Sankofa Literary Society Bookclub

8 Ways to Motivate Yourself in ‘08

nobody@vox.com(CEO of EDC Creations) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 07:27:08 -0800

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8 Ways to Motivate Yourself in ‘08 by: Lyle Johnson 2007-12-02 16:38 But as time moves on, instead of your weight and inches dropping your gym attendance drops. The year 2008 is just a few days away. Fitness gyms across the country will be filled with people who want to make a drastic change -...

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8 Ways to Motivate Yourself in ‘08

nobody@vox.com(CEO of EDC Creations) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 07:26:31 -0800

8 Ways to Motivate Yourself in ‘08
by: Lyle Johnson
2007-12-02 16:38
But as time moves on, instead of your weight and inches dropping your gym attendance drops.

The year 2008 is just a few days away. Fitness gyms across the country will be filled with people who want to make a drastic change - lose weight, tone muscle, burn fat and increase their energy.

For the first two weeks of the New Year, gyms are packed with hundreds of people working out and getting in shape. But as time moves on, instead of your weight and inches dropping your gym attendance drops.

Staying with a fitness program is the hard part, stopping a fitness program is the easy part. Here are eight ways to keep you motivated throughout the year to “lose that stubborn weight in ’08.”

Write Down Your Goals. - The purpose of writing down your goals on paper or on the computer has a dramatic influence on whether you achieve your goal. When you write down your goals, a part of your brain gets activated and you start becoming accountable for your goal. A great software tool to use for goal setting is www.mygoals.com
Find a Workout Partner – A recent study from efitnesstracker.com states working out with others will get you about 43% faster results!!!
Make a Workout Journal. - Keep a journal of how you feel after exercise. Especially the great workouts. On the days you just don't feel like exercising, look back on the good workout days for some inspiration.
Download Some High, Energy Workout Songs on Your I pod. - Your favorite choice of music can help you train better. One of my favorite is an old school artist who happens to be one of my clients, A’ngela Winbush.
Reward Yourself. - Whenever you reach a milestone, have something in mind, like a new wardrobe or a trip to the spa.
Train for a 5K Race. – This is a great way to increase your endurance and at the same time boost your confidence because of the great accomplishment.
Write Out a “Things To Do” List Everyday. – A Things to Do List keeps you on track, especially with your busy work schedule and other family duties. Plus, it will also give you a sense of accomplishment.
Ask “What If?” – You own it to yourself to get in shape. Are you ready to suffer the consequences of poor health?

You may be skeptical and a bit on the conservative side about my motivational tips, but think about this - if you keep doing the same things over and over again - you'll only succeed in getting the same results.

Look at it this way – sticking with your exercise program is really a painless drop in the bucket compared to the money you could spend on doctor visits this year. That's why you really can’t afford not to invest in the most important investment of all – YOU. Happy Holidays!!!!

Lyle Johnson is a Certified Personal Trainer and the owner of MVP Fitness, located in St. Louis. Visit www.mvpfitness.net to download a copy of the MVP Boot Camp 4 Minute Ab Workout.

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Book Review: A Love So Deep by Suzetta Perkins

nobody@vox.com(CEO of EDC Creations) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:18:53 -0800

Book Review: A Love So Deep by Suzetta Perkins

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A Love So Deep by Suzetta Perkins Genre: Inspirational Romance Rating: 8 (EchelonBooks); 4 (Amazon) Review by Tavares S. Carney “Family, Friends and The Ex-Factor” Meet Graham Peters, recently widowed husband of Amanda, to whom he was happily married for 40 years – also father to two adult...

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Book Review: A Love So Deep by Suzetta Perkins

nobody@vox.com(CEO of EDC Creations) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:18:27 -0800

A Love So Deep by Suzetta Perkins

Genre: Inspirational Romance

Rating: 8 (EchelonBooks); 4 (Amazon)

Review by Tavares S. Carney

“Family, Friends and The Ex-Factor”

Meet Graham Peters, recently widowed husband of Amanda, to whom he was happily married for 40 years – also father to two adult daughters, Liz and Deborah, all of whom are coping with the sudden loss of an adoring wife and mother. Two months have passed since Amanda’s death and Graham finds himself still in the doldrums, unable to function at all. After narrowly escaping a suicide attempt, Graham finds himself cooped up in the house he shared with his now deceased wife, only to be constantly reminded of the love he feels he’s lost with all of her memory still in place – from family pictures, to the home’s décor and even Amanda’s apron still hanging up in the kitchen. Wallowing in sorrow and self-pity, Graham does not bathe, barely eats and never leaves the house for a time. Then enters his best friend, Charlie Ford, to help Graham pick up the pieces to what’s left of his life. An invitation to a local jazz club, The Water Hole, proves to be just that, Graham’s ticket out of his misery. Not the normal choice of environment to the man known as Deacon Peters at the big church on Market Street, The Water Hole eventually became Graham’s passageway to finding his new love – sultry, jazz singer, Ms. Rita Long.

Unbeknownst to Graham, his best friend, Charlie, has secretly admired Rita for quite some time but never had the galls to let it be known. This is where the plot thickens. Graham and Rita, after a short time, discover that there is such a thing as “love the second time around” - Graham, learning to live again after his wife’s death and Rita, letting her guard down after suffering a tumultuous relationship with ex-husband and NBA player, William Long.

When everyone gets wind of the rapidly-maturing relationship between the two, all hell breaks loose. Sister Mary Ross from the big church on Market Street practically throws herself at Graham, to no avail. His daughter, Deborah, refuses to give Rita even the slightest chance and his best friend, Charlie, has become outright jealous of his and Rita’s relationship. Rita’s ex-husband, the washed up NBA player, William Long, also has a few schemes up his sleeve. It seems as if everyone and anything that came against these two, did. Through strained relationships and other misfortunes, Graham and Rita learn that true love will sustain all things and prove the things which are really meant to be.

Suzetta Perkins does a great job with her descriptiveness and imagery. I’ve never been to Oakland but I felt like I was there while reading this book. I also felt the emotions of the characters all throughout. The storyline was very intriguing and some deep, dark secrets are revealed at the end. These revelations shed light on some of the things that transpire throughout the story and perhaps will give the reader a better understanding as to why some things were, including the main character, Mr. Graham Peters, himself. This novel deals with issues of death, parenthood, friendship and trust.

Network with the author, Suzetta Perkins, here:

Suzetta Perkins

Tavares – Inspire, Motivate, Encourage

Echelon PR - Networking to make the net work!

Email: EchelonBooks@Yahoo.com

Email2: EchelonPR@sbcglobal.net

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Why I Do What I Do...

nobody@vox.com(CEO of EDC Creations) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:08:56 -0800

Why I Do What I Do...

