No Coward Soldiers: Black Cultural Politics in Postwar America / Edition 1

by Waldo E. Martin Jr.

Overview

In a vibrant and passionate exploration of the twentieth-century civil rights and black power eras in American history, Waldo Martin uses cultural politics as a lens through which to understand the African-American freedom struggle.

In black culture, argues Martin, we see the debate over the profound tension at the core of black identity: the duality of being at once both American and African. And in the transformative postwar period, the intersection between culture and politics became increasingly central to the African-American fight for equality. In freedom songs, in the exuberance of an Aretha Franklin concert, in Faith Ringgold’s exploration of race and sexuality, the personal and social became the political.

Martin explores the place of black culture in this vision and examines the multiple ways in which various forms of expressive culture and African-American cultural figures influenced consciousness and helped effect social action. From the music of John Coltrane and James Brown to the visual art of Jacob Lawrence and Betye Saar to the dance movements of Alvin Ailey and Arthur Mitchell, Martin discusses how, why, and with what consequences culture became a critical battle site in the freedom struggle. And in a fascinating epilogue, he draws the thread of black cultural politics into today’s hip-hop culture.

This engaging book brings a new perspective to the civil rights and black power eras, while illuminating the broader history of American and global freedom struggles.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674015074
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	02/28/2005
Series:	The Nathan I. Huggins Lectures , #4
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Waldo E. Martin, Jr. is Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley.

What People are Saying About This

Waldo Martin takes up the charge being led by a growing number of scholars who understand the symbiotic connections between the Civil Rights/Black Power movements and black expressive culture in a myriad of forms. Throughout the highs and lows of their freedom struggle, black Americans∆-in song and dance, poetry and painting, sermon and sculpture∆-constructed mighty cultural armature on the front lines of a social revolution. With rigor and verve, No Coward Soldiers captures the richness and complexity of that historical moment.

Deborah E. McDowell

Waldo Martin takes up the charge being led by a growing number of scholars who understand the symbiotic connections between the Civil Rights/Black Power movements and black expressive culture in a myriad of forms. Throughout the highs and lows of their freedom struggle, black Americans?-in song and dance, poetry and painting, sermon and sculpture?-constructed mighty cultural armature on the front lines of a social revolution. With rigor and verve, No Coward Soldiers captures the richness and complexity of that historical moment.
— Deborah E. McDowell, University of Virginia, author of Leaving Pipe Shop: Memories of Kin

Clayborne Carson

Through concise and cogent observations grounded in wide-ranging interdisciplinary research, Waldo Martin's No Coward Soldiers makes a singular contribution to the literature on African-American life since World War II. Devoting special attention to music and other aspects of popular culture, Martin illuminates many of the central concerns that remain unresolved as Americans continue to debate the meaning of race. This insightful book deserves a wide readership.
— Clayborne Carson, editor of The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. and author of In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s

Editorial Reviews

Through concise and cogent observations grounded in wide-ranging interdisciplinary research, Waldo Martin’s No Coward Soldiers makes a singular contribution to the literature on African-American life since World War II. Devoting special attention to music and other aspects of popular culture, Martin illuminates many of the central concerns that remain unresolved as Americans continue to debate the meaning of race. This insightful book deserves a wide readership.

Clayborne Carson

Waldo Martin takes up the charge being led by a growing number of scholars who understand the symbiotic connections between the Civil Rights/Black Power movements and black expressive culture in a myriad of forms. Throughout the highs and lows of their freedom struggle, black Americans—in song and dance, poetry and painting, sermon and sculpture—constructed mighty cultural armature on the front lines of a social revolution. With rigor and verve, No Coward Soldiers captures the richness and complexity of that historical moment.

Deborah E. McDowell

Waldo E. Martin, Jr. draws on the development of postwar black aesthetic-cultural forms to read African-American political history. He argues that what developed between the 1940s and 1970s was a ‘distinctive black cultural politics’ where culture and politics overlapped and merged… He keeps the reader focused on his central themes of hope and possibility for black political and cultural struggle between 1940 and 1979 and the drive for freedom, equality, and justice underlying cultural politics and the political culture… No Coward Soldiers constitutes a strong addition to cultural studies and analyses of African-American politics alike. While it doesn’t seek to replace more detailed historical studies of black power and civil rights that already exist, it does provide a new outlook on those histories. It is indeed an important book that ought to be read by academics and students with an interest in either or both disciplines.

Ethnic and Racial Studies - Kalbir Shukra

No Coward Soldiers…is a fine representation of contemporary efforts in history, ethnic studies, and American studies to examine the cultural dimensions of politics, the politicization of culture, and the interaction between the two arenas… The work is a remarkable synthesis in its analysis of different facets of black culture. Martin’s canvas is rather extensive. Besides examining the artistic and political aspects of blues, spirituals, jazz, soul, rock and roll, funk, and hip-hop, he looks at sports heroes and the works of artists in different media.

Journal of American History - Douglas Henry Daniels

Waldo E. Martin, Jr. draws on the development of postwar black aesthetic-cultural forms to read African-American political history. He argues that what developed between the 1940s and 1970s was a "distinctive black cultural politics" where culture and politics overlapped and merged...He keeps the reader focused on his central themes of hope and possibility for black political and cultural struggle between 1940 and 1979 and the drive for freedom, equality, and justice underlying cultural politics and the political culture...No Coward Soldiers constitutes a strong addition to cultural studies and analyses of African-American politics alike. While it doesn't seek to replace more detailed historical studies of black power and civil rights that already exist, it does provide a new outlook on those histories. It is indeed an important book that ought to be read by academics and students with an interest in either or both disciplines.
— Kalbir Shukra

Ethnic and Racial Studies

No Coward Soldiers...is a fine representation of contemporary efforts in history, ethnic studies, and American studies to examine the cultural dimensions of politics, the politicization of culture, and the interaction between the two arenas...The work is a remarkable synthesis in its analysis of different facets of black culture. Martin's canvas is rather extensive. Besides examining the artistic and political aspects of blues, spirituals, jazz, soul, rock and roll, funk, and hip-hop, he looks at sports heroes and the works of artists in different media.
— Douglas Henry Daniels

Journal of American History

In this series of three essays developed from his Nathan I. Huggins Lectures at Harvard University, Martin (history, Univ. of California, Berkeley; The Mind of Frederick Douglass) examines the lived experience and historical memory of the Civil Rights/ black power era (1945-75). Focusing on the battleground of cultural politics, he traces and contextualizes what he sees as a profound shift in blacks' embracing themselves through the poetic and the political. Rooted in activism rather than fantasy, he argues, blacks fought their way through this tangled duality to imagine, realize, and transcend vital new expressions in contested and constructed notions of race and culture. Their resulting social connection and self-identification resonated with authenticity and representation, particularly in black music, from jazz to Motown to hip-hop. Martin extends his survey of this pivotal terrain by drawing lines to the provocative works of Hazel Carby, Vincent Harding, Cornel West, and others. Recommended for collections in black, cultural, and modern U.S. history.-Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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