African Heroes and Heroines -- Carter Godwin Woodson

<p>Originally published in 1939 as a counterpoint to the myopic, Eurocentric narrative of African history popular in the West at the time, Carter G. Woodson's African Heroes and Heroines delves into the rich and complex political, military, and economic history of the African continent with the objective eye of a scientific observer. Intended for upper level high-school students, Woodson presents a fair biographical treatment of African leaders through history as figures of equal - if not greater - intelligence, prowess, and strength as the heroic leaders canonized in the histories of other races. While the popular histories of Africa in America had represented Africans as disorganized, unenlightened, and docile, Woodson paints a far more realistic picture of a people who were fiercely resistant to Western imperialism and occupation. Through individual portraits of figures like the Mbundu's Queen Anna Nzinga, Shaka of the Zulu Kingdom, or King B hanzin of Dahomey, Woodson's work, alongside that of other notable scholars, helped mainstream America move toward a deeper and more complex understanding of Africa's rich history. For academics as well as those interested in an important, if somewhat dated, historical survey of African leaders, African Heroes and Heroines represents an important piece of America's cultural past. Featuring an abundance of rich illustrations by esteemed Harlem Renaissance painter, Lois Mailou Jones, this 2015 re-issued edition is a high quality reprin