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One Word Can Change Everything! I want to share a simple but important key in goal setting. For many years, successful people have been writing down their goals and affirmations. Then, they discipline themselves to read those goals or affirmations every day. This is one proven method of getting...

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Why I Do What I Do...

nobody@vox.com(CEO of EDC Creations) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:08:35 -0800

One Word Can Change Everything!

Edclogomed

I want to share a simple but important key in goal setting.

For many years, successful people have been writing down their goals and affirmations. Then, they discipline themselves to read those goals or affirmations every day. This is one proven method of getting information into your belief system.

Once something is in your belief system, it will become evident in your life. It's not magic; it's just the way the mind works. We will always evidence in our lives what we hold in our belief system.

Some call it "belief system," while others refer to it as "core beliefs." The Bible refers to it as the "heart." In fact, one verse states, "As he thinks in his heart, so is he."

Regardless of how you choose to label it, this is the way the mind works. As a result, people have been writing down
their goals for many years, in order to get information into their heart.

They write things like, "I am going to be successful," or, "I will loose 30 pounds this summer." They say, "I am going
to do this," or "I'm going to be that."

When you write down your goals or affirmations, a great key is to use the word, "because." The word "because" is a very important element in things that we believe. Those last two statements probably didn't have much of an impact on
you, and I agree. After reading them, you may have even thought, "Why?" And that's a good point.

Without a reason, the mind disputes the affirmation.

The word, "because" is a very important element in things that we hear. If I add the word, "because," my statement
now has a logical reason to be believed.

Studies show that when someone goes to a location with a long line and then asks someone in line if they can get in
front of them that about 50% of the time the person asked would agree, and say, "Okay."

However, if, when asking to cut in line they add the word, "because," the acceptance jumps from 50% to 90%! "Can I
get in front of you because I am really in a big hurry?" Or, "Can I get in front of you because I am already ten minutes late?" The studies found that even if it was a lousy reason that followed the word "because," 90% of the people would still let the person asking go ahead of them.

Our minds are trained and conditioned so that when we hear a statement followed by the word, "because," we assume that a very logical explanation will follow; we know a justifiable reason for the statement must exist. That's
how our minds react to the word, "because." We will much more readily accept a statement that's followed by the
word, "because."

You can try it out right now! I'm going to give you a statement, first without the word, "because," and then, a
statement with the word, "because." You decide which one has more impact. First, here's a statement without using
the word, "because." Using positive affirmations will change your life. That statement had very little impact to
your brain. But, now, pay attention to the impact when I use the word, "because."

Using positive affirmations will change your life because you will alter your core beliefs and thus change your
outlook, interpretation and reactions to life.

Do you see the difference?

Using that little word, "because," makes your goals or affirmations real and believable. Our minds perceive it as
a very good reason to believe the statement. Writing down your goals or affirmations is a very good method
because it helps to get that information into your mind and eventually into your heart, your belief system. Adding the
word, "because" allows your mind to accept that information more readily, because your mind perceives it as justifiable.

Once that information is in your heart, it will become evident in your life, because, "as he thinks in his heart
so is he."

About the Author:

Michael A. Verdicchio has inspirational and motivational Pep Talks; on audio CD, at http://www.MikesPep Talks.com .
Michael has a free newsletter called, THE PEP LETTER, at http://www.christianinspirationalgifts.com/pepletter.html
Michael is a husband, father, minister, author, and broadcaster. He has been the voice on numerous productions over the years.

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One Word Can Change Everything!
Tue Dec 18, 2007 5:36 am (PST)
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Word Count: 668
Author: Michael A. Verdicchio
Email: heiscomingback@ qwest.net
Category: Self-improvement/ motivation

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The Power of Prayer

nobody@vox.com(CEO of EDC Creations) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 04:12:07 -0800

The Power of Prayer

EG_TriumphofMySoul_comp

What is Prayer and why do we pray? Prayer is focused energy. Developing a healthy prayer life is part of the dedication that is required for the journey on the spiritual path. Prayer can take many forms-formal, informal, casual, elegant, spoken, silent. All are acceptable, and all are heard. There is no right way to pray. However, some prayers can be extremely powerful. If it comes from the heart, and you understand the laws of energy, prayer can be truly miraculous.

Prayer is a powerful energy. It not only connects you to the Force greater than self, but it stimulates the power of creative energy within you and puts into action your ability to create. You literally merge energies with Creator.

You step beyond limitations and into the realm of possibilities. It is a powerful means of adding energy to one's desires. Thought forms emerge and energy multiplies. The more faith and trust you have, the faster thought manifests into physical reality.

Prayer literally takes you out of your body and the linear mind controlling it, into the nonlinear space of Spirit. It allows you to open up and to expect that things can be created that do not yet exist, even things beyond your current grasp of understanding.

Your soul knows this.

Prayer serves as a passageway out of the concrete mind and into the realm of possibilities. The act of prayer is an expression of your confidence in a larger divine order and in the significance of your own existence. It expresses a faith in life and life's experiences. As you walk the spiritual path, you develop a respect for a Force greater than self. You learn to love life in all of its forms and to treat life with respect and reverence.

Prayer becomes an overt way to express this growing awareness to yourself and to the universe. The longing of the soul for connection is answered in prayer. It is the foundation for spiritual connection. If you desire connection, prayer must be built into your life in a way that will withstand the daily pressures and interruptions of life.

The quantity of time is not important; the priority is.

How to Maximize Your Experience of Prayer

1. Commit yourself to a daily communication with Spirit through prayer. Your relationship will be enhanced immeasurably.

2. Set realistic goals for yourself. Do not try to set up a monk-like routine if you have not previously incorporated prayer into your life. It takes twenty-one days to create a new habit. If you can pray ten minutes a day for twenty-one days, you can establish the habit of prayer.

3. Find a quiet time for prayer. Once you have established the time, stick to it.

4. Give thanks for all things, even for those things that have not yet been manifested. You will discover that prayers are often answered before they are even asked.

5. Remember that prayer is energy and follows universal laws.

About the Author:
Jan Engels-Smith promotes self-healing, empowerment, better communities, a healthy world and conducts workshops in shamanism & journeying. Her book, Becoming Yourself is at http://www.LightSon g.net . Jan's a Licensed Counselor.She's done over 2,000 soul retrievals. She is the founder of LightSong School of Shamanic Studies, a Chemical Dependency Specialist, and Marriage Therapist. She is a water-pourer for sweat lodge, a minister, a Reiki Master.

-------

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You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated - send to clarityofvision1@ comcast.net.

