Creating Black Americans: African-American History and Its Meanings, 1619 to the Present

by Painter, Nell Irvin

• ISBN13: 9780195137569
• ISBN10: 0195137566
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780195137552
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-08-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

Here is a magnificent account of a past rich in beauty and creativity, but also in tragedy and trauma. Eminent historian Nell Irvin Painter blends a vivid narrative based on the latest research with a wonderful array of artwork by African American artists, works which add a new depth to ourunderstanding of black history. Painter offers a history written for a new generation of African Americans, stretching from life in Africa before slavery to today's hip-hop culture. The book describes the staggering number of Africans--over ten million--forcibly transported to the New World, most doomed to brutal servitudein Brazil and the Caribbean. Painter looks at the free black population, numbering close to half a million by 1860 (compared to almost four million slaves), and provides a gripping account of the horrible conditions of slavery itself. The book examines the Civil War, revealing that it only slowlybecame a war to end slavery, and shows how Reconstruction, after a promising start, was shut down by terrorism by white supremacists. Painter traces how through the long Jim Crow decades, blacks succeeded against enormous odds, creating schools and businesses and laying the foundations of ourpopular culture. We read about the glorious outburst of artistic creativity of the Harlem Renaissance, the courageous struggles for Civil Rights in the 1960s, the rise and fall of Black Power, the modern hip-hop movement, and two black Secretaries of State. Painter concludes that African Americanstoday are wealthier and better educated, but the disadvantaged are as vulnerable as ever. Painter deeply enriches her narrative with a series of striking works of art--more than 150 in total, most in full color--works that profoundly engage with black history and that add a vital dimension to the story, a new form of witness that testifies to the passion and creativity of theAfrican-American experience. * Among the dozens of artists featured are Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Beauford Delaney, Jacob Lawrence, and Kara Walker * Filled with sharp portraits of important African Americans, from Olaudah Equiano (one of the first African slaves to leave a record of his captivity) and Toussaint L'Ouverture (who led the Haitian revolution), to Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, to Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X

Author Biography

Nell Irvin Painter is the Edward Professor of American History at Princeton. A former Director of Princeton's Program in African-American Studies, she is the author of Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol and Standing at Armageddon: The United States 1877-1919.

