Student Study Guide for Use with from Slavery to Freedom

As a graduate of Howard University, this text was used in several disciplines on the campus and I still refer to this book in my personal search of correcting some of the inaccuracies that I was fed as a child. Dr. Franklin offers complete and accurate accounts of the real story, not his-story! This book is in no way a revisionary or revolutionary work for the militant black individual as previous reviews may lead you to believe. In fact, compare this work with your average high school history text, research the events (thoroughly) and determine its validity and accuracy on your own. It is imperative to research -- don't just take what is given to you as fact! You will be amazed of the overwhelming evidence that Dr. Franklin provides that has been omitted in many American high school textbooks.Every child, especially those of African descent, should have the opportunity to receive the information that Dr. Franklin has so eloquently and chronologically written in this book. This is truly a must-read!

This book is the product of outstanding research produced by an internationally recognized historian, John Hope Franklin. Don't believe me and the other reviewers? Act like a historian and check out Duke University's website; read reviews of Franklin's work in the major journals of professional historians; and do this with an open mind, while trying to discover and weigh in against your own biases. The history of African Americans in the United States simply can't be told without discussing racism as a structure that many white people built through law, social segregation, economic practices, intimidation, and accepting the privileges of "the way things were done." _If_ you do _not_ want to learn about America in this light, if you want to close your mind to reality, do not read this book. But even if the idea of facing these ugly truths may tug at your soul a bit, there is so much more in this book. In a very readable, comprehensive, illustrated work, you can learn about men and women who worked, wrote, taught, served, healed, created, protested, died, dreamed, played, and were just human in every other imaginable way in America. If this is what you are looking for, read on.

Dr. Franklin is one of the greatest historians this country has ever produced. He holds degrees from Fisk and Harvard (two post graduate degrees from Cambridge). He has more honorary degrees than Carter has little pills (or I guess now, peanuts). This work, now in its eighth printing, is perhaps the greatest single reference work exploring the African American experience and the contributions of this race to American history, and has been so since the first edition was printed in 1947. He starts by revealing more knowledge that most people ever fathomed about the African experience in the pre-slavery centuries, with the greatness that was the African continent in Ghana, Songhay and the rest of Africa. The exploration of the "peculiar institution" of slavery, reconstruction and the post Civil War hope is complete and brilliantly done. The chapters on the Harlem Renaissance and the first half of the twentieth century alone is worth the price of the book. Extraordinarily well researched. It is scholarly but never dry. It is objective, but never loses the passion for the subject. A must for any complete understanding of our history.

This book brought into life the history of a group of Americans that has been long neglected, in the standard American textbooks. This book was easy to read and follows the course of American history, from discovery to the Clinton presidency. A must for all persons who are interested in history. Not just African-American history, but American history. Get it, it is worth having, if you call yourself an historian.

This book offers a wealth of knowledge conserning the history of blacks on this country. The plight of the African people has never before, in my experience on the subject, been covered so competely. Franklin writes with empathy and passion as he seeks to accuratly educate the people of the world about the atrocities that the African people have faced in this country. Franklin exposses how this country was built on the backs of slaves.