Title: The Power of Prayer
Word Count: 498
Author: Jan Engels Smith
Email: clarityofvision1@ comcast.net
Category: Self-improvement/ motivation

Ella D. Curry, President/CEO of EDC Creations

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Are you one of The Talented Tenth?

nobody@vox.com(CEO of EDC Creations) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:03:11 -0800

The Talented Tenth

W.E.B. DuBois
September 1903

Are you one of The Talented Tenth?

The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education, then, among Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth; it is the problem of developing the Best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races. Now the training of men is a difficult and intricate task. Its technique is a matter for educational experts, but its object is for the vision of seers. If we make money the object of man-training, we shall develop money-makers but not necessarily men; if we make technical skill the object of education, we may possess artisans but not, in nature, men.

Men we shall have only as we make manhood the object of the work of the schools — intelligence, broad sympathy, knowledge of the world that was and is, and of the relation of men to it — this is the curriculum of that Higher Education which must underlie true life. On this foundation we may build bread winning, skill of hand and quickness of brain, with never a fear lest the child and man mistake the means of living for the object of life.

If this be true — and who can deny it — three tasks lay before me; first to show from the past that the Talented Tenth as they have risen among American Negroes have been worthy of leadership; secondly to show how these men may be educated and developed; and thirdly to show their relation to the Negro problem.

You misjudge us because you do not know us. From the very first it has been the educated and intelligent of the Negro people that have led and elevated the mass, and the sole obstacles that nullified and retarded their efforts were slavery and race prejudice; for what is slavery but the legalized survival of the unfit and the nullification of the work of natural internal leadership? Negro leadership therefore sought from the first to rid the race of this awful incubus that it might make way for natural selectionand the survival of the fittest.

In colonial days came Phillis Wheatley and Paul Cuffe striving against the bars of prejudice; and Benjamin Banneker, the almanac maker, voiced their longings when he said to ThomasJefferson, "I freely and cheerfully acknowledge that I am of the African race and in colour which is natural to them, of the deepest dye; and it is under a sense of the most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, that I now confess to you that I am not under that state of tyrannical thraldom and inhuman captivity to which too many of my brethren are doomed, but that I have abundantly tasted of the fruition of those blessings which proceed from that free and unequalled liberty with which you are favored, and which I hope you will willingly allow, you have mercifully received from the immediate hand of that Being from whom proceedeth every good and perfect gift.

"Suffer me to recall to your mind that time, in which the arms of the British crown were exerted with every powerful effort, in order to reduce you to a state of servitude; look back, I entreat you, on the variety of dangers to which you were exposed; reflect on that period in which every human aid appeared unavailable, and in which even hope and fortitude wore the aspect of inability to the conflict, and you cannot but be led to a serious and grateful sense of your miraculous and providential preservation, you cannot but acknowledge, that the present freedom and tranquility which you enjoy, you have mercifully received, and that a peculiar blessing of heaven.

"This, sir, was a time when you clearly saw into the injustice of a state of Slavery, and in which you had just apprehensions of the horrors of its condition. It was then that your abhorrence thereof was so excited, that you publicly held forth this true and invaluable doctrine, which is worthy to be recorded and remembered in all succeeding ages: 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'"

Then came Dr. James Derham, who could tell even the learned Dr. Rush something of medicine, and Lemuel Haynes, to whom Middlebury College gave an honorary A. M. in 1804. These and others we may call the Revolutionary group of distinguished Negroes - they were persons of marked ability, leaders of a Talented Tenth, standing conspicuously among the best of their time. They strove by word and deed to save the color line from becoming the line between the bond and free, but all they could do was nullified by Eli Whitney and the Curse of Gold. So they passed into forgetfulness.

But their spirit did not wholly die; here and there in the early part of the century came other exceptional men. Some were natural sons of unnatural fathers and were given often a liberal training and thus a race of educated mulattoes sprang up to plead for black men's rights.There was Ira Aldridge, whom all Europe loved to honor; there was that Voice crying in the Wilderness, David Walker, and saying:

"I declare it does appear to me as though some nations think God is asleep, or that he made the Africans for nothing else but to dig their mines and work their farms, or they cannot believe history sacred or profane. I ask every man who has a heart, and is blessed with the privilege of believing — Is not God a God of justice to all his creatures? Do you say he is? Then if he gives peace and tranquility to tyrants and permits them to keep our fathers, our mothers, ourselves and our children in eternal ignorance and wretchedness to support them and their families, would he be to us a God of Justice?

I ask, O, ye Christians, who hold us and our children in the most abject ignorance and degradation that ever a people were afflicted with since the world began — I say if God gives you peace and tranquility, and suffers you thus to go on afflicting us, and our children, who have never given you the least provocation - would He be to us a God of Justice? If you will allow that we are men, who feel for each other, does not the blood of our fathers and of us, their children, cry aloud to theLord of Sabaoth against you for the cruelties and murders with which you have and do continue to afflict us?"

This was the wild voice that first aroused Southern legislators in 1829 to the terrors of abolitionism.

In 1831 there met that first Negro convention in Philadelphia, at which the world gaped curiously but which bravely attacked the problems of race and slavery, crying out against persecution and declaring that "Laws as cruel in themselves as they were unconstitutional and unjust, have in many places been enacted against our poor, unfriended and unoffending brethren (without a shadow of provocation on our part), at whose bare recital the very savage draws himself up for fear of contagion — looks noble and prides himself because he bears not tile name of Christian."

Side by side this free Negro movement, and the movement for abolition, strove until they merged in to one strong stream. Too little notice has been taken of the work which the Talented Tenth among Negroes took in the great abolition crusade. From the very day that a Philadelphia colored man became tile first subscriber to Garrison's "Liberator," to the day when Negro soldiers made the Emancipation Proclamation possible, black leaders worked shoulder to shoulder with white men in a movement, the success of which would have been impossible without them.

There was Purvis and Remond, Pennington and Highland Garnett, Sojourner Truth and Alexander Crummel, and above, Frederick Douglass — what would the abolition movement have been without them? They stood as living examples of the possibilities of the Negro race, their own hard experiences and well wrought culture said silently more than all the drawn periods of orators — they were the men who made American slavery impossible.

As Maria Weston Chapman said, from the school of anti-slavery agitation, "a throng of authors, editors, lawyers, orators and accomplished gentlemen of color have taken their degree! It has equally implanted hopes and aspirations, noble thoughts, and sublime purposes, in the hearts of both races. It has prepared the white man for the freedom of the black man, and it has made the black man scorn the thought of enslavement, as does a white man, as far as its influence has extended.