Table of Contents

Preface	xv
Acknowledgments	xxi
Africa and Black Americans	3	(20)
``African'' Americans and Africa	3	(13)
Ethiopianism: Ancient Egypt + Cush + Ethiopia = the Negro Race	7	(2)
Absent Africa	9	(1)
Black Scholars in an African Diasporic Framework	10	(2)
Black Nationalism and the New Negro Movement	12	(1)
The Call for Racial Art	12	(2)
Textbook Recognition of African History	14	(1)
Ghana	14	(1)
Mali	15	(1)
Songhay	15	(1)
African-American Artists Encounter Independent Africa	16	(7)
Conclusion	18	(2)
Timeline	20	(1)
Review Questions	20	(1)
Discussion Questions	21	(2)
Captives Transported, 1619--ca. 1850	23	(24)
1619 and Two Early Slave-Trade Narratives	24	(7)
The Founders of Black America	25	(6)
The Atlantic Slave Trade	31	(7)
The Scale of the Forced Migration	32	(2)
Three Stages of the Journey	34	(4)
Artists Represent the Atlantic Slave Trade	38	(9)
Conclusion	43	(1)
Timeline	44	(1)
Review Questions	45	(1)
Discussion Questions	45	(2)
A Diasporic People, 1630--ca. 1850	47	(22)
Religion in the African Diaspora	48	(8)
Dimensions of African-American Religion	49	(5)
Christian Themes in Black Art	54	(2)
Spirituals	56	(1)
Language and Literature in the African Diaspora	56	(2)
Ethnic and Racial Identities	58	(5)
Africans and Indians	59	(2)
Africans and Europeans	61	(2)
``Mulatto Population''	63	(1)
Minority Status	63	(2)
The Black Population Lived Throughout North America	65	(4)
Conclusion	65	(1)
Timeline	66	(1)
Review Questions	67	(1)
Discussion Questions	67	(2)
Those Who Were Free, ca. 1770--1859	69	(22)
American and Haitian Revolutions	70	(6)
Black Soldiers in the American Revolution	70	(2)
Petitioning for Emancipation and Civil Rights	72	(2)
The Haitian Revolution	74	(2)
Free People in the United States	76	(8)
Free Black People at Work	78	(1)
Education and Voluntary Associations	78	(2)
Protest in Word and Deed	80	(1)
Black Abolitionists	81	(3)
The Reach of Slavery Lengthens	84	(7)
Conclusion	86	(2)
Timeline	88	(1)
Review Questions	89	(1)
Discussion Questions	89	(2)
Those Who Were Enslaved, ca. 1770--1859	91	(24)
The Enslaved Lay the Foundations of the American Economy	92	(4)
Enslaved Laborers	93	(3)
The Domestic Slave Trade	96	(2)
Slavery: A Dehumanizing Institution	98	(5)
Physical Trauma	98	(1)
Psychological Trauma	99	(1)
What Slavery Cost Slaves	100	(1)
The Value System That Slaves Took from Slavery	101	(1)
Family and Religion as Protection Against Dehumanization	102	(1)
Undermining Slavery	103	(12)
Conspiracies and Insurrections	103	(1)
Running Away	104	(2)
The Underground Railroad	106	(1)
Harriet Tubman, Moses of Her People	106	(5)
Conclusion	111	(1)
Timeline	112	(1)
Review Questions	112	(1)
Discussion Questions	113	(2)
Civil War and Emancipation, 1859--1865	115	(26)
Sectional Tensions Leading to War	117	(1)
A War About Union, Not About Slavery	118	(3)
Rebuff of Black Volunteers	118	(1)
Fugitive Slaves as ``Contraband of War''	119	(1)
Pressure to Enlist Blacks	120	(1)
Emancipation and Colonization	120	(1)
The War Against Slavery	121	(6)
The Emancipation Proclamations	122	(1)
Black Regiments in the Union Army	123	(2)
Summer 1863: The Turning Point	125	(1)
Struggles over Officers and Equal Pay	125	(2)
African Americans in the War Effort	127	(3)
Two Hundred Thousand Black Soldiers and Sailors	127	(2)
Spies, Scouts, Guides, and Nurses	129	(1)
Memorializing African Americans in the Civil War	130	(4)
Slavery Destroyed	134	(7)
Conclusion	137	(1)
Timeline	138	(1)
Review Questions	139	(1)
Discussion Questions	139	(2)
The Larger Reconstruction, 1864--1896	141	(20)
Making Freedom Real	142	(9)
Reuniting Families and Finding Work	142	(2)
Land Ownership: Forty Acres and a Mule	144	(1)
Education for Freedpeople	145	(2)
Freedpeople's Churches	147	(1)
Voting and Holding Office	148	(3)
The Destruction of Democracy	151	(10)
White Supremacist Violence	151	(1)
Exodus to Kansas of 1879	152	(1)
Undermining of Black Civil Rights by the Supreme Court	153	(1)
African Americans and Indians	154	(2)
What Reconstruction Did	156	(1)
Conclusion	157	(1)
Timeline	158	(1)
Review Questions	159	(1)
Discussion Questions	159	(2)
Hard-Working People in the Depths of Segregation, 1896--ca. 1919	161	(28)
Struggle, Survival, and Success	163	(15)
Hard-Working People	163	(1)
Sharecropping, Debt, and Prison	163	(3)
Educational Gains	166	(4)
Black Professionals	170	(1)
The Golden Age of Black Business	170	(2)
Black Towns and Churches: Havens from Racist Oppression	172	(1)
New Black Music	173	(2)
Black Athletes	175	(1)
Countering Antiblack Stereotypes	175	(3)
White Supremacy: An Attempt to Halt Black Success	178	(11)
White Supremacy: Disfranchisement	178	(1)
White Supremacy: Segregation	179	(1)
Lynching and Antilynching Campaigns	180	(3)
Conclusion	183	(3)
Timeline	186	(1)
Review Questions	187	(1)
Discussion Questions	187	(2)
The New Negro, 1915--1932	189	(26)
The Great Migration	190	(3)
The First World War: Struggle on Two Fronts	193	(13)
Black Military Bands Introduce Jazz	198	(1)
Antiblack Riots and the Red Summer of 1919	199	(2)
The New Negroes' Initiatives	201	(2)
The Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)	203	(3)
The Harlem Renaissance	206	(9)
Music of the Harlem Renaissance	206	(2)
Literature of the Harlem Renaissance	208	(2)
Scholarship of the Harlem Renaissance	210	(1)
Art of the Harlem Renaissance	211	(1)
Conclusion	211	(1)
Timeline	212	(1)
