cover image Practical Virtues: Everyday Values and Devotions for African American Families

Practical Virtues: Everyday Values and Devotions for African American Families

Floyd H. Flake. Amistad Press, $24.95 (390pp) ISBN 978-0-06-009060-9

In a treasure trove of African-American spirituality, Revs. Floyd Flake and Elaine McCollins Flake offer Practical Virtues: Everyday Values and Devotions for African American Families. While the title might suggest another simplistic niche devotional with bite-sized expressions of spiritual wisdom, the book actually offers an incomparably rich selection of historical writings by, for and about African-Americans. Here we find snippets from the memoir of Rosa Parks, the speeches of Sojourner Truth, the poetry of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks and the socio-political writings of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. (Polar opposites in their approaches a century ago, Washington and DuBois actually seem at home appearing cheek-by-jowl in this collection.) The writings are organized around spiritual virtues such as courage, diligence, faith, honesty, love, loyalty and service.