The Golden Age of Black Nationalism, 1850-1925The "golden age" of black nationalism began in response to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and extended to the time of Marcus Garvey's imprisonment in 1925. During these seventy-five years, an upsurge of back-to-Africa schemes stimulated a burst of literary output and nurtured the growth of a tradition that flourished until the end of the century. This tradition then underwent a powerful revitalization with the rise of Marcus Garvey and the ideological Pan-Africanism of W.E.B. Du Bois. In this controversial volume, The Golden Age of Black Nationalism, Wilson Jeremiah Moses argues that by adopting European and American nationalist and separatist doctrines, black nationalism became, ironically, a vehicle for the assimilationist values among black American intellectuals. First providing the historical background to black nationalism and Pan-Africanism, he then explores the specific manifestations of the tradition in the intellectual and institutional history of black Americans. He describes the work of Alexander Crummell, W.E.B. Du Bois, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington--specifically challenging the traditional interpretation of Washington as a betrayer of Douglass' vision--and the National Association of Colored Women. Moses also examines the tradition of genteel black nationalism in literature, concentrating on the novels of Martin Delany and Sutton Griggs, as well as the early poetry of W.E.B. Du Bois. Using literary history instead of literary criticism, he identifies the particularly Anglo-African qualities in these works. He concludes with a description of those trends that led to the decline of classical black nationalism at the time of the Harlem Renaissance and the "New Negro Movement," which attempted to redefine the cultural and spiritual goals of Afro-Americans. Offering both a critical and sympathetic treatment of the black nationalist movement in the United States, Moses' study will stimulate further debate concerning the nature of the assimilationist tendencies dominating black nationalist ideology in the "golden age." |
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Contents
Preface to the Paperback Edition | 5 |
Chapter One Introduction | 15 |
Chapter Two Black Nationalism on the Eve of | 32 |
Chapter Three Alexander Crummell | 59 |
Chapter Four From Frederick Douglass to Booker | 83 |
Chapter Five Black Bourgeois Feminism versus | 103 |
Chapter Six W E B Du Bois and Traditional | 132 |
Chapter Seven The Roots of Literary Black | 149 |
Chapter Eight The Poetics of Ethiopianism | 156 |
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Common terms and phrases
African Civilization Afro-American Alexander Crummell American Negro Academy Anglo-African Anglo-Saxon Association of Colored Atlanta black Americans black community black leaders black nationalism black nationalist black women Blake Bois's Booker Boston bourgeois British Brotz Chapter Chicago Christian Church civilizationist clubs Colonization Society Colored Women concern Congo Crisis Crummell's culture Darkwater Delany Delany's editor Edward Wilmot Blyden emigration Ethiopian European Fadumah Ferris Frazier Frederick Douglass Garvey's German Gold Coast Leader Griggs's Grimke Harlem Henry Highland Garnet Henry McNeal Turner Hindered Hand human Ibid idea industrial influence institutions intellectual labor leadership Liberia literary lynching Marcus Garvey Martin Delany masses moral movement NACW native Negro race nineteenth century novel organization Pan-Africanism philosophy political racial radical Reprint rhetoric Ruffin separatism slavery social Souls of Black South spirit Sutton Griggs Terrell thought tion tradition Turner Tuskegee United University uplift W.E.B. Du Bois Walker Washington West Africa woman writing York
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Bibliographic information
| Title | The Golden Age of Black Nationalism, 1850-1925 Oxford paperbacks Oxford paperbacks: History, literature |
| Author | Wilson Jeremiah Moses |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 1988 |
| ISBN | 0195206398, 9780195206395 |
| Length | 345 pages |
| Subjects | › › Religion / Biblical Criticism & Interpretation / Old Testament |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |