Blacks in and out of the left / Michael C. Dawson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dawson, Michael C., 1951-

Series:

W.E.B. du Bois Lectures

The W. E. B. Du Bois lectures

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

African Americans.

African Americans--Politics and government--21st century.

African Americans--Race identity--Political aspects.

Political culture--United States--History.

Political culture.

Right and left (Political science)--History.

Right and left (Political science).

Social movements--United States--History.

Social movements.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The radical black left that played a crucial role in twentieth-century struggles for equality and justice has largely disappeared. Michael Dawson investigates the causes and consequences of the decline of black radicalism as a force in American politics and argues that the conventional left has failed to take race sufficiently seriously as a historical force in reshaping American institutions, politics, and civil society. African Americans have been in the vanguard of progressive social movements throughout American history, but they have been written out of many histories of social liberalism. Focusing on the 1920's and 1930's, as well as the Black Power movement, Dawson examines successive failures of socialists and Marxists to enlist sympathetic blacks, and white leftists' refusal to fight for the cause of racial equality. Angered by the often outright hostility of the Socialist Party and similar social democratic organizations, black leftists separated themselves from these groups and either turned to the hard left or stayed independent. A generation later, the same phenomenon helped fueled the Black Power movement's turn toward a variety of black nationalist, Maoist, and other radical political groups. The 2008 election of Barack Obama notwithstanding, many African Americans still believe they will not realize the fruits of American prosperity any time soon. This pervasive discontent, Dawson suggests, must be mobilized within the black community into active opposition to the social and economic status quo. Black politics needs to find its way back to its radical roots as a vital component of new American progressive movements.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1. Foundational Myths

Chapter 2. Power To The People?

Chapter 4. Modern Myths

References

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674074071

0674074076

9780674074019

0674074017

OCLC:

843114595