Learn about the amazing life of a little girl who grew up to use her gift of singing to help bring freedom to South Africa.

The renowned South African singer and political activist recounts her life--a life that encompasses the splendor of international acclaim, bitter personal tragedy, and political intrigue and violence

Miriam Makeba, a Grammy Award–winning South African singer, rose to fame in the hearts of her people at the pinnacle of apartheid—a brutal system of segregation similar to American Jim Crow laws. Mama Africa, as they called her, raised her voice to help combat these injustices at jazz clubs in Johannesburg; in exile, at a rally beside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and before the United Nations. Set defiantly in the present tense, this biography offers readers an intimate view of Makeba’s fight for equality. Kathryn Erskine’s call-and-response style text and Charly Palmer’s bold illustrations come together in a raw, riveting duet of protest song and praise poem. A testament to how a single voice helped to shake up the world—and can continue to do so.

Miriam Makeba's life began in poverty in South Africa, amid the cruelties of the apartheid system. From here she rose to become an internationally known singer, first introduced to an international audience by Harry Belafonte in 1959 and admired by figures such as John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela. When her singing talents led her abroad, the power of her new celebrity status made her a potential threat to the minority white South African government and she was exiled from her home and family.

This deluxe eBook edition of Harry Belafonte's remarkable memoir includes nearly eighteen minutes of original video—Mr. Belafonte talking about his first meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr. . . . his friendship with Sidney Poitier . . . the making of “We Are the World” . . . and much more—the bonus song “Jump in the Line” from the companion album Harry Belafonte—Sing Your Song: The Music; and the book's photographs compiled as a slide show. Harry Belafonte is not just one of the greatest entertainers of our time; he has led one of the great American lives of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Now, at last, this extraordinary icon tells us about it all—his poverty-ridden childhood in Harlem and Jamaica; his meteoric rise to become one of the world’s most popular singers, breaking down racial barriers that no one had broken before, achieving equal popularity with white and black audiences; his lifelong, passionate involvement at the heart of the civil rights movement and countless other political and social causes. Along the way he’s befriended many beloved and important figures in both entertainment and politics—Paul Robeson; Eleanor Roosevelt; Sidney Poitier; John F. Kennedy; Marlon Brando; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Robert Kennedy; Nelson Mandela; Fidel Castro—and writes about them with the same exceptional candor and insight with which he reveals himself on every page. As both an artist and an activist, Belafonte has touched the lives of countless men and women. With My Song, he has found yet another way to entertain and inspire us. It is an electrifying memoir from a remarkable man.

With forty accessible essays on the key intellectual contributions to Pan-Africanism, this volume offers readers a fascinating insight into the intellectual thinking and contributions to Pan-Africanism. The book explores the history of Pan-Africanism and quest for reparations, early pioneers of Pan-Africanism as well as key activists and politicians, and Pan-African philosophy and literati. Diverse and key figures of Pan-Africanism from Africa, the Caribbean, and America are covered by these chapters, including: Edward Blyden, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Amy Ashwood Garvey, George Padmore, Kwame Nkrumah, Franz Fanon, Amilcar Cabral, Arthur Lewis, Maya Angelou, C.L.R. James, Ruth First, Ali Mazrui, Wangari Maathai, Thabo Mbeki, Wole Soyinka, Derek Walcott, and Chimamanda Adichie. While acknowledging the contributions of these figures to Pan-Africanism, these essays are not just celebratory, offering valuable criticism in areas where their subjects may have fallen short of their ideals.