I Think Literacy Is Everything.

Kansas City Lightning Succeeds As Few Biographies Of Jazz Musicians Have. . . This Book Is A Magnificent Achievement; I Could Hardly Put It Down.

Like The Amazing Story Of Anthony Johnson. This Man Was A Slave, Then Became Free, Accumulated 250 Acres, And Even Had His Own Slave, A Black Man Who Took Him To Court In Virginia In 1654.that Man Argued That He Should Be Freed Like An Indentured Servant. But Johnson, Who We Believe Was A Pure African From Angola, Said, "no Way, You're My Slave." And The Court Agreed.

I Rebel At The Notion That I Can't Be Part Of Other Groups, That I Can't Construct Identities Through Elective Affinity, That Race Must Be The Most Important Thing About Me. Is That What I Want On My Gravestone: Here Lies An African American?

The Second Thing That Happened Is, Dna Analysis Is Much More Sophisticated. All You Have To Do Now Is Spit In A Test Tube And You Find Out All Kind Of Things In Six Weeks - Where They Are From In Africa Or Europe. You Can Prove Or Disprove The Fundamental African-american Myth That You Descended From A Cherokee Great, Great Grandmother.

Learning To Sing One's Own Songs, To Trust The Particular Cadences Of Own's Voices, Is Also The Goal Of Any Writer.