This volume includes the first 15 papers in a 32-paper collection. After a prologue by Mkhululi David Graham Du Bois entitled "Seeking Truth in Research", the papers are: (1) "`Knowledge is Light, Knowledge is Power': African American Education in Antebellum America" (Christopher M. Span); (2) "Curriculum, Culture, and Power: Reshaping the Education of African Americans" (William H. Watkins); (3) "The Changing Faces of Education for African Americans after Brown: Equity, Excellence, Choice, Vouchers, and Privatization" (Frank Brown); (4) "Language, Race, and Schooling: A Conceptual and Historical Legacy of Educational Language Policies and Politics Affecting the Ethnolinguistic Minority Child of African Descent" (Rodney K. Hopson); (5) "Family and School Environments Working Together to Impact Academic Achievement in African American Adolescents" (DeMarquis Hayes and Michael Cunningham); (6) "Battling before Birth: Institutionalized Barriers to the Health and Well-Being of African American Children" (Jeanita W. Richardson); (7) "African American Violence Exposure: An Emerging Health Issue" (Alvin L. Killough, Wendy L. Webster, Valerie B. Brown, Eric Houch, Christopher L. Edwards, and Patrick E. Logue); (8) "Dashed Hopes and Withered Dreams: Alternative Schools for Boys who `Don't Fit In'" (Christopher Dunbar, Jr. and Reitumetse Obakeng Mabokela); (9) "From Classrooms to Cellblocks: African American Juveniles in the Justice System" (Carol Camp Yeakey); (10) "Sports, Opportunities, and the American Dream: Athletic Investment and Mobility Aspirations of Ethnically Diverse High School Students" (Amber Rodriguez and Jomills Henry Braddock II); (11) "`Leaving No Child Behind': Examining Issues of School Reform and Social Justice" (Beverly D. Epps and Harriet R. Morrison); (12) "Historical and Developmental Perspectives on Black Academic Achievement: Debunking the `Acting White' Myth and Posing New Directions for Research" (Margaret Beale Spencer, William E. Cross, Jr., Vinay Harpalani and Tyhesha N. Goss); (13) "The Imputation of Black Inferiority: Does it Contribute to the Achievement Gap?" (Barbara A. Sizemore); (14) "The More Things Change...Trends in Identification with Academics among Minority Students from 1972-1992" (Jason W. Osborne); and (15) "One Size Does Not Fit All: An Examination of Issues in Enhancing the Academic Achievement of African American Pre-College Students" (Diane S. Pollard and Olga M. Welch). (Papers contain references.) (SM)