Black Intellectuals : Race and Responsibility in American Life

An important and necessary history of African thought and culture, from slavery to the present day. In the volumes of literature on black history and thought, until now there has been no book focusing on the black thinkers who have shaped the course of American culture. Now this landmark work reveals the complex and vital role of African American intellectuals in the United States. It is a rich history, beginning with the arrival of Africans as slaves, when medicine men and conjurers held ancient, powerful wisdom. Author William Banks discusses with absorbing insight prominent figures ranging from black pioneers like Alexander Crummell, Frederick Douglass, and Anna Cooper, to intellectuals of the modern age such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Alain Locke, E. Franklin Frazier, and Toni Morrison. These and hundreds of other black scholars and artistsmany of them interviewed for this volumepeople an enlightened and imaginative landscape, fascinating in both its range and its diversity. Unique in historical scope and cultural vision, Black Intellectuals further illuminates facets of American history such as African tribal institutions; American slavery; and black schools, churches, politics, and popular culture in this, the first comprehensive, overall history of African American intellectuals.