Eamonn Kelly
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265390
- eISBN:
- 9780191760440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265390.003.0015
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines the ways in which the Black Panther Party (BPP) used popular music as a means to represent its ideology and politics to potential supporters during the peak of its activism in ...
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This chapter examines the ways in which the Black Panther Party (BPP) used popular music as a means to represent its ideology and politics to potential supporters during the peak of its activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Following an initial discussion of the ways in which the traditions of the U.S. left and popular music impacted upon the BPP, it explores the idea of black nationalism as understood and represented by the Panthers, its relationship to the traditions of Marxism, and the ways in which this relationship informed the cultural practice of the BPP. Finally, there is an examination of the ‘three moments’ alluded to in the title, a series of musical performances and recordings sponsored by the party.Less
This chapter examines the ways in which the Black Panther Party (BPP) used popular music as a means to represent its ideology and politics to potential supporters during the peak of its activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Following an initial discussion of the ways in which the traditions of the U.S. left and popular music impacted upon the BPP, it explores the idea of black nationalism as understood and represented by the Panthers, its relationship to the traditions of Marxism, and the ways in which this relationship informed the cultural practice of the BPP. Finally, there is an examination of the ‘three moments’ alluded to in the title, a series of musical performances and recordings sponsored by the party.
Jonathon S. Kahn
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195307894
- eISBN:
- 9780199867516
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307894.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Sacvan Bercovitch's influential account of the American Jeremiad swallows the African American jeremiad whole. This chapter argues that Du Bois's African American jeremiads—in their conception of ...
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Sacvan Bercovitch's influential account of the American Jeremiad swallows the African American jeremiad whole. This chapter argues that Du Bois's African American jeremiads—in their conception of America without divine guarantee and riven with dissent, and of African Americans as a distinctly chosen people within America at large—represent a swerve from the Puritan form. First, Du Bois's jeremiads try to imagine a new type of America, a pluralistic democratic America that does not suppress dissent or its fraught history. Du Bois's jeremiads reject the idea of America's divine guarantee, as they reject a steadfast optimism and unshakeable faith in the American experience. The second critical way Du Bois's jeremiads disrupt Bercovitch's norm is in the way he uses them to establish and consolidate what Du Bois calls “A Negro Nation Within the Nation.” Du Bois does not mean by “nation” a separate political entity of African Americans, but a type of cultural, political, and social solidarity within America. For Du Bois, this emphasis on the integrity of black American culture represents a form of black nationalism that extends itself toward a larger pluralistic America.Less
Sacvan Bercovitch's influential account of the American Jeremiad swallows the African American jeremiad whole. This chapter argues that Du Bois's African American jeremiads—in their conception of America without divine guarantee and riven with dissent, and of African Americans as a distinctly chosen people within America at large—represent a swerve from the Puritan form. First, Du Bois's jeremiads try to imagine a new type of America, a pluralistic democratic America that does not suppress dissent or its fraught history. Du Bois's jeremiads reject the idea of America's divine guarantee, as they reject a steadfast optimism and unshakeable faith in the American experience. The second critical way Du Bois's jeremiads disrupt Bercovitch's norm is in the way he uses them to establish and consolidate what Du Bois calls “A Negro Nation Within the Nation.” Du Bois does not mean by “nation” a separate political entity of African Americans, but a type of cultural, political, and social solidarity within America. For Du Bois, this emphasis on the integrity of black American culture represents a form of black nationalism that extends itself toward a larger pluralistic America.
Simon Wendt
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496813657
- eISBN:
- 9781496813695
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496813657.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter looks at black nationalist thought from the 1950s to the 1990s. It argues that “black nationalism” has been a term fraught with inaccuracies and misconceptions. The term would seem to ...
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This chapter looks at black nationalist thought from the 1950s to the 1990s. It argues that “black nationalism” has been a term fraught with inaccuracies and misconceptions. The term would seem to indicate a desire for a separate nation-state, but this was only one aspect of black nationalism. The chapter adopts an understanding of black nationalism that emerged from the Black Power era, calling for racial solidarity and black self-determination, highlighting its postcolonial or anticolonial nature. It also focuses specifically on “paraintellectuals”: black thinkers who did not necessarily originate in academia and who viewed the lived experience of black people as the best route to overcome the problems of black America.Less
This chapter looks at black nationalist thought from the 1950s to the 1990s. It argues that “black nationalism” has been a term fraught with inaccuracies and misconceptions. The term would seem to indicate a desire for a separate nation-state, but this was only one aspect of black nationalism. The chapter adopts an understanding of black nationalism that emerged from the Black Power era, calling for racial solidarity and black self-determination, highlighting its postcolonial or anticolonial nature. It also focuses specifically on “paraintellectuals”: black thinkers who did not necessarily originate in academia and who viewed the lived experience of black people as the best route to overcome the problems of black America.
