African American Political Thought: A Collected History

Published by University of Chicago Press 2021

African American Political Thought

A Collected History

Edited by: Melvin L. Rogers and Jack Turner

https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226726076

Overview
Contents

About this book

African American Political Thought offers an unprecedented philosophical history of thinkers from the African American community and African diaspora who have addressed the central issues of political life: democracy, race, violence, liberation, solidarity, and mass political action. Melvin L. Rogers and Jack Turner have brought together leading scholars to reflect on individual intellectuals from the past four centuries, developing their list with an expansive approach to political expression. The collected essays consider such figures as Martin Delany, Ida B. Wells, W. E. B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Audre Lorde, whose works are addressed by scholars such as Farah Jasmin Griffin, Robert Gooding-Williams, Michael Dawson, Nick Bromell, Neil Roberts, and Lawrie Balfour.

While African American political thought is inextricable from the historical movement of American political thought, this volume stresses the individuality of Black thinkers, the transnational and diasporic consciousness, and how individual speakers and writers draw on various traditions simultaneously to broaden our conception of African American political ideas. This landmark volume gives us the opportunity to tap into the myriad and nuanced political theories central to Black life. In doing so, African American Political Thought: A Collected History transforms how we understand the past and future of political thinking in the West.

Author information

Melvin L. Rogers is associate professor of political science at Brown University. He is the author of The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality, and the Ethos of Democracy. Jack Turner is associate professor of political science at the University of Washington. He is the author of Awakening to Race: Individualism and Social Consciousness in America.

Reviews

“For far too long, mainstream white American political theorists, whether in political science or political philosophy, have gotten away with the construction of a Jim Crow canon for which black thinkers are separate, unequal, and invisible. This groundbreaking and comprehensive overview of the African American political tradition should henceforth make such intellectual ghettoization impossible.”

— Charles W. Mills, The City University of New York

“African American Political Thought should become an instant classic. So much to mine here. So many lines of inquiry to follow. Rogers and Turner have masterfully curated a collection of essays that will guide the field of African American political thought for generations. The study of American political thought will never be the same.”

— Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Princeton University

“This book is an essential intervention in political theory and expands the notion of the canon of American political thought in ways that are both necessary and profound. Herein we begin to understand the richness of the legacies of politics reasoned from margin to center and the critical impact that can have on conceptions of democracy and justice. A must-read for those interested in understanding American politics and seriously engaging political theory.”

— Deva Woodly, The New School

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Political Theorizing in Black: An Introduction Melvin Rogers and Jack Turner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 Phillis Wheatley and the Rhetoric of Politics and Race Vincent Carretta Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
2 David Walker: Citizenship, Judgment, Freedom, and Solidarity Melvin Rogers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	52
3 Martin Delany’s Two Principles, the Argument for Emigration, and Revolutionary Black Nationalism Robert Williams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
4 Harriet Jacobs: Prisoner of Hope Nick Bromell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
5 Frederick Douglass: Nonsovereign Freedom and the Plurality of Political Resistance Sharon Krause Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	116
6 Alexander Crummell’s Three Visions of Black Nationalism Frank Kirkland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
7. Booker T. Washington and the Politics of Deception Desmond Jagmohan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
8 Anna Julia Cooper: Radical Relationality and the Ethics of Interdependence Carol White Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	192
9 Ida B. Wells on Racial Criminalization Naomi Murakawa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
10 W. E. B. Du Bois: Afro- modernism, Expressivism, and the Curse of Centrality Paul Taylor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
11 Marcus Garvey: The Black Prince? Michael Dawson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	260
12 A. Philip Randolph: Radicalizing Rights at the Intersection of Class and Race Michael McCann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	290
13 Zora Neale Hurston’s Radical Individualism Farah Griffin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	314
14 George S. Schuyler: Post- Souls Satirist Jeffrey Ferguson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	330
15 C. L. R. James: Race, Revolution, and Black Liberation Anthony Bogues Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	352
16 Langston Hughes’s Ambivalent Political Expressivism Jason Frank Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	367
17 Thurgood Marshall: The Legacy and Limits of Equality under the Law Daniel Moak Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	386
18 Richard Wright: Realizing the Promise of the West Tommie Shelby Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	413
19 Bayard Rustin: Between Democratic Theory and Black Political Thought George Shulman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	439
20 Ralph Ellison: Democratic Theorist Danielle Allen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	460
21 James Baldwin: Democracy between Nihilism and Hope John Drabinski Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	481
22 Malcolm X: Dispatches on Racial Cruelty Nikhil Singh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	497
23 Martin Luther King: Strategist of Force David Chappell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	516
24 Toni Morrison and the Fugitives’ Democracy Lawrie Balfour Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	541
25 Audre Lorde’s Politics of Difference Jack Turner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	563
26 Stokely Carmichael and the Longing for Black Liberation: Black Power and Beyond Brandon Terry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	593
27 Huey P. Newton and the Last Days of the Black Colony Cedric Johnson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	631
28 Angela Y. Davis: Abolitionism, Democracy, Freedom Neil Roberts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	660
29 Clarence Thomas: Race Pessimism and Black Capitalism Corey Robin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	685
30 Cornel West and the Black Prophetic Tradition Mark Wood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	705
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	731
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	733
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	759

Language: English
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 808
Keywords: angela; davis; books; black; women; history; capitalism; liberation; revolution; critical race theory; marxism; alice walker; web dubois; racism; united states; frederick douglass; nationalism; bookert washington; ida b wells; marcus garvey; langston huges; clarence thomas; power

eBook

Published: May 7, 2021
ISBN: 9780226726076