The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939

This book is a multifaceted approach to understanding the central developments in African American history since 1939. It combines a historical overview of key personalities and movements with essays by leading scholars on specific facets of the African American experience, a chronology of events, and a guide to further study.

Marian Anderson's famous 1939 concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial was a watershed moment in the struggle for racial justice. Beginning with this event, the editors chart the historical efforts of African Americans to address racism and inequality. They explore the rise of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements and the national and international contexts that shaped their ideologies and methods; consider how changes in immigration patterns have complicated the conventional "black/white" dichotomy in U.S. society; discuss the often uneasy coexistence between a growing African American middle class and a persistent and sizable underclass; and address the complexity of the contemporary African American experience. Contributors consider specific issues in African American life, including the effects of the postindustrial economy and the influence of music, military service, sports, literature, culture, business, and the politics of self-designation, e.g.,"Colored" vs. "Negro," "Black" vs. "African American".

While emphasizing political and social developments, this volume also illuminates important economic, military, and cultural themes. An invaluable resource, The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939 provides a thorough understanding of a crucial historical period.

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The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939

This book is a multifaceted approach to understanding the central developments in African American history since 1939. It combines a historical overview of key personalities and movements with essays by leading scholars on specific facets of the African American experience, a chronology of events, and a guide to further study.

Marian Anderson's famous 1939 concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial was a watershed moment in the struggle for racial justice. Beginning with this event, the editors chart the historical efforts of African Americans to address racism and inequality. They explore the rise of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements and the national and international contexts that shaped their ideologies and methods; consider how changes in immigration patterns have complicated the conventional "black/white" dichotomy in U.S. society; discuss the often uneasy coexistence between a growing African American middle class and a persistent and sizable underclass; and address the complexity of the contemporary African American experience. Contributors consider specific issues in African American life, including the effects of the postindustrial economy and the influence of music, military service, sports, literature, culture, business, and the politics of self-designation, e.g.,"Colored" vs. "Negro," "Black" vs. "African American".

While emphasizing political and social developments, this volume also illuminates important economic, military, and cultural themes. An invaluable resource, The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939 provides a thorough understanding of a crucial historical period.

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The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939

The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939

The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939

The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939

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Overview

This book is a multifaceted approach to understanding the central developments in African American history since 1939. It combines a historical overview of key personalities and movements with essays by leading scholars on specific facets of the African American experience, a chronology of events, and a guide to further study.

Marian Anderson's famous 1939 concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial was a watershed moment in the struggle for racial justice. Beginning with this event, the editors chart the historical efforts of African Americans to address racism and inequality. They explore the rise of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements and the national and international contexts that shaped their ideologies and methods; consider how changes in immigration patterns have complicated the conventional "black/white" dichotomy in U.S. society; discuss the often uneasy coexistence between a growing African American middle class and a persistent and sizable underclass; and address the complexity of the contemporary African American experience. Contributors consider specific issues in African American life, including the effects of the postindustrial economy and the influence of music, military service, sports, literature, culture, business, and the politics of self-designation, e.g.,"Colored" vs. "Negro," "Black" vs. "African American".

While emphasizing political and social developments, this volume also illuminates important economic, military, and cultural themes. An invaluable resource, The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939 provides a thorough understanding of a crucial historical period.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780231510875
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication date: 06/27/2006
Series: Columbia Guides to American History and Cultures
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 456
File size: 1 MB

About the Author

Robert L. Harris Jr. is professor of African American history in the Africana studies and research center at Cornell University. The author of Teaching African American History, he has been a W. E. B. Du Bois Fellow at Harvard University.Rosalyn Terborg-Penn is professor of history emerita at Morgan State University. She is the author of African American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850-1929 and the coeditor of several titles, including Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part I: Historical Narrative, by Robert L. Harris Jr. and Rosalyn Terborg-Penn
Interpreting African American History Since 1939
Foundations of the Movement, 1939-57
The Civil Rights Movement, 1955-65
Black Power / Black Consciousness, 1965-75
A Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty
Part II: Key Themes in African American History Since 1939
Naming Ourselves: The Politics and Meaning of Self-designation, by Rosalyn Terborg-Penn
Looking Backward: African Americans in the Postindustrial Era, by Robin D. G. Kelley
African Americans in the Military, by Brenda L. Moore
African Americans in Sports: The Other Champions, by Sundiata Djata
African Americans in Literature and the Arts, by Kevin Gaines and Penny M. Von Eschen
Black Music and Black Possibility: From Be-Bop to Hip-Hop, by Craig Werner
Black Business Development, by Juliet Walker
Part III: Chronology, 1939-2005, by Robert L. Harris Jr.
Part IV: A-Z Entries, by Robert L. Harris Jr. with the assistance of Michelle R. Scott
Part V: Resource Guide, by Debra Newman Ham

What People are Saying About This

Leon Litwack

This volume is compelling testimony to the remarkable growth of African American studies since World War II. It examines the major developments in African American life and culture during a period in which black men and women confronted and forced American society to reconsider its racial values and practices. In identifying the principal resources and historical themes, the guide is sensitive to the diversity of black expression and black consciousness, to the various ways in which black men and women communicated their feelings, not only through written documents but by drawing on the rich oral expressive tradition that helped to define African Americans, how they perceived themselves, their position in American society, and their relations with the dominant white population.

Leon Litwack, Alexander F. and May T. Morrison Professor of American History, University of California, Berkeley

Nell Irvin Painter

The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939 offers a valuable narrative and reference tool for readers seeking to deepen their understanding of black American history. Its wealth of thoughtful information includes treatments of important themes by leading experts, biographical sketches, chronologies, and biographies. Truly an amazing resource.

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