The African American Book of Values: Classic Moral Stories
by Steven Barboza

In the tradition of The Book of Virtues, author and journalist Steven Barboza has gathered together an impressive volume of poems, stories, letters, songs, folktales, and short biographies that will help guide African Americans and others solidly and securely through life’s moral and ethical dilemmas. Full-color illustrations. B&W photos & line drawings.

Quote
Steven Barboza has fashioned a timely but also timeless book that draws shrewdly on the historic wisdom of African Americans. Voices old and new speak to us in a variety of ways about life and its lessons, about the joys and sorrows of the black experience. This is a book to be cherished. —Arnold Rampersad

Steven Barboza’s African American Book of Virtues earns my highest admiration for transcending color and exploring subjects valuable to us all. The stories and poems here provide essential lessons that will help us in our daily lives. —John Singleton

Reading Steven Barboza’s book is like listening to wisdom from a beloved grandfather or grandmother, and serves as a reminder that African Americans’ prosperity rests upon remembering and practicing our most deeply held values every day. —Eric V. Copage

From The Publisher:
In The African-American Book of Values, Steven Barboza has gathered together a wealth of stories that make up a moral map for modern living. Relying on the words and stories of (to name a few) the well-known: Langston Hughes, Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, Zora Neale Hurston, Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou, Frances E.W. Harper, Malcolm X, Alex Haley, Benjamin Banneker, Phillis Wheatley—the unsung: ship captain, Robert Smalls; Underground Railroad "conductor" William Still; Stoplight inventor, Elijah McCoy (better known as the "Real McCoy") ; poet Georgia Douglas Johnson; etiquette maven Charlotte Hawkins Brown; Elizabeth Keckley, seamstress to Mary Todd Lincoln; The African-American Book of Values illustrates for young and old, black and white the necessary characteristics by which we should lead our lives.

Split into two sections, "The Book of Self-Mastery" and "The Book of Empathy," and, augmented by black-and-white photos, line drawings and color illustrations, The African-American Book of Values will be a stunning "must-have" addition to African-American and American households everywhere.