Black Separatism and Social Reality: Rhetoric and Reason deals with the contemporary debate over black separatism in America. It brings together for the first time many of the perspectives, ideas, orientations, and ideologies that all directly or indirectly address the question of black separatism — pro and con — from the vantage point of their own realities. It raises fundamental issues that have recurred throughout the last century and continue unabated today, such as whether black Americans should seek their political destiny apart from white Americans, or whether economic growth within the black community can eventually lead to true ""black power."" This book is comprised of 31 chapters and begins with a historical overview and social reality of black separatism in America, how and why black separatist movements emerge and why separatism appeals to some individuals and not to others. The next section explores the similarities of white racist assumptions and black separatism as well as the arguments for and against separatism. The prospects of black separatism are analyzed, along with Pan-Africanism and black studies. A comprehensive review of the history of separatist thought and a bibliography concerning the relation of Afro-Americans with Africa are presented. The possibility of a violent confrontation between whites and blacks is also considered. Finally, the book ponders the question of whether there is a need for a distinct, ""black"" social science. This monograph will appeal to sociologists, social scientists, political scientists, politicians, blacks, and scholars of black studies.

Bands, bonds, and affections -- Secession all the way down : libertarians opt out -- "A slave republic" : secession and southern slavery -- White devils and Black separatists -- "Dykes first" : lesbian separatism in America -- Exodus as secession : achieving God's terrestrial kingdom.

"The Revolutionary is all about WAAAR: Waging African American Armed Resistance to racist oppression throughout three distinct historical epochs or chambers. Plus an exciting and defiant '4th Chamber' which describes current social conditions in the United States (and elsewhere) as a revolutionary situation that is set to explode..." The Revolutionary Vol. 1 is unique in that no other single text attempts to portray the history of African American armed resistance in its entirety, or to make it available as a possible strategy to end racist oppression. The Revolutionary Vol. 1 introduces a Black people's history of armed resistance from an analytic perspective accessible to both scholars and students of history, as well as anyone interested in this fascinating aspect of the Black Experience. Indeed, The Revolutionary is accessible to all. Lucid, well-organized, and extensively documented, The Revolutionary Vol. 1 offers a fresh approach to the traditional problems of racism and raises challenging new issues in the use of violence to combat oppression.

Exploring the Yoruba tradition in the United States, Hucks begins with the story of Nana Oseijeman Adefunmi’s personal search for identity and meaning as a young man in Detroit in the 1930s and 1940s. She traces his development as an artist, religious leader, and founder of several African-influenced religio-cultural projects in Harlem and later in the South. Adefunmi was part of a generation of young migrants attracted to the bohemian lifestyle of New York City and the black nationalist fervor of Harlem. Cofounding Shango Temple in 1959, Yoruba Temple in 1960, and Oyotunji African Village in 1970, Adefunmi and other African Americans in that period renamed themselves “Yorubas” and engaged in the task of transforming Cuban Santer'a into a new religious expression that satisfied their racial and nationalist leanings and eventually helped to place African Americans on a global religious schema alongside other Yoruba practitioners in Africa and the diaspora. Alongside the story of Adefunmi, Hucks weaves historical and sociological analyses of the relationship between black cultural nationalism and reinterpretations of the meaning of Africa from within the African American community.

On March 31, 1968, over 500 Black nationalists convened in Detroit to begin the process of securing independence from the United States. Many concluded that Black Americans' best remaining hope for liberation was the creation of a sovereign nation-state, the Republic of New Afrika (RNA). New Afrikan citizens traced boundaries that encompassed a large portion of the South--including South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana--as part of their demand for reparation. As champions of these goals, they framed their struggle as one that would allow the descendants of enslaved people to choose freely whether they should be citizens of the United States. New Afrikans also argued for financial restitution for the enslavement and subsequent inhumane treatment of Black Americans. The struggle to "Free the Land" remains active to this day. This book is the first to tell the full history of the RNA and the New Afrikan Independence Movement. Edward Onaci shows how New Afrikans remade their lifestyles and daily activities to create a self-consciously revolutionary culture, and argues that the RNA's tactics and ideology were essential to the evolution of Black political struggles. Onaci expands the story of Black Power politics, shedding new light on the long-term legacies of mid-century Black Nationalism.

Black and white Americans have occupied separate spaces since the days of "the big house" and "the quarters." But the segregation and racialization of American society was not a natural phenomenon that "just happened." The decisions, enacted into laws, that kept the races apart and restricted blacks to less desirable places sprang from legal reasoning which argued that segregated spaces were right, reasonable, and preferable to other arrangements. In this book, David Delaney explores the historical intersections of race, place, and the law. Drawing on court cases spanning more than a century, he examines the moves and countermoves of attorneys and judges who participated in the geopolitics of slavery and emancipation; in the development of Jim Crow segregation, which effectively created apartheid laws in many cities; and in debates over the "doctrine of changed conditions," which challenged the legality of restrictive covenants and private contracts designed to exclude people of color from white neighborhoods. This historical investigation yields new insights into the patterns of segregation that persist in American society today.