Michael L. Cooper
AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY How an original style of American music came to be. Many slave spirituals—songs such as “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore,” and “Go Down, Moses”—have become interwoven into the fabric of American culture. For centuries these deeply moving songs were sung by slaves as they worked in the fields. In 1871, six years after the end of slavery, a group from Fisk University known as the Jubilee Singers toured the United States and abroad, raising money for their bankrupt school and, more important, bringing slave spirituals to the attention of a wide audience. This engrossing account, illustrated with archival prints and photographs and appended with the words and music to seven songs, tells the inspiring story of the Jubilee Singers and reveals spirituals to be an invaluable and unique history of American slavery. -------------------------------------- From Booklist Gr. 6-9. The first half of this intriguing book surveys the music of African American slaves, while the latter focuses on the Jubilee Singers. From its origins in African vocal and instrumental music to its development into songs of work, complaint, defiance, play, hope, and religion, slave music was so central to slave culture that, after emancipation, African Americans were eager to put the old songs behind them. According to Cooper, now-familiar spirituals might have been forgotten without the Fisk University Jubilee Singers, who toured the U.S and Europe during the 1870s, raising funds for their impoverished university and ensuring their music's immortality. Cooper tells an interesting story, illustrated with well-chosen black-and-white reproductions of period photos, engravings, posters, prints, and paintings. Source notes, a bibliography, and the words and music for seven spirituals are appended. Carolyn PhelanCopyright © American Library Association. 5.0 out of 5 stars About music that reflected the hopes and despairs of slavery, November 5, 2001 By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - Michael Cooper's Slave Spirituals And The Jubilee Singers provides a revealing history of the music which reflected the hopes and despairs of slavery. The Jubilee Singers embarked on a tour to raise money for their struggling school and succeeded in not only achieving personal fame, but bringing slave spirituals to the world. Archival prints and photos are included in this inspirational account. ------------------------------------------------- This is a great letter from a reader, whose name I've omitted, to my editor at Clarion Books in New York. August 2006 To the editor: Yesterday I had the opportunity to read in its entirety SLAVE SPIRITUALS AND THE JUBILEE SINGERS by Michael L. Cooper. Now I feel the pull to pause in the day's occupation to share my reaction. This is a book that is well written. And it is chock-full of information. Yet it does not feel at all weighty. Nor does it take a heavy stand on slavery. It just states the case. And so, it is a book that shines in its own way like a song. I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon it. I thank Mr. Cooper for writing and I thank you for publishing this informative and beautiful book. And I would appreciate your passing my letter on to him. Very sincerely yours, San Marino, California  Grade 5-9?Cooper devotes this book to the event that not only changed the face of African American life, but also the face of America. From 1915 to approximately 1930, some one million rural Southern blacks left their homes and migrated to cities in the North and in the Midwest. Cooper tells this story through first-person accounts of the people who actually made the journeys, newspaper and other accounts, and through black-and-white photographs. He sets the stage for this great migration by discussing the conditions under which blacks lived in the South and their desires for something better. He describes the kinds of neighborhoods they came to and what they made of them, as well as the types of jobs they had to take. The prejudice and violence they encountered are vividly chronicled. Yet out of all of that came thriving black institutions, the Harlem Renaissance, and genuine opportunity. This is an important title because of the sensitive and thorough manner in which Cooper treats his subject.?Carol Jones Collins, Montclair Kimberley Academy, NJ Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Gr. 5^-9. About one million African Americans left the South from 1915 to 1930 in search of better lives in the cities of the North. This short history of what is called the Great Migration discusses why black people left, what they hoped for, what they found, and how they changed America. Several chapters focus on those who came to Chicago and on the important role of the nation's largest black-owned newspaper, the Chicago Defender. There's also a brief account of the excitement of the Harlem Renaissance and the leading figures in the arts. Fascinating archival black-and-white photographs add interest throughout the text, and endnotes discuss the sources used in each chapter. The full-color cover picture is from Jacob Lawrence's famous series of paintings collected in The Great Migration (1993), which is a dramatic book to use with this history. Older readers may go from here to Nicholas Lemann's adult book The Promised Land (1991). Hazel Rochman  Grade 7 Up. More than just a history that illuminates a little-known aspect of American participation in the Great War of 1914-1918, this ambitious work also