Review Questions	213	(1)
Discussion Questions	213	(2)
Radicals and Democrats, 1930--1940	215	(24)
The Depression Crisis	216	(7)
Catastrophic Black Unemployment	217	(1)
The New Deal and Political Realignment	217	(2)
The Scottsboro Cases and Protests Against Lynching	219	(2)
``Don't Buy Where You Can't Work'' Boycotts and Self-Help Campaigns	221	(2)
The New Deal	223	(7)
New Deal Goals and Programs	223	(1)
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Black Artists	224	(4)
African Americans Confront New Deal Racism	228	(1)
The ``Black Cabinet''	229	(1)
Black Activism Increases in Depth and Range	230	(9)
African Americans Rally to Support Ethiopia	230	(2)
Black Heroes of the Depression Years	232	(2)
Fighting Racial Oppression in the Courts	234	(1)
Campaigns for Civil Rights and Workers' Rights in the South	234	(1)
Conclusion	235	(1)
Timeline	236	(1)
Review Questions	237	(1)
Discussion Questions	237	(2)
The Second World War and the Promise of Internationalism, 1940--1948	239	(22)
Struggles at Home and Abroad	239	(9)
Familiar Issues	240	(1)
The ``Double Vee'' Strategy and the FEPC	240	(1)
Black Men and Women in the Second World War	241	(4)
Black Flyers Disprove Stereotypes and Win Medals	245	(1)
The Battle for Civil Rights in the South	246	(2)
``No Such Thing as the Status Quo''	248	(13)
The Invention of Bebop	248	(2)
Broadened Horizons, Increased Opportunities	250	(1)
The Promise of the United Nations	250	(2)
Post-war Confrontations in the South over Citizenship Rights	252	(1)
The Truman Administration and the Progressive Party Embrace Black Civil Rights	253	(1)
Migration and Increased Incomes: Long-Term Changes Wrought by War	254	(2)
Conclusion	256	(2)
Timeline	258	(1)
Review Questions	259	(1)
Discussion Questions	259	(2)
Cold War Civil Rights, 1948--1960	261	(28)
Human Rights in a Cold War Context	262	(8)
Anti-Communism Eclipses Internationalism	262	(3)
Brown v. Board of Education and Cold War Politics	265	(1)
Southern ``Massive Resistance'' to Legal Desegregation	266	(2)
New Segregation: The Growth of All-White Suburbs	268	(2)
Activism and Anger	270	(8)
The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955--1956	270	(2)
Desegregation of Little Rock, Arkansas, Central High School	272	(1)
Unremitting Antiblack Violence Stirs Bitterness and Anger	273	(3)
The Nation of Islam Grows	276	(2)
African-American Visibility in the Mainstream Culture	278	(11)
Black Intellectuals Speak to America and Are Heard	278	(3)
The Growing Popularity of African-American Music	281	(4)
Conclusion	285	(1)
Timeline	286	(1)
Review Questions	287	(1)
Discussion Questions	287	(2)
Protest Makes a Civil Rights Revolution, 1960--1967	289	(28)
The Early 60s: Action Direct and Indirect	290	(13)
Student Movements of the Early 1960s	290	(4)
The Protests of 1963, the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation	294	(5)
Freedom Summer, Mississippi, 1964	299	(1)
Malcolm X's Evolution from the NOI to Pan-Africanism, 1964--1965	300	(3)
Mid-1960s Legislation and Opposition	303	(14)
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Great Society	303	(2)
The Vietnam War Consumes the Great Society's Resources	305	(1)
Urban Revolts of the Mid-1960s	306	(2)
Background Causes of the Riots	308	(4)
Conclusion	312	(2)
Timeline	314	(1)
Review Questions	315	(1)
Discussion Questions	315	(2)
Black Power, 1966--1980	317	(32)
The Emergence of Black Power	318	(6)
Black Power as Self-Definition and Self-Defense	319	(2)
The Black Panther Party	321	(3)
Cultural Nationalism: Emphasis on African Roots	324	(4)
Black Power After 1968	328	(21)
Assassination and Aftermath	328	(7)
Angry Reaction in Vietnam	335	(3)
Black Power Workers, Artists, Feminists, and Intellectuals	338	(5)
Black Power Lives On	343	(1)
Conclusion	343	(3)
Timeline	346	(1)
Review Questions	347	(1)
Discussion Questions	347	(2)
Authenticity and Diversity in the Era of Hip-Hop, 1980--2005	349	(28)
Racial Politics and Economics After Black Power: Increased Diversity	350	(11)
Affirmative Action: Controversial and Effective	350	(2)
Black Conservatives Gain Prominence	352	(2)
Black Democrats: More Numerous, More Influential	354	(2)
Black Voters Disfranchised in the 2000 Presidential Election	356	(1)
The Reparations Movement	357	(2)
Reclaiming Black History	359	(1)
Afrocentrism Provokes Controversy	360	(1)
African Americans Remake American Culture	361	(16)
Hip-Hop Culture Presents a New Vision of the Inner City	363	(5)
Opportunity in the Military, Opposition to War	368	(3)
Conclusion	371	(1)
Timeline	372	(2)
Review Questions	374	(1)
Discussion Questions	375	(2)
Epilogue: A Snapshot of African Americans in the Early Twenty-First Century	377	(16)
The Black Middle Class	378	(2)
Family Structure Influences Class	380	(1)
Wealth: A Sound Measure of Financial Well-being	380	(2)
African Americans at the Extremes of Wealth and Poverty	382	(2)
The Crisis of Drugs and Incarceration	384	(1)
The War on Drugs Sends Hundreds of Thousands of African Americans to Prison	384	(3)
Poor Health: A Chronic Problem for African Americans	387	(1)
Racial and Ethnic Diversity of African Americans	388	(2)
African Americans Are People of the City	390	(2)
Review Questions	392	(1)
Discussion Questions	392	(1)
Notes	393	(40)
Further Reading	433	(5)
Artists Whose Work Appears in Creating Black Americans	438	(22)
Picture Credits	460	(4)
Index	464