From: Bakari Chavanu <sac86267>
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 99 01:14:08 -0700

I truely appreciate the discussion of this work. It has caused me to pull out the book again and review it. As a teacher of African descent, I must admit that when my wife and I were first given the book as a gift, I was very reluctant to look at. I already knew generally what the depections would. But as I look at again, I basically have two responses:

I think the work will be extremely useful for my unit on African enslavement in my African American Cultural Studies course. I think the art work alone renders a powerful message of the horrors of the Middle Passage. I think these images do a lot better job than the silly roles plays many teachers have students do so that they supposedly can feel what it was like to be enslaved on a ship. So the book will be very useful in this regard.

However, my reservations about the book is that as part of a body of work on African enslavement, what young people don't see enough of are images of resistance to slavery. Too often, these images of oppression can be overwhelming and perhaps convey a feeling of hopelessness. For many Black youth, the Middle Passage is another metaphor for the ghetto. I really wish Feelings would do another book about resistance--showing what Africans have done to resist oppression and keep the culture alive.

Bakari
Received on Tue 22 Jun 1999 03:14:08 AM CDT