Portraits of African American Life since 1865

Portraits of African American Life since 1865 is an intimate study of the lives of 14 African Americans since the end of the Civil War. Written by established and rising scholars, these diverse biographies offer a rich portrayal of the African American experience over the last 150 years. Unlike many other books in the field which celebrate the contributions of African American leaders, this volume explores the lives of ordinary individuals who pursued a variety of endeavors from politics, labor reform, religion, medicine, sports, business, and, importantly, civil rights. Through the lives of these men and women who struggled to defy great odds, this text demonstrates the major themes in African American history. Editor Nina Mjagkij includes the largely untold stories of the Highgate sisters, two northern black teachers whose lives exemplify the African American thirst for education and penchant for racial uplift through schooling; Father of the Kansas Exodus, Benjamin 'Pap' Singleton; Pan-African Congress member and international peace movement activist Addie Waites Hunton; and Lester A. Walton, a journalist, foreign minister, and political activist who fought tirelessly for the birthright of citizenship for African Americans in a country that systematically denied that claim. In these engaging passages, students will meet Edgar Daniel Nixon, a forgotten Father of the Civil Rights Movement; Sgt. Allen Thomas, Jr., who served in the Vietnam War; civil servant and civil rights activist, Elmer Henderson; and educator and feminist, Anna Julia Cooper. They will become acquainted with fraternal society leader William Washington Browne, who fostered life insurance among African Americans and advocated black owned banks; Richard Henry Boyd, who established the National Baptist Publishing Board, the largest publishing house owned and controlled by black Americans; and Timothy Drew, 'Noble Drew Ali,' founder of the Moorish Science Temple of America, who fused religion with black nationalism, paving the way for other militant separatist groups. In these pages, students will also encounter Willard Townsend, the highest ranking African American official in the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and Roberta Church, the first African American woman in the South to hold the elected position of Republican State Committeewoman. Compelling as well as informative, Portraits of African American Life since 1865 gives students a heightened understanding of the evolution of what it has meant to be black and American through more than 150 years of U.S. history. This book is ideal for African American history courses.