Black Power and the American People

While the history of the non-violent Civil Rights Movement, from Rosa Parks to Martin Luther King, is one of the great American stories of the twentieth century, the related Black Power movement has taken a more complex path through the nation’s history. Formed by a multitude of individuals, the long history of the Black Power movement stretches before and beyond its political manifestations. Beginning with the folk-narratives told on the plantation, Black Power and the American People charts a course through the iconoclasm of the Harlem Renaissance, the battleground of the American campus, the struggle and skill of the Negro Leagues, the drama of the boxing ring, the killing fields of Vietnam and the cold concrete of the penitentiary, right up to the Black Lives Matter movement of the present day. Tracing these connected cultural expressions through time, Black Power and the American People explores the profound legacy of Black Power from its earliest roots to its most futuristic manifestations, its long history in American culture and its profound influence on the American imagination.

With eloquent prose and analytical precision, Rafael Torrubia brilliantly illustrates the significance of Black Power as a “revolutionary cultural concept”. Challenging conventional periodisations and narratives, Black Power and the American People connects a diverse range of individuals, movements and moments to show how self-determination has always been a central demand of the African American freedom struggle. This is essential reading for anyone wanting to better understand the complexity of Black Power and how the movement continues to resonate today.

Rafael Torrubia is a Lecturer in the Department of Modern History at the University of St.Andrew's, UK.