Books

Dear Ellen Bee: A Civil War Scrapbook of Two Union Spies with Mary E. Lyons ($17.00 Simon & Schuster, September 2000) This spy novel is based on the lives of two women who lived in Richmond, Virginia during the Civil War. Elizabeth (Bet) Van Lew, a wealthy abolitionist, and Mary Elizabeth (Liza) Bowser, the daughter of Bet's freed slaves have a stormy, yet strangely loving relationship. When war breaks out, the two women realize that they must come together to work for the one cause about which they feel so passionately: abolishing slavery. Liza is "planted" by Bet at the White House of the Confederacy under the guise of being a nursemaid to Jefferson Davis' children. Using the code name Ellen Bee, the two women pass information behind enemy lines, and are credited with helping to bring down the Confederacy.

Fine Arts and Crafts ($28.90 -- Recommended by School Library Journal, November 2001) Many African Americans first came to the New World as slaves, but they brought with them a heritage rich in music, dance, sculpture, crafts, and other art forms. Over the years, African Americans have reshaped the ancient traditions and artistic skills of their ancestors to become a vital part of American culture. Fine Arts and Crafts traces the development of African-American art from its roots in West Africa and describes the achievements of a wide range of artists from early slave artists and artisans to contemporary artists still practicing today. The book focuses on African-American achievements in the fine arts (painting, sculpture, and photography) as well as in crafts such as pottery, needlework, basketry, and metalwork.

The Water Brought Us: The Story of the Gullah-Speaking People. ($11.95 Sandlapper Publishing, Orangeburg, SC) The origins of the Gullah language and culture can be traced to the castles and forts along the West African coast where captured Africans awaited transport into slavery in the West Indies and America. This distinctive Creole language and culture later took root and thrived among en-slaved Africans in the West Indies and on the isolated Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia.

Juneteenth: Freedom Day ($15.99 -- Cobblehill, 1998 photographs by Willis L. Branch )Juneteenth is the grandfather of all holidays for Black Texans, halting work and shutting towns for more than 130 years. From its spontaneous beginning on June 19, 1865, as slaves in Galveston, Texas, reacted to the delayed news of the Emancipation Proclamation, the holiday has spread nationwide among Black Americans. This ethnic holiday includes the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, retelling of legends about the holiday and how it got its name, parades, parties, sporting events, musical events, and family reunions.

Pennies to Dollars: The Story of Maggie Lena Walker with Dorothy M. Rice ( Paper $13.95. Recommended by Style Weekly, August 26, 1997) Born out of wedlock to a former slave and a white journalist in 1867, Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker became a highly respected businesswoman. Beginning in 1899 she took over leadership of the Independent Order of St. Luke. She expanded the organization to include a bank, a department store, and a newspaper while maintaining the primary mission of insuring and giving aid to African Americans. She became the first woman founder and president of a chartered bank in America, and the bank still exists as Consolidated Bank and Trust Company in Richmond, Virginia. Maggie Walker achieved all of these things against the backdrop of Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation in the South; tragedy - the murder of her stepfather when she was little girl and the accidental death of her husband; personal and business attacks; and a crippling physical disability that caused her to be confined to a wheelchair later in life. Yet, she persevered. Maggie Walker was a remarkable woman whose determination to further the cause of African-Americans knew no bounds. Her home at 110 ½ East Leigh Street in Richmond's historic Jackson Ward is a National Historic Site that is visited each year by thousands of people.

3-D Displays for Libraries, Schools and Media Centers with Earlene G. Evans (Paper, $38.50 -- Highly Recommended by VOYA)Teachers and librarians often ask, "What will my next bulletin board be." 3-D Displays answer that question for them. The 19 theme-based, three-dimensional designs help inspire and direct learning for students in grades five through nine. Grouped into five subject areas, the boards and their accompanying extended learning activities can be used alone, as part of a series, or as a group activity. With these exciting plans, library staff and teachers will also find inspiration for their own ideas.

A Step Beyond: Multimedia Activities for Learning American History with Earlene G. Evans (Neal Schuman, 1995) This book takes students far beyond the textbook and encourages them to tackle tasks that make them think. As a review in VOYA states, it is an "Imaginative approach! Branch's and Evans' resources manual has indeed broken new ground for American history educators. (Currently Out Of Print)