Derrick E. White
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813037356
- eISBN:
- 9780813041605
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813037356.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This book examines how the Institute of the Black World (IBW), led by historian, theologian, and political activist Vincent Harding, mobilized Black intellectuals in identifying strategy to continue ...
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This book examines how the Institute of the Black World (IBW), led by historian, theologian, and political activist Vincent Harding, mobilized Black intellectuals in identifying strategy to continue the Black Freedom Struggle in the 1970s. Harding and colleagues founded the IBW in Atlanta, Georgia in 1969. Under Harding's leadership, it became an activist think tank that evaluated Black Studies for emerging programs, developed a Black political agenda for the 1970s with Black elected officials and grassroots activists, and mediated ideological conflicts among Black activists. Relying on the input from an array of activist-intellectuals, the IBW eschewed ideological rigidity, whether in the form of liberalism, Marxism, or Black Nationalism, for a synthetic and pragmatic analytic framework forged through debate and designed to generate the largest amount of political and activist support. It used its network of intellectuals and activists to emphasize structural racism and a racialized political economy, each of which was designed to foster broad consensus in the Black activist community on difficult issues in the 1970s.Less
This book examines how the Institute of the Black World (IBW), led by historian, theologian, and political activist Vincent Harding, mobilized Black intellectuals in identifying strategy to continue the Black Freedom Struggle in the 1970s. Harding and colleagues founded the IBW in Atlanta, Georgia in 1969. Under Harding's leadership, it became an activist think tank that evaluated Black Studies for emerging programs, developed a Black political agenda for the 1970s with Black elected officials and grassroots activists, and mediated ideological conflicts among Black activists. Relying on the input from an array of activist-intellectuals, the IBW eschewed ideological rigidity, whether in the form of liberalism, Marxism, or Black Nationalism, for a synthetic and pragmatic analytic framework forged through debate and designed to generate the largest amount of political and activist support. It used its network of intellectuals and activists to emphasize structural racism and a racialized political economy, each of which was designed to foster broad consensus in the Black activist community on difficult issues in the 1970s.
Sara Rzeszutek Haviland
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813166254
- eISBN:
- 9780813166735
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813166254.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
As the civil rights movement gave way to black nationalism, Black Power, and urban unrest, Freedomways and the Communist Party worked to navigate these changes. Jack remained committed to Party work ...
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As the civil rights movement gave way to black nationalism, Black Power, and urban unrest, Freedomways and the Communist Party worked to navigate these changes. Jack remained committed to Party work despite its waning relevance, but his writings on the Angela Davis case and on Vietnam offer examples of his commitment to pressing issues. For Esther, a Popular Front approach to her work at the Freedomways allowed discussion, debate, and the promotion of a range of views on the journal’s pages. Freedomways also became a central part of the transformation of black history and black studies in the 1970s and 1980s. As managing editor, Esther shaped the journal by soliciting, selecting, and publishing articles and responding to correspondence. Esther and Jack continued to support one another while they developed their independent careers and activism.Less
As the civil rights movement gave way to black nationalism, Black Power, and urban unrest, Freedomways and the Communist Party worked to navigate these changes. Jack remained committed to Party work despite its waning relevance, but his writings on the Angela Davis case and on Vietnam offer examples of his commitment to pressing issues. For Esther, a Popular Front approach to her work at the Freedomways allowed discussion, debate, and the promotion of a range of views on the journal’s pages. Freedomways also became a central part of the transformation of black history and black studies in the 1970s and 1980s. As managing editor, Esther shaped the journal by soliciting, selecting, and publishing articles and responding to correspondence. Esther and Jack continued to support one another while they developed their independent careers and activism.
David W. Kling
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195130089
- eISBN:
- 9780199835393
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195130081.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter focuses on the Book of Exodus in the history of African-American Christians. It surveys the biblical exodus and then turns to various African-American understandings and expressions of ...
