"This book argues convincingly that children's cultural differences need to be recognized for any accurate understanding of their development. Pointing out the need for additional and more effectively designed research, Harris and Graham provide a valuable foundation for further investigations. This nonpolemic book should be in all libraries, filling an unfortunate gap. Highly recommended."--Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries This major new textbook introduces students to issues that have an impact on the lives of African American children but have typically been ignored (or inadequately discussed) in mainstream child development textbooks. The authors hope to familiarize students with a sampling of research that moves beyond a deficit view of the development of the African American child while stimulating critical thinking about future directions for research on African American children and their families. The book is designed to be student friendly--with each chapter presenting an overview of the material covered as well as an "Insider's Voice" (which offers a personal story or viewpoint about the issues discussed in the chapter). Each chapter goes on to feature a dialogue of current biological, environmental, constructivist, and cultural-contextual theories) as well as suggestions for additional reading, videos, websites, and questions to guide critical thinking.

This book offers new methodologies that require the researcher to develop relationships that may enable them to intimately come to respect and know the "Other" with whom they seek to study.

This book examines the well-being and development of children in black immigrant families (most with parents from Africa and the Caribbean). There are 1.3 million such children in the United States. While children in these families account for 11 percent of all black children in America and represent a rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population, they remain largely ignored by researchers. To address this important gap in knowledge, the Migration Policy Institute's (MPI) National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy embarked on a project to study these children from birth to age ten. Chapters include analysis of the changing immigration flow to the United States; the role of family and school relationships in the well-being of African immigrant children; exploration of the effects of ethnicity and foreign-born status on infant health; and parenting behavior, health, and cognitive development among children in black immigrant families. Contributors include Randy Capps (MPI), Dylan Conger (George Washington University), Cati Coe (Rutgers University-Camden), Danielle A. Crosby (University of North Carolina-Greensboro), Angela Valdovinos D'Angelo (University of Chicago), Elizabeth Debraggio (New York University), Fabienne Doucet (Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development), Sarah Dryden-Peterson (University of Toronto), Angelica S. Dunbar (University of North Carolina-Greensboro), Tiffany L. Green (Virginia Commonwealth University), Megan Hatch (George Washington University), Donald J. Hernandez (Hunter College and City University of New York), Margot Jackson (Brown University), Kristen McCabe (MPI), Lauren Rich (University of Chicago), Amy Ellen Schwartz (New York University), Julie Spielberger (University of Chicago), and Kevin J. A. Thomas (Pennsylvania State University).

'I don't like colored people.' 'He's lazy because he's colored.' Similar attitudes have too many echoes in American society. What distinguishes these particular comments is that they were made by preschool-age children, the former by a five-year-old white, the latter by a four-year-old black. The general public might be amazed to find that statements of this type were made by such young children, yet it is now widely accepted by social scientists that racial attitudes are learned during preschool years.