Fighting for US : Maulana Karenga, the US organization, and Black cultural nationalism / Scot Brown ; foreword by Clayborne Carson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, Scot, 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Karenga, Maulana.

US (Organization)--History.

US (Organization).

Black nationalism--United States--History--20th century.

Black nationalism.

African American political activists.

History.

United States.

Black power--United States--History--20th century.

Black power.

African American political activists--Biography.

African Americans--Race identity.

African Americans.

African Americans--Intellectual life--20th century.

African Americans--Intellectual life.

African Americans--Politics and government--20th century.

African Americans--Politics and government.

United States--Race relations.

Race relations.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xvii, 228 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, [2003]

Summary:

In spite of the ever-growing popularity of Kwanzaa, the story of the influential Black nationalist organization behind the holiday has never been told. Fighting for US explores the fascinating history of the US Organization, a Black nationalist group based in California that played a leading role in Black Power politics and culture during the late 1960s and early 1970s whose influence is still felt today. Advocates of Afrocentric renewal, US unleashed creative and intellectual passions that continue to fuel debate and controversy among scholars and students of the Black Power movement. Founded in 1965 by Maulana Karenga, US established an extensive network of alliances with a diverse body of activists, artists, and organizations throughout the United States for the purpose of bringing about an African American cultural revolution. Fighting for US presents the first historical examination of US's philosophy, internal dynamics, political activism, and influence on African American art, making an elaborate use of oral history interviews, organizational archives, Federal Bureau of Investigation files, newspaper accounts, and other primary sources of the period.

This book also sheds light on factors contributing to the organization's decline in the early 1970s -- government repression, authoritarianism, sexism, and elitist vanguard politics. Previous scholarship about US has been shaped by a war of words associated with a feud between US and the Black Panther Party that gave way to a series of violent and deadly clashes in Los Angeles. Venturing beyond the lingering rhetoric of rivalry, this book illuminates the ideological similarities and differences between US's "cultural" nationalism and the Black Panther Party's "revolutionary" nationalism. Today, US's emphasis on culture has endured as evidenced by the popularity of Kwanzaa and Afrocentrism in Black art and popular media. Engaging and original, Fighting for US will be the definitive work on Maulana Karenga, the US organization, and Black cultural nationalism in America.

Contents:

2 From Ron Everett to Maulana Karenga: The Intellectual and Political Bases for the US Organization 6

3 Memory and Internal Organizational Life 38

4 The Politics of Culture: The US Organization and the Quest for Black Unity 74

5 Sectarian Discourses and the Decline of US in the Era of Black Power 107

6 In the Face of Funk: US and the Arts of War 131

7 Kwanzaa and Afrocentricity 159.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 165-215) and index.

ISBN:

0814798772

0814798780

OCLC:

51842268