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This chapter focuses on the Book of Exodus in the history of African-American Christians. It surveys the biblical exodus and then turns to various African-American understandings and expressions of exodus themes in the context of slavery, emancipation, migration, the civil rights movement, and black liberation theology.Less
This chapter focuses on the Book of Exodus in the history of African-American Christians. It surveys the biblical exodus and then turns to various African-American understandings and expressions of exodus themes in the context of slavery, emancipation, migration, the civil rights movement, and black liberation theology.
Kate Dossett
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813031408
- eISBN:
- 9780813039282
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813031408.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This book examines the involvement of women in the fight against racism and segregation which was prevalent in the United States during the early twentieth century. While criticisms on the perceived ...
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This book examines the involvement of women in the fight against racism and segregation which was prevalent in the United States during the early twentieth century. While criticisms on the perceived dichotomy of the stand on racism and segregation of African Americans from the Caucasians existed, this book does not provide any suggestion of the advantage of integrationalism or black nationalism over one another, rather it looks on these two perceived different stands on race divide as a complex, rather than dichotomous, and multiple, rather that a singular, strategy; and it sees interdependent, rather than mutually exclusive, philosophies against racial discrimination. In this book, the involvement of prominent black women, their contributions and their strategies that helped define black feminist thought and curb the racial issue, is examined and analyzed. This book focuses on the political thought and activism exhibited by black women between the founding of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 and the National Council of Negro Women in 1935. Evaluation of the literary endeavors, the activism, and entrepreneurship of some of the prominent women showed that black women challenged the existing dichotomy on the stand against racial discrimination, developed the black feminist tradition, and shaped black nationalism within the feminist framework. Among the studied black women include clubwomen Margaret Murray Washington, Nannie hellen Burroughs and Mary McLeod Bethune; black women leaders Eva Bowles and Cecilia Cabaniss; entrepreneurs Madam J. Walker and A'Lelia Walker; and writers such as Amy Jacques Garvey and Jessie Fauset.Less
This book examines the involvement of women in the fight against racism and segregation which was prevalent in the United States during the early twentieth century. While criticisms on the perceived dichotomy of the stand on racism and segregation of African Americans from the Caucasians existed, this book does not provide any suggestion of the advantage of integrationalism or black nationalism over one another, rather it looks on these two perceived different stands on race divide as a complex, rather than dichotomous, and multiple, rather that a singular, strategy; and it sees interdependent, rather than mutually exclusive, philosophies against racial discrimination. In this book, the involvement of prominent black women, their contributions and their strategies that helped define black feminist thought and curb the racial issue, is examined and analyzed. This book focuses on the political thought and activism exhibited by black women between the founding of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 and the National Council of Negro Women in 1935. Evaluation of the literary endeavors, the activism, and entrepreneurship of some of the prominent women showed that black women challenged the existing dichotomy on the stand against racial discrimination, developed the black feminist tradition, and shaped black nationalism within the feminist framework. Among the studied black women include clubwomen Margaret Murray Washington, Nannie hellen Burroughs and Mary McLeod Bethune; black women leaders Eva Bowles and Cecilia Cabaniss; entrepreneurs Madam J. Walker and A'Lelia Walker; and writers such as Amy Jacques Garvey and Jessie Fauset.
John M. Giggie
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195304039
- eISBN:
- 9780199866885
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304039.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, History of Religion
The conclusion explores the legacies of religious change among Delta blacks, including those who left for Chicago as part of the Great Migration of African American southerners northward beginning in ...
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The conclusion explores the legacies of religious change among Delta blacks, including those who left for Chicago as part of the Great Migration of African American southerners northward beginning in the mid-1910s. It tracks the explosive career of Rosetta Tharpe, a Gospel and blues singer from the Arkansas Delta who embodied the new intersection between the sacred and commercial world. It also reveals how key features of modern black sacred life in Chicago actually took root during in the rural South the post-Reconstruction era, especially black nationalism and Garveyism, the linking of spiritual identity and consumption, and civil rights protests that focused on boycotting racist stores.Less
The conclusion explores the legacies of religious change among Delta blacks, including those who left for Chicago as part of the Great Migration of African American southerners northward beginning in the mid-1910s. It tracks the explosive career of Rosetta Tharpe, a Gospel and blues singer from the Arkansas Delta who embodied the new intersection between the sacred and commercial world. It also reveals how key features of modern black sacred life in Chicago actually took root during in the rural South the post-Reconstruction era, especially black nationalism and Garveyism, the linking of spiritual identity and consumption, and civil rights protests that focused on boycotting racist stores.
