Biographical studies of Richard Allen, Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Mary Ann Shadd, John Mercer Langston, Henry Highland Garnet, Martin Robison Delany, Peter Humphries Clark, Blanche Kelso Bruce, Robert Brown Elliott, Holland Thompson, Alexander Crummell, Henry McNeal Turner, William Henry Steward, Isaiah T. Montgomery, and Mary Church Terrell.

The Rise and Fall of Modern Black Leadership is designed to show how black leaders responded to the omnipresent racism of twentieth century America. Although the efforts of black leadership eventually succeeded in eradicating de jure discrimination and brought the nation closer to realizing the idealized tenets of American democracy, their achievements occurred at a cost to their influence as leaders of the entire race. Synopses appear on the lives of the influential men and women who comprised the leadership cadre so that readers can understand the motives underlying leadership goals, and comprehend why the lofty objectives of the Civil Rights Movement remain unfulfilled.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of Black leadership in every aspect of American life, including movements for social justice, education, business, and politics. In the quest for human rights and social advancement, African-American leaders have emerged to lead the fight to overcome racial and economic barriers. This struggle has influenced the exercise of Black leadership in many other areas and the author uses an interdisciplinary approach to reveal the changes, continuities, and variety of African-American approaches to effective leadership. The book also suggests a theoretical framework for future research on the impact of Black leadership in America. A wide range of issues are considered in this volume, beginning with the definition of leadership and the concept of Black leadership. Gordon then considers outstanding examples of Black leadership in contemporary America in a variety of fields. Scholars and students in history, political science, and ethnic studies will find this an important resource for understanding Black leadership and its impact on American life.

Biographical studies of fifteen twentieth-century black leaders.

Compiled in this volume is the most significant accumulation of works on the subject of African American leadership to date. As the field of leadership studies continues to grow, this timely work contributes to an understanding of the activities of those people and organizations that have been leaders of people of African descent and have contributed to the cultural and political affairs of the black community, as well as the representation of the black community in mainstream American life. The annotated entries cover a variety of works on subjects such as dedicated black leadership studies, local descriptions and analyses, biographies, leadership organizations, and audio-visual materials. This reference is an important contribution to the field of leadership studies in general, and African American leadership in particular, and will serve as a valuable research tool for educators and practitioners alike. The entries are organized into six sections, which offer a broad overview of the various aspects of African American leadership. Part I, Critical Studies and Appraisals, focuses on the history of works dedicated to both national and local leaders and their politically relevant activities. The next section, Local Leadership Studies, is organized around black leaders who served local communities and the various issues they addressed. Part III looks at relevant social movements and ideologies that have highlighted the activities of black leaders. Individual leaders who have made contributions to the political life of the black community are included in Part IV, while leadership organizations are highlighted in Part V. The concluding section of the volume looks at available audio-visual materials. A thorough index rounds out the bibliography.

A revealing volume that portrays the lives of African Americans in all its variety across the entire 19th century—combining coverage of the pre- and post-Civil War eras. Uniquely inclusive, African Americans in the Nineteenth Century: People and Perspectives offers a wealth of insights into the way African Americans lived and how slave-era experiences affected their lives afterward. Coverage goes beyond well-known figures to focus on the lives of African American men, women, and children across the nation, battling the oppression and prejudice that didn't stop with emancipation while they tried to establish their place as Americans. The book ranges from the African origins of African American communities to coverage of slave communities, female slaves, slave–slave holder relations, and freed persons. Additional chapters look at African Americans in the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow eras. An alphabetically organized "mini-encyclopedia," plus additional information sources round out this eye-opening work of social history.

How a preoccupation with charismatic leadership in African American culture has influenced literature from World War I to the present

James Milton Turner, Missouri's most prominent nineteenth-century African American political figure, possessed a deep faith in America. The Civil War, he believed, had purged the land of its sins and allowed the country to realize what had always been its promise: the creation of a social and political environment in which merit, not race, mattered. Born a slave, Turner gained freedom when he was a child and received his education in clandestine St. Louis schools, later briefly attending Oberlin College. A self-taught lawyer, Turner earned a statewide reputation and wielded power far out of proportion to Missouri's relatively small black population. After working nearly a decade in Liberia, Turner never regained the prominence he had enjoyed during Reconstruction.

The U.S. Supreme Court and the Congressional Black Caucus disagree over how best to protect minority voting rights

Religion and spirituality have been key elements of African-American life since the earliest days of the slave trade