The Rediscovery Of Black Nationalism

One of the first studies of the organization, life and meaning of the Nation of Islam and, by extension, all Black Nationalist movements, this classic work dispels the still common conception that the movement functioned primarily for political purposes. By observing the daily life of its members, Essien-Udom demonstrates that the Nation of Islam served primarily as a means for poor urban blacks to attain a national identity, a sense of ethnic consciousness, and empowerment in a society that denied them these privileges. Black Nationalism continues to hold profound implications for our understanding of the appeal of Black Nationalism as an ideology and a political force. "An excellent standard treatment of black nationalist belief and practice in the 50's."—Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times Book Review "This is an absorbing exercise in first class reporting. . . . In the light of his scrupulous fairness, the book is another illustration of how the press prejudges a story. And most provocatively, Essien-Udom has emphasized that even after the current campaigns for wide-scale integration are won, there will be an even wider chasm between the 'liberated' Negro middle class and the rootless Negro poor."—Nat Hentoff,Commonweal

From the first slaves who rose up against their master in the early period of American history to the prominent modern figures such as Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammed, Eldridge Cleaver, Red, Black, and Green traces the origins, the struggles and the accomplishments of black nationalism. Its broad discussion of the ideology of black nationalism and of the conditions that gave rise to this ideology provides the foundation for a thorough account of the black nationalist movement in the peak years of its momentum, roughly the decade 1963 to 1973. The author deals both with specific milestones, such as Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association in the early twentieth century, and with the far-reaching implications of the movement for the black community and for the United States as a whole. He looks at the many facets of black nationalism - revolutionary nationalism, cultural nationalism, religious nationalism, and educational nationalism - analyses the relationship between this movement and liberation movements in general.

Revisits the arguments supporting separate black statehood from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.

One of the first studies of the organization, life and meaning of the Nation of Islam and, by extension, all Black Nationalist movements, this classic work dispels the still common conception that the movement functioned primarily for political purposes. By observing the daily life of its members, Essien-Udom demonstrates that the Nation of Islam served primarily as a means for poor urban blacks to attain a national identity, a sense of ethnic consciousness, and empowerment in a society that denied them these privileges. Black Nationalism continues to hold profound implications for our understanding of the appeal of Black Nationalism as an ideology and a political force. "An excellent standard treatment of black nationalist belief and practice in the 50's."—Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times Book Review "This is an absorbing exercise in first class reporting. . . . In the light of his scrupulous fairness, the book is another illustration of how the press prejudges a story. And most provocatively, Essien-Udom has emphasized that even after the current campaigns for wide-scale integration are won, there will be an even wider chasm between the 'liberated' Negro middle class and the rootless Negro poor."—Nat Hentoff,Commonweal