LET NOBODY TURN US AROUND
Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal
AN AFRICAN AMERICAN ANTHOLOGY
editors Manning Marable Leith Mullings
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Oxford CONTENTS
PREFACE XIII
INTRODUCTION Resistance, Reform, and Renewal XVII in the Black Experience
SECTION ONE FOUNDATIONS: SLAVERY AND 1 ABOLITIONISM, 1789-1861
1. "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah 7 Equiano," Olaudah Equiano, 1789
2. "Thus Doth Ethiopia Stretch Forth Her Hand from 16 Slavery, to Freedom and Equality," Prince Hall, 1797
3. The Founding of the African Methodist 18 Episcopal Church, Richard Allen, 1816
4. David Walkers "Appeal," 1829-1830 23
5. The Statement of Nat Turner, 1831 35
6. Slaves Are Prohibited to Read and Write by Law 41
7. "What If I Am a Woman?" Maria W. Stewart, 1833 42
8. A Slave Denied the Rights to Marry, Letter of 48 Milo Thompson, Slave, 1834
9. The Selling of Slaves, Advertisement, 1835 49
10. Solomon Northrup Describes a New Orleans 50 Slave Auction, 1841 i CONTENTS
11. Cinque and the Amistad Revolt, 1841 52
12. "Let Your Motto Be Resistance!" 58 Henry Highland Garnet, 1843
13. "Slavery as It Is," William Wells Brown, 1847 64
14. "A'n't I a Woman?" Sojourner Truth, 1851 67
15. A Black Nationalist Manifesto, 69 Martin R. Delany, 1852
16. "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" 87 Frederick Douglass, 1852
17. "No Rights That a White Man Is Bound to Respect": 91 The Dred Scott Case and Its Aftermath
18. "Whenever the Colored Man Is Elevated, It Will 110 Be by His Own Exertions," John S. Rock, 1858
19. The Spirituals: "Go Down, Moses" and 114 "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel"
\ SECTION TWO RECONSTRUCTION AND REACTION: THE AFTERMATH 117 OF SLAVERY AND THE DAWN OF SEGREGATION, 1861-1915
1. "What the Black Man Wants," 125 Frederick Douglass, 1865
2. Henry McNeal Turner, Black Christian Nationalist 131
3. Black Urban Workers during Reconstruction 134 Anonymous Document on the National Colored Labor Convention, 1869 New York Tribune Article on African-American Workers, 1870
4. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Pioneering 138 Black Feminist
5. "Labor and Capital Are in Deadly Conflict," 143 T. Thomas Fortune, 1886
6. Edward Wilmot Blyden and the African Diaspora 146 CONTENTS
7. "The Democratic Idea Is Humanity," 157 Alexander Crummell, 1888
8. "A Voice from the South," Anna Julia Cooper, 1892 167
9. The National Association of Colored Women: 173 Mary Church Terrell and Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin
10. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," 178 Paul Laurence Dunbar
11. Booker T. Washington and the Politics 181 of Accommodation "Atlanta Exposition Address" "The Fruits of Industrial Training" "My View of Segregation Laws"
12. William Monroe Trotter and the Boston Guardian 198
13. Race and the Southern Worker 201 "A Negro Woman Speaks" "The Race Question a Class Question" "Negro Workers!"
14. Ida B. Wells-Bamett, Crusader for Justice 209
15. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois 212 Excerpts from "The Conservation of Races" Excerpts from The Souls of Black Folk
16. The Niagara Movement, 1905 227
17. Hubert Henry Harrison, Black 230 Revolutionary Nationalist
SECTION THREE FROM PLANTATION TO GHETTO: THE GREAT MIGRATION, 235 HARLEM RENAISSANCE, AND WORLD WAR, 1915-1954
1. Black Conflict over World War I 242 W. E. B. Du Bois, "Close Ranks" Hubert H. Harrison, "The Descent of Du Bois" W. E. B. Du Bois, "Returning Soldiers"
2. "If We Must Die," Claude McKay, 1919 245 CONTENTS
3. Black Bolsheviks: Cyril V. Briggs and Claude McKay 246 "What the African Blood Brotherhood Stands For" "Soviet Russia and the Negro"
4. Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro 259 Improvement Association "Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World" "An Appeal to the Conscience of the Black Race to See Itself" "An Expose of the Caste System among Negroes"
5. "Women as Leaders," 274 Amy Euphemia Jacques Garvey, 1925
6. Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance 276 "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" "My America" Poems
7. "The Negro Woman and the Ballot," 287 Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, 1927
8. James Weldon Johnson and Harlem in the 1920s 290 "Harlem: The Culture Capital" \ 9. Black Workers in the Great Depression 295
10. The Scottsboro Trials, 1930s 302
11. "You Cannot Kill the Working Class," 303 Angelo Herndon, 1933 "Speech to the Jury, January 17, 1933" Excerpt from You Cannot Kill the Working Class
12. Hosea Hudson, Black Communist Activist 313
13. "Breaking the Bars to Brotherhood," 320 Mary McLeod Bethune, 1935
14. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and the Fight for 323 Black Employment in Harlem
15. Black Women Workers during the Great Depression 325 Elaine Ellis, "Women of the Cotton Fields" Naomi Ward, "I Am a Domestic" CONTENTS ix
16. Southern Negro Youth Conference, 1939 331
17. A. Philip Randolph and the Negro March on 333 Washington Movement, 1941
18. Charles Hamilton Houston and the War Effort 339 among African Americans, 1944
19. "An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the 340 Negro Woman!" Claudia Jones, 1949
20. "The Negro Artist Looks Ahead," 351 PaulRobeson, 1951
21. Thurgood Marshall: The Brown Decision and 356 the Struggle for School Desegregation
SECTION FOUR WE SHALL OVERCOME: THE SECOND RECONSTRUCTION, 365 1954-1975
1. Rosa Parks, Jo Ann Robinson, and the 376 Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-1956 Jo Ann Robinson's Letter to Mayor of Montgomery Interview with Rosa Parks Excerpts from Jo Ann Robinson's Account of the Boycott
2. RoyWilkinsandtheNAACP 386
3. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 391 1957
4. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 395 and the Sit-in Movement, 1960
5. Freedom Songs, 1960s 396 "We Shall Overcome" "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round"
6. "We Need Group-Centered Leadership," 398 Ella Baker
7. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nonviolence 400 Excerpt from "Nonviolence and Racial Justice," 1957 "I Have a Dream," 1963 CONTENTS
8. "The Revolution Is at Hand," John R. Lewis, 1963 407
9. "The Salvation of American Negroes Lies 409 in Socialism," W. E. B. Du Bois
10. "The Special Plight and the Role of Black Women," 419 Fannie Lou Hamer
11. "SNCC Position Paper: Women in the Movement," 422 1964
12. Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam 425
13. Malcolm X and Revolutionary Black Nationalism 427 "The Ballot or the Bullet" "Statement of the Organization of Afro-American Unity"
14. Black Power 442 Stokely Carmichoel, "What We Want" SNCC, "Position Paper on Black Power" Bayard Rustin, "'Black Power' and Coalition Politics"
15. "CORE Endorses Black Power," 458 Floyd McKissick, 1967
16. "To Atone for Our Sins and Errors in Vietnam," 461 Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967
17. Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party 468 for Self-Defense
18. "The People Have to Have the Power," 479 Fred Hampton
19. "I Am a Revolutionary Black Woman," 482 Angela Y. Davis, 1970
20. "Our Thing Is DRUM!" The League of 486 Revolutionary Black Workers
21. Attica: "The Fury of Those Who Are Oppressed," 489 1971
22. The National Black Political Convention, 491 Gary, Indiana, March 1972 CONTENTS
23. "There Is No Revolution Without the People," 496 Amiri Baraka, 1972 "The Pan-African Party and the Black Nation" Poem
24. "My Sight Is Gone But My Vision Remains," 503 Henry Winston "On Returning to the Struggle" "A Letter to My Brothers and Sisters"
SECTION FIVE THE FUTURE IN THE PRESENT: CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN- 509 AMERICAN THOUGHT, 1975 TO THE PRESENT
1. "We Would Have to Fight the World," 519 Michele Wallace, 1975
2. Combahee River Collective Statement, 2977 524
3. "Women in Prison: How We Are," 529 Assata Shakur, 1978
4. "It's Our Turn," Harold Washington, 1983 535
5. "I Am Your Sister," Audre Lorde, 1984 537
6. "Shaping Feminist Theory," bell hooks, 1984 544
7. The Movement against Apartheid: 550 Jesse Jackson and Randall Robinson Jesse Jackson, "Don't Adjust to Apartheid" "State of the U.S. Anti-Apartheid Movement: An Interview with Randall Robinson"
8. "The Ghetto Underclass," 557 William Julius Wilson, 1987
9. "Keep Hope Alive," Jesse Jackson, 1988 567
10. "Afrocentricity," Molefi Asante, 1991 577
11. The Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas Controversy, i99i 588 "African-American Women in Defense of Ourselves" June Jordan, "Can I Get a Witness?" CONTENTS
12. "Race Matters," Cornel West, 1991 594
13. "Black Anti-Semitism," Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 1992 601
14. "Crime—Causes and Cures," Jarvis Tyner, 1994 606
15. Louis Farrakhan: The Million Man March, 1995 615
16. "A Voice from Death Row," Mumia Abu-Jamal 618
17. "Let Justice Roll Down Like Waters," 619 African-American Prisoners in Sing Sing, 1998 "Statement by Sing Sing Prisoners" Michael J. Love, "The Prison-Industrial Complex: An Investment in Failure" "Willis L. Steele, Jr., "River Hudson"
18. Black Radical Congress,1998 625 "Principles of Unity" "The Struggle Continues: Setting a Black Liberation Agenda for the 21st Century" "The Freedom Agenda"
PERMISSIONS \ 635
INDEX 643
ABOUT 675 THE EDITORS