In this book immigrant minorities from Africa and the Caribbean tell their unique stories. These 'new' Americans recount their travels in the American maze, and thus, allow their voices to be heard. Who really cares for these voices? They do care and Americans should care! Foreign born African Americans frequently find themselves in precarious situations. They confront three intriguing questions: How Black are they? How much racism do they endure? How do they survive in spite of the odds? In reality, they are Blacks who are Black enough to encounter problems that other Blacks in America experience. However, they also understand that they must succeed in a competitive complex society like America. On the one hand, they are grateful to be in America; but on the other hand, they wonder why they must cross so many rubicons to achieve their goals. This book is unique! Never before have voices of Africans (from Africa and the Caribbean) been heard in this manner!! These voices provide multidimensional cases for scholars, educators, program planners, community leaders, and politicians. This book could be a required text for courses in international/global education, intercultural education, and multicultural education. It could also be a supplementary text for courses in general education and African/African American Studies. In fact, it should be on the reading list of every American interested in making our world a better place to live.
Festus E Obiakor, Ph.D., is Professor, Early Childhood and Special Education, Dewar College of Education and Human Services, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Georgia. A teacher, scholar, and consultant, he has served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at a variety of universities. He is the author of more than 150 publications, including books, articles, and commentaries; and he has presented papers at many national and international conferences. He serves on the editorial boards of reputable nationally and internationally refereed journals, including Multicultural Learning and Teaching (MLT) in which he serves as Executive Editor. Dr. Obiakor is a leader who has been involved in many landmark scholarly works in the fields of general and special education, with particular focus on African American and other culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners and he continues to prescribe multidimensional methods of assessment, teaching, and intervention for these individuals. Based on this premise, Dr. Obiakor created the Comprehensive Support Model (CSM), an intervention model that values the collaborative, consultative, and cooperative energies of students, families, teachers/service providers, communities, and government agencies.
