This historical account of the transatlantic slave trade between Africa and the United States is filled with a wealth of records, details and analyses of its attempted suppression. The various moral, economic and religious arguments against slavery were clear from the outset of the practice in the early 16th century. The ownership of a human life as an economic commodity was decried from religious circles from the earliest days as an immoral affront to basic human dignity. However the practice of gaining lifelong labor in exchange only for a basic degree of care meant slavery persisted for centuries across the New World as a lucrative endeavor. The colonial United States would, from the early 17th century, receive many thousands of slaves from Africa. Many of the slaves transported were sent to work on plantations and farms which steadily spread across the warmer southern states of the nation. Others would do manual work on the docks, for instance moving goods in the fledgling trading colonies.

The purpose of this edited volume is to examine the historical and contemporary dynamics of diversity as well as the realities, challenges, and opportunities associated with diversity work at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This proposed book will include four sections, focusing on the historical developments and socio-political factors impacting diversity work at HBCUs, organizational structure and philosophical approaches, challenges and opportunities facing particular populations, and analysis of best practices. This text is designed to provide an overview and better understanding of diversity and multiculturalism that exists in historically Black colleges and universities. The contents of the text will examine equity and inclusion efforts in these institutions, and will explore various theories and practices utilized within the academy. Also, the text will examine race, class, gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, age, ability and sexuality. The goal of the book is to assist students, faculty, and staff in the higher educational landscape in developing their own understandings of historical and contemporary issues related to diversity at HBCUs. Critical analysis of the multiple worldviews will be discussed as we explore the origin, nature and scope of multiple ideologies within diversity, equity and inclusion at HBCUs. In addition, this book will be an invaluable teaching resource for faculty in Educational Leadership Programs, Student Affairs Programs, or Sociology Programs, and other fields interested in issues of retaining and supporting diverse college students.

Discussions and research related to the salience of Black male student needs and development in relation to their general success and well?being is well?documented in many fields. Indeed, many studies have found that healthy masculine identity development is associated with a number of positive outcomes for males in general, including Black males. In school counseling literature, however, this discussion has been relatively absent-particularly regarding those students living in urban contexts. Indeed, research devoted to the study of Black males in the school counseling literature focuses almost exclusively on race and issues associated with its social construction with only cursory, if any, attention given to their masculine identity development as a function of living in urban communities and attending urban schools. Based on this lack of information, it is probably a safe assumption that intentional, systematic, culturally relevant efforts to assist Black males in developing healthy achievement and masculine identities based on their unique personal, social, academic experiences and future career goals are not being applied by school counselors concerned with meeting students' needs. School counselors are in a unique position, nonetheless, to lend their considerable expertise-insights, training and skills-to improving life outcomes among Black males-a population who are consistently in positions of risk according to a number of quality of life indicators. Without knowledge and awareness of Black males' masculine identity development in urban areas, coupled with the requisite skills to influence the myriad factors that enhance and impede healthy development in such environments, they are missing out on tremendous opportunities which other professions appear to understand and, quite frankly, seem to take more seriously. As such, this book proposes to accomplish two specific goals: 1. Highlight the plight of Black males with specific emphasis on the ecological components of their lives in relation to current school culture and trends. 2. Encourage school counselors to give more thought to Black male identity development that takes into consideration differential experiences in society as a whole, and schools in particular, as a function of the intersection of their race, as well as their gender. The first rationale for this book, then, is to highlight the plight of Black males with specific emphasis on the ecological components of their lives in relation to current school culture and trends (e.g., standards?based accountability practices) in urban environments. However, I recognize the role of school counselors has never been fully integrated into educational reform programs. As such, their positions are often unregulated and determined by people in positions of power who do not understand their training, job?specific standards and, thus, potential impact on the lives of Black male students. As a result, their vast potential to develop strong interventions designed to address the myriad racial and masculine factors that serve to enhance and impede Black males' academic achievement is often unrealized. Therefore, the second reason for this special issue is to include the scholarship of professional school counselors and counselor educators with policy change in mind. Scholars will be invited to contribute manuscripts that explore race, masculinity and academic achievement in relation to the role of school counselors. This is designed to encourage school counselors and counselor educators to give more thought to Black male identity development that takes into consideration differential experiences in society as a whole, and schools in particular, as a function of the intersection of their race, as well as their gender.

This book for, about, and by Males of Color, amplifies triumphs and successes while documenting trials and tribulations that are instructive, inspiring, and praiseworthy. This book will be a must-read for every Male of Color.

"It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense." - Mark Twain Within your hands is a glimpse into the life, mind, soul, and "truth" of cherished American icon, Mark Twain. This uncensored autobiography is not only a legacy he left behind, but also a gift to all.
Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He grew up on the shores of the Mississippi River and took his pen name from the way Mississippi steamboat crews measured the river's depth (the cry "Mark twain " meant the river was at least 12 feet deep and safe to travel).
Twain wrote prolifically, publishing novels, travelogues, newspaper articles, short stories, and political pamphlets. His best-known works are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885).
On the surface, these novels are gripping adventure stories of boys running free on the Mississippi. However, on a deeper level, these novels are also serious works of social criticism. Written while America was still recovering from the Civil War and adjusting to the abolition of slavery, Twain's two best-known Mississippi River adventure tales also measure the depth of America's new economic and social realities.
His most personal and insightful writing came when he created his, "Final (and Right) Plan"-a free-flowing biography of the thoughts and interests he had toward the end of his life as he spoke his "whole frank mind." Along with the plan, came the instruction that the enclosed autobiography writings not be published in book form until 100 years after his death.
Today, we honor the life and writings of Mark Twain by publishing his personal opus-to reacquaint ourselves with the wit, wisdom, and ideals of this legendary American icon.

In 1948, journalist Ray Sprigle traded his whiteness to live as a black man for four weeks. A little over a decade later, John Howard Griffin famously ""became"" black as well, traveling the American South in search of a certain kind of racial understanding. Contemporary history is littered with the surprisingly complex stories of white people passing as black, and here Alisha Gaines constructs a unique genealogy of ""empathetic racial impersonation--white liberals walking in the fantasy of black skin under the alibi of cross-racial empathy. At the end of their experiments in ""blackness,"" Gaines argues, these debatably well-meaning white impersonators arrived at little more than false consciousness. Complicating the histories of black-to-white passing and blackface minstrelsy, Gaines uses an interdisciplinary approach rooted in literary studies, race theory, and cultural studies to reveal these sometimes maddening, and often absurd, experiments of racial impersonation. By examining this history of modern racial impersonation, Gaines shows that there was, and still is, a faulty cultural logic that places enormous faith in the idea that empathy is all that white Americans need to make a significant difference in how to racially navigate our society.