Synopses & Reviews
Barack Obama and the African-American Empowerment examines the evolution of black leadership and politics since the Civil Rights Movement. It looks at the phenomenon of Barack Obama, from his striking emergence as a successful candidate for the Illinois State Senate to President of the United States, as part of the continuum of African American political leaders. The reader also examines the evolving ideals about the roles of government and the economy in addressing the historic disadvantages experienced by many African Americans. Here, some of the nation's most influential intellectuals bring together original scholarship to look at the future of national politics and American race relations.
Review
"In this misunderstood age of Obama, we need intellectual clarity, political courage, and genuine compassion for the poor. This vaulable book satisfies these needs. Don't miss it!"--Cornel West, Princeton University
"Manning Marable's new book, Barack Obama and African American Empowerment: The Rise of Black America's New Leadership, is a prophetic, searing, and timely analysis of race in the election of President Barack Obama. These authors hold no punches in providing a compelling, realistic, and apt assessment of how race has impacted America and how Barack Obama's election has helped us rethink some of our assumptions about it. This is a book that must be read not only by scholars and activists, but by anyone who is seriously concerned abotu understanding the dilemma of race in the twenty-first century. Its penetrating essays are the most provacative, thoughtful, and insightful that I have seen on the rise of Barack Obama and black political power."--Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Jesse Climenko Professor of Law, Founding and Executive Director, Charles Hamilton Institute for Race and Justice
“Barack Obama and African American Empowerment: The Rise of Black Americas New Leadership is a must read for any serious student of contemporary African American politics. As an excellent compilation by leading African American scholars, it digs deep, and goes beyond the superficial, one sided analysis of Barack Obama posited by cable television talking heads, and mainstream publications. In short, it helps us to begin to understand one of the defining events in U.S. history.”--Marc H. Morial, President, National Urban League and Former Mayor of New Orleans
"Manning Marable has assembled an impressive array of thinkers to insightfully probe the varied dimensions of American black politics in the Age of Obama. While keeping their eyes on the nation's first black president, they also look to the larger landscape of social and political forces, and figures, that gave rise to the Obama phenomenon and to which Obama and all other black politicians must respond. This book is a brilliant primer of progressive black political analysis, and a forceful reminder that race is still a formidable feature of American life in a time where too many believe that we have completely overcome our brutal racial past."--Michael Eric Dyson, author of Presidential Race: Barack Obama and Blackness in America
Synopsis
This book examines the evolution of black leadership and politics since the Civil Rights Movement. It looks at the phenomenon of Barack Obama, from his striking emergence as a successful candidate for the Illinois State Senate to President of the United States, as part of the continuum of African American political leaders.
About the Author
Manning Marable is Professor of History and Political Science, and Public Affairs at Columbia University where he also serves as founding Director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies.
Kristen Clarke is a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Law School and a civil rights attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Her work on race, law and democracy appears in numerous journals, books and other publications.
Table of Contents
Racializing Obama--Manning Marable * Background to the New Black Politics * System Values and African-American Leadership--Robert C. Smith * The Limits of Black Pragmatism--Ryan Reft * City Politics and Black Protest--Derek S. Hyra * Towards a Pragmatic Black Politics--Frederick Harris * On Black Leadership, Black Politics, and the U.S. Immigration Debate--Mark Sawyer * The Political Orientations of Young African Americans--David A. Bositis * The Case for a Neo-Rainbow Electoral Strategy--Danny Glover and Bill Fletcher, Jr. * The Ethics of Colin Powell--Grant Farred * The Meaning of Barack Obama * First Lady in Black--Gerald Horne and Malaika Horne * The Race Problematic, Martin Luther King, Jr.s Narrative, and the Presidential--Rickey Hill * From Idol to Obama--Sherrilyn Ifill * The 2008 Presidential Campaign and Beyond * Race, Post-Black Politics, and the Obama Candidacy in the 2008--Carly Fraser * Sovereign Kinship and the President-Elect--Joy James * You May Not Get There With Me--Kareem Crayton * Barack Obama and the Black Electorate in Georgia--Keesha M. Middlemass * Obamas Candidacy and the Collateral Consequences of the “Politics of Fear”--Gregory S. Parks and Jeffrey J. Rachlinski * The Struggle Continues--Kristen Clarke * About the Authors * About the Editors * Index