Revolution will not be theorized : : cultural revolution in the Black Power Era / / Errol A. Henderson.

• Superior document: African-American studies
• VerfasserIn: Henderson, Errol Anthony,
• Place / Publishing House: Albany : : SUNY Press,, [2019]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: African-American studies.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xxii, 491 pages).

The study of the impact of Black Power Movement (BPM) activists and organizations in the 1960s through '70s has largely been confined to their role as proponents of social change; but they were also theorists of the change they sought. In The revolution will not be theorized Errol A. Henderson explains this theoretical contribution and places it within a broader social theory of black revolution in the United States dating back to nineteenth-century black intellectuals. These include black nationalists, feminists, and anti-imperialists; activists and artists of the Harlem Renaissance; and early Cold War-era black revolutionists. The book first elaborates W.E.B. Du Bois's thesis of the "General Strike" during the Civil War, Alain Locke's thesis relating black culture to political and economic change, Harold Cruse's work on black cultural revolution, and Malcolm X's advocacy of black cultural and political revolution in the United States. Henderson then critically examines BPM revolutionists' theorizing regarding cultural and political revolution and the relationship between them in order to realize their revolutionary objectives. Focused more on importing theory from third world contexts that were dramatically different from the United States, BPM revolutionists largely ignored the theoretical template for black revolution most salient to their case, which undermined their ability to theorize a successful black revolution in the United States.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The revolution will not be theorized -- Malcom X and the revolutionary turn in the Civil Rights Movement -- Black nationalism: Civilization and reverse civilization -- The general strike and the slave revolution of the U.S. Civil War -- Cultural revolution and cultural evolution -- Theorizing cultural revolution in the Black Power Era -- RAM, us, the Black Panther Party -- Republic of New Africa, League of Revolutionary Black Workers -- CAP, shrine of the Black Madonna/Pan-African Orthodox Christian Church -- Conclusion: Black revolutionary theory in the BPM.