General Editors: Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Executive Editor: Steven J. Niven
From the Pharaohs to Frantz Fanon, the Dictionary of African Biography (DAB) provides a comprehensive overview of the lives of Africans who shaped African history. The project is unprecedented in scale, covering the whole of the continent from Tunisia to South Africa, from Sierra Leone to Somalia. It also encompasses the full scope of history from Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt (1490–1468 BCE) and Hannibal, the military commander and strategist of Carthage (243–183 BCE), to Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (1909–1972), Miriam Makeba (1932–2008), and Nelson Mandela of South Africa (1918–2013). Individuals are 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 published the six-volume, 2100-entry print edition of the DAB in November 2011. That edition was honored with the Library Journal Best Reference Award, General Reference, for 2011.
The DAB continues to solicit entries, with a goal of reaching 10,000 biographies. New online-only entries in 2018 include Maurice Yaméogo, the first ever president of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso); Rabah Madjer, Algerian soccer star, and Toko, an 18th Century Gabonese trader.
All online DAB entries are accessible at http://www.oxfordaasc.com/