Modern Black Nationalism - Annotated by William L Van Deburg (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

More than fifty prominent thinkers on the development and lasting legacy of black nationalism in America

Since its dramatic growth under Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association during the 1920s, black nationalism has played a central role in American political and intellectual life. In Modern Black Nationalism, William L. Van Deburg has collected the most influential speeches, pamphlets, and articles that trace the development of black nationalism in the 20th century.

Beginning with Marcus Garvey, the acknowledged father of the 20th-century movement, William L. Van Deburg here provides a showcase of the work of more than fifty prominent thinkers including Louis Farrakhan, Elijah Muhammad, Maulana Karenga, the founder of Kwanzaa, Amiri Baraka and Molefi Asante. Rare pamphlets distributed by organizations such as the Black Panther Party, articles from underground magazines, and memos from governmental officials offer a fresh look at the roots and the manifestations of this movement.

From the Back Cover

Since its dramatic growth under Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association during the 1920s black nationalism has played a central role in American political and intellectual life. Although its popularity has waxed and waned, black nationalism's ability to attract and captivate the minds of a range of people from diverse backgrounds has remained remarkably vital over the years.

Review Quotes

"In this clearly written and widely researched biography Winston James has brought back from unwarranted historical obscurity the life and work of the Pan-Africanist, John Brown Russwurm, a pioneer in the struggle for freedom and equality in the US and Africa in the first half of the nineteenth century."
-Richard Blackett, author of "Building an Antislavery Wall: Black Americans in the Atlantic Abolitionist Movement, 1830-1860".

"This is the most authoritative scholarly introduction so far to the life of John Russwurm, that enigmatic founder of black nationalism, and the most accessible sampling of his works. Professor James has performed a service to the profession."
-Wilson J. Moses, author of "The Golden Age of Black Nationalism, 1850-1925"

"Winston James' sensitive, probing, and absorbing portrait of John Brown Russwurm restores this pivotal but little-known activist to the prominent status he deserves. Editor, educator, abolitionist, colonizationist, Pan-African polemicist--Russwurm assumed all of these roles in a life that stretched from the Caribbean to Canada and America to Africa. James' insightful book shows how he moved from place to place, and cause to cause, with seeming ease. The Struggles of John Brown Russwurm will delight and please both scholars and students of the Black Atlantic for some time to come."
-Richard S. Newman, author of "Freedom's Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers"/

"The discerning light that James focuses on Russwurm is a significant contribution to the literature of the antislavery movement." -H. Shapiro, "Choice Magazine"