Waubonsee Community College

Peace be still, modern black America from World War II to Barack Obama, Matthew C. Whitaker

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 349-373) and index

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Peace be still

bibliography

839395975

Matthew C. Whitaker

modern black America from World War II to Barack Obama

"A concise, engaging, and provocative history of African Americans since World War II, Peace Be Still is also nothing less than an alternate history of the United States in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Organizing this history around culture, politics, and resistance, Matthew C. Whitaker takes us from World War II as a galvanizing force for African American activism and the modern civil rights movement to the culmination of generations of struggle in the election of Barack Obama. From the promise of the post-World War II era to the black power movement of the 1960s, the economic and political struggles of the 1970s, and the major ideological realignment of political culture during the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, this book chronicles a people fighting oppression while fashioning a dynamic culture of artistic and religious expression along with a program of educational and professional advancement. A resurgence of rigid conservative right-wing policies, the politics of poverty, racial profiling, and police brutality are ongoing counterpoints to African Americans rising to political prominence and securing positions once denied them. A history of African Americans for a new generation, Peace Be Still demonstrates how dramatically African American history illuminates the promise, conflicts, contradictions, hopes, and victories that all Americans share."--, Provided by publisher

Introduction: American history as African American history -- "Make way for democracy," 1939-1954 -- "Let your motto be resistance," 1954-1961 -- "Deep rumbling of discontent," 1961-1968 -- "So let it be done," 1968-1980 -- "To the break of dawn," 1980-2000 -- "The audacity of hope," 2000-2008 -- Contemporary black America -- Hope and change : the new millennium and freedom's promise -- Appendix 1: Excerpts from the U.S. Constitution (1787) -- Appendix 2: Executive order #8802 (1941) -- Appendix 3: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) -- Appendix 4: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- Appendix 5: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- Appendix 6: Fair Housing Act (1968) -- Appendix 7: "A more perfect union" (2008) -- Appendix 8: African American population as a percentage of the popular population, 1870-2008 -- Appendix 9: Distribution of the African American population by region, 1870-2008 -- Appendix 10: Black population in the twenty largest U.S. cities, 2008