Race, Reform, and Rebellion

"This contemporary history of black America outlines the basic problems and challenges during the crucial era of black reform. Aimed at students of contemporary American politics and society, this acclaimed study by one of the most articulate and eloquent authorities on the movement for black freedom traces the divergent elements for political, social, and moral reform in non-white America since 1945. Through the 1950s and 1960s Marble traces the emergence of a powerful black working class, the successful effort to abolish legal segregation, the outbreak of Black Power, urban rebellion, and the renaissance of black nationalism. He explores the increased participation of blacks and ethnic groups in the electoral and governmental systems and the white reaction to racial progress. For this new, updated edition, Marable now explores the political backlash against the reforms and programs of political liberalism attained during the period he terms the Second Reconstruction. He shows how in the 1980s and early 1990s the African-American community rapidly became transformed by poverty, illegal drugs, unemployment, and a deteriorating urban socioeconomic infrastructure. Marable presents a dramatic and disturbing history of the social protest movement and captures personalities, conflicts, and goals of many generations of African-Americans struggling for civil rights and equality"--Back cover.