D'Weston Haywood
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469643397
- eISBN:
- 9781469643410
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469643397.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter reinterprets the rise of black radicalism as a moment of competing “voices” across competing mass medias amid rapid changes in the black freedom struggle and media landscape of the ...
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This chapter reinterprets the rise of black radicalism as a moment of competing “voices” across competing mass medias amid rapid changes in the black freedom struggle and media landscape of the 1960s. It also reinterprets Malcolm X as a newspaper publisher, a rather underanalyzed side of Malcolm. Black publishers had long considered their papers the “voice” of the race, and Malcolm’s founding of Muhammad Speaks in 1960 to amplify the voice of Elijah Muhammad signified this. Yet, the paper’s founding also marked the beginning of the Nation of Islam’s (NOI) robust media campaign to use various medias—radio, books, and albums of Muhammad’s speeches—to promote Muhammad’s vision for racial advancement over others. His vision promised to redeem black manhood by renewing their lives, a vision displayed through salesmen for Muhammad Speaks. Thus, readers could read both the paper and their bodies. Malcolm, however, made his display through television. But when he began to gain a voice through television that rivaled that of Muhammad’s in print, the NOI’s media campaign turned from promising to renew the lives of black men to promising to take it away. Malcolm became a newspaperman cut short of his full publishing potential.Less
This chapter reinterprets the rise of black radicalism as a moment of competing “voices” across competing mass medias amid rapid changes in the black freedom struggle and media landscape of the 1960s. It also reinterprets Malcolm X as a newspaper publisher, a rather underanalyzed side of Malcolm. Black publishers had long considered their papers the “voice” of the race, and Malcolm’s founding of Muhammad Speaks in 1960 to amplify the voice of Elijah Muhammad signified this. Yet, the paper’s founding also marked the beginning of the Nation of Islam’s (NOI) robust media campaign to use various medias—radio, books, and albums of Muhammad’s speeches—to promote Muhammad’s vision for racial advancement over others. His vision promised to redeem black manhood by renewing their lives, a vision displayed through salesmen for Muhammad Speaks. Thus, readers could read both the paper and their bodies. Malcolm, however, made his display through television. But when he began to gain a voice through television that rivaled that of Muhammad’s in print, the NOI’s media campaign turned from promising to renew the lives of black men to promising to take it away. Malcolm became a newspaperman cut short of his full publishing potential.
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226298245
- eISBN:
- 9780226298269
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226298269.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter focuses on the nationalist politics of the black power era, but not with the intent of bashing the shortcomings of black nationalism during the 1960s and 1970s. It does not hold the ...
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This chapter focuses on the nationalist politics of the black power era, but not with the intent of bashing the shortcomings of black nationalism during the 1960s and 1970s. It does not hold the view, for example, that the black power era represents a moment of decline in the black freedom struggle, where the powerful and persuasive moral claims of Martin Luther King Jr. gave way to the polemics of violence. Instead, the chapter holds the view that much of the politics of the era was premised on problematic conceptions of black identity, black history, and black agency, and also considers the problems of definition that plague accounts of black nationalism. One such problem involves judgments as to the merits of nationalist politics. This problematic evidences itself in two distinctive tendencies: celebratory accounts and hypercritical accounts.Less
This chapter focuses on the nationalist politics of the black power era, but not with the intent of bashing the shortcomings of black nationalism during the 1960s and 1970s. It does not hold the view, for example, that the black power era represents a moment of decline in the black freedom struggle, where the powerful and persuasive moral claims of Martin Luther King Jr. gave way to the polemics of violence. Instead, the chapter holds the view that much of the politics of the era was premised on problematic conceptions of black identity, black history, and black agency, and also considers the problems of definition that plague accounts of black nationalism. One such problem involves judgments as to the merits of nationalist politics. This problematic evidences itself in two distinctive tendencies: celebratory accounts and hypercritical accounts.
GerShun Avilez
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040122
- eISBN:
- 9780252098321
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040122.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This introductory chapter provides a background of Black Nationalism. Black Nationalism is a political philosophy that has played an integral part in African American social thought from the ...
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This introductory chapter provides a background of Black Nationalism. Black Nationalism is a political philosophy that has played an integral part in African American social thought from the nineteenth century forward. There are two main threads of this philosophical tradition: classical and modern. Classical Black Nationalism is a political framework guided primarily by concerns with the creation of a sovereign Black state and uplifting and “civilizing” the race. With regards to Black Nationalist thought in the twentieth century, two moments loom large: Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in the 1910s/1920s and the Black Power Movement in the 1960s/1970s. Modern Black Nationalism is characterized by two specific shifts away from the foundational ideas that governed the classical form. It departs from its predecessor in the general lack of an explicit emphasis on an independent Black nation-state. It also shifts attention to mass culture and Black working-class life.Less
This introductory chapter provides a background of Black Nationalism. Black Nationalism is a political philosophy that has played an integral part in African American social thought from the nineteenth century forward. There are two main threads of this philosophical tradition: classical and modern. Classical Black Nationalism is a political framework guided primarily by concerns with the creation of a sovereign Black state and uplifting and “civilizing” the race. With regards to Black Nationalist thought in the twentieth century, two moments loom large: Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in the 1910s/1920s and the Black Power Movement in the 1960s/1970s. Modern Black Nationalism is characterized by two specific shifts away from the foundational ideas that governed the classical form. It departs from its predecessor in the general lack of an explicit emphasis on an independent Black nation-state. It also shifts attention to mass culture and Black working-class life.
Kate Dosset
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813031408
- eISBN:
- 9780813039282
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813031408.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
High-profile rivalries between black male leaders in the early twentieth century have contributed to the view that integrationism and black nationalism were diametrically opposed philosophies shaped ...
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High-profile rivalries between black male leaders in the early twentieth century have contributed to the view that integrationism and black nationalism were diametrically opposed philosophies shaped primarily by men. Ideas of authenticity and respectability were central to the construction of black identities within black cultural and political resistance movements of the early twentieth century. Unfortunately both concepts have also been used to demonize black middle-class women whose endeavors towards racial uplift are too frequently dismissed as assimilationist and whose class status has apparently disqualified them from performing “authentic” blackness and exhibiting race pride. This book challenges these conceptualizations in an examination of prominent black women leaders' political thought and cultural production in the years between the founding of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 and the National Council of Negro Women in 1935. Through an analysis of black women's political activism, entrepreneurship and literary endeavor, the book argues that black women made significant contributions toward the development of a black feminist tradition which enabled them to challenge the apparent dichotomy between Black Nationalism and integrationism. By exploring the connections between women like the pioneering black hairdresser Madam C. J. Walker and her daughter, A'Lelia, as well as clubwoman Mary McLeod Bethune and United Negro Improvement Association activist Amy Jacques Garvey, the book also makes a contribution to the field of women's history by positioning black women at the forefront of both intellectual and practical endeavors in the struggle for black autonomy.Less
High-profile rivalries between black male leaders in the early twentieth century have contributed to the view that integrationism and black nationalism were diametrically opposed philosophies shaped primarily by men. Ideas of authenticity and respectability were central to the construction of black identities within black cultural and political resistance movements of the early twentieth century. Unfortunately both concepts have also been used to demonize black middle-class women whose endeavors towards racial uplift are too frequently dismissed as assimilationist and whose class status has apparently disqualified them from performing “authentic” blackness and exhibiting race pride. This book challenges these conceptualizations in an examination of prominent black women leaders' political thought and cultural production in the years between the founding of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 and the National Council of Negro Women in 1935. Through an analysis of black women's political activism, entrepreneurship and literary endeavor, the book argues that black women made significant contributions toward the development of a black feminist tradition which enabled them to challenge the apparent dichotomy between Black Nationalism and integrationism. By exploring the connections between women like the pioneering black hairdresser Madam C. J. Walker and her daughter, A'Lelia, as well as clubwoman Mary McLeod Bethune and United Negro Improvement Association activist Amy Jacques Garvey, the book also makes a contribution to the field of women's history by positioning black women at the forefront of both intellectual and practical endeavors in the struggle for black autonomy.
Jonathon S. Kahn
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195307894
- eISBN:
- 9780199867516
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307894.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter argues that Du Bois's religious voice is at its best when it is devoted to reclaiming and recovering the spiritual strivings of black America. The pragmatists understand this project as ...
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This chapter argues that Du Bois's religious voice is at its best when it is devoted to reclaiming and recovering the spiritual strivings of black America. The pragmatists understand this project as one of natural piety, and natural piety represents a crucial religious virtue for pragmatic religious naturalism. Du Bois's uses a pragmatist's natural piety to construct a deep sense of racial loyalty that forms that heart of his understanding of black peoplehood and black nationalism. What's distinctive about Du Bois's natural piety is that he uses it to forge a black nationalism devoted to democratic participation and reform. Democracy, as Du Bois conceives of it, requires thick historical ties to race, or what Du Bois calls a “democracy of race”.Less
This chapter argues that Du Bois's religious voice is at its best when it is devoted to reclaiming and recovering the spiritual strivings of black America. The pragmatists understand this project as one of natural piety, and natural piety represents a crucial religious virtue for pragmatic religious naturalism. Du Bois's uses a pragmatist's natural piety to construct a deep sense of racial loyalty that forms that heart of his understanding of black peoplehood and black nationalism. What's distinctive about Du Bois's natural piety is that he uses it to forge a black nationalism devoted to democratic participation and reform. Democracy, as Du Bois conceives of it, requires thick historical ties to race, or what Du Bois calls a “democracy of race”.
Bruce Nelson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153124
- eISBN:
- 9781400842230
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153124.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter is situated within the framework of the “Green Atlantic” and its relationship to socialism and black nationalism. New York City became a world capital of insurgent movements during and ...
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This chapter is situated within the framework of the “Green Atlantic” and its relationship to socialism and black nationalism. New York City became a world capital of insurgent movements during and after the Great War. The experience of Irish nationalists in New York during this critical decade in Ireland's history—above all, the experience of the Irish Progressive League—further complicates the narrative of Ireland as “sacra insula” and of Irish emigrants as narrowly conservative. The Irish Progressive League, played a critical role in launching one of the most remarkable episodes of Ireland's war for independence—the Irish Patriotic Strike, which took place in New York Harbor for three weeks in August and September 1920. It was a rare moment—when Green and Black came together in a common struggle—but it was followed by Eamon de Valera's public lament that “Ireland is now the last white nation that is deprived of its liberty.”Less
This chapter is situated within the framework of the “Green Atlantic” and its relationship to socialism and black nationalism. New York City became a world capital of insurgent movements during and after the Great War. The experience of Irish nationalists in New York during this critical decade in Ireland's history—above all, the experience of the Irish Progressive League—further complicates the narrative of Ireland as “sacra insula” and of Irish emigrants as narrowly conservative. The Irish Progressive League, played a critical role in launching one of the most remarkable episodes of Ireland's war for independence—the Irish Patriotic Strike, which took place in New York Harbor for three weeks in August and September 1920. It was a rare moment—when Green and Black came together in a common struggle—but it was followed by Eamon de Valera's public lament that “Ireland is now the last white nation that is deprived of its liberty.”
INGRID MONSON
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195128253
- eISBN:
- 9780199864492
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195128253.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
One of the most notable differences between the Down Beat of the 1950s and that of the 1960s is the amount of space devoted to public forums which aired intense and racially polarized debates on ...
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One of the most notable differences between the Down Beat of the 1950s and that of the 1960s is the amount of space devoted to public forums which aired intense and racially polarized debates on these themes. Although these events frequently climaxed with deep divides between black and white participants, secondary splits often occurred as well — between older and younger musicians, between white advocates of color blindness and white leftists sympathetic to black nationalism, and between those for whom merit was measured in relationship to musical standards of mainstream jazz, and those who advocated the unbounded experimentalism of the New Thing. This chapter analyzes two of these panel discussions — “Racial Prejudice in Jazz” (Down Beat, March 1962) and “Point of Contact” (Down Beat Music 1966) — not only for what they reveal about the racial discourse of the 1960s, but also for their ongoing relevance to debates about music and race in the 21st century.Less
One of the most notable differences between the Down Beat of the 1950s and that of the 1960s is the amount of space devoted to public forums which aired intense and racially polarized debates on these themes. Although these events frequently climaxed with deep divides between black and white participants, secondary splits often occurred as well — between older and younger musicians, between white advocates of color blindness and white leftists sympathetic to black nationalism, and between those for whom merit was measured in relationship to musical standards of mainstream jazz, and those who advocated the unbounded experimentalism of the New Thing. This chapter analyzes two of these panel discussions — “Racial Prejudice in Jazz” (Down Beat, March 1962) and “Point of Contact” (Down Beat Music 1966) — not only for what they reveal about the racial discourse of the 1960s, but also for their ongoing relevance to debates about music and race in the 21st century.
