Raymond Pace Alexander

Raymond Pace Alexander (1897-1974) was a prominent black attorney in Philadelphia and a distinguished member of the National Bar Association, the oldest and largest association of African American lawyers and judges. A contemporary of such nationally known black attorneys as Charles Hamilton Houston, William Hastie, and Thurgood Marshall, Alexander litigated civil rights cases and became well known in Philadelphia. Yet his legacy to the civil rights struggle has received little national recognition. As a New Negro lawyer during the 1930s, Alexander worked with left-wing organizations to desegregate an all-white elementary school in Berwin, Pennsylvania. After World War II, he became an anti-communist liberal and formed coalitions with like-minded whites. In the sixties, Alexander criticized Black Power rhetoric, but shared some philosophies with Black Power such as black political empowerment and studying black history. By the late sixties, he focused on economic justice by advocating a Marshall Plan for poor Americans and supporting affirmative action. Alexander was a major contributor to the northern civil rights struggle and was committed to improving the status of black lawyers. He was representative of a generation who created opportunities for African Americans but was later often ignored or castigated by younger leaders who did not support the tactics of the old guard's pioneers.

This second edition includes new chapters that address issues such as the role of Christian values in black Greek-letter organizations and the persistence of hazing. Offering an overview of the historical, cultural, political, and social circumstances that have shaped these groups, African American Fraternities and Sororities explores the profound contributions that black Greek-letter organizations and their members have made to America.

The lives and legacies of Philadelphia leaders active between 1950 and 2000.

Presents a history of the 1960s through profiles of three prominent African Americans--Cecil B. Moore, Muhammad Ali, and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Killing the Black Body remains a rallying cry for education, awareness, and action on extending reproductive justice to all women. It is as crucial as ever, even two decades after its original publication. "A must-read for all those who claim to care about racial and gender justice in America." —Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow In 1997, this groundbreaking book made a powerful entrance into the national conversation on race. In a media landscape dominated by racially biased images of welfare queens and crack babies, Killing the Black Body exposed America’s systemic abuse of Black women’s bodies. From slave masters’ economic stake in bonded women’s fertility to government programs that coerced thousands of poor Black women into being sterilized as late as the 1970s, these abuses pointed to the degradation of Black motherhood—and the exclusion of Black women’s reproductive needs in mainstream feminist and civil rights agendas. “Compelling. . . . Deftly shows how distorted and racist constructions of black motherhood have affected politics, law, and policy in the United States.” —Ms.

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Information -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Foreword -- Prologue: Henry Ossawa Tanner, "Negro Painter"--Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Creativity and Racism in the Nineteenth Century -- Notes -- 1 Of the Father and of the Son: The Rise of Benjamin and Henry Tanner -- Notes -- 2 Into the South and Across the Sea: Atlanta and Paris Beckon -- Notes -- 3 The American Interlude: Race and Religion on Canvas -- Notes -- 4 Crossing Over Jordan: Salon Triumph and Spiritual Crisis -- Notes -- 5 A Salon Master in a Modern Century -- Notes -- 6 The Great War, the New Negro, and the Celestial City -- Notes -- Epilogue: The Redemption of Memory -- Notes -- Sources Consulted -- Archives -- Articles, Books and Exhibition Catalogues -- Contemporary Periodicals -- Index