examines one very important phase in the evolution of civil rights for African Americans. In highly readable prose, Cooper tells the story of the mostly black Fifteenth New York Voluntary Infantry of the National Guard from its formation in 1916 through its transformation into the 369th regiment, its service in France, and its return to a triumphal parade down New York City's Fifth Avenue. The author gives sufficient background so that readers are informed of the existence of segregated regiments with mostly white officers and the dearth of high-ranking black officers from the Civil War to, during, and after World War I. Cooper describes the struggles that the officers of the Fifteenth had in obtaining uniforms, equipment, and other supplies. In France, it was only as a result of a personal appeal to General John J. Pershing that the unit was put into combat under French command; it was at this time that it was renamed the 369th Regiment of the U.S. Army. It was in May of 1918 that the 369th earned the nickname of "Hell Fighters" (bestowed by the African-American newspapers back home in Harlem). Coverage is augmented with a good selection of archival black-and-white photographs. A good companion volume to Michael Uschan's A Multicultural Portrait of World War I (Benchmark, 1995).?David A. Lindsey, Lakewood High and Middle School Libraries, WA Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Gr. 5^-9. Not much was expected from the Fifteenth New York Voluntary Infantry, made up in great part by African American waiters, porters, and doormen from Harlem, but the group came to be known as the Hell Fighters during the fierce fighting of World War I. Cooper explores the regiment's humble beginnings and its training in South Carolina, which was marred by the racism of local citizens, as well as the reception it received in France, where people were far more open to black soldiers. He also briefly describes key skirmishes, notes the awards and medals won, and shows the contrast between the menial postwar duties (finding dismembered limbs on the battlefield) and the glorious homecoming parade in New York City. The subject is generally well presented, although the main text is frequently interrupted by poorly placed spreads on related topics. A chronology, map, and reading list are included; a glossary would have been helpful. Susan Dove Lempke  In January 1997, seven black veterans were awarded the Medal of Honor for their valor in World War II. They had been overlooked because of racial prejudice. Michael L. Cooper, author of Hell Fighters: African American Soldiers in World War I, describes the problems black servicemen faced in their fight for a double victory. The Double V Campaign, as it was called, inspired black soldiers to fight on the front lines abroad as well as to fight segregation and inequality at home. Tracing the activities of two reactivated black infantry divisions, the Ninety-second in Europe and the Ninety-third in the Pacific, the author succinctly describes key battles and the individuals who fought in them. At war's end, black veterans joined other African Americans in battling racism on the homefront. Grade 6-8-Cooper examines the two-part campaign waged by African Americans during the Second World War, which emphasized the defeat of fascist states abroad and the improvement of civil rights and economic opportunities at home. He provides brief background about both the causes of the war and the levels of discrimination that blacks faced in the U.S. He explains how the constant efforts of countless individuals broke down some of the racial barriers within the armed services. The author describes the training blacks received, their treatment by and their difficulties with the white power structure, and their battlefield performances. He is objective about his subject, detailing both the strengths and weaknesses of the African-American servicepeople. Numerous black-and-white photographs show the participation of these men and women in all aspects of the war effort. This book will draw both report writers and general readers. It complements titles such as Jacqueline Harris's The Tuskegee Airmen (Dillon, 1995) and Joe Trotter's From a Raw Deal to a New Deal? (Oxford, 1996), which places the black war experience in the broader context of an era and provides a fuller explanation of how the Double V campaign influenced the post-war civil rights movement. Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.  A young reader's edition of the life of a former slave follows his experiences as a cotton steamer pilot, escape to the North, achievements as a Civil War hero, and rise to a U. S. Congressman. Grade 5-8-Smalls was a slave in Charleston, SC, who worked as the pilot on a cotton steamer. In May, 1862, he and eight crew members commandeered the boat and, after stopping to pick up family members, "defected" to the Yankees. He went on to become a hero in the African American community and a U.S. Congressman. Cooper brings his story to life quite well, elucidating the confusing era of Reconstruction so that it is easily understood. The book includes a good glossary and black-and-white reproductions. A wonderful addition to any library, filling a much-needed gap in biographical material for this era and adding some diversity to Civil War collections. Elizabeth M. Reardon, McCallie School, Chattanooga, TN Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.  Not all that long ago, black Americans and white Americans played in segregated baseball leagues. |
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