ECLECTIC NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS BOOK AWARDS
THE 2008 GUSTAVUS MYERS CENTER OUTSTANDING BOOK AWARDS ADVANCING HUMAN RIGHTS

December 4^th, 2008 - Boston, MA

Ten authors of recently published books win accolades for creatively re-link struggles for civil and human rights. In sundry ways, they dig beneath the surface of struggle, chaos and change - much the topic of public discussion these days.

The Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America (www.myerscenter.org), as part of national anniversary celebrations of the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nationals Human Rights Declaration, announces the winners of the Myers Center's 24th annual Outstanding Book Awards. The books honored span decades, challenging public memories as well as public cynicism. Their format varies: history, fiction, memoir, contemporary non-fiction, public policy implementation and biography.

"The election of President-Elect Obama was sparked by new hopes, revitalized energies, multiplicities," says Loretta J. Williams, director, in announcing this year's winners. Yet, she adds "maybe not so new," recalling the late Congresswoman Bella Abzug (subject of one of the winning books) saying over a decade ago that "if we get a government that reflects more of what this country is really about, we can turn the century -- and the economy -- around."

Douglas A. Blackmon,
Slavery By Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II,
(Doubleday 2008)

Details realities of post-emancipation involuntary servitude: the complicity of sheriffs, judges, justices, owners of mines, mills, etc., in rounding up former slaves, charging them with vagrancy, and then forcing them into exploitative labor conditions and contracts.

Paula J. Giddings,
Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching,
(Amistad/HarperCollins 2008)

Skillfully constructed, this biography follows the anti-lynching crusader (1862-1931) through her childhood of family responsibilities, her teaching years, evolving journalism career, the suffrage movement, and more. Readers learn about great deal about obstacles for activist women, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, and the struggles within and without for both African American and white women's rights.

Lawrence Hill,
Someone Knows My Name: A Novel,
(W.W. Norton & Company 2007)

Evoking the every-day realities of enslavement, this fascinating novel portrays a broad swath of Africa, US, Canadian and Liberian history. Aminata Diallo gains her official freedom during the American Revolution for her work with the British occupying forces. Hill, in a powerful essay at the end, discusses his family history and motivation for writing the book.

David Ngaruri Kenney and Philip G. Schrag,
Asylum Denied: A Refugee's Struggle for Safety in America,
(University of California Press 2008)

Remarkable true story about young Kenyan farmer whose political activism on behalf of tea farmers led to his imprisonment and torture (self and family members), subsequent challenges, and eventual travails in the US. Shows current politicized US administrative decision-making on asylum seekers. Ally lawyer Schrag offers compelling recommendations for fixing this unjust system.

Mahvish Rukhsana Khan,
My Guantanamo Diary: The Detainees and the Stories They Told Me,
(Public Affairs 2008)

Khan, law student translator for attorneys working with clients in Guantanamo Bay, meets detainees whose human rights abuses have been violated. She travels to Afghanistan to collect information for use in cases. Conveys stories artfully, adding in history including the fact that the US paid “rewards” for captured "terrorists" equaling more than the typical Afghani or Pakistani yearly salary.

Suzanne Braun Levine and Mary Thom,
Bella Abzug: How One Tough Broad from the Bronx Fought Jim Crow and Joe McCarthy Pissed Off Jimmy Carter, Battled for the rights of Women and Workers,
(Farrar, Straus, Giroux 2007)

Utilizing an innovative collage format of statements from Bella Abzug and those who allied with her, this story of her life captures her insights, brashness, resiliency, and influence. Over and over, she instituted strategies to fix problems rather than staying stuck in an emotional righteousness. This multisensory portrait is a history of the times as well as renewed energies for activists.

Mica Pollock, Ed.,
Everyday Antiracism: Getting Real About Race in School,
(The New Press 2008)

Bringing together 64 real-life tools and techniques for strategizing classroom practices and work space politics, this collection offers best-practice examples for readers to try out that are constructively conscious and open about race/racism. Questions prompt depth reflection and praxis implementation.

Cynthia Soohoo, Catherine Albisa, and Martha Davis, Eds.,
Bringing Human Rights Home, Vols. 1-3,
(Praeger/Greenwood Publishing Group 2008)

Cutting-edge analyses of working for social justice utilizing a human rights frame domestically. Includes perspectives of advocates, grassroots and academics, lawyers, non-profits and more doing domestic social justice work against the odds in the present and for the future.

Kai Wright,
Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York,
(Beacon Press 2008)

Journalism at its best following a handful of queer youth of color as they navigate their complex identities, neighborhood, family and community affiliations, friendships engaged in a gritty setting. Shows how elusively sanitized notions of human rights actually play out in real people's lives. Yet the youth grow and persevere.

Kao Kalia Yang,
The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir,
(Coffee House Press 2008)

Narrating the harrowing recent history of Hmong peoples embroiled in the various wars in Southeast Asia in the 60s/70s. Yang evidences beautiful respect for stories of the past, and the present of her own family's negotiation with US immigration and resettlement. She documents the emotional struggles and complex challenges of her entire community as well, and teaches us much about humanity and resiliency.

The Gustavus Myers Center, www.myerscenter.org, moving proudly into its twenty-fifth year of continuous operation, invites you to join us in saluting these authors. The Myers Review Panel selected these books from close to 400 nominations as truly outstanding. Each book expands our vision for social justice. Whether you prefer fiction, memoir, non-fiction, do take a look at these distinctive books at your bookstore or library.