W.E.B. Du Bois said that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line." It has been one hundred years since Du Bois made that prescient statement, which naturally leads to the question: "What is the problem of the twenty-first century?"

In this anthology, the authors address a wide range of topics: race, gender, class, sexual orientation, globalism, migration, health, politics, culture, and urban issues--from a diversity of disciplinary perspectives. Paul Attewell, David Lavin, Thurston Domina, and Tania Levey examine the black middle class at the turn of the millennium. Todd C. Shaw considers how race shapes patriotism in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Robert A. Brown focuses on the growing chasm between blacks and whites with regard to views of government's obligation to address citizens' basic needs. H. Alexander Welcome details instances where white scholars have improperly analyzed black experiences. Antonio Pastrana revisits Du Bois's theories about the problems facing blacks. Joy James shows that the United States possesses the means and wealth to record and preserve (or censor) its slave/penal discourse as part of its vast warehouse of (neo)slave narratives.

Ajuan Maria Mance hypothesizes that African-American literature will become less consumed with exploration and documentation of interracial differences, and more concerned with the relationships within ethnic groups. Rosamond S. King explores literary embodiments of the increasing prevalence of interracial relationships. Anthony J. Lemelle and BarBara Scott present a comparative historical policy analysis of the HIV/AIDS experience among African Americans. Sandra Barnes examines sociological promises and problems of the contemporary black church. Juan Battle and Natalie Bennett scrutinize the experiences of African American gays and lesbians in the context of the larger community. Verna Keith and Diane Brown assess the state of African American health in the context of social group structures. Michael Bennett looks at the problems and opportunities facing black Americans from the perspective of urban studies.

Juan Battle is professor of sociology at Hunter College and the City University of New York Graduate Center. Michael Bennett is professor of English at Long Island University, Brooklyn. Anthony Lemelle is professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and the editor of the Journal of African American Studies, published by Transaction.

This book utilizes personal narratives and survey data from over 2,100 respondents to explore the diversity of experiences across Black LGBT communities within the United States. The authors document and celebrate many of the everyday strengths and strategies employed by this extraordinary population to navigate and negotiate their daily lives.

This book utilizes personal narratives and survey data from over 500 respondents to explore the diversity of experiences across Asian and Pacific Islander LGBT communities within the United States. Additionally, the authors document and celebrate many of the everyday strengths and strategies employed by this extraordinary population to navigate and negotiate their daily lives.

This book utilizes personal narratives and survey data from over 1,100 respondents to explore the diversity of experiences across Latinx LGBT communities within the United States, including Puerto Rico. The authors document and celebrate many of the everyday strengths and strategies employed by this extraordinary population to navigate and negotiate their daily lives.

"The Punitive Turn "explores the historical, political, economic, and sociocultural roots of mass incarceration, as well as its collateral costs and consequences. Giving significant attention to the exacting toll that incarceration takes on inmates, their families, their communities, and society at large, the volume's contributors investigate the causes of the unbridled expansion of incarceration in the United States. Experts from multiple scholarly disciplines offer fresh research on race and inequality in the criminal justice system and the effects of mass incarceration on minority groups' economic situation and political inclusion. In addition, practitioners and activists from the Sentencing Project, the Virginia Organizing Project, and the Restorative Community Foundation, among others, discuss race and imprisonment from the perspective of those working directly in the field. Employing a multidisciplinary approach, the essays included in the volume provide an unprecedented range of perspectives on the growth and racial dimensions of incarceration in the United States and generate critical questions not simply about the penal system but also about the inner workings, failings, and future of American democracy.

Contributors: Ethan Blue (University of Western Australia) * Mary Ellen Curtin (American University) * Harold Folley (Virginia Organizing Project) * Eddie Harris (Children Youth and Family Services) * Anna R. Haskins (University of Wisconsin-Madison) * Cheryl D. Hicks (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) * Charles E. Lewis Jr. (Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy) * Marc Mauer (The Sentencing Project) * Anoop Mirpuri (Portland State University) * Christopher Muller (Harvard University) * Marlon B. Ross (University of Virginia) * Jim Shea (Community Organizer) * Jonathan Simon (University of California-Berkeley) * Heather Ann Thompson (Temple University) * Debbie Walker (The Female Perspective) * Christopher Wildeman (Yale University) * Interviews by Jared Brown (University of Virginia) & Tshepo Morongwa Chery (University of Texas-Austin)

As this volume indicates, the issues facing black America are diverse, and the tools needed to understand these phenomena cross disciplinary boundaries. In this anthology, the authors address a wide range of topics including race, gender, class, sexual orientation, globalism, migration, health, politics, culture, and urban issues-from a diversity of disciplinary perspectives.