Editorial Reviews
Review
" The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939 offers a valuable narrative and reference tool for readers seeking to deepen their understanding of black American history. Its wealth of thoughtful information includes treatments of important themes by leading experts, biographical sketches, chronologies, and biographies. Truly an amazing resource." -- Nell Irvin Painter, Edwards Professor of American History, Princeton University, and author of Creating Black Americans: African-American History and Its Meanings, 1619 to the Present
"This volume is compelling testimony to the remarkable growth of African American studies since World War II. It examines the major developments in African American life and culture during a period in which black men and women confronted and forced American society to reconsider its racial values and practices. In identifying the principal resources and historical themes, the guide is sensitive to the diversity of black expression and black consciousness, to the various ways in which black men and women communicated their feelings, not only through written documents but by drawing on the rich oral expressive tradition that helped to define African Americans, how they perceived themselves, their position in American society, and their relations with the dominant white population." -- Leon Litwack, Alexander F. and May T. Morrison Professor of American History, University of California, Berkeley
Book Description
This book is a multifaceted approach to understanding the central developments in African American history since 1939. It combines a historical overview of key personalities and movements with essays by leading scholars on specific facets of the African American experience, a chronology of events, and a guide to further study.
Marian Anderson's famous 1939 concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial was a watershed moment in the struggle for racial justice. Beginning with this event, the editors chart the historical efforts of African Americans to address racism and inequality. They explore the rise of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements and the national and international contexts that shaped their ideologies and methods; consider how changes in immigration patterns have complicated the conventional "black/white" dichotomy in U.S. society; discuss the often uneasy coexistence between a growing African American middle class and a persistent and sizable underclass; and address the complexity of the contemporary African American experience. Contributors consider specific issues in African American life, including the effects of the postindustrial economy and the influence of music, military service, sports, literature, culture, business, and the politics of self-designation, e.g.,"Colored" vs. "Negro," "Black" vs. "African American".
While emphasizing political and social developments, this volume also illuminates important economic, military, and cultural themes. An invaluable resource, The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939 provides a thorough understanding of a crucial historical period.
The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939 (Columbia Guides to American History and Cultures)
The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939 (Columbia Guides to American History and Cultures),Robert L, Jr. Harris,Rosalyn Terborg-Penn,Columbia University Press,0231138105,1877-1964,1964-,African Americans,General,History,History - U.S.,History: World,Reference,Social History,United States - General,Black studies,History / United States / General,History of specific racial & ethnic groups,Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000,Second World War, 1939-1945,USA
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