Call and Response: Key Debates in African American Studies

This collection is one of the best collections of African American discourse that have probably ever been collected, but I have one complaint. It does not include enough aspects of the debate within the African community on Africa, especially during Part V, the section on the Civil Rights Movement. In Part III, on the Great Migration and Black Renaissance, it mentions Garvey's Back to Africa movement and the emergence of the Pan-African movement with WEB Du Bois' conferences. In Part IV, it also doesn't mention the incredible response, both for and agianst, of the African American community to the 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia, which at that time was the last remaining independent African nation. If anything, African American interest in Africa increased during the civil rights movement as African nations gained their independence from colonialism during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1957, Ghana achieved its independence and Kwame Nkrumah invited African Americans to emigrate to his new nation and many took him up on his offer. African Americans reacted to the assassination of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo in 1961. Here is one of the famous lines from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s, 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail," "The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter." While the letter is included, it is not placed within the context of King's anti-colonialism and transnational connections to Africa. King was also very active in the anti-apartheid movement. As other debates were spread out over more than one period, anti apartheid activism of the African American community could also be shown to exist from supporting the Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws in 1952 to supporting economic sanctions against South Africa in the 1980s. Like other debates, these issues were not all one-sided, there were African Americans that argued that the struggle in the United States was more important than a struggle for independence half-a-world-away, for a group whom they did not consider their brethren.While several good books; e.g.,  Proudly We Can Be Africans: Black Americans and Africa, 1935-1961 , accomplish this objective in the secondary literature this was the chance to publish primary sources to reflect this debate within the black community.Had more of these transnational connections been demonstrated in this collection it would be worth a five-star rating.

great read

If you want to know African and African-American History and this is the best book though i don't know other books that are available. It is easy to read and easy to understand and you will be shock how much you learn. Its was delivered fast too.

Bought this book for a gen ed course. Loved the course & the book! Very different approach to African American history.

It was in good condition

Wonderful read. I'm learning so much.

good read

Order arrived promptly and accurate to the description. Thanks!