Kenneth Robert Janken
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469624839
- eISBN:
- 9781469624853
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469624839.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
The growth of the movement in Wilmington was stimulated by the presence of organizations dedicated to breaking through the suffocating restrictions of paternalism that the white elite of North ...
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The growth of the movement in Wilmington was stimulated by the presence of organizations dedicated to breaking through the suffocating restrictions of paternalism that the white elite of North Carolina and elsewhere deployed to manage the change in the racial order that they were knew they would not be able to stop. The chapter follows three organizations in North Carolina as they promoted their variants of black nationalism and Black Power and struggled to break the gradualist consensus on race liberation: the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice, the Wilmington Movement organized by the North Carolina chapter of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student (later Youth) Organization for Black Unity. Bombastic Black Power rhetoric was part of the three organization’s plans, and the idea that emboldening blacks and scaring whites could shake things up and alter the balance of power. But they tested their theories of social change in practice, and it was through that process that the organizations made gains.Less
The growth of the movement in Wilmington was stimulated by the presence of organizations dedicated to breaking through the suffocating restrictions of paternalism that the white elite of North Carolina and elsewhere deployed to manage the change in the racial order that they were knew they would not be able to stop. The chapter follows three organizations in North Carolina as they promoted their variants of black nationalism and Black Power and struggled to break the gradualist consensus on race liberation: the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice, the Wilmington Movement organized by the North Carolina chapter of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student (later Youth) Organization for Black Unity. Bombastic Black Power rhetoric was part of the three organization’s plans, and the idea that emboldening blacks and scaring whites could shake things up and alter the balance of power. But they tested their theories of social change in practice, and it was through that process that the organizations made gains.
Jeffrey Helgeson
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226130699
- eISBN:
- 9780226130729
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226130729.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter argues that the growing radicalism of black urban politics in the 1950s and 1960s reflected the long-term development of black nationalism as a product of direct experiences of ...
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This chapter argues that the growing radicalism of black urban politics in the 1950s and 1960s reflected the long-term development of black nationalism as a product of direct experiences of persistent racial exclusion and the limits of urban liberalism. The chapter highlights the long and complex history of black nationalism as it played out in institutions as different as the proudly interracial Roosevelt University, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Power neighborhood group known as the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization. Such institutions created points of convention for a new generation of progressive activists whose idiosyncratic, dynamic collaborations created a political culture in which movements for self-help and black power were never wholly divorced from a pragmatic willingness to work across ideological and racial lines, and to continue to make demands on the state in the cause of racial advancement.Less
This chapter argues that the growing radicalism of black urban politics in the 1950s and 1960s reflected the long-term development of black nationalism as a product of direct experiences of persistent racial exclusion and the limits of urban liberalism. The chapter highlights the long and complex history of black nationalism as it played out in institutions as different as the proudly interracial Roosevelt University, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Power neighborhood group known as the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization. Such institutions created points of convention for a new generation of progressive activists whose idiosyncratic, dynamic collaborations created a political culture in which movements for self-help and black power were never wholly divorced from a pragmatic willingness to work across ideological and racial lines, and to continue to make demands on the state in the cause of racial advancement.
