African American National Biography Project

I'm thrilled that the African American National Biography, a new 8-volume set, is now in libraries and bookstores.

I wrote a couple of biographical entries for the project, and I'm excited to check them out. The AANB presents history through a mosaic of the lives of thousands of individuals, illuminating the abiding influence of persons of African descent on the life of this nation from the arrival of Esteban in Spanish Florida in 1529 through to notable black citizens of the present day.

In addition to Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King Jr., the AANB includes a wide range of African Americans from all time periods and all walks of life, both famous and nearly-forgotten.

I'm a great admirer of the scholars who spearheaded the project, and the AANB is a remarkable, historic achievement.