Dictionary of African Biography Project
General Editors: Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Executive Editor: Steven J. Niven: sjniven@fas.harvard.edu
DAB Website: http://tinyurl.com/African-Biography
From the Pharaohs to Fanon, the Dictionary of African Biography (DAB) will provide a comprehensive overview of the lives of Africans who shaped its history. The project will be unprecedented in scale covering the whole of the continent from Tunisia to South Africa, from Sierra Leone to Somalia. It will also encompass the full scope of history from Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt (1490-1468 BC) and Hannibal, the military commander and strategist of Carthage (243-183 BC), to Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (1909-1972), singer Miriam Makeba (1932-2008) and statesman Nelson Mandela of South Africa (1918 -). Individuals will be drawn from all walks of life including philosophers, politicians, activists, entertainers, scholars, poets, scientists, religious figures, kings, and everyday people whose lives have contributed to Africa’s history. Oxford University Press will publish a five volume print edition of the DAB containing two thousand biographies in 2011. An online edition of 10,000 biographies will follow.