Black Political Organizations in the Post-Civil Rights Era / Edition 1

by Ollie Johnson, Karin Stanford

Overview

We know a great deal about civil rights organizations during the 1960s, but relatively little about black political organizations since that decade. Questions of focus, accountability, structure, and relevance have surrounded these groups since the modern Civil Rights Movement ended in 1968. Political scientists Ollie A. Johnson III and Karin L. Stanford have assembled a group of scholars who examine the leadership, membership, structure, goals, ideology, activities, accountability, and impact of contemporary black political organizations and their leaders. Questions considered are: How have these organizations adapted to the changing sociopolitical and economic environment? What ideological shifts, if any, have occurred within each one? What issues are considered important to black political groups and what strategies are used to implement their agendas? The contributors also investigate how these organizations have adapted to changes within the black community and American society as a whole.

Organizations covered include well-known ones such as the NAACP, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Urban League, and the Congress of Racial Equality, as well as organizations such as the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs. Religious groups, including black churches and the Nation of Islam, are also considered.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813531403
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	12/16/2002
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	1550L (what's this?)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ollie A. Johnson III is a professor of political science at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador. He is the author of Brazilian Party Politics and the Coup of 1964. Karin L. Stanford was assistant professor of political science and African American Studies at the University of Georgia and has served as Bureau Chief of the Washington office of Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. She is the author of Beyond the Boundaries: Reverend Jesse Jackson in International Affairs.

Table of Contents

Introduction: the relevance of Black political organizations in the post-Civil Rights era / Ollie A. Johnson III and Karin L. Stanford
Will the circle be unbroken? The political involvement of Black churches since the 1960s / Allison Calhoun-Brown
The NAACP in the twenty-first century / Robert C. Smith
The National Urban League: reinventing service for the twenty-first century / Jennifer A. Wade and Brian N. Williams
A layin' on of hands: Black women's community work / Erika L. Gordon
From protest to Black conservatism: the demise of the Congress of Racial Equality / Charles E. Jones
"You're not ready for Farrakhan": the Nation of Islam and the struggle for Black political leadership, 1984-2000 / Claude A. Clegg III
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference: beyond the Civil Rights Movement / F. Carl Walton
Reverend Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition: institutionalizing economic opportunity / Karin L. Stanford
"We refused to lay down our spears": the persistence of welfare rights activism, 1966-1996 / Todd C. Shaw
Black political leadership in the Post-Civil Rights era / Akwasi B. Assensoh and Yvette Alex-Assensoh
Where do we go from here? Facing the challenges of the post-Civil Rights era / Valerie C. Johnson

Editorial Reviews

[A] worthwhile collection that examines the role of the country's leading black organizations in the post-civil rights era.

New York Press

Essential reading for those interested in Black civil society in the post-civil rights era. A balanced and comprehensive account of Black leadership today.

Professor of African American Studies, University of California, Berkeley - Charles Henry