games and also lit the torch at '84 Olympics in Los Angeles Games. Mr Johnson also acted and has done much in his lifetime promoting great charatible events and things for America's youth and good sportsmanship!!! Rafer Johnson is about the best example, to me, of an American, a true American and sportsman. A real leader, sportsman and humanitarian now and always!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has always and will continue to always inspire my life and millions of others the world over now and forevermore!



2. I was so glad to learn that you've finally come out with a book, Rafer! I have always been fascinated with your decathalon vs CK YANG, and wish that there could be more films and pictures (book) just on the 1960 Decathalon, alone! I remember old tv ads with you in them years past and your roles in TARZAN movies. I knew from watching you that you would always be my life's role model! The "new" generation we live in today has so much technology and modern tech toys; but something "REAL BIG" is lacking! True greatness and love of (SPORT) for the love of it, from your heart, and not big money! Men were real men then, and athletes were real athletes! I have always dreamed of meeting you in person oneday! You and Ethiopia's ABBEE BIKILA were, are and always be two of my all-time favorite role models and athletes, forever! Sure wish that more could be done and written(pictures and films) of 1960 Olympics, especially the decathalon and marathon! You're truly a "great" man, and a "fine" american athlete of our time and the 20th century! write more books soon!



3. It was nice to learn about what has happened to Rafer Johnson over the years. The Best That I Can Be was a wonderful reminder of a marvelous athlete and competitor from years past plus an added bonus of hearing Rafer's incessant optimism and enthusiam. Gold Medalists come and go but few do so with the class and human decency that Johnson has displayed over a long period of time. If ever one is looking for a role model who demonstrated overcoming adversity with a smile on his face, it was Rafer Johnson. I only wished I had read this sooner.



4. I grew up hearing and reading about Rafer Johnson all of my life. Track was never a sport I paid much attention to before Johnson. He made it bigger than life for me, as Tiger Woods does for golf. A few years ago I was introduced to Rafer and was stunned to find him remarkably shy and guarded, very much unlike the dynamic man I saw as an athlete. I could tell that he was warm, but very, very careful. It wasn't until I read THE BEST THAT I CAN BE that I understood the man, that I understood how much one's background can flavor an entire lifetime. This book not only gave me his remarkable story, it left me with an insight that I carry with me everyday.



5. I was expecting much more from this book

1 comments about On the Jericho Road: A Memoir of Racial Justice, Social Action and Prophetic Ministry.

1. This book was such an encouragement to me to practice justice with pit bull determination the way he did. It is excellent & life changing. Highly Recommend!

2 comments about The Barber of Natchez.

1. A fascinating story of one of the few free black men in Natchez, MS prior to the Civil War. Respected businessman, confidant to white businessmen, land owner, slave owner, the possibilities of the black people is shown here in a unique bit of our South's history.



2. In 1938 the 2,000 page diary of William Johnson of Natchez, Mississippi was discovered along with numerous other personal and legal documents. The widow of Johnson's grandson made possible the publication of the diary in 1951 which led to publication of The Barber of Natchez in 1954.

   This book is relevant to the history of the U.S. because of its detailed, up-close portrait of one city--Natchez, Mississippi--in the antebellum period. Further enhancing the books value is that the barber, William Johnson, was a free Negro. And while Johnson had enough education to create an extensive, if not acute, sixteen-year chronicle, he could not foresee the impending cataclysm of Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow. Johnson's diary, therefore, is important because of its unvarnished, unintellectualized objectivity.

   Johnson was scrupulously honest, but his integrity, while known by many, could not change the color of his skin. Neither would industry or imagination, both of which he possessed. He ultimately would dwell in a sort of nether-world between white society and slavery. And his disdain for the local white trash of Natchez reaffirmed his status as a man with no true place in the world. From birth he was banished.

   In antebellum Mississippi true freedom was contingent upon skin color, although a modicum of freedom would be acccorded to a mulatto who aspired to live as a white man. It was this limited acceptance that Johnson pursued relentlessly throughout his short life. And his murder in 1851 was committed with naked impunity, as if Johnson had never been free at all.

   Organized thematically by chapters covering every facet of Johnson's existence, The Barber of Natchez paints a vivid picture of everyday life in the Old South. While supplemented occaisonally with other primary sources, the book relies first and foremost on the diary of William Johnson, which is recreated with its imperfect grammar, spelling errors, and archiac slang. A daguerreotype of the diariest is reproduced and there are no maps or diagrams of any kind.

1 comments about Confronted by God: The Essential Verna Dozier.

1. Confronted By God: The Essential Verna Dozier by co-editors Cynthia L. Shattuck & Fredrica Harris Thompsett is a carefully selected assembly of the writings of Verna Dozier, a Christian African-American woman dedicated to speaking out for the sake of the poor, dedicating herself to spreading the idea of equality as God's great dream. Confronted By God captures the essence of this proud, passionate, and pious woman, and invokes both compassion and contemplation at length in the reader. "Has anyone called you a fanatic lately? And if they did, was it because you were so set on establishing a morality for someone else, or because you were intent on a private piety, or because you were willing to risk every known security that someone else might have a richer life?"

No comments about Black Pioneers in a White Denomination.

2 comments about Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: A Casebook (Casebooks in Contemporary Fiction).

1. I found the casebook to be most intriguing because it shapes the context of which Maya Angelou writes. The interview and the various essays published give a greater insight into the dynamics of Angelou in her art and her voice as an African American women.



