An Introduction to Black Studies

Eric R. Jackson

• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9780813196930
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: African American History
• Index: History

Recipient of the 2023 Thomas D. Clark Medallion Award

For hundreds of years, the American public education system has neglected to fully examine, discuss, and acknowledge the vast and rich history of people of African descent who have played a pivotal role in the transformation of the United States. The establishment of Black studies departments and programs represented a major victory for higher education and a vindication of Black scholars such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Nathan Huggins. This emerging field of study sought to address omissions from numerous disciplines and correct the myriad distortions, stereotypes, and myths about persons of African descent.

In An Introduction to Black Studies, Eric R. Jackson demonstrates the continuing need for Black studies, also known as African American studies, in university curricula. Jackson connects the growth and impact of Black studies to the broader context of social justice movements, emphasizing the historical and contemporary demand for the discipline. This book features seventeen chapters that focus on the primary eight disciplines of Black studies: history, sociology, psychology, religion, feminism, education, political science, and the arts. Each chapter includes a biographical vignette of an important figure in African American history, such as Frederick Douglass, Louis Armstrong, and Madam C. J. Walker, as well as student learning objectives that provide a starting point for educators. This valuable work speaks to the strength and rigor of scholarship on Blacks and African Americans, its importance to the formal educational process, and its relevance to the United States and the world.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• 1. The Nature, Scope, and Construction of Black Studies
• 2. The Origin and Development of Black Studies as a Field of Analysis
• 3. The History of African Americans in the United States: From Enslavement to the Civil War
• 4. African Americans in the United States from the Civil War to the Present
• 5. African Americans and Education
• 6. African Americans at Home and Abroad: Racial Construction and Resistance
• 7. African American Religious Traditions: The Origin and Development of a Black Liberation Theology from the Colonial Era to Reconstruction
• 8. African American Religious Traditions: Reconstruction to the Present
• 9. Black Feminism: The Construction and Development of Black Feminist Thought
• 10. The African American Experience from a Sociological Perspective: Black American Identity and Culture
• 11. The African American Experience from a Sociological Perspective: The Black Family
• 12. Black Psychology: The Origin, Nature, and Development of an African-Centered Worldview
• 13. Black Psychology: Current Psychological Approaches
• 14. African Americans and Politics: From the Colonial Period to the 1930s
• 15. African Americans and Politics: From Black Empowerment to the Criminal Justice System
• 16. The Creative Expressions of African Americans: The Origins, Development, and Impact of African American Music
• 17. The Creative Expressions of African Americans: Performance and Visual Art
• Bibliography
• Index