OVERVIEW America I AM: The African American Imprint is a 12,000square-foot traveling museum exhibition on the essential role of Africans and African Americans in shaping American history and culture. This world-class presentation uses African American history as a lens for focusing the American
story—the story of a nation founded within the context of slavery, yet defined by its struggle to achieve freedom, justice, and democracy for all. The exhibit responds to the question W.E.B. Du Bois asked in 1903: “Would America have been America without her Negro people?”
BOOKS INSPIRED BY THE EXHIBIT
America I AM Legends: Rare Moments and Inspiring Words
Trade paperback · 9'' x 12'' ISBN 978-1-4019-2405-8 · $24.95
America I AM Black Facts: The Timelines of African American History, 1601-2008
Edited by SmileyBooks Foreword by Tavis Smiley
Quintard Taylor
SmileyBooks • February 2009
SmileyBooks • February 2009
Hardcover · 9'' x 12'' · $34.95 ISBN 978-1-4019-2410-2
Trade paperback · 5 3/8'' x 8 3/8'' ISBN 978-1-4019-2406-5 · $9.95
Through exceptional photographic images and penetrating words, America I AM Legends captures the dynamism of 78 legendary African American individuals and institutions, highlighting the indelible imprint each has made on the United States and the world. A statement illuminating a unique aspect of each iconic figure—made by the legend or by someone carrying on their legacy today—portrays the vision and contribution of each subject. America I AM Legends features the black artistic genius of Toni Morrison and Alvin Ailey; the athletic excellence of Serena and Venus Williams and Michael Jordan; the political leadership of Ralph Bunche and Adam Clayton Powell Jr.; and those who struggle to make America true to its promise, from Martin Luther King Jr. to Barack Obama. Each legend reminds us that America would be unrecognizable without its African American imprint.
Time is the great equalizer. No person, race, culture, or nation stands beyond its reach or can alter its inevitable progress. Timelines, lists of events in chronological order as they happened, allow us to understand history as the evolution of events and eras. In the case of African American history, which has often been subject to blatant and subtle distortion, a timeline can both set the record straight and expand our knowledge in new and exciting ways. America I AM Black Facts is a companion volume to the four-year touring museum America I AM: The African American Imprint. It offers an introduction to the rich, complex, tragic, and triumphant history of the 40 million people of African descent over five centuries in what is now the United States. This fascinating volume features timelines that chronicle the indelible imprint of African Americans on the life, history, and cultures of the world.
For media inquiries please contact SmileyBooks: Telephone 646-484-4961 Email SmileyBooks@HayHouse.com