While the physical prowess of African people is much lauded in the Western world, many still deem the idea of black thought as patently oxymoronic. The concept of black people thinking in private and public—and doing so in ways that are meaningful enough to be documented—is often considered a fantastical thought of puerile racial optimism. New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition, edited by Keisha N. Blain, Christopher Cameron, and Ashley D. Farmer, scotches this mendacious narrative with an applause-worthy collection of essays that meticulously examine varied aspects of the vast black intellectual tradition across the globe. The authors of the essays show that black thought is not a utopian figment of the feverish Afrocentric imagination; it is a verifiable reality with which sober-minded people must reckon.
The text is aptly divided into four parts. The first section focuses on black internationalism in the twentieth century with essays on France, Cuba, and Haiti. The second section addresses religion and spirituality with essays on secularism, freethought, and black female spirituality. The third section focuses on the politics of race and social justice with essays on Frederick Douglass, antiracism, and black women's intellectual work for black liberation in the twentieth century. The final section focuses on black radicalism with essays on the intellectual work of slaves and free people, as well as an essay on Pan-Africanism in Guyana. Each section is edited to contain essays that broach the respective topics with commendable breadth and balance.
Perhaps the most notable essay in the first section on black internationalism is by Celeste Day Moore on the teaching of French language classes at historically black colleges and universities, and the importance of the French language for black global imagination. One of the principal arguments of the essay is that black internationalism and black pride are complementary. Commencing her chapter, Moore highlights Booker T. Washington's obtuse disparagement of a poor African American man who was so enthralled with the study of French language that he was seemingly blissfully unaware of the situation around him. She juxtaposes this with W. E. B. Du Bois's more sophisticated understanding of the power of language to improve one's lot in life and broaden one's conception of possibilities.
Read Full Article »
