Black Movements in America

by Cedric J. Robinson

Cedric Robinson traces the emergence of Black political cultures in the United States from slave resistances in the 16th and 17th centuries to the civil rights movements of the present. Drawing on the historical record, he argues that Blacks have constructed both a culture of resistance and a culture of accommodation based on the radically different experiences of slaves and free Blacks.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Race, United States

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Cedric Robinson was a professor in the Department of Black Studies and the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He headed the Department of Black Studies and the Department of Political Science and served as the Director of the Center for Black Studies Research.

Reviews

[i. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robinson’s 1995 work, Black Movements in America, though a thin volume, does similar work to that of his previous project, Black Marxism, in outlining and showcasing the complex, multidimensional histories of Black resistance against chattel slavery, Jim Crow, and other complex modes of antiblackness. In this text, Robinson offers just enough historical context to outline the different modes, mentalities, and movements that make up the early histories of Black movements in America, makes visible invisibilized Black resistance, and points to the mythmaking processes and conditions that racial capital brought about. The project that Robinson commits to in Black Movements in America--the project of illuminating Black movements and re-centering the history of the United States around such movements is--itself, a work exemplary of the Black radical tradition.

[Mario · Rating 3 out of 5]

This thin little volume a kind of historical primer whose subject matter is well-indicated by the title. The chronological poles of Robinson's ranging, chronological and compelling narrative are early 18th century maroon societies and urban community organizing during the "late" years of the Black Power movement. Recommended.