San Antonio College Library

From the Back Cover: The American film noir, the popular genre that focused on urban crime and corruption in the 1940s and 1950s, exhibits the greatest amount of narrative experimentation in the modern American cinema. Spurred by postwar disillusionment, cold war anxieties, and changing social circumstances, these films revealed the dark side of American life and, in doing so, created unique narrative structures in order to speak of that darkness....

"During the years between 1939 and 1953 the United States armed forces moved from a policy of restricting and segregating the Negro soldier, based largely on racial stereotypes that emerged from World War I, to a policy of equal opportunity and integration. Most writers point to 1954 or later as the origin of the Negro Revolution; however, this history of what was in the past an important issue for black Americans sheds light on the 'forgotten years'...

"African Americans in the Military profiles many of those who have served in the U.S. armed forces. Some African Americans covered include: Crispus Attucks: First Patriot to die in the American struggle for independence; Mary Elizabeth Bowser: Former slave who spied in the home of Jefferson Davis during the Civil War; Vincent K. Brooks: Chief spokesperson for the U.S. military during the 2003 Iraq War; Eugene Jacques Bullard: The only black pilot...

A fascinating chronicle of the endeavors of African Americans who fought for their country: this book recounts their stories, their bravery, and their contributions.

"An accomplished painter as well as a singularly gifted poet, Clarence Major has said that he writes what he cannot paint. With a painter's eye and an ear for the nuances of daily speech, his new poems explore subtle exchanges, juxtaposing one shifting perspective with another. Major's poems look deeply into the very process of making art, into the imagination and the heart of its creation, and in Waiting for Sweet Betty they reveal a celebrated poet...

"Here is an account of a past rich in beauty and creativity, but also in tragedy and trauma. Historian Nell Irvin Painter blends a vivid narrative based on the latest research with a wonderful array of artwork by African-American artists, works which add a new depth to our understanding of black history." "Painter offers a history written for a new generation of African Americans, stretching from life in Africa before slavery to today's hip-hop culture....

Paul Robeson: A Life of Activism and Art is the biography of an African American icon and a demonstration of historian Lindsey R. Swindall's knack for thorough, detailed research and reflection. Paul Robeson was, at points in his life, an actor, singer, football player, political activist and writer, one of the most diversely talented members of the Harlem Renaissance. Swindall centers Robeson's story around the argument that while Robeson leaned...

The Oxford Companion to African American Literature provides the first comprehensive one-volume reference work devoted to this rich tradition, surveying the length and breadth of black literary history, focusing in particular on the lives and careers of more than 400 writers. Here, too, are general articles on the traditional literary genres, such as poetry, fiction, and drama; on genres of special import in African American letters, such as autobiography,...