The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross  By and large,
history books have marginalized the African-American community
by either omitting or minimizing its cornucopia of contributions
to the country. Similarly, the African-American psyche has been
trivialized by a host of harmful stereotypes which suggest that
we aren’t as diverse or as capable of experiencing the same full
range of emotions as Caucasians.  How else can you explain that
the mayor of New York City might rationalize employing the “stop
and frisk” police tactic against blacks in wholesale fashion, as
if criminality is a racial trait instead of judging people by
the content of their character as envisioned by Dr. Martin
Luther King a half-century ago? Fortunately, {The African
Americans: Many Rivers to Cross} has just been published in the
face of such persisting, institutionalized prejudice.  Co-
written by Harvard’s Dr. Henry Louis Gates and Dr. Donald
Yacovone, the book is basically a companion piece to the six-
part television series of the