2. This book certainly reveals certain aspects of the small town south; but as descriptive and true as it may be, it is not a quality book. The character does not really evolve toward any end; she changes, but almost randomly. There is no thread connecting from page to page to chapter. The end (or lack thereof) is the worst part. There is not tying of loose ends, no final conclusion, no looking back. The book just cuts off.It utilizes excellent language to tell a poor story, and in the end, while Maya might know, the reader has no idea why the caged bird sings.

   -s1desh0w

No comments about Dear Holy Apostle: Experiences and Letters of Guidance with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

1 comments about Weren't No Good Times: Personal Accounts of Slavery in Alabama (Real Voices, Real History).

1. Compiled and edited by Horace Randall Williams, Weren't No Good Times is an anthology of 46 of the 125 interviews of former Alabama slaves, conducted from 1936 to 1938, presented with the express purpose of thoroughly documenting and creating a record of life during slavery in the southern state of Alabama. A powerful primary source, presenting individual voices with a loud and clear message of what slavery itself was truly like, Weren't No Good Times has the absolute highest recommendation and is a must for school and community libraries and American History and Black History reference collections and reading lists.

2 comments about After Jackie: Pride, Prejudice, and Baseball's Forgotten Heroes: An Oral History.

1. Being a fan of baseball & Black history, I loved it. It has interviews with living Negro League players, their widows & or children, other celeb
   rities who lived through that era and white ballplayers as well.
   It is full of insight from a lot of different viewpoints.



2. This nation's leaders in fields such as politics, sports and history do a great job with race. You see, they mostly race away from the real questions and answers surrounding slavery, prejudice and the lies from the past that are taught as fact today. Race fast enough and the truth may just get left far behind.
   
   That is what makes After Jackie: Pride, Prejudice, and Baseball's Forgotten Heroes - An Oral History, as important a book as you can read this year, or ever. It gives you a foundation to discuss with your children true American history from the voices of true heroes.
   
   Each person chronicled by author Cal Fussman - either in recent interviews or through past public statements - lived through the racial hatred that did not cease after Jackie Robinson donned the uniform of the Brooklyn Dodgers. That is because of the race away from the hard questions and tough answers.
   
   "The more I spoke with the men who came after Jackie, the more certain I became of one thing: The only way to unlearn is to learn," writes Fussman. "The surest way for us to move forward is to know where the old have been."
   
   And to put one issue in perspective - Major League Baseball's "Glory Road" - it really isn't "ancient" history. The first all-minority starting lineup - blacks and Latin players - was filled out by manager Danny Murtaugh on September 1, 1971, when his Pittsburgh Pirates played the Philadelphia Phillies. For the record, the Pirates won the World Series that season.
   
   Former Dodgers star, Lou Johnson - whose life is equally uplifting and chilling due to the prejudice of society - captures the powerful message of the book through a story of sharing:
   
   "The other day I was at my mother-in-law's funeral and there was a kid who was wearing a jersey with No. 42 on it. He had no idea what the 42 meant. In the heart of the hood, and this kid had no idea.
   
   "I put my arm around this kid and I showed him my world championship ring. I said, 'It was No. 42 who got me this ring.'
   
   "And then I told him about No. 42."
   
   It is not enough to simply remember the past. Without a true comprehension of history, a society is doomed to repeat the same mistakes - in various degrees - over and over again.
   
   And that will unfortunately make No. 42 just another number.
   

1 comments about Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde.

1. Alexis DeVeaux presents a comprehensive account of self-described feminist, lesbian, and poet warrior, Audre Lorde. The author pulls together a myriad of published documents, unpublished journal entries by Audre Lorde herself, and a host of interviews with personal friends and family members to create a well documented look at the poet's life. The book is divided into two major sections called "lives." The first life begins prior to Audre's birth, and highlights some aspects of her parent's early life, their eventual marriage and move from the Caribbean to the United States. This family background helps readers understand Audre's nearly lifelong quest to come to terms with her relationship with her often emotionally detached parents. This portion of the book also details information about Audre's childhood, educational background, and young adult life. We learn about Audre's marriage to a white, gay, man and their eventual divorce and follow her process of "coming out" regarding her own lesbianism. Her long-term relationship with a white woman, Frances Clayton, and the challenges associated with raising a bi-racial son and daughter in a lesbian household during an era of rampant, overt racism and sexism was also discussed. DeVeaux also takes time to highlight some of Audre Lorde's flaws, thus providing a somewhat more balanced view of the author. Her professional career as a poet develops slowly, and the evolution of her writing career parallels the evolution of her political views and personal growth.
   
   The second section of the book, "The Second Life," continues to explore her career development, chronicles her battles with cancer in more detail, and ends with her death. Audre Lorde supported freedom and equality for all, regardless of race, gender, class, or sexual orientation. However, because of her strong views and personal lifestyle, she often found herself on the fringes. Many white feminists were uncomfortable with her views on race, while those involved in the black power movement tended to be uncomfortable with her feminist ideology and her lesbianism. Yet she used her own struggles, particularly her battle with cancer, as a means to educate, motivate, and inspire.
   
   I enjoyed WARRIOR POET and was impressed by Alexis DeVeaux's attention to detail and the time she spent helping readers understand the social and political climate of the times. There were times when I felt she went a little too far "setting the stage" and wanted to read more about Audre and less about other poets, or politics. Audre seemed to use her identity to take on very public battles for women's rights, gay rights, and so forth. But I found myself wanting to know more about how her children handled their mother's public persona. I also wondered how her very conservative, Catholic mother and her other siblings responded to Audre's lifestyle, and this issue was surprisingly never addressed. In spite of its sometimes academic feel, this is a must read for anyone that wants to learn more about an important literary figure.
   
   Reviewed by Stacey Seay
   of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers