The New African American Urban History

While earlier studies often portrayed African Americans as passive or powerless, as victims of white racism or slum pathologies, this book emphasizes scholarship which conveys a sense of active involvement, of people empowered, engaged in struggle, living their lives in dignity and shaping their own futures.

In recent decades, an exciting new scholarship has emerged that is changing the way African American urban history is perceived. While earlier studies often portrayed African Americans as passive and powerless or as victims of white racism and slum pathologies, The New African American Urban History emphasizes the "new" scholarship that conveys a sense of active involvement. It supports the view of African Americans as people empowered, engaged in struggle, living their lives with dignity, and shaping their own futures. In this perceptive volume, contributors examine the great modern migrations of African Americans to the city, the creation and expansion of black communities, and black life and culture--with special emphasis on working-class culture. This collecton of essays, written by prominent scholars, comes together in perfect harmony with a common thematic approach and interpretive analysis, which has shaped new writing in the field for the past decade. Both groundbreaking and inspiring, The New African American Urban History will prove to be an invaluable resource for students and professionals in urban and ethnic studies.