Religion has always been a focal element in the long and tortured history of American ideas about race. In The Burden of Black Religion, Curtis Evans traces ideas about African American religion from the antebellum period to the middle of the twentieth century. Central to the story, he argues, was the deep-rooted notion that blacks were somehow "naturally" religious. At first, this assumed natural impulse toward religion served as a signal trait of black people's humanity -- potentially their unique contribution to American culture. Abolitionists seized on this point, linking black religion to the black capacity for freedom. Soon, however, these first halting steps toward a multiracial democracy were reversed. As Americans began to value reason, rationality, and science over religious piety, the idea of an innate black religiosity was used to justify preserving the inequalities of the status quo. Later, social scientists -- both black and white -- sought to reverse the damage caused by these racist ideas and in the process proved that blacks were in fact fully capable of incorporation into white American culture. This important work reveals how interpretations of black religion played a crucial role in shaping broader views of African Americans and had real consequences in their lives. In the process, Evans offers an intellectual and cultural history of race in a crucial period of American history.

Accepting the basic premise that Africa is the ancestral homeland of black Americans raises questions as to how much, if any, of African cultural heritage remains within that community. Some claim that the severity of the plantation system and the acculturation process of the slaves could not have left any Africanism in the New World, while others argue that African cultural heritage can still be seen today in many aspects of American life and thought. This volume revisits the debate, examining the ways in which this alleged cultural heritage manifests itself.

A Different Vision: African American Economic Thought brings together for the first time the ideas, philosophies and interpretations of North America's leading African American economists. Presented in two volumes, Volume 1 includes: * An in-depth discussion of the economics of race and gender * Assessments of the contribution and influence of major African American economists and economic philosophies * An examination of racism within the economics profession * An interdisciplinary approach which is largely free of technical jargon The volumes draw the inescapable conclusion that racial inequality has had an immense impact in every sphere of African American life.

In this text, the authors bring together 31 scholars to provide a reference for understanding the impetus for, the development of, and future considerations for the discipline of 'Africana' studies. Topics addressed include epistemological considerationsand humanistic perspectives.

Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Martin Delany--these figures stand out in the annals of black protest for their vital antislavery efforts. But what of the rest of their generation, the thousands of other free blacks in the North? Patrick Rael explores the tradition of protest and sense of racial identity forged by both famous and lesser-known black leaders in antebellum America and illuminates the ideas that united these activists across a wide array of divisions. In so doing, he reveals the roots of the arguments that still resound in the struggle for justice today. Mining sources that include newspapers and pamphlets of the black national press, speeches and sermons, slave narratives and personal memoirs, Rael recovers the voices of an extraordinary range of black leaders in the first half of the nineteenth century. He traces how these activists constructed a black American identity through their participation in the discourse of the public sphere and how this identity in turn informed their critiques of a nation predicated on freedom but devoted to white supremacy. His analysis explains how their place in the industrializing, urbanizing antebellum North offered black leaders a unique opportunity to smooth over class and other tensions among themselves and successfully galvanize the race against slavery.

Racism in Contemporary America is the largest and most up-to-date bibliography available on current research on the topic. It has been compiled by award-winning researcher Meyer Weinberg, who has spent many years writing and researching contemporary and historical aspects of racism. Almost 15,000 entries to books, articles, dissertations, and other materials are organized under 87 subject-headings. In addition, there are author and ethnic-racial indexes. Several aids help the researcher access the materials included. In addition to the subject organization of the bibliography, entries are annotated whenever the title is not self-explanatory. An author index is followed by an ethnic-racial index which makes it convenient to follow a single group through any or all the subject headings. This is a source book for the serious study of America's most enduring problem; as such it will be of value to students and researchers at all levels and in most disciplines.

A story based on accounts of an incident in South Carolina of Igbo resistance to slavery.

Compiles information and interpretations on the past 500 years of African American history, containing essays on historical research aids, bibliographies, resources for womens' issues, and an accompanying CD-ROM providing bibliographical entries.

This rich cultural history of African Americans outlines their travails, triumphs, and achievements in negotiating individual and collective identities to overcome racism, slavery, and the legacies of these injustices from colonial times to the present. One of every five Americans at the nation's beginning was an African American—a fact that underscores their importance in U.S. growth and development. This fascinating study moves from Africans' early contacts with the Americas to African Americans' 21st-century presence, exploring their role in building the American nation and in constructing their own identities, communities, and cultures. Historian and lawyer Thomas J. Davis's multi-themed narrative of compelling content provides a historical overview of the rise of African Americans from slavery and segregation in their anti-racist quest to enjoy equal rights and opportunities to reach the American Dream of pursuing happiness. The work features portraits of individuals and treats images of African Americans in their roles as performers, producers, consumers, and creators, and as the face of social problems such as crime, education, and poverty.