Uppity-Negro.com

"To You"

 

To sit and dream, to sit and read,
To sit and learn about the world
Outside our world of here and now---
Our problem world---
To dream of vast horizons of the soul
Through dreams made whole,
Unfettered, free--- help me!
All you who are dreamers too,
Help me to make
Our world anew.
I reach out my dreams to you.

-- Langston Hughes, from Black History Month at (of all places) The Nonesuch Librarian/Karen L. Simonetti at Euronet.nl.

Well, it's Black History or African-American Heritage Month, depending on your tastes. And also the shortest month of the year. We pretend not to notice this.

A few links that I'll possibly be mining over the coming weeks:

• Black History Month page at Infoplease
• The Encyclopædia Britannica Guide to Black History at Cool Britannica
• Celebrate Black History Month with The History Channel
• TIME.com: Black History at AOL Time Warner

Or not.

All of which reminds me, saw a copy of Encyclopedia Africana on the remainder table at Border's across from Water Tower Place last week, for $19.99. Which only seems expensive if you don't note the original price of $100.

I'm guessing it's equally remaindered nationwide, so be on the lookout for copies. Or I can snag one for you, if you want; let me know.

If you want me to send it though, I will hit you up for shipping charges; thing weighs a friggin' ton. Considering how much ground it covers, this should come as no surprise.

Want to know more without hitting the actual dead-tree books? There's always the Africana.com web site.

Copyright 1999-2003 Africana.com Inc. Microsoft® Encarta® Africana content © Copyright 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved to media owners.

There's no getting away from those guys, is there?

Bonus round: PCWorld.com - Africana Encyclopedia Launches

An African encyclopedia, first conceived in the early twentieth century, finally comes into being on CD-ROM.

The new Encarta Africana includes 2 million words of text in more than 3000 articles and more than 2500 multimedia entries, including video clips, audio recordings, and maps. The interactive title is a joint effort led by Harvard scholars Henry Louis Gates Jr. and K. Anthony Appiah, who collaborated with Microsoft.

Heh. "collaborated with Microsoft." As an editor, I would'a suggested using a different word there. . .