Strengthen that noble influence! Before its organization, the country only saw here and there in slavery some faithful Cudjoe or Dinah, whose strong natures blossomed even in bondage, like a fine plant beneath a heavy stone. Now, under the elevating and cherishing influence of the American Anti-slavery Society, the colored race, like the white, furnishes Corinthian capitals for the noblest temples."

Where were these black abolitionists trained? Some, like Frederick Douglass, were self-trained, but yet trained liberally; others, like Alexander Crummell and McCune Smith, graduated from famous foreign universities. Most of them rose up through the colored schools of New York and Philadelphia and Boston, taught by college-bred men like Russworm, of Dartmouth, and college-bred white men like Neau and Benezet.

After emancipation came a new group of educated and giftedleaders: Langston, Bruce and Elliot, Greener, Williams and Payne. Through political organization, historical and polemic writing and moral regeneration, these men strove to uplift their people.

It is the fashion of to-day to sneer at them and to say that with freedom Negro leadership should have begun at the plow and not in the Senate — a foolish and mischievous lie; two hundred and fifty years that black serf toiled at the plow and yet that toiling was in vain till the Senate passed the war amendments; and two hundred and fifty years more the half-free serf of to-day may toil at his plow, but unless he have political rights and righteously guarded civic status, he will still remain the poverty-stricken and ignorant plaything of rascals, that he now is. This all sane men know even if they dare not say it.

And so we come to the present — a day of cowardice and vacillation, of strident wide-voiced wrong and faint hearted compromise; of double-faced dallying with Truth and Right. Who are to-day guiding the work of the Negro people? The "exceptions" of course. And yet so sure as this Talented Tenth is pointed out, the blind worshippers of the Average cry out in alarm: "These are exceptions, look here at death, disease and crime — these are the happy rule." Of course they are the rule, because a silly nation made them the rule: Because for three long centuries this people lynched Negroes who dared to be brave, raped black women who dared to be virtuous, crushed dark-hued youth who dared to be ambitious, and encouraged and made to flourish servility and lewdness and apathy. But nor even this was able to crush all manhood and chastity and aspiration from black folk.

A saving remnant continually survives and persists, continually aspires, continually shows itself in thrift and ability and character. Exceptional it is to be sure, but this is its chiefest promise; it shows the capability of Negro blood, the promise of black men. Do Americans ever stop to reflect that there are in this land a million men of Negro blood, well-educated, owners of homes, against the honor of whose womanhood no breath was ever raised, whose men occupy positions of trust and usefulness, and who, judged by any standard, have reached the full measure of the best type of modern European culture? Is it fair, is it decent, is it Christian to ignore these facts of the Negro problem, to belittle such aspiration, to nullify such leadership and seek to crush these people back into the mass out of which by toil and travail, they and their fathers have raised themselves?

Can the masses of the Negro people be in any possible way more quickly raised than by the effort and example of this aristocracy of talent and character? Was there ever a nation on God's fair earth civilized from the bottom upward? Never; it is, ever was and ever will be from the top downward that culture filters. The Talented Tenth rises and pulls all that are worth the saving up to their vantage ground. This is the history of human progress; and the two historic mistakes which have hindered that progress were the thinking first that no more could ever rise save the few already risen; or second, that it would better the uprisen to pull the risen down.

How then shall the leaders of a struggling people be trained and the hands of the risen few strengthened? There can be but one answer: The best and most capable of their youth must be schooled in the colleges and universities of the land. We will not quarrel as to just what the university of the Negro should teach or how it should teach it — I willingly admit that each soul and each race-soul needs its own peculiar curriculum. But this is true: A university is a human invention for the transmission of knowledge and culture from generation to generation, through the training of quick minds and pure hearts, and for this work no other human invention will suffice, not even trade and industrial schools.

All men cannot go to college but some men must; every isolated group or nation must have its yeast, must have for the talented few centers of training where men are not so mystified and befuddled by the hard and necessary toil of earning a living, as to have no aims higher than their bellies, and no God greater than Gold. This is true training, and thus in the beginning were the favored sons of the freedmen trained. Out of tile colleges of the North came, after the blood of war, Ware, Cravath, Chase, Andrews, Bumstead and Spence to build the foundations of knowledge and civilization in the black South.

Where ought they to have begun to build? At the bottom, of course, quibbles the mole with his eyes in the earth. Aye! truly at the bottom, at the very bottom; at the bottom of knowledge, down in the very depths of knowledge there where the roots of justice strike into the lowest soil of Truth. And so they did begin; they founded colleges, and up from the colleges shot normal schools, and out from the normal schools went teachers, and around the normal teachers clustered other teachers to teach the public schools; the college trained in Greek and Latin and mathematics, 2,000 men; and these men trained full 50,000 others in morals and manners, and they in turn taught thrift and the alphabet to nine millions of men, who to-day hold $300,000,000 of property.

It was a miracle - the most wonderful peace-battle of the 19th century, and yet to-day men smile at it, and in fine superiority tell us that it was all a strange mistake; that a proper way to found a system of education is first to gather the children and buy them spelling books and hoes; afterward men may look about for teachers, if haply they may find them; or again they would teach men Work, but as for Life — why, what has Work to do with Life, they ask vacantly.

Was the work of these college founders successful; did it stand the test of time? Did the college graduates, with all their fine theories of life, really live? Are they useful men helping to civilize and elevate their less fortunate fellows? Let us see. Omitting all institutions which have not actually graduated students from a college course, there are to-day in the United States thirty-four institutions giving something above high school training to Negroes and designed especially for this race.

Three of these were established in border States before the War; thirteen were planted by the Freedmen's Bureau in the years 1864-1869; nine were established between 1870 and 1880 by various church bodies; five were established after 1881 by Negro churches, and four are state institutions supported by United States' agricultural funds. In most cases the college departments are small adjuncts to high and common schoolwork.

As a matter of fact six institutions — Atlanta, Fisk, Howard, Shaw, Wilberforce and Leland, are the important Negro colleges so far as actual work and number of students are concerned. In all these institutions, seven hundred and fifty Negro college students are enrolled. In grade the best of these colleges are about a year behind the smaller New England colleges and a typical curriculum is that of Atlanta University.

Here students from the grammar grades, after a three years' high school course, take a college course of 136 weeks. One-fourth of this time is given to Latin and Greek; one-fifth, to English and modern languages; one-sixth, to history and social science; one-seventh, to natural science; one-eighth to mathematics, and one-eighth to philosophy and pedagogy.