INGRID MONSON
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195128253
- eISBN:
- 9780199864492
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195128253.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the purpose of the book, which focuses the arguments and debates that defined the scope of jazz as an aesthetic practice, a social community, and ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the purpose of the book, which focuses the arguments and debates that defined the scope of jazz as an aesthetic practice, a social community, and an economic livelihood — that is, what people fought about as well as agreed upon. Many of these arguments were about race and racism, even when the ostensible subject of discussion was something else, like harmonic choices or swinging. The aim is not only to capture the multiple points of view expressed about music and politics, but also to understand the social and musical logic that informed them. It also discusses the structural significance of Jim Crow policies for the musical world, legal definitions of race, cultural hybridity, Black nationalism, how issues of race mediated between the aesthetic and political views of the modern, and the growth of African American studies since the 1960s.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the purpose of the book, which focuses the arguments and debates that defined the scope of jazz as an aesthetic practice, a social community, and an economic livelihood — that is, what people fought about as well as agreed upon. Many of these arguments were about race and racism, even when the ostensible subject of discussion was something else, like harmonic choices or swinging. The aim is not only to capture the multiple points of view expressed about music and politics, but also to understand the social and musical logic that informed them. It also discusses the structural significance of Jim Crow policies for the musical world, legal definitions of race, cultural hybridity, Black nationalism, how issues of race mediated between the aesthetic and political views of the modern, and the growth of African American studies since the 1960s.
Joshua Clark Davis
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231171588
- eISBN:
- 9780231543088
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231171588.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Economic History
Chapter two examines Black-Power activists who founded scores of bookstores throughout the country in the 1960s and ‘70s, hoping to prompt both a “revolution of the mind” and a transformation of ...
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Chapter two examines Black-Power activists who founded scores of bookstores throughout the country in the 1960s and ‘70s, hoping to prompt both a “revolution of the mind” and a transformation of business culture in black communities. These activists hailed bookstores as information centers where African American community members could meet to learn about and agitate for radical movements for racial equality and black progress. African American booksellers’ sought to further the work of the Black Power movement by affirming racial pride, celebrating black history and identity, and promoting connections to and interest in Africa. As Black Power declined over the course of the 1970s, however, black bookstores were compelled to deal in an ever broader range of black-authored written works, many of them less political in nature.Less
Chapter two examines Black-Power activists who founded scores of bookstores throughout the country in the 1960s and ‘70s, hoping to prompt both a “revolution of the mind” and a transformation of business culture in black communities. These activists hailed bookstores as information centers where African American community members could meet to learn about and agitate for radical movements for racial equality and black progress. African American booksellers’ sought to further the work of the Black Power movement by affirming racial pride, celebrating black history and identity, and promoting connections to and interest in Africa. As Black Power declined over the course of the 1970s, however, black bookstores were compelled to deal in an ever broader range of black-authored written works, many of them less political in nature.
Lisa Siraganian
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199796557
- eISBN:
- 9780199932542
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199796557.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter explores Charles Olson’s and Amiri Baraka’s various ways of letting the body into their writing. Olson’s Maximus (1960-1970), for example, equates fidelity to a viewer’s particular ...
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This chapter explores Charles Olson’s and Amiri Baraka’s various ways of letting the body into their writing. Olson’s Maximus (1960-1970), for example, equates fidelity to a viewer’s particular perception and body with fidelity to meaning, privileging American immigrant experiences in the process. He imagines that the puff of air he breathes (when speaking a word) can be an element of that world—like a piece of newspaper—captured by the poet. Drawing on archival sources, we see how Olson injects his pluralist poetics with the administrative ideology he developed in the 1940s at the US Office of War Information. Such a relationship between perception, politics, breath, and meaning also characterizes Amiri Baraka’s early writing (as LeRoi Jones), when he identifies Olson’s influence on his work in “How You Sound??” (1960). Although Baraka’s Black Nationalist poetry of the 1960s and early 1970s explicitly rejects white American poetry, his adoption of Olson’s poetics of identity emphasizes racial qualities of voice over the meaning of words.Less
This chapter explores Charles Olson’s and Amiri Baraka’s various ways of letting the body into their writing. Olson’s Maximus (1960-1970), for example, equates fidelity to a viewer’s particular perception and body with fidelity to meaning, privileging American immigrant experiences in the process. He imagines that the puff of air he breathes (when speaking a word) can be an element of that world—like a piece of newspaper—captured by the poet. Drawing on archival sources, we see how Olson injects his pluralist poetics with the administrative ideology he developed in the 1940s at the US Office of War Information. Such a relationship between perception, politics, breath, and meaning also characterizes Amiri Baraka’s early writing (as LeRoi Jones), when he identifies Olson’s influence on his work in “How You Sound??” (1960). Although Baraka’s Black Nationalist poetry of the 1960s and early 1970s explicitly rejects white American poetry, his adoption of Olson’s poetics of identity emphasizes racial qualities of voice over the meaning of words.