From Protest To President

From Protest to President describes an inspirational odyssey of a young, Black activist coming of age in Mississippi and Chicago in the tumultuous 1960s and '70s, culminating in a notable thirty-five-year presidency at Thomas Edison State University. From barbershop encounters with Malcolm X to death threats at Illinois State University and gunfire at Towson State, Pruitt provides a powerful narrative poised at the intersection of social justice, higher education and politics. He recounts leadership experiences at HBCUs and public universities across the country, as he advocated for autonomy at Morgan State and fought to preserve Tennessee State University. His steadfast activism, integrity and courage led to groundbreaking work in providing access to higher education for working adults and the military. From his days as a student protester in high school and college to his appearances on Capitol Hill, Pruitt has earned the reputation as a candid and influential leader in higher education.

A biography of the black South African leader who became a civil rights activist, political prisoner, and president of South Africa.

The struggle for civil rights among black Americans has moved into the voting booth. How such a shift came about--and what it means--is revealed in this timely reflection on black presidential politics in recent years. Since 1984, largely as a result of Jesse Jackson's presidential bid, blacks have been galvanized politically. Drawing on a substantial national survey of black voters, Katherine Tate shows how this process manifested itself at the polls in 1984 and 1988. In an analysis of the black presidential vote by region, income, age, and gender, she is able to identify unique aspects of the black experience as they shape political behavior, and to answer long-standing questions about that behavior. How, for instance, does the rise of conservatism among blacks influence their voting patterns? Is class more powerful than race in determining voting? And what is the value of the notion of a black political party? In the 1990s, Tate suggests, black organizations will continue to stress civil rights over economic development for one clear, compelling reason: Republican resistance to addressing black needs. In this, and in the friction engendered by affirmative action, she finds an explanation for the slackening of black voting. Tate does not, however, see blacks abandoning the political game. Instead, she predicts their continued search for leaders who prefer the ballot box to other kinds of protest, and for men and women who can deliver political programs of racial equality. Unique in its focus on the black electorate, this study illuminates a little understood and tremendously significant aspect of American politics. It will benefit those who wish to understand better the subtle interplay of race and politics, at the voting booth and beyond.

Fusing the regional with the global, this book widens its perspective from a distinct, national moment to an international interdependency with the power to ripple across every corner of the globe.

From Protest to Challenge rescues from obscurity the voices of protest in South Africa through the publication of rare documents housed in the collections of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. These excerpts from political ephemera, radical newspapers, and other materials provide a documentary history of opposition groups in South Africa. They bear witness not only to a remarkable period in South African history but also to the vital need for the preservation of historical documents as an essential tool of scholarship. These materials are as relevant today as when they were first published, graphically demonstrating the South African struggle for peace, freedom, and equality. Volume 2 covers the years 1935 to 1952, a period framed by the All-African Convention, arranged in response to proposed legislation limiting the rights of native Africans, and the launch of the Defiance Campaign protesting apartheid laws.