The African American experience encompasses a rich array of written and oral wisdom that speaks to every aspect of the human condition. Essential African American Wisdom is a provocative collection of more than 350 quotations from some of the extraordinary black American men and women whose words and deeds have shaped our national heritage in innumerable ways from colonial times to the present. The insights and aphorisms collected here are drawn from speeches, autobiographies, essays, interviews, novels, folk sayings, and songs, and are arranged thematically to reflect the subjects most important to the speakers themselves.

Contributors including Maya Angelou, Arthur Ashe, James Baldwin, Ray Charles, Frederick Douglass, Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, Barack Obama, Colin Powell, and Oprah Winfrey exchange views on the enduring obstacle of racism, the struggle for equality, the quest for knowledge, the meaning of love, the importance of family, the role of religion, and the path to and pitfalls of success.

Enhanced with a biographical index of contributors, this profound collection presents a powerful chorus of voices joined in living tribute to the strength and perseverance of African Americans past and present.