African-American Social and Political Thought: 1850-1920

by Brotz, Howard

• ISBN13: 9781560005636
• ISBN10: 1560005637
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1991-01-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In bringing together the most characteristic and serious writings by black scholars, authors, journalists, and educators from the years that preceded the modem civil rights movement, African-American Social and Political Thought provides a comprehensive guide to the range and diversity of black thought. The volume offers a deep history of how the terms of contemporary debate over the future of black Americans were formed. The writings assembled here reveal a tension and a thread between two essential poles of thought. These include those voices that clearly projected civic assimilation as the goal of black aspiration, and those who described how this aim would be achieved, as well as nationalist or separatist voices that despaired of ever having a dignified future in a biracial society. These two positions reflect the most fundamental questions faced by any minority group. In his forceful and courageous introduction to this new edition, Howard Brotz relates the thoughts and reflections of these black thinkers to the social and political situation of blacks in America today and argues against the political orthodoxy and sociological determinism that perpetuates the image of the black as a perennial and passive victim. In the scope and quality of its contents, African-American Social and Political Thought is a unique, invaluable source book for cultural historians, sociologists, and students of black history.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSACTION EDITION	ix	(20)
FOREWORD	xxix	(1)
PREFACE	xxx
INTRODUCTION TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION: A GUIDE TO THE MATERIALS	i
PART I Emigration	37	(162)
MARTIN R. DELANY	37	(75)
The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States (abridged)	37	(64)
Official Report of the Niger Valley Exploring Party (excerpt)	101	(11)
EDWARD W. BLYDEN	112	(28)
The Call of Providence to the Descendants of Africa in America	112	(14)
The African Problem and the Method of Its Solution	126	(14)
JAMES T. HOLLY A Vindication of the Capacity of the Negro Race for Self-Government and Civilized Progress	140	(31)
ALEXANDER CRUMMELL	171	(20)
The Relations and Duties of Free Colored Men in America to Africa (excerpt)	171	(9)
The Race Problem in America	180	(11)
AFRICAN CIVILIZATION SOCIETY Constitution	191	(8)
PART II Assimilation	199	(284)
HENRY HIGHLAND GARNET The Past and the Present Condition, and the Destiny of the Colored Race (excerpt)	199	(4)
FREDERICK DOUGLASS	203	(129)
What Are the Colored People Doing for Themselves?	203	(5)
An Address to the Colored People of the United States	208	(5)
Prejudice Not Natural	213	(2)
The Nature of Slavery	215	(5)
Letter to Harriet Beecher Stowe	220	(6)
The Claims of the Negro Ethnologically Considered	226	(18)
The Doom of the Black Power	244	(3)
Speech on the Dred Scott Decision	247	(15)
African Civilization Society	262	(5)
The Present and Future of the Colored Race in America	267	(10)
What the Black Man Wants	277	(7)
Address before the Tennessee Colored Agricultural and Mechanical Association	284	(14)
The Civil Rights Case	298	(9)
The Future of the Negro	307	(1)
The Future of the Colored Race	308	(3)
The Nation's Problem	311	(17)
The Folly of Colonization	328	(4)
T. THOMAS FORTUNE	332	(19)
Education	332	(4)
Political Independence of the Negro	336	(8)
Solution of the Political Problem	344	(7)
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON	351	(113)
The Educational Outlook in the South	351	(5)
Atlanta Exposition Address	356	(3)
Our New Citizen	359	(3)
Democracy and Education	362	(9)
Address Delivered at Hampton Institute	371	(2)
Letter to the Louisiana State Constitutional Convention	373	(3)
An Interview on the Hardwick Bill	376	(3)
On Making Our Race Life Count in the Life of the Nation	379	(3)
Early Problems of Freedom	382	(14)
Progress of the American Negro	396	(5)
The Negro and the Labor Problem of the South	401	(5)
The Fruits of Industrial Training	406	(11)
The American Negro and His Economic Value	417	(6)
The Intellectuals and the Boston Mob	423	(11)
The Mistakes and the Future of Negro Education	434	(11)
Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance?	445	(15)
My View of Segregation Laws	460	(4)
ARCHIBALD H. GRIMKE Modern Industrialism and the Negroes of the United States	464	(19)
PART III Cultural Nationalism	483	(70)
WILLIAM EDWARD BURGHARDT DU BOIS	483	(70)
The Conservation of Races	483	(9)
The Philadelphia Negro (excerpt)	492	(17)
Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others	509	(9)
The Talented Tenth	518	(15)
Declaration of Principles of the Niagara Movement	533	(4)
Resolutions of the Niagara Movement	537	(2)
The Evolution of the Race Problem	539	(14)
PART IV The Revival of Political Nationalism	553	(24)
MARCUS GARVEY	533	(24)
Race Assimilation	553	(1)
The True Solution of the Negro Problem	554	(1)
An Appeal to the Soul of White America	555	(4)
Racial Reforms and Reformers	559	(1)
Who and What Is a Negro?	560	(2)
An Appeal to the Conscience of the Black Race to See Itself	562	(4)
The Negro's Place in World Reorganization	566	(2)
Aims and Objects of Movement for Solution of Negro Problem	568	(4)
Racial Ideals	572	(5)
Sources and Acknowledgments	577	(4)
Index	581