Using a sociological, historical, and psychological approach, this work offers a multidisciplinary perspective and fills the research gap about the Harlem community and urban black life during the Jazz Age and the Great Depression. This book proposes that Harlem was an intricate domain of competing ideologies, needs, and interests wherein there were many cross-cutting forms of power and exclusion. Such competition placed the community at the intersection of complicated power relations in which local, citywide and nationwide power, policies, and commitments overlapped. Changing economic circumstances that characterized the interwar period combined with the shifting municipal politics including community reliance on government support and the political strength of medical societies that left Harlem residents politically and economically circumscribed in their efforts to build and fortify institutions focused on maintaining community wellness. In this larger circumscription, citywide, statewide, and nationwide politics made health for black people a politicized affair during the early twentieth century. This work further reveals that in conjunction with the political economy of race, health was a major issue of debate that residents of Harlem could enter into despite systematic efforts by politicians and medical professionals to simultaneously limit residents' political agency and regulate health services and institutions in New York City. Such fissures and cracks within the political structure allowed for community engagement and empowerment. This study provides for a more comprehensive understanding of the connections among black morbidity, mortality, health-care delivery, and black political engagement in Harlem, New York, and aims to expand the historical understanding of race and politics, as well as the lived experiences of black people in New York City in the early twentieth century. As a scholarly work in the field of African American urban history, Building a Healthy Black Harlem is accessible to upper-division undergraduate and graduate students in courses in post-1865 United States history, African American history, and urban history. It also possesses the insight and rigor for specialists in the field of New York City history and African American urban history.

This two-volume work celebrates 50 notable achievements of African Americans, highlighting black contributions to U.S. history and examining the ways black accomplishments shaped American culture. This two-volume encyclopedia offers a unique look at the African American experience, from the arrival of the first 20 Africans at Jamestown through the launch of the Black Lives Matter movement and the Ferguson Protests. It illustrates subjects such as the Jim Crow period, the Brown v. Board of Education case that overturned segregation, Jackie Robinson's landmark integration of major league baseball, and the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States. Drawing from almost 400 years of U.S. history, the work documents the experiences and impact of black people on every aspect of American life. Presented chronologically, the selected events each include at least one primary source to provide the reader with a first-person perspective. These range from excerpts of speeches given by famous African American figures, to programs from the March on Washington. The remarkable stories collected here bear witness to the strength of a group of people who chose to survive and found ways to work collectively to force America to live up to the promise of its founding. Chronicles almost 400 years of African American history beginning with the arrival of 20 Africans into Jamestown, VA, and ending with the 2014 Ferguson Protests Provides readers with an understanding of key events that represent the African American experience Brings the featured events to life using first-person accounts, essays, primary sources, photographs, and timelines Demonstrates the broad influence and impact of African Americans on history, the arts, laws, sports, literature, film, television, and social movements

This compact volume offers a compelling introduction to a group once deemed the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States, the Black Panther Party. In a time when African Americans' widespread tactic of direct, nonviolent protest was seen as the most effective way to fight for racial justice, the Black Panthers' confrontational style and critiques of local law enforcement throughout the nation defied both civil rights orthodoxy and white authority. The Black Panther Party: A Guide to an American Subculture situates the Black Panther Party within the shifting political terrain of the African American freedom struggle of the late 1960s and early 1970s. In an era when African Americans were assumed to have secured their basic constitutional rights, the Black Panther Party stood firm to remind black people and the nation that despite the gains of the Civil Rights Movement, social, economic, and political equality had not been achieved for large segments of African Americans, and that more needed to be done locally and nationally. Organized geographically, the book examines Black Panther Party chapters and affiliates throughout the United States. It covers the Panthers' most important developments and challenges, paying particular attention to local realities as they varied throughout the nation-from Oakland, California to New Haven, Connecticut. Synthesizes the latest scholarship on the Black Panther Party Explains topics clearly and in accessible language Offers a compelling narrative that examines in depth the breadth of Black Panther Party politics and political activity Examines the ways in which the Black Panther Party has been depicted in popular culture, including in films and in hip-hop culture Includes biographical sketches of the most significant Panther members, along with a selection of primary documents

This book gives readers a comprehensive introduction to the topic of the Civil Rights Movement-arguably the most important political movement of the 20th century-and provides a road map for future study and historical inquiry. Civil Rights Movement provides a comprehensive reference guide to this momentous cultural evolution that starts in the 1930s. By beginning the story of how African Americans have long attempted to improve their lives while facing severe legislative, judicial, and political constraints, the author dispels the common misconception that black people only started their struggle to achieve equality in the mid 1950s. The book discusses all of the major campaigns of the 1950s and 1960s within the deep southern states, border states, and northern urban areas, thereby demonstrating that the African American struggle for equality was not solely in the South. Supplying a synthesis of the latest historical research and providing an accessible historical narrative of one of the most fascinating and inspiring periods of United States history, the book is appropriate for high-school students and general readers. Judicial victories significant to the movement and the shift in the portrayal of African Americans on television and in film are also addressed. Provides a chronology that traces the unfolding of the subject of movement over time Features biographical profiles of the people and organizations central to the movement Contains a selection of primary documents that provide readers with a fuller understanding of the subject Includes an annotated bibliography that assesses the most important print, electronic, and media resources suitable for high school student research