African Americans in The Books Store

The Color of Liberty addresses four major themes: the evolution of race as an idea in France; representations of "the other" in French literature, art, government, and trade; the international dimensions of French racial thinking, particularly in relation to colonialism; and the impact of racial differences on the shaping of the modern French city. The many permutations of race in French history—as assigned identity, consumer product icon, scientific discourse, philosophical problem, by-product of migration, or tool in empire building—here receive nuanced treatments confronting the malleability of ideas about race and the uses to which they have been put.

"Wilson Moses' Classical Black Nationalism with spare and economical brushstrokes, delimits the phenomenon to the quest for national self-determination or autonomy for blacks. Classical Black Nationalism represents the distilled knowledge of many years of sustained research into the intellectual foundations of what is the lengthiest tradition of dissent in American history."
—Robert A. Hill
Editor of the Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers

"A most useful grounding for those interested in gaining a foundation for the study of black nationalism. The selection of sources is judicious and economical—yet, fully adequate to 'tell the story.' Moses's introduction is masterful; rather than being driven by any specific ideological predisposition, his interpretive voice is clearly rendered, yet fair."
—William L. Van Deburg
author of New Day in Babylon: The Black Power Movement and American Culture, 1965-1975

"This work fills a large void in the scholarship on black nationalism; Moses' work is based on a wide reading and its introduction demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the issues involved."
—Vernon J. Williams
author of Rethinking Racism and From a Caste to a Minority

Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in modern black nationalist leaders such as Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X. But what of the ideological precursors to these modern leaders, the writers, and leaders from whose intellectual legacy modern black nationalism emerged? Wilson Jeramiah Moses, whom the Village Voice called one of the foremost historians of black nationalism, has here collected the most influential speeches, articles, and letters that inform the intellectual underpinnings of contemporary black nationalism, returning our focus to black nationalism at its inception.

The goal of early black nationalists was the return of the African-American population to Africa to create a sovereign nation-state and to formulate an ideological basis for a concept of national culture. Most early black nationalists believed that this return was directed by the hand of God. Moses examines the evolution of black nationalist thought through several phases, from its proto-nationalisic phase in the late 1700s through a hiatus in the 1830s, through its flourishing in the 1850s, its eventual eclipse in the 1870s, and its resurgence in the Garvey movement of the 1920s.

Moses provides us with documents that illustrate the motivations of both whites and blacks as they sought the removal of the black population. We hear from Thomas Jefferson, who held that it was self-evident that black and white populations could not intermingle on an equal basis or merge to form one happy society, and who toyed with the idea of a mass deportation of the black American population. We see that the profit motive is an important motive behind any nationalist movement in the letters between African American capitalists Paul Cuffe and James Forten. Among the more difficult selections to classify in this collection, Robert Alexander Young's Ethiopian Manifesto prophesied the coming of a prophetic liberator of the African race. The Christian nature of nineteenth century black nationalism is evident in Blyden's The Call of Providence.

Moses rounds out the volume with contributions from more well- known voices such as those of Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Dubois, and others. Classical Black Nationalism will serve as a point of departure for anyone interested in gaining a foundational knowledge of the disparate voices behind this often discussed but seldom understood movement.

The author looks at the role black conservatives play in American politics and at their attempts to have a positive impact on the lives of black Americans, also known as "African Americans", a term many black conservatives don't accept. They say black people in the United States are just "Americans," and may be "Black Americans" but not "African Americans."

Subjects covered include perspectives black conservatives share on issues such as affirmative action, racism, poverty, self-reliance, welfare, drugs, crime and illegitimacy among blacks; the criminal justice system and how it affects blacks; and why black conservatives differ with other blacks on those issues.

It is also a critique of "The Bell Curve," a book that has inflamed passions especially among blacks, and of the views some black conservatives have expressed on racial IQ differences which have fuelled debate on this highly explosive subject.

The author also looks at the policy and philosophical differences and at differences in perceptions between black conservatives and their brethren in the black community.

Why do black conservatives oppose affirmative action? Why do they support the Republican party? Why don't they have much support in the black community? Why are they called traitors by some of their own people, fellow blacks?

Why do they say racism is no longer a major problem in the United States and that black people are their own number one problem and have only themselves to blame if they don't succeed in life?

Those are just some of the subjects addressed in the book.

The author writes from personal experience after living and interacting with African Americans of all ideological stripes for more than 30 years.

His interest in Black America spans the ideological spectrum and covers other aspects of life including relations between Africans and African Americans.

He has written a book about those relations in which he also addresses the black conservative phenomenon in the United States.

Like all his others books, "Black Conservatives in the United States" is intended for members of the general public and the academic community.