In addition to these students in the South, Negroes have attended Northern colleges for many years. As early as 1826 one was graduated from Bowdoin College, and from that time till to-day nearly every year has seen elsewhere, other such graduates. They have, of course, met much color prejudice. Fifty years ago very few colleges would admit them at all. Even to-day no Negro has ever been admitted to Princeton, and at some other leading institutions they are rather endured than encouraged. Oberlin was the great pioneer in tile work of blotting out the color line in colleges, and has more Negro graduates by far than any other Northern college.

The total number of Negro college graduates up to 1899, (several of the graduates of that year not being reported), was as follows: Negro White Colleges Colleges Before '76 137 75 '75-80 143 22 '80-85 250 31 '85-90 413 43 '90-95 465 66 '95-99 475 88 Class Unknown 57 64 -------------------------------------------- Total 1,914 390

Of these graduates 2,079 were men and 252 were women; 50 percent. of Northern-born college men come South to work among the masses of their people, at a sacrifice which few people realize; nearly 90 per cent. of the Southern-born graduates instead of seeking that personal freedom and broader intellectual atmosphere which their training has led them, in some degree, to conceive, stay and labor and wait in the midst of their black neighbors and relatives.

The most interesting question, and in many respects the crucial question, to be asked concerning college-bred Negroes, is: Do they earn a living? It has been intimated more than once that the higher training of Negroes has resulted in sending into the world of work, men who could find nothing to do suitable to their talents. Now and then there comes a rumor of a colored college man working at menial service, etc. Fortunately, returns as to occupations of college-bred Negroes, gathered by the Atlanta conference, are quite full — nearly sixty per cent. of the total number of graduates.

This enables us to reach fairly certain conclusions as to the occupations of all college-bred Negroes. Of 1,312 persons reported, there were: Teachers, 53.4% Clergymen, 16.8% Physicians, etc., 6.3% Students, 5.6% Lawyers, 4.7% In Govt. Service, 4.0% In Business, 3.6% Farmers and Artisans, 2.7% Editors, Secretaries and Clerks, 2.4% Miscellaneous, .5

Over half are teachers, a sixth are preachers, another sixth are students and professional men; over 6 per cent. are farmers, artisans and merchants, and 4 per cent. are in government service. In detail the occupations are as follows: Occupations of College-Bred Men. 701 Teachers: Presidents and Deans, 19 Teacher of Music, 7 Professors, Principals and Teachers, 675 221 Clergymen: Bishop, 1 Chaplains U. S. Army, 2 Missionaries, 9 Presiding Elders, 12 Preachers, 197 83 Physicians: Doctors of Medicine, 76 Druggists, 4 Dentists, 3 74 Students 62 Lawyers 53 in Civil Service: U. S. Minister Plenipotentiary, 1 U. S. Consul, 1 U. S. Deputy Collector, 1 U. S. Gauger, 1 U. S. Postmasters, 2 U. S. Clerks, 44 State Civil Service, 2 City Civil Service, 1 47 Business Men: Merchants, etc., 30 Managers, 13 Real Estate Dealers, 4 26 Farmers 22 Clerks and Secretaries: Secretary of National Societies, 7 Clerks, etc., 15 9 Artisans 9 Editors 5 Miscellaneous

These figures illustrate vividly the function of the college-bred Negro. He is, as he ought to be, the group leader, the man who sets the ideals of the community where he lives, directs its thoughts and heads its social movements. It need hardly be argued that the Negro people need social leadership more than most groups; that they have no traditions to fall back upon, no long established customs, no strong family ties, no well defined social classes. All these things must be slowly and painfully evolved.

The preacher was, even before the war, the group leader of the Negroes, and the church their greatest social institution. Naturally this preacher was ignorant and often immoral, and the problem of replacing the older type by better educated men has been a difficult one. Both by direct work and by direct influence on other preachers, and on congregations, the college-bred preacher has an opportunity for reformatory work and moral inspiration, the value of which cannot be overestimated.

It has, however, been in the furnishing of teachers that the Negro college has found its peculiar function. Few persons realize how vast a work, how mighty a revolution has been thus accomplished. To furnish five millions and more of ignorant people with teachers of their own race and blood, in one generation, was not only a very difficult undertaking, but very important one, in that, it placed before the eyes of almost every Negro child an attainable ideal.

It brought the masses of the blacks in contact with modern civilization, made black men the leaders of their communities and trainers of the new generation. In this work college-bred Negroes were first teachers, and then teachers of teachers. And here it is that the broad culture of college work has been of peculiar value. Knowledge of life and its wider meaning, has been the point of the Negro's deepest ignorance, and the sending out of teachers whose training has not been simply for bread winning, but also for human culture, has been of inestimable value in the training of these men.

In earlier years the two occupations of preacher and teacher were practically the only ones open to the black college graduate. Of later years a larger diversity of life among his people, has opened new avenues of employment. Nor have these college men been paupers and spendthrifts; 557 college-bred Negroes owned in 1899, $1,342,862.50 worth of real estate (assessed value), or $2,411 per family. The real value of the total accumulations of the whole group is perhaps about $10,000,000, or $5,000 a piece. Pitiful is it not beside the fortunes of oil kings and steel trusts, but after all is the fortune of the millionaire the only stamp of true and successful living? Alas! it is, with many and there's the rub.

The problem of training the Negro is to-day immensely complicated by the fact that the whole question of the efficiency and appropriateness of our present systems of education, for any kind of child, is a matter of active debate, in which final settlement seems still afar off. Consequently it often happens that persons arguing for or against certain systems of education for Negroes, have these controversies in mind and miss the real question at issue. The main question, so far as the Southern Negro is concerned, is: What under the present circumstance, must a system of education do in order to raise the Negro as quickly as possible in the scale of civilization?

The answer to this question seems to me clear: It must strengthen the Negro's character, increase his knowledge and teach him to earn a living. Now it goes without saying that it is hard to do all these things simultaneously or suddenly and that at the same time it will not do to give all the attention to one and neglect the others; we could give black boys trades, but that alone will not civilize a race of ex-slaves; we might simply increase their knowledge of the world, but this would not necessarily make them wish to use this knowledge honestly; we might seek to strengthen character and purpose, but to what end if this people have nothing to eat or to wear? A system of education is not one thing, nor does it have a single definite object, nor is it a mere matter of schools.

Education is that whole system of human training within and without the school house walls, which molds and develops men. If then we start out to train an ignorant and unskilled people with a heritage of bad habits, our system of training must set before itself two great aims — the one dealing with knowledge and character, the other part seeking to give the child the technical knowledge necessary for him to earn a living under the present circumstances. These objects are accomplished in part by the opening of the common schools on the one, and of the industrial schools on the other.

