Q & A with Steven Barboza

What was your inspiration for creating The African American Book Of Values?

I wrote the African American Book of Values because I wanted to create a single volume of moral stories for the whole family - stories that reflected the high moral character of black folks in America. I think that blacks' moral legacy has gone unheralded for far too long. We have this long, rich tradition that can offer us valuable and timeless lessons for living in any age.

What authors and kinds of works are featured?

The book contains poems, short stories, biographies, songs, letters, speeches, and much more. For example, there is a story about Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champ, and a story about how blacks settled the West and founded cities like Los Angeles and Chicago. There is a tale about a slave who stole a Confederate ship and sailed it with a crew of slaves to freedom, delivering the boat and its cargo to the Union navy. There is also an excerpt on "how to act" from a book written by a woman known as the Black Miss Manners, Charlotte Hawkins Brown. There are even two short dictionaries - one on jive, another on rap and there's also a chapter on what I call "survival humor," which I believe helped black people cope with the indignities of discrimination.

Why is it so important to have a book of classic moral stories specifically geared towards African American children?

The book is really for everyone, not only African Americans, because I believe people of any ethnic group can benefit from these stories. I chose material about black Americans, however, because I felt there was a need to emphasize that black Americans are as concerned with moral issues as anybody else. For too long, African Americans have been portrayed as lacking in moral judgment, as a people without a long and distinguished moral tradition. The African American Book of Values book proves otherwise and strikes at the heart of such notions. Here in black and white is a 1000 page collection of moral stories that speak for themselves. Not only is this book for people of any ethnic group; it's for people of any age, young or old. For the young, it can be used as a guide for building strong character, for sharpening moral judgment; for older folks, it provides an entertaining look at the goodness of black folks.

This is a great idea. Why hasn't it been done before?

I don't really know the answer. But I can tell you this: An African American book of values has been needed for decades. Black folks have been robbed of their self-esteem, their sense of family, faith, and more, at least in written form. Learning about our history of moral values can only be a positive development. Better late than never.

A compendium of moral stories is always a teaching tool for parents, but how can it work in the face of modern challenges?

Our challenges may be different today, tougher than the ones our parents faced. But human character doesn't really change. No matter how the world changes around us, we still need to encourage our children and ourselves to go through life attuned to our higher selves. It's no big secret that kindness from one person usually engenders kindness from others, and that dignified acts nourish our souls. In a world that has produced such abominable, unspeakable acts of terrorism, we need to rediscover traditional values - to learn to take responsibility for our own actions, to develop respect for others and for ourselves. In short, we need to tip the scales toward goodness. This book is an effort to do just that.

What do you think is the most important message both parents and children can take away from The African American Book Of Values?

That no one race, no one group of people, holds a monopoly on moral values. I want people to know that morality is alive and well among African Americans and that centuries of discrimination could not stamp out a propensity to gravitate to our higher moral selves. There's a lesson in that for anybody.