realism, which suggests the two institutions work collaboratively.

The youth accounts fulfill a

gap in the literature to include their perspectives and illustrate the impact of the “New Jim Crow,”
continuing to separate the nation down color lines (Alexander, 2010). Weissman did not
reference this work, but the author used many of the same resources.
Well-documented and researched the author’s expertise crystallized the student-centered
data. Key concepts and terms are thoroughly explained throughout the book. Weissman connects
socioeconomic factors that ground these stories in the larger societal issue. Additional
appendices, figures, or documentation were not necessary to capture the problem or advance
solutions. This book was a call to action to engage the entire community as stakeholders in the
equal treatment of our youth and support reforms that improve their education and futures.
REFERENCES
Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New
York: New Press.
Carson, E. A. (2015). Prisoners in 2014. (NCJ 248955). Retrieved from
http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p14.pdf
Fasching-Varner, K. J., Mitchell, R. W., Martin, L. L., & Bennett-Haron, K. P. (2014) Beyond
school-to-prison pipeline and toward an educational and penal realism, Equity & Excellence
in Education, 47(4), 410-429. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2014.959285
Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 (GFSA), 20 U.S.C. §8921, §8922, §8923.
•
Balancing Written History with Oral Tradition: The Legacy of the Songhoy People, by Hassimi
Oumarou Maiga. New York and London, Routledge, 2010, $130.00, hardback.
Reviewed by Michael D. Royster, Prairie View A&M University.
As a part of Molefi Asante’s African Studies, History, Politics, Economics and Culture series,
Balancing Written History with Oral Tradition provides more than an account of the Songhoy,
but rather functions as a testament of human civilization. In fifteen concise chapters, Maiga
presents the Songhoy heritage as a microcosm of the world’s great empires which have been
truncated and omitted through Eurocentric education and Western hegemonic propaganda. As a
product of a compilation of ancient manuscripts, documents from colonial France, and the
culmination of the author’s total educational experience, the book introduces a lay audience to
detailed accounts regarding the African culture and its traditions within the historical context of
a variety of eras, as far back as the Sahara prior to its desertion which led to the forced migration
of multiple indigenous societies. Secondary and higher educational curriculum has collectively
ignored the prominent influence ethnic groups from the Sahara had on Europe in terms of
agriculture, commerce, and governance prior to its depopulation. For example, the Ghana Empire
provided an early model for future groups to develop a prosperous and self-sustaining economy.
“Africans have not been able to establish a framework for the protection and autonomous
development of the continent and its people since the momentous defeat of the Songhoy Empire
in 1591” (p. 10). Nevertheless, the author recovers aspects of the Songhoy’s oral and written
tradition and demonstrates its relevance for a 21st century audience.
The book draws its findings from multiple disciplines and methodologies in order to
counteract the hegemonic Eurocentric approach which reduces and often neglects African
pedagogical approaches, including Africa itself, in terms of content. Academia to a large extent
has failed to acknowledge “specific” African contributions toward civilization, but rather merely
stated as a broad abstraction with a marginal position. Yet, examples of such contributions
include: architectural styles, economic practices, and cultivation skills which became highly
essential for survival as future societies increasingly industrialized with enlarged population
density, such that food production can increase efficiency while reducing food scarcity. “Hassimi
Oumarou Maiga reconstructs the Songhoy past with a confidence and appreciation of nuance

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achievable only by a scholar whose personal roots lie in the very same soil, allowing for a
perspective that is both unique and authoritative” (p. 177).
Throughout the text, the author draws the connection between the Songhoy Empire to the
post-colonial Africa and the African Diaspora in terms its rich cultural and historical heritage
based on self-determination and resistance against various forms of terror and forced labor. The
Songhoy like much of Africa has significantly more ethnic diversity than Western propaganda
acknowledges. Prior to Christianity and Islam, the traditional Songhoy embraced an animist way
of life that provided a cultural basis of reverence for nature and a high level of ecological
consciousness. In addition, Songhoy spirituality exemplifies syncretic religious sensibilities due
to the shared proximity and contacts among their various sub-groups resulting in a homogenous
blend of multiple sacred practices and belief systems.
Scholars and lay audiences alike can benefit from the contents of Balancing Written History
with Oral Tradition. Beyond a mere contrast with the a simplified European worldview, Maiga
stresses that a generalized African perspective toward cosmological matters values the use of
individual and collective skills to restore balance and harmony on both micro and macro levels,
and the enabling of economic justice such that it can prevail by making the means for sustenance
increasingly accessible to all people. Chapter 9, for example, exemplifies the importance of the
Songhoy oral tradition in terms of passing down practical wisdom for everyday usefulness and
survival. Such stories and riddles in a memorable form contain profound messages that would
interest and provide relevance to a 21st century Westerner in terms of problem-solving, critical
thinking, and establishing order out of chaos. “Today, however, Africa has lost a lot of its
spiritual values, rites, and ceremonies because of European contact and over-Islamization” (pp.
81-82). Therefore, the importance of the book rests in the idea that many African Americans and
other members of the African Diaspora population collectively quest to recover aspects of their
lesser-known heritage.
_____
Mr. Michael D. Royster is an adjunct faculty member, Division of Social Work, Behavioral and Political
Sciences, Prairie View A&M University, in Prairie View, Texas.

•
Recruiting & Retaining Culturally Different Students in Gifted Education, by Donna Y. Ford,
Ph.D. Waco: Prufrock Press, 2013, 265 pp. $24.95, paperback.
Reviewed by Nadlyn A. Williams, Prairie View A&M University (alumna).
As a peer in the area of education, Donna Y. Ford’s work, Recruiting & Retaining Culturally
Different Students in Gifted Education, was intriguing, considering the disparity in numbers of
African American and Hispanic students in the arena of gifted education. Ford’s background and
experience as a Professor of Education and Human Development, Chair of the Department of
Special Education and Department of Teaching and Learning, Associate Professor in the
Department of Educational Psychology, and her research in gifted and multicultural/urban
education makes her a note-worthy authority on the subject. Ford has to her credit such works
as: Reversing Underachievement Among Gifted Black Students (2011), Multicultural Gifted
Education (2011), Gifted and Advanced Black Students in School: An Anthology of Critical
Works (2011), In Search of the Dream: Designing Schools and Classrooms that Work for High
Potential Students from Diverse Cultural backgrounds (2004), Diverse Learners with
Exceptionalities: Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Inclusive Classroom (2008), and
Teaching Culturally Diverse Gifted Students (2005).
The emphasis in this book, as stated by Donna Ford, “. . . underrepresentation is
fundamentally a function of deficit thinking about Black and Hispanic students, (p. 10) is the
unifying theme. According to Ford, administrators and educators, to whom she so brilliantly
refers to as “gatekeepers,” cannot be colorblind or culture blind. Ford defines culture as those
values, beliefs, attitudes, habits, customs and norms common to a group bound by race, gender,

192 © The Journal of Negro Education, 2017. Vol. 86. No 2

192 ©The Journal of Negro Education, 2017, Vol. 86, No. 2
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reproduction prohibited without permission.