But only in part, for there must also be trained those who are to teach these schools — men and women of knowledge and culture and technical skill who understand modern civilization, and have the training and aptitude to impart it to the children under them. There must be teachers, and teachers of teachers, and to attempt to establish any sort of a system of common and industrial school training, without first (and I say first advisedly) without first providing for the higher training of the very best teachers, is simply throwing your money to the winds. School houses do not teach themselves - piles of brick and mortar and machinery do not send out men.

It is the trained, living human soul, cultivated and strengthened by long study and thought, that breathes the real breath of life into boys and girls and makes them human, whether they be black or white, Greek, Russian or American. Nothing, in these latter days, has so dampened the faith of thinking Negroes in recent educational movements, as the fact that such movements have been accompanied by ridicule and denouncement and decrying of those very institutions of higher training which made the Negro public school possible, and make Negro industrial schools thinkable. It was: Fisk, Atlanta, Howard and Straight, those colleges born of the faith and sacrifice of the abolitionists, that placed in the black schools of the South the 30,000 teachers and more, which some, who depreciate the work of these higher schools, are using to teach their own new experiments.

If Hampton, Tuskegee and the hundred other industrial schools prove in the future to be as successful as they deserve to be, then their success in training black artisans for the South, will be due primarily to the white colleges of the North and the black colleges of the South, which trained the teachers who to-day conduct these institutions. There was a time when the American people believed pretty devoutly that a log of wood with a boyat one end and Mark Hopkins at the other, represented the highest ideal of human training. But in these eager days it would seem that we have changed all that and think it necessary to add a couple of saw-mills and a hammer to this outfit, and, at a pinch, to dispense with the services of Mark Hopkins.

I would not deny, or for a moment seem to deny, the paramount necessity of teaching the Negro to work, and to work steadily and skillfully; or seem to depreciate in the slightest degree the important part industrial schools must play in the accomplishment of these ends, but I do say, and insist upon it, that it is industrialism drunk with its vision of success, to imagine that its own work can be accomplished without providing for the training of broadly cultured men and women to teach its own teachers, and to teach the teachers of the public schools.

But I have already said that human education is not simply a matter of schools; it is much more a matter of family and group life - the training of one's home, of one's daily companions, of one's social class. Now the black boy of the South moves in a black world - a world with its own leaders, its own thoughts, its own ideals. In this world he gets by far the larger part of his life training, and through the eyes of this dark world he peers into the veiled world beyond. Who guides and determines the education which he receives in his world? His teachers here are the group-leaders of the Negro people — the physicians and clergymen, the trained fathers and mothers, the influential and forceful men about him of all kinds; here it is, if at all, that the culture of the surrounding world trickles through and is handed on by the graduates of the higher schools. Can such culture training of group leaders be neglected? Can we afford to ignore it? Do you think that if the leaders of thought among Negroes are not trained and educated thinkers, that they will have no leaders? On the contrary a hundred half-trained demagogues will still hold the places they so largely occupy now, and hundreds of vociferous busy-bodies will multiply. You have no choice; either you must help furnish this race from within its own ranks with thoughtful men of trained leadership, or you must suffer the evil consequences of a headless misguided rabble.

I am an earnest advocate of manual training and trade teaching for black boys, and for white boys, too. I believe that next to the founding of Negro colleges the most valuable addition to Negro education since the war, has been industrial training for black boys. Nevertheless, I insist that the object of all true education is not to make men carpenters, it is to make carpenters men; there are two means of making the carpenter a man, each equally important: the first is to give the group and community in which he works, liberally trained teachers and leaders to teach him and his family what life means; the second is to give him sufficient intelligence and technical skill to make him an efficient workman; the first object demands the Negro college and college-bred men — not a quantity of such colleges, but a few of excellent quality; not too many college-bred men, but enough to leaven the lump, to inspire the masses, to raise the Talented Tenth to leadership; the second object demands a good system of common schools, well-taught, conveniently located and properly equipped.

The Sixth Atlanta Conference truly said in 1901:

"We call the attention of the Nation to the fact that less than one million of the three million Negro children of school age, are at present regularly attending school, and these attend a session which lasts only a few months.

"We are to-day deliberately rearing millions of our citizens in ignorance, and at the same time limiting the rights of citizenship by educational qualifications. This is unjust. Half the black youth of the land have no opportunities open to them for learning to read, write and cipher. In the discussion as to the proper training of Negro children after they leave the public schools, we have forgotten that they are not yet decently provided with public schools.

"Propositions are beginning to be made in the South to reduce the already meagre school facilities of Negroes. We congratulate the South on resisting, as much as it has, this pressure, and on the many millions it has spent on Negro education. But it is only fair to point out that Negro taxes and the Negroes' share of the income from indirect taxes and endowments have fully repaid this expenditure, so that the Negro public school system has not in all probability cost the white taxpayers a single cent since the war.

"This is not fair. Negro schools should be a public burden, since they are a public benefit. The Negro has a right to demand good common school training at the hands of the States and the Nation since by their fault he is not in position to pay for this himself."

What is the chief need for the building up of the Negro public school in the South? The Negro race in the South needs teachers to-day above all else. This is the concurrent testimony of all who know the situation. For the supply of this great demand two things are needed - institutions of higher education and money for school houses and salaries.

It is usually assumed that a hundred or more institutions for Negro training are to-day turning out so many teachers and college-bred men that the race is threatened with an over-supply. This is sheer nonsense. There are to-day less than 3,000 living Negro college graduates in the United States, and less than 1,000 Negroes in college. Moreover, in the 164 schools for Negroes, 95 percent. of their students are doing elementary and secondary work, work which should be done in the public schools. Over half the remaining 2,157 students are taking high school studies. The mass of so-called "normal" schools for the Negro, are simply doing elementary common school work, or, at most, high school work, with a little instruction in methods.

The Negro colleges and the post-graduate courses at other institutions are the only agencies for the broader and more careful training of teachers. The work of these institutions is hampered for lack of funds. It is getting increasingly difficult to get funds for training teachers in the best modern methods, and yet all over the South, from State Superintendents, county officials, city boards and school principals comes the wail, "We need TEACHERS!" and teachers must be trained.

As the fairest minded of all white Southerners, Atticus G. Haygood, once said: "The defects of colored teachers are so great as to create an urgent necessity for training better ones. Their excellencies and their successes are sufficient to justify the best hopes of success in the effort, and to vindicate the judgment of those who make large investments of money and service, to give to colored students opportunity for thoroughly preparing themselves for the work of teaching children of their people."

