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Living Black History: How Reimagining the African-American Past Can Remake America's Racial Future
Are the stars of the Civil Rights firmament yesterday’s news? In Living Black History scholar and activist Manning Marable offers a resounding “No!” with a fresh and personal look at the enduring legacy of such well-known figures as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers and W.E.B. Du Bois. Marable creates a “living history” that brings the past alive for a generation he sees as having historical amnesia. His activist passion and scholarly memory bring immediacy to the tribulations and triumphs of yesterday and reveal that history is something that happens everyday. Living Black History dismisses the detachment of the codified version of American history that we all grew up with. Marable’s holistic understanding of history counts the story of the slave as much as that of the master; he highlights the flesh-and-blood courage of those figures who have been robbed of their visceral humanity as members of the historical cannon. As people comprehend this dynamic portrayal of history they will begin to understand that each day we-the average citizen-are “makers” of our own American history. Living Black History will empower readers with knowledge of their collective past and a greater understanding of their part in forming our future.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 2, 2006
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303 people want to read
About the author
Manning Marable
89 books194 followersManning Marable was an American professor of public affairs, history and African-American Studies at Columbia University. He founded and directed the Institute for Research in African-American Studies. He authored several texts and was active in progressive political causes. At the time of his death, he had completed a biography of human rights activist Malcolm X, entitled Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 5, 2022
Some spelling errors, but it doesn't take away from the overall thought-provoking nature of this book, which offers a deeper insight on history -- not just black history -- by looking at what we lose when we only see one side of history, when we ignore inconveniences, or if we only see a particular historic event in one way.
As history becomes weaponized in the "culture wars," this book gives us a good chance to step back and reflect on who, or what are we choosing to remember and what service are we going to do with that memory.
Are we going to continue to let Alex Haley, hip-hop, or Spike Lee have the last word on Malcolm X when they are all blind men trying to identify him by only parts of him? Are we going to throw out the radical W.E.B Du Bois and just concentrate on The Souls of Black Folk? Are we going to toss out the gains made with Brown and the Black Freedom Movement because some of us being better off now is good enough? All good questions Marable grapples with here.
As history becomes weaponized in the "culture wars," this book gives us a good chance to step back and reflect on who, or what are we choosing to remember and what service are we going to do with that memory.
Are we going to continue to let Alex Haley, hip-hop, or Spike Lee have the last word on Malcolm X when they are all blind men trying to identify him by only parts of him? Are we going to throw out the radical W.E.B Du Bois and just concentrate on The Souls of Black Folk? Are we going to toss out the gains made with Brown and the Black Freedom Movement because some of us being better off now is good enough? All good questions Marable grapples with here.
December 29, 2023
This was a remarkable collection of essays, broadly around the theme of "Black historiography" and covering figures like Medgar Evers, W. E. B. Du Bois, Malcolm X, Brown v. Board, and more. What was remarkable about this book was Marable's laser-like focus on sources and his critical eye to the ways Black figures have been obscured or distorted in history. The Preface opens up with the shocking story of how dozens of boxes of Medgar Evers's files were just thrown in the dumpster after he was murdered in Mississippi, how by chance just 3 boxes of his "personal belongings" were saved, and more broadly, just how tenuous and contingent history is, the crashing waves of chance and circumstance determining what material artifacts are available to shape our understanding and which disappear.
This is also a book about the "reception history" of figures like Du Bois, the shifting terms of their legacy, their "highs" and "lows" in public opinion, the sanitization of their thought, the way they are "used" by later generations. The chapter on Du Bois was such a careful analysis of this, seen poignantly in Marable's memory of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of The Souls of Black Folk, and the tensions and contradictions on display there.
The chapter on Malcolm X was fascinating, the way MM picked apart the "collaborative" writing of The Autobiography of Malcolm X with Alex Haley, the way certain chapters were edited or even "censored" (not printed), and what final say brother Malcolm actually did--or didn't--have over the final product. The Saga of the papers and belongings of Malcolm, from the storage unit to the auction house to the archive was incredible; I'd never heard this tale before, and it was astonishing. The fact that we this collection *as* a collection is not a "given."
Though this reads like a collection of essays, it is fundamentally the work of a brilliant thinker and historian, a writer who is now on my short list of the most insightful critics of a recent chapter of American history (the 1980s, 90s, 2000s), and from whom I intend to learn quite a bit more.
This is also a book about the "reception history" of figures like Du Bois, the shifting terms of their legacy, their "highs" and "lows" in public opinion, the sanitization of their thought, the way they are "used" by later generations. The chapter on Du Bois was such a careful analysis of this, seen poignantly in Marable's memory of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of The Souls of Black Folk, and the tensions and contradictions on display there.
The chapter on Malcolm X was fascinating, the way MM picked apart the "collaborative" writing of The Autobiography of Malcolm X with Alex Haley, the way certain chapters were edited or even "censored" (not printed), and what final say brother Malcolm actually did--or didn't--have over the final product. The Saga of the papers and belongings of Malcolm, from the storage unit to the auction house to the archive was incredible; I'd never heard this