About the Author

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. Emmanuel Akyeampong is a Professor of History and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University.

Reviews

"it is perhaps impossible to capture the full diversity of Africa - a continent of one billion people, and the most continuous site of the evolution of the human species on our planet - in 2000 biographies. But the DAB provides arguably the most thorough sampling to date of the astonishing richness and variety of African lives over the past 5000 years."
--The Root
"...the DAB is a major achievement. The DAB is thorough and well edited, and the material is easy to access, making this set worthy of inclusion in all public or university libraries"
--Booklist, starred review

"The combination of scholarly entries and breadth of coverage makes this dictionary a distinctive resource for African biography...Summing Up: Highly recommended."
--CHOICE
"Students of African history in high school and beyond will find this work invaluable for its covearge of precolonial African personalities. It is a landmark resource that will be greatly appreciated by all enthusiasts of African history and culture."
--Library Journal
"They and their contributors have produced a six-volume set that supplies 2,126 well-written and thoroughly-researched biographies. And to their credit, these collective efforts exceed all other previous attempts at creating a biographical reference focused on the entire continent of Africa... a key reference work for academic libraries supporting African studies programs, as well as a valuable addition to nay biographical reference collection" -- Against the Grain