The Crisis of The Negro Intellectual Reconsidered

by Jerry G. Watts (Editor)

Thirty-five years after its initial publication, Harold Cruse's "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual," remains a foundational work in Afro-American Studies and American Cultural Studies. Published during a highly contentious moment in Afro-American political life, "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual" was one of the very few texts that treated Afro-American intellectuals as intellectually significant. The essays contained in Harold Cruse's "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual Reconsidered" are collectively a testimony to the continuing significance of this polemical call to arms for black intellectuals. Each scholar featured in this book has chosen to discuss specific arguments made by Cruse. While some have utilized Cruse's arguments to launch broader discussions of various issues pertaining to Afro-American intellectuals, and others have contributed discussions on intellectual issues completely ignored by Cruse, all hope to pay homage to a thinker worthy of continual reconsideration.

336 pages, Hardcover

First published May 8, 2004

About the author

Jerry Gafio Watts

Reviews

[Peter P. Bernard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out Of Time

Most of Cruise 's arguments and the Watts rebuttals have been minimized by time. Either or both books could have started with a definition o "intellectual."