The Black Radical Imagination

This course offers an examination of early historical attempts to address arguably the two most basic questions of the Black freedom struggle in America: what exactly constitutes freedom? And how is this freedom to be attained? Using three broad themes – escape, salvation, and revolution – it surveys, highlights, interrogates the development of Black political creativity from mid-19th to mid-20th century. Through close reading of primary and secondary source documents, students will be introduced to a range of significant political moments, movements, and theories that chart the evolution of the American Black radical tradition during this period. Topics include the New Negro Movement and the notion of a Talented Tenth, Pan-Africanism and the 1920’s Back to Africa Movement, the Black Women’s Club Movement of the early 20th century, the NAACP “We Charge Genocide” campaign, etc.