BLACK NATIONALISM IN AMERICA

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1969

A collection of writings, speeches and documents chosen by three Midwestern professors (Meier co-authored the classic Negro Protest Thought in the Twentieth Century, 1965). The introduction quite successfully defines terms, identifying non-exclusive varieties of black nationalism from the minimal concept of racial solidarity to extreme separatist programs, and sketches a history of black movements and attitudes in America. The first part, ""Origins,"" presents source material on churches, colonization societies, etc. The ""Maturation"" selections (1840's and '50's) include convention reports and an early cultural nationalist statement. The ""Flowering"" section features postbellum speeches on race pride, ""accommodation,"" separation, and four examples of early ""bourgeois economic nationalism,"" as well as five DuBois selections and cultural nationalist expressions from 1891 to 1925. Part four, ""Eclipse,"" includes the 1947 Communist Party position and a Randolph statement for the March on Washington. Under ""Revival"" the rubrics are Islam, Malcolm X, cultural revolution, black power, black capitalism, and revolutionary nationalism: there are Student demands, two Black Panther sources, a Floyd McKissick brochure, a Republic of New Africa statement, and the constitution of the black auto workers' movement DRUM. The two editorial comments could well have been longer; in different ways with different premises Meier and Rudwick, then Bracey, suggestively discuss nationalist tendencies in different Negro social classes. A bigger proportion of recent documents might have augmented the book's usefulness, but it certainly transcends the routine and should sustain a considerable appeal.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION