Synopses & Reviews
Spanning the eight decades between the American Revolution and the Civil War,
The Roots of African-American Identity focuses on the lives of African Americans in the nominally free northern and western states. This book explores how a group of marginalized people crafted a uniquely New World ethnic identity that informed popular African American historical consciousness. Elizabeth Rauh Bethel examines the way in which that consciousness fueled collective efforts to claim and live a promised but undelivered democratic freedom, helping readers to understand how African Americans reformulated and perceived their collective past. Bethel also reveals how this vision of freedom and historical consciousness shaped African American participation in the Reconstruction, formed the spiritual and ideological foundation for the modern Pan-African movement, and provided the historical legacy for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Comprehensive and engaging,
The Roots of African-American Identity is an absorbing account of an often overlooked part of American history.
Elizabeth Rauh Bethel is Professor of Sociology at Lander University and author of Promised Land: A Century of Life in a Negro Community and AIDS: Readings on a Global Crisis. Spanning the eight decades between the American Revolution and the Civil War, The Roots of African-American Identity focuses on the lives of African Americans in the nominally free northern and western states. This book explores how a group of marginalized people crafted a uniquely New World ethnic identity that informed popular African American historical consciousness. Elizabeth Rauh Bethel examines the way in which that consciousness fueled collective efforts to claim and live a promised but undelivered democratic freedom, helping readers to understand how African Americans reformulated and perceived their collective past. Bethel also reveals how this vision of freedom and historical consciousness shaped African American participation in the Reconstruction, formed the spiritual and ideological foundation for the modern Pan-African movement, and provided the historical legacy for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The Roots of African-American Identity is a comprehensive account of an often overlooked part of American history. Bethel provides us with a very insightful study of the black experience in America.”The Washington Times
Highly recommended for collections on the pre-Civil War United States or African Americans.”Library Journal "Bethel examines how African Americans crafted a New World ethnic identity, and how that sense of identity fueled efforts to claim and live a promised but undelivered democratic freedom. She looks at the eight decades between the Revolution and the Civil War, Reconstruction, the modern Pan-African movement, and the historical legacy of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s."Booknews
Review
“Bethel provides us with a very insightful study of the black experience in America.” —
The Washington Times“Highly recommended for collections on the pre-Civil War United States or African Americans.” —Library Journal
Synopsis
Spanning the eight decades between the American Revolution and the Civil War,
The Roots of African-American Identity focuses on the lives of African Americans in the nominally free northern and western states. This book explores how a group of marginalized people crafted a uniquely New World ethnic identity that informed popular African American historical consciousness. Elizabeth Rauh Bethel examines the way in which that consciousness fueled collective efforts to claim and live a promised but undelivered democratic freedom, helping readers to understand how African Americans reformulated and perceived their collective past. Bethel also reveals how this vision of freedom and historical consciousness shaped African American participation in the Reconstruction, formed the spiritual and ideological foundation for the modern Pan-African movement, and provided the historical legacy for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Comprehensive and engaging,
The Roots of African-American Identity is an absorbing account of an often overlooked part of American history.
Synopsis
Explores how a group of marginalized people crafted a uniquely New World ethnic identity that informed popular African American historical consciousness.
About the Author
Elizabeth Rauh Bethel is Professor of Sociology at Lander University and author of
Promised Land: A Century of Life in a Negro Community and
AIDS: Readings on a Global Crisis. Table of Contents
Preface * Prologue: The Revolution Remembered: The Fifth of March, 1858 *
Part I: Fashioning a Moral Community, 1775-1800 * "In the Bowels of a Free and Christian Country": Living in the Revolutionary Era * "Sons and Daughters of Distress": A Theology of Liberation *
Part II: Environments of Memory, 1800-1835 * From Laws and Revolutions, Freedom
Lieux * Africa Envisioned, Africa Found * Moral Community, Ethnic Identity, and Political Action *
Part III: History and the Politics of Memory, 1835-1860 * Haiti, Canada, and a Pan-African Vision * Biography, Narrative, and Memory: The Construction of a Popular Historical Consciousness * Epilogue: Emancipation, Reconstruction, and Empire-Building * Notes * Index