THE NEGRO PILGRIMAGE IN AMERICA

by C. Eric Lincoln ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 8, 1969

First published by Bantam in 1967 and available in this revised edition in paperback also, this history of the Negro American from his African origins onward is a concise analysis and testimonial, and as such distinct from Goldston's Negro Revolution, probably, its closest counterpart, which is fuller, more dramatic and more polemical. The two complement each other well, for whereas Goldston describes conditions and movements in greater detail, Lincoln dissects them more acutely; he also attends more closely to the accomplishments of individual Negroes and to patterns of Negro life. In the matter of illustration Lincoln has the advantage, making such good use of material from the Schomburg Collection in the early sections that they approximate documentary history (but Goldston alone has photos of DuBois and Garvey, and they are impressive). There is one curious aspect of the Lincoln, however, which may be due to part of it having been written earlier; throughout the author clearly favors orderly processes of change within the American mainstream, and his outdated descriptions of the ""civil rights"" organizations reflect this stance; but with ""The End of the Negro Pilgrimage"" the dream dies--as it did for many blacks--and with ""A New Ethnic Spirit"" he aptly notes that ""Freedom moves from the inside out; not from the outside in."" He also drops the designation Negro for Blackamerican, and one suspects that if he were to rewrite the whole today he would make other changes. Which is not to detract from the book as a discerning interpretation of the black experience, boistered, for reference purposes, with an extensive chronology.

Pub Date: Dec. 8, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Praeger

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION