المثقفون السود والمجتمع الاسود

This book presents essays by pioneering political scientist Martin L. Kelson on the most prominent black thinkers of the twentieth century. Kelson examines the thoughts and careers of a number of prominent intellectuals, placing their intellectual journeys in the context of the dynamics that shaped the black intellectual elite more broadly. He argues that the trajectory of black intellectuals in the twentieth century was determined by the interaction between formal ideas and the black struggle for equality. Beginning with the tension between W. E. B. Du Bois's civil rights activism and Booker T. Washington's conciliatory approach, Kelson explores the formation and development of black thinkers and activists across generations. The book's chapters cover Horace Mann Bond's career in higher education, political scientist John O'Pray Davis's transition from civil rights activist to technical expert on federal politics, Ralph Bunche's writings on European colonial rule in Africa, Harold Cruse's classic "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual," and E. Franklin Fraser's work on the black bourgeoisie, Adelaide Cromwell's studies of the challenges facing elite black women, and the roles of Ishmael Reed and Cornel West as public intellectuals in the midst of the conservative shift. This book offers insightful and engaging insights into the lives and works of prominent black intellectuals and activists, and sheds new light on ongoing questions and debates in black political thought.