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A review by kevin_shepherd
Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America by Peniel E. Joseph
5.0
the politics of insurrection
The roots of the Black Power Movement in America can be traced as far back as Marcus Garvey and his 1914 Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). However, Peniel Joseph points to a Cold War assault on black radicals, whom conservatives associated with an influx of communist ideologies, as the true genesis of Black Power. Joseph chronicles Negro Nationalism from its infancy in the post World War I era to its resurgence during the Great Depression and finally to its heyday in the turbulent sixties and early seventies.
a veritable Venn diagram
Much like feminism, so much that I thought I knew about Black History was completely wrong. In my mind I had equated the Black Power movement with the Civil Rights movement. To me the two groups were synonymous and interchangeable—not so. Yes the two spheres often overlapped, but their ideologies and methodologies (and leaders) were vastly different and often at odds with one another. In the beginning Martin Luther King Jr. (Civil Rights) denounced and distanced himself from Black Power, believing it to be too radical and counterproductive. In contrast, Malcolm X (Black Power) often derided and belittled Dr. King, going so far as to call King’s March on Washington the “farce on Washington.” And yet, beneath it all, there was an undeniable kinship (if not outright friendship) between the two of them. Two of the greatest orators in American history; both principled, both driven, and both so feared by their enemies that they were cold bloodily murdered.
the never ending story
As a white dude studying Black History I’ve learned that it is better to keep my mouth shut and continue reading than to espouse opinions from an outsider’s position of privilege. I read about Dr. King and that fires me up to read about Bayard Rustin. I read about Malcolm X and that sends me on a quest to learn more about Stokely Carmichael. I read about Angela Davis and all of a sudden I’m buying books on Assata Shakur. There seems to be no end to the histories of intolerance and injustice in this country and every book, like this one, fuels my advocacy and activism.
The roots of the Black Power Movement in America can be traced as far back as Marcus Garvey and his 1914 Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). However, Peniel Joseph points to a Cold War assault on black radicals, whom conservatives associated with an influx of communist ideologies, as the true genesis of Black Power. Joseph chronicles Negro Nationalism from its infancy in the post World War I era to its resurgence during the Great Depression and finally to its heyday in the turbulent sixties and early seventies.
a veritable Venn diagram
Much like feminism, so much that I thought I knew about Black History was completely wrong. In my mind I had equated the Black Power movement with the Civil Rights movement. To me the two groups were synonymous and interchangeable—not so. Yes the two spheres often overlapped, but their ideologies and methodologies (and leaders) were vastly different and often at odds with one another. In the beginning Martin Luther King Jr. (Civil Rights) denounced and distanced himself from Black Power, believing it to be too radical and counterproductive. In contrast, Malcolm X (Black Power) often derided and belittled Dr. King, going so far as to call King’s March on Washington the “farce on Washington.” And yet, beneath it all, there was an undeniable kinship (if not outright friendship) between the two of them. Two of the greatest orators in American history; both principled, both driven, and both so feared by their enemies that they were cold bloodily murdered.
the never ending story
As a white dude studying Black History I’ve learned that it is better to keep my mouth shut and continue reading than to espouse opinions from an outsider’s position of privilege. I read about Dr. King and that fires me up to read about Bayard Rustin. I read about Malcolm X and that sends me on a quest to learn more about Stokely Carmichael. I read about Angela Davis and all of a sudden I’m buying books on Assata Shakur. There seems to be no end to the histories of intolerance and injustice in this country and every book, like this one, fuels my advocacy and activism.