Rethinking Racial Uplift : : Rhetorics of Black Unity and Disunity in the Obama era
Book - 2023 305.896 Ma, Black Studies 305.896 Ma 2 On Shelf No requests on this item
Sign in to request
Locations
Call Number: 305.896 Ma, Black Studies 305.896 Ma
On Shelf At: Downtown Library
Location & Checkout Length | Call Number | Checkout Length | Item Status |
---|---|---|---|
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout |
305.896 Ma | 4-week checkout | On Shelf |
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout |
Black Studies 305.896 Ma | 4-week checkout | On Shelf |
Introduction -- Race, class, and fear in twenty-first-century America -- Slaves to the community: Blacks and the rhetoric of selling out -- Black man's burden: the rhetoric of racial uplift -- Identification, division, and the rhetoric of Black disunity -- Divided loyalty: race, class, and place in the affirmative action debate -- Blacks and the rhetoric of individualism -- Conclusion.
"In 1903, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote about the Talented Tenth in an influential essay of the same name. The concept exalted college-educated Blacks who Du Bois believed could provide the race with the guidance it needed to surmount slavery, segregation, and oppression in America. Although Du Bois eventually reassessed this idea, the rhetoric of the Talented Tenth resonated, still holding sway over a hundred years later. In Rethinking Racial Uplift: Rhetorics of Black Unity and Disunity in the Obama Era, author Nigel I. Malcolm asserts that in the post-civil rights era, racial uplift has been redefined not as Black public intellectuals lifting the masses but as individuals securing advantage for themselves and their children. Malcolm examines six best-selling books published during Obama's presidency-including Randall Kennedy's Sellout, Bill Cosby's and Alvin Poussaint's Come on People, and Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me-and critically analyzes their rhetorics on Black unity, disunity, and the so-called "postracial" era. Based on these writings and the work of political and social scientists, Malcolm shows that a large, often-ignored, percentage of Blacks no longer see their fate as connected with that of other African Americans. While many Black intellectuals and activists seek to provide a justification for Black solidarity, not all agree. In Rethinking Racial Uplift, Malcolm takes contemporary Black public intellectual discourse seriously and shows that disunity among Blacks, a previously ignored topic, is worth exploring"-- Provided by publisher.
REVIEWS & SUMMARIES
CHOICE ReviewPublishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Author Notes
COMMUNITY REVIEWS
No community reviews. Write one below!
PUBLISHED
Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2023.
Year Published: 2023
Description: 152 p.
Language: English
Format: Book
ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
9781496842657
SUBJECTS
African Americans -- Race identity.
Black people -- Race identity.