The truth of this has been strikingly shown in the marked improvement of white teachers in the South. Twenty years ago the rank and file of white public school teachers were not as good as the Negro teachers. But they, by scholarships and good salaries, have been encouraged to thorough normal and collegiate preparation, while the Negro teachers have been discouraged by starvation wages and the idea that any training will do for a black teacher. If carpenters are needed it is well and good to train men as carpenters. But to train men as carpenters, and then set them to teaching is wasteful and criminal; and to train men as teachers and then refuse them living wages, unless they become carpenters, is rank nonsense.

The United States Commissioner of Education says in his report for 1900: "For comparison between the white and colored enrollment in secondary and higher education, I have added together the enrollment in high schools and secondary schools, with the attendance on colleges and universities, not being sure of the actual grade of work done in the colleges and universities. The work done in the secondary schools is reported in such detail in this office, that there can be no doubt of its grade."

He then makes the following comparisons of persons in every million enrolled in secondary and higher education: Whole Country. Negroes. 1880 4,362 1,289 1900 10,743 2,061

And he concludes: "While the number in colored high schools and colleges had increased somewhat faster than the population, it had not kept pace with the average of the whole country, for it had fallen from 30 per cent. to 24 per cent. of the average quota. Of all colored pupils, one (1) in one hundred was engaged in secondary and higher work, and that ratio has continued substantially for the past twenty years. If the ratio of colored population in secondary and higher education is to be equal to the average for the whole country, it must be increased to five times its present average." And if this be true of the secondary and higher education, it is safe to say that the Negro has not one-tenth his quota in college studies. How baseless, therefore, is the charge of too much training! We need Negro teachers for the Negro common schools, and we need first-class normal schools and colleges to train them. This is the work of higher Negro education and it must be done.

Further than this, after being provided with group leaders of civilization, and a foundation of intelligence in the public schools, the carpenter, in order to be a man, needs technical skill. This calls for trade schools. Now trade schools are not nearly such simple things as people once thought. The original idea was that the "Industrial" school was to furnish education, practically free, to those willing to work for it; it was to "do" things — i.e.: become a center of productive industry, it was to be partially, if not wholly, self-supporting, and it was to teach trades. Admirable as were some of the ideas underlying this scheme, the whole thing simply would not work in practice; it was found that if you were to use time and material to teach trades thoroughly, you could not at the same time keep the industries on a commercial basis and make them pay. Many schools started out to do this on a large scale and went into virtual bankruptcy. Moreover, it was found also that it was possible to teach a boy a trade mechanically, without giving him the full educative benefit of the process, and, vice versa, that there was a distinctive educative value in teaching a boy to use his hands and eyes in carrying out certain physical processes, even though he did not actually learn a trade. It has happened, therefore, in the last decade, that a noticeable change has come over the industrial schools. In the first place the idea of commercially remunerative industry in a school is being pushed rapidly to the background. There are still schools with shops and farms that bring an income, and schools that use student labor partially for the erection of their buildings and the furnishing of equipment. It is coming to be seen, however, in the education of the Negro, as clearly as it has been seen in the education of the youths the world over, that it is the boy and not the material product, that is the true object of education. Consequently the object of the industrial school came to be the thorough training of boys regardless of the cost of the training, so long as it was thoroughly well done.

Even at this point, however, the difficulties were not surmounted. In the first place modern industry has taken great strides since the war, and the teaching of trades is no longer a simple matter. Machinery and long processes of work have greatly changed the work of the carpenter, the ironworker and the shoemaker. A really efficient workman must be to-day an intelligent man who has had good technical training in addition to thorough common school, and perhaps even higher training. To meet this situation the industrial schools began a further development; they established distinct Trade Schools for the thorough training of better class artisans, and at the same time they sought to preserve for the purposes of general education, such of the simpler processes of elementary trade learning as were best suited therefor. In this differentiation of the Trade School and manual training, the best of the industrial schools simply followed the plain trend of the present educational epoch. A prominent educator tells us that, in Sweden, "In the beginning the economic conception was generally adopted, and everywhere manual training was looked upon as a means of preparing the children of the common people to earn their living. But gradually it came to be recognized that manual training has a more elevated purpose, and one, indeed, more useful in the deeper meaning of the term. It came to be considered as an educative process for the complete moral, physical and intellectual development of the child."

Thus, again, in the manning of trade schools and manual training schools we are thrown back upon the higher training as its source and chief support. There was a time when any aged and wornout carpenter could teach in a trade school. But not so to-day. Indeed the demand for college-bred men by a school like Tuskegee, ought to make Mr. Booker T. Washington the firmest friend of higher training. Here he has as helpers the son of a Negro senator, trained in Greek and the humanities, and graduated at Harvard; the son of a Negro congressman and lawyer, trained in Latin and mathematics, and graduated at Oberlin; he has as his wife, a woman who read Virgil and Homer in the same class room with me; he has as college chaplain, a classical graduate of Atlanta University; as teacher of science, a graduate of Fisk; as teacher of history, a graduate of Smith, — indeed some thirty of his chief teachers are college graduates, and instead of studying French grammars in the midst of weeds, or buying pianos for dirty cabins, they are at Mr. Washington's right hand helping him in a noble work. And yet one of the effects of Mr. Washington's propaganda has been to throw doubt upon the expediency of such training for Negroes, as these persons have had.

Men of America, the problem is plain before you. Here is a race transplanted through the criminal foolishness of your fathers. Whether you like it or not the millions are here, and here they will remain. If you do not lift them up, they will pull you down. Education and work are the levers to uplift a people. Work alone will not do it unless inspired by the right ideals and guided by intelligence. Education must not simply teach work — it must teach Life. The Talented Tenth of the Negro race must be made leaders of thought and missionaries of culture among their people. No others can do this work and Negro colleges must train men for it. The Negro race, like all other races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men.

Are you one of The Talented Tenth?

Wishing You Beautiful Moments, Happy Reflections, and a Wonderful Holiday Season.

Sincerely,

Ella D. Curry, President and CEO of EDC Creations
Visit Us Online: www.edc-creations.com
SLS Homepage: www.sankofaliterarysociety.org
Book Club Center: http://slsbookclubcenter.ning.com

Graphic Designer | Marketing Consultant | Book & Branding Coach

Currently reading :
The Souls of Black Folk (Enriched Classics Series)
By W.E.B. Dubois
Release date: 26 July, 2005

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Become Known as a Serious Black Writer!

nobody@vox.com(CEO of EDC Creations) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:13:57 -0800

Become Known as a Serious Black Writer!

4Afro-lutionMagazine

The Sankofa Literary Society is revamping its entire organization for 2008. We are seriously looking for staff writers and online event hosts. If you are an aspiring author or writer seeking your own place to voice your opinions, we have the place for you. Your articles, essays, poems, and comments will be read by thousands of viewers per week.

