Your choice of a gift for African-American men are really not that different from those you would get for men of any other ethnicity. It depends largely on the man's personality and which things interest him the most. Also get gift ideas by observing his conversations regarding certain items he has been wanting to get for a long time. And if you're short on cash, you can create a personalized gift with inexpensive supplies from an arts and crafts store.

If you're a grandmother, you can give your loved one a homemade storybook that details your family history dating back to when you were a child all the way until the present time. Include a good balance of humorous and solemn moments in the stories, and also paste a few family pictures on the top of each page of the book. Be sure to include the names of important cities, birth dates and death dates in case the recipient of the gift wants to research his family in depth.

For the man who traveled to various countries throughout his life, you can give him a gift bag filled with music CDs that represent each country he visited. For example, if your spouse spent a lot of time in South America in recent months, purchase music from contemporary artists in Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Colombia along with three or four books that describe the history of South American music traditions.

If your loved one or good friend always reads about current events, you can give him a subscription to magazines such as Time, Newsweek, The Weekly Standard and Businessweek. When choosing which magazine subscription to get, think about his political views as well as what topics he discusses the most regarding politics and cultural issues.

Another idea is to give him a basket of baked goods and bring it to his job. Some good treats to include in the basket are chocolate chunk pecan brownies, mini sweet potato pies, coconut cake squares, apple-pear crisp or ginger cinnamon cornbread squares with maple syrup glaze. Also include a personalized card that states your appreciation and love for him.