This book contains a collection of biographies of black men and women innovators, within a workbook format, that will provide the reader with a step-by-step program for problem solving. It is the intention of the author to provide middle school through college students, practical tools for applying the process of critical thinking to their studies using the lives of important African-American innovators.
This book can be used as a historical guide to the innovations of African-American men and women. It can be used as an object lesson that outlines the steps that are necessary for all innovators to succeed in their particular endeavors. And it can also be used as a program for innovation, creativity and problem solving.
For black people, living in a white world, the sheer irrationality of being measured by the color of one’s skin undermines a faith in the logic of objective and critical thinking. How can one believe in an objective truth that is changed at the whim of an oppressor? But by the same token we have see that a lack of objective logic has continued to deny all oppressed people to the true halls of power; that power within us all that celebrates our true self-worth and calls on us all to do something unique with our lives.
As black people, trapped in the mirror image of white oppression, it is easy to blame history’s tragic tapestry for today’s unbalanced problems. We are all a product of the past. Yet, sometimes we imagine deeper hurts that we’ve actually experienced! Oppression is not unique to black people. Thus if we are to learn from the collective struggles of our histories, we must seize the present time to remake our future and prepare a better place for our children.
Therefore, in order to make the transition from a victim to a whole person, we must focus our attention on specific steps towards that liberation. We must clearly identify the questions we most want to solve. We must analyze those questions without prejudice or pre-conceived ideas. And we must think hard about the particular solutions to our problem – before we act! It is important that we stay open and take advantage of the input from others in selecting and implementing our solutions. And we must be vigilant in evaluating the solutions we put in place so that they work and take us to the outcome we want. In short it is imperative that we apply critical thinking to our lives on a daily basis.
This workbook offers a methodical process for exploring a step-by-step program, which is suitable for use with middle school through college students, connecting them to the theoretical world of science and the practical world of decision-making.
GREAT BLACK
INNOVATORS &
PROBLEM SOLVING
PROCESS