The Sankofa Literary Society is one of the most popular African-American literary sites out today. We just hosted the very first Internet Holiday Book Fair! EDC Creations and the Sankofa Literary Society members are changing the face of African-American literature one event at a time.

You are invited to take part in the movement toward excellence!

We would love to have you as part of the team. This is a fantastic opportunity to gain mass exposure by the powers that be, in the publishing industry. The SLS and EDC Creations will host major of literary events that will draw thousands of book lovers to our call centers, chat rooms, and Internet Radio Blog. We want to take our literary society to the next level! We need you to be a part of our upwardly moving literary network.

The Sankofa Literary Society is seeking to fill these positions:

-|- (50) Professional bloggers to chat with authors and the audience during events
-|- (50) Artist to record for our Podcast audio magazine; record your reviews and articles
-|- (20) Staff writers from all genres--your own weekly column to showcase your talents
-|- (20) Spoken word artist, poets, and folktale performers to be showcased weekly
-|- (20) New authors who would like to write about African-American Literature today
-|- (40) Professional Book reviewers; college students welcomed; seniors welcomed
-|- (20) Young Adult Book reviewers; Young Adult Music reviewers; Young Adult poets
-|- (40) Online conference call interviewers; chat room monitors; book critics
-|- (10) Online event hosts--meet and greet authors on our virtual tours
-|- (10) Weekly article writers for our EDC Creations Literary Blog
-|- (10) Literary Business Owners to contribute to the EDC Literary Blog
-|- (10) Book Clubs to share monthly review with the EDC Network

If you are interested in taking part in this exciting new literary movement, please email the organizer and founder Ella Curry at:sankofaliterarysociety@yahoo.com.

Please send me the following information:

-|- Which position you would like to fill
-|- How often you will be available to contribute to SLS
-|- Your contact information and website address if available
-|- Authors- send complete writer's resume and presskit
-|- Bloggers and Staff Writers will need to send a phone number

Spread the word!
Share this post with others who may want to become a recognized writer and author. We are serious about this movement of improving African-American Literature, check out our SLS Bookclub Center.

Thank You,

Ella D. Curry, President and CEO of EDC Creations

Visit Us Online: http://www.edc-creations.com
SLS Main Site: http://www.sankofaliterarysociety.org

Bookclub Center: http://slsbookclubcenter.ning.com
MySpace Center: http://www.myspace.com/edc1creations

Graphic Designer | Marketing Consultant | Book & Branding Coach

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH ONLINE BOOK FAIR

nobody@vox.com(CEO of EDC Creations) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:03:50 -0800

SLS BLACK HISTORY MONTH ONLINE BOOK FAIR

Edclogomed

EDC Creations and The Sankofa Literary Society will host 28 days of Black History! This spectacular ONLINE event will be the first of its kind! An entire month long celebration brought to the world via the Internet and modern technology. You can meet today's brightest stars from the comfort of your own home!

Each day of February, 2008 there will be a featured day to discuss Everything About People of Color! Celebrating our past, future, and the life changing successes we are creating NOW. Daily we will host noon-day radio chats, blog chat tours, and all day chat-room visits with readers, video blogging, and e-workshops for writers.

Each night there will be exclusive private chats with authors and book clubs on the phone chat line, as well as public panel discussions on the radio. All panel discussions will be recorded and streamed to an open SLS site for the world to hear and take part in. Society will be able to view our community leaders, literature, music, and arts in an entirely new light, at the SLS Black History Site!

We are asking people in the community to take part in this event too! We want readers and book lovers around the world to let their voices be heard! This event is for YOU and about YOU. 2008 should be a year of change and growth; we need your wisdom to make it happen.

SLS Black History Month Online Book Fair Themes:

-|- African-American Pioneers and Legends
-|- Business Leaders and Legends
-|- Education, Politics, and Empowerment
-|- KultureFirst Panel Discussion on the State of African-American Economy Survey
-|- Entertainment Industry Firsts and Innovators (hip-hop, film, music, theater, dance, visual arts)
-|- Historians, Biographies, Afro.-American Firsts, People of Color Lit. Movement
-|- Journalism Panel Discussion
-|- State of African American Literature--- All Genres of Fiction
-|- State of African American Literature---Non-Fiction
-|- State of African American Romance and Relationships
-|- State of African American Literature---Young Adults
-|- Black Love---Erotica and its Legends, Urban Lit Newcomers, Lesbian Lit, Poetry
-|- Music, Literature, and the Arts--Bringing Our Pride Back Panel Discussion

-|- Behind the Book--Urban Literature Panel Discussion
-|- Open Mic Poetry Nite and the Spoken Word--open to community
-|- Religion, Spirituality, Motivational Speakers--Non-Fiction
-|- Publishing Leaders and Star Makers (small presses, self-published, Ezines, magazines, bookstores)
-|- Christian Fiction, Religion, Spirituality -- Fiction
-|- Self-publishing Panel Discussion--EBook Discussion
-|- For Us-By Us-About Us---Black 365 Panel Discussion
-|- Community Leaders, Book Clubs, Literary Events, Book Stores
-|- Sports, Science, Medicine, Weight Loss, Fitness, Weddings
-|- Black Author Showcase, Graphic Designers, Book Cover DesignersMarketing Panel Discussion
-|- Children authors, children readings, poetry for children
-|- Young Adult live readings and poetry from our community
-|- Sankofa Literary Society and EDC Creations-So You Wanna Write a Book!
-|- Spirit of Sankofa, A Inside look at Karibu Books and EDC Creations
-|- Panel Discussion-- Our Culture Lit by Some Larger Vision

This is going to be the greatest online event of 2008!

All interested parties should email the organizer, Ella Curry, of EDC Creations at: [elladcurry@edc-creations.com] There will be a new state of the art website and bookstore built just for this online extravaganza, to showcase only the participants of The SLS Black History Month Online Book Fair. Don't miss out….

Authors and Business Leaders who have books or services related to these nights will be asked to showcase their products. Authors can be visitors and call in throughout the event. However, we will only showcase each author TWICE. So pick your nights carefully!

Authors, Artists, Publishers, and Community Participants need to email Ella of their interest by December 27, 2007. The official layout will announced to the world on January 1, 2008! Visit the Sankofa Literary Society for full details after January 1, 2008.

SLS website: [www.sankofaliterarysociety.org] EDC Creations websiste: [www.edc-creations.com]

Spread the word--share this with your friends, add it to your blogs and newsletters, send it to your MySpace list. This is our chance to take back our dignity and pride showcasing it in a new light!

Thanks, Ella

urrently reading :
Wicked Ways
By Donna Hill
Release date: 02 October, 2007

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