The Black Revolution on Campus - by Martha Biondi (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The Black Revolution on Campus is the definitive account of an extraordinary but forgotten chapter of the black freedom struggle. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Black students organized hundreds of protests that sparked a period of crackdown, negotiation, and reform that profoundly transformed college life. At stake was the very mission of higher education. Black students demanded that public universities serve their communities; that private universities rethink the mission of elite education; and that black colleges embrace self-determination and resist the threat of integration. Most crucially, black students demanded a role in the definition of scholarly knowledge.

Martha Biondi masterfully combines impressive research with a wealth of interviews from participants to tell the story of how students turned the slogan "black power" into a social movement. Vividly demonstrating the critical linkage between the student movement and changes in university culture, Biondi illustrates how victories in establishing Black Studies ultimately produced important intellectual innovations that have had a lasting impact on academic research and university curricula over the past 40 years. This book makes a major contribution to the current debate on Ethnic Studies, access to higher education, and opportunity for all.

From the Back Cover

"Martha Biondi's superb book is a pioneering treatment of the integral role of courageous black students in the turbulent 60s. In our age of the Occupy Movement, we badly need this wonderful work!"--Cornel West, author of Race Matters

"The Black Revolution on Campus is a passionate and powerful piece of scholarship about a dramatic moment in the evolution of American universities: the period in the 1960s and 1970s when the Black Power Movement clashed with the liberal sensibilities of Western cultural empire building. Biondi carefully demonstrates why this era of intellectual insurgency, led by Black students and their white allies, was significant. It allowed those whose stories had been left out of the curriculum to begin to speak truth to power. But it also made space for other movements (such as feminism and gay rights) to become important parts of the contemporary academic curriculum. Biondi invites the reader to do more than bear witness to an important scholarly debate about the role of black studies on college campuses in the 1960s and 1970s. Her probing analysis illuminates enduring yet evolving truths about our larger culture and its myths of American life."--Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

"The Black Revolution on Campus is the first comprehensive account detailing the struggles for black studies within institutions of higher education in the United States. It suggests the enduring salience, and at times bitter consequences, of black struggles for inclusion, representation, and autonomy on college campuses and within university curricula. I know of no other work of its kind, and certainly no work as definitive."--Nikhil Pal Singh, author of Black is a Country: Race and the Unfinished Struggle for Democracy

"Martha Biondi's The Black Revolution on Campus is a judicious and empathetic history of the Black student movement. Reading the book reminds us of the forgotten stories and remarkable individuals who forged the organizations that moved history along. It makes us recognize how much the good side of the contemporary American academy is indebted to the courage and commitment of the people who put themselves on the line to bring justice into institutions that are often smug about their values and their own history. The promise of the Black Revolution is unfinished. Biondi's book is a reminder of those tasks that remain."--Vijay Prashad, author of Uncle Swami: South Asians in America Today

Review Quotes

"The most comprehensive account of black studies founding generations. . . . [A] nuanced telling of the creation of black studies programs."-- "Journal of American History"

"The Black Revolution on Campus does contribute to our understanding of 1960s black student activism and the rise of Black Studies, and deserves close examination."-- "Journal of African American History"

"Biondi's book is a very powerful chronicle of the struggle and strategizing that moved seemingly immovable institutions toward change."-- "Souls"

"Biondi's work offers a fresh perspective on the student protest era, acknowledging the major and overlooked contributions of Black students."-- "Booklist"

"Deep and interesting. . . . Provides a sweeping view of the birth of Black studies. . . . Biondi succeeds in creating a first-rate book that should be considered necessary reading for those interested in student activism and in stiutional change, current debates on ethnic studies, and black intellectual history."-- "American Historical Review"

"Enriches our understanding of the vital, if often undervalued and understudied, role of black students in linking campus radicalism to broader struggles for racial and economic justice and in calling public attention to issues of diversity in higher education. . . . The Black Revolution on Campus is a valuable addition to our understanding of the modern black freedom movement, student activism, and the institutionalization of black studies as an agent of change in higher education."-- "Academe"

"Thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and a fascinating piece of history . . . an exceptional piece of scholarship, and a book greatly worth reading."-- "Washington Spectator"

About the Author

Martha Biondi is Professor of African American Studies and History at Northwestern University. She is the author of To Stand and Fight: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Postwar New York City.