Introduction to Afro-American Studies : A Peoples College Primer

Introduction to Afro-American Studies

A PEOPLES COLLEGE  PRIMER

Contents

Acknowledgments     ...................................................................v
List of Tables           ...................................................................xii

Printing Instructions

1 . INTRODUCTION .................................................. 1

Afro-American Studies:,Who, What, Why, for Whom
Intellectual History     ..............................................
William   'Edward Burghart DuBois      .......................
Carter Godwin Woodson           ................................
Edward Franklin Frazier          ..................................
Langston Hughes         ............................................
The Disciplines        .................................................
The Movement         ................................................
Innovation           ......................................................
Experimentation           .............................................
Institutionalization           ..........................................
The Text          .........................................................
Biology and Race         .............................................
Political Economy and Class        ..............................
Society and Nationality          .....................................
Ideology and Consciousness        ................................

1
6
7
9
11
12
14
15
16
17
19
22
22
23
24
24

2. AFRICA BEFORE AND AFTER THE SLAVE TRADE:
THE AFRO-AMERICAN HERITAGE ................................ 31

Africa: The Continent and Its' People    ..................... Production        ......................................................
Politics       ..........................................................
Religion       ..........................................................
Education         .......................................................
Women and the Family            .................................
Culture           ..........................................................
The European Penetration           ..............................
Colonialism and Imperialism in Africa    ......................

32
34
36
36
37
37
38
39
43

3. COLONIALISM AND THE SLAVE TRADE ........................ 49

Why the Slave Trade          ......................................
Aspects of Capitalist Slavery          ..........................
The Demands for Markets             ...........................
The Struggle for Land         ......................................
The Struggle for Labor         .....................................
The Source of Profit          .......................................
The Impact of the Slave Trade     ...............................

51
54
54
54
55
56
59

4. THE SLAVE EXPERIENCE:
THE MELTING POT OF AFRICAN PEOPLES ......................... 67

The Institution of Slavery         ..................................
Social Organization        ..........................................
Religion and Slavery        ..........................................
Mechanisms Strengthening Slavery    ........................
Mechanisms Weakening Slavery         .......................

67
70
72
74
74

5. THE RURAL EXPERIENCE:
THE EMERGENCE OF THE AFRO-AMERICAN NATIONALITY ..... 81

Tenant Farming        ................................................
Peonage      ...........................................................
Middle-Class Aspects of the Agricultural
Experience                   ...........................................
The Church      ........................................................
Disfranchisement and social repression      .................
Organized Resistance    ...........................................
Decline of Rural Life : Outmigration ............................

83
85

86
87
88
91
95

6. THE URBAN EXPERIENCE:
THE PROLETARIANIZATION OF AFRO- AMERICANS .............. 99

The Urbanization of Blacks     ....................................
The "New Negro"            ...........................................
The Proletarianization of Blacks           ......................
Changes in Social and Cultural Life ...........................
Resistance        .......................................................

101
104
107
111
114

7. BLACK WORKERS AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT .............. 121

Black People in the Work Force     ...........................
Scabs         ............................................................
"Shit-Work"      ......................................................
Labor Reserve         .................................................
Black Workers and Organized Resistance .................
Early National Unions: NLU, CNLU, and the Knights ...
Craft Unionization: AF of L        .................................
"One Big Union": The Wobblies      ...........................
A National Black Union.- The Brotherhood ................
Radicalism: American Negro Labor Congress and
Unemployed Councils          .....................................
Industrial Unionization: CIO and the Black Community
Reactionary Forces: AFL-CIO Merger   .....................
Black Militancy        ................................................
Black Revolutionary Union Movement:
DRUM, the League, BWC        .................................
The Contemporary Scene      ....................................

122
123
124
124
128
128
130
130
132

133
135
137
137

140
142

8. THE BLACK MIDDLE CLASS ................................... 147

The Slave Period     ................................................
The Rural Period     ................................................
The Urban Period     ...............................................
Business        ........................................................
The Professions       ...............................................
Government and the Black Middle Class   ................
The Future of the Black Middle Class ......................

147
151
153
155
157
159
161

9. BLACK CULTURE AND THE ARTS .............................. 167

Traditional African Culture        ..............................
The Slave Period      ............................................
The Rural Period      ............................................
The Urban Period      ............................................
The Arts Movements     ........................................
    The 20s: The Harlem Renaissance   ..................
    The 30a and 40s: The WPA Artists and the Be Bop
    Musicians       .................................................
    The 60s: The Black Arts Movement ..................
Black Culture and Imperialism          ......................

168
170
172
175
176
177

178
182
183

10. RELIGION AND THE BLACK CHURCH ............................ 189

The African Connection       ..................................
The Slave Period      .............................................
The Rural Period         ...........................................
     Social Stability      ...........................................
     Economic Cooperation         ..............................
     Education        .................................................
     Arena of Politic   al Life   ...................................
The Urban Period     ..............................................
     Secularization                ...................................
      Storefront Churches     .....................................
      Black Religious Cults       ..................................
The Contemporary Situation   ...................................

191
192
194
195
196
196
196
198
198
199
200
201

11. BLACK WOMEN AND THE FAMILY ................................. 207

The Slave Period      ............................................
Rural Period          ...............................................
The Urban Period      ............................................

208
212
217

12. EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOL IN THE BLACK
COMMUNITY ...................................................... 227

The Slave Period           ....................................
The Rural Period      ..........................................
The Urban Period      .........................................
    Elementary and Secondary Education .............
    Higher Education    .......................................

229
232
236
238
241

13. BLACK POWER AND THE U.S. POLITICAL SYSTEM ............ 247

Slavery, The Struggle for Human Rights ................
Rural Period: The Struggle for Civil Rights ..............
Urban Period: The Struggle for Equal Rights ...........

248
251
255

14. CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY ....... 265

Legal Action    ......................................................
    The National Association for the Advancement
     of Colored People      .......................................
     The Urban league          ...................................
Mass Struggle     .................................................
     Congress of Racial Equality           ...................
     Southern Christian Leadership Conference ........
     Student Non-violent- Coordinating Committee ...
Electoral Politics     .............................................

268

269
271
272
273
274
280
284

15. NATIONALISM AND PAN-AFRICANISM ........................... 291

The Historical Basis for Black Nationalism ...............
The Historical Basis for Pan-Africanism    .................
Ideological and Political Character of Nationalism .....
The Slave Period      ...............................................
The Rural Period           ...........................................
The Urban Period       ..............................................
    The Role of Malcolm X            ..............................
    Politics       .........................................................
    Culture and Art       ............................................
    The Black Nation         .........................................
    Two Lines on Pan-Africanism in Africa   ................
    Two Lines on Pan-Africanism in the United States ..
The Prospects for Pan-Africanism and Nationalism ...

292
293
294
296
298
301
303
304
307
308
311
311
313

16. MARXISM AND THE BLACK LIBERATION ...................... 319

International Marxist Theory     ..................................
U.S. Marxist Movements    .......................................
Current Tasks.,      ...................................................
Toward a Scientific Approach to Black Liberation ........

320
324
336
337

17. EVERYONE HAS A ROLE TO PLAY ............................... 345

Summary ....................................................
The Future ..................................................

345
348

Bibliography ...................................................................... 353

APPENDICES

Selected Scholarly Journals .................................
Bibliographical Tools in Afro-American Studies .......
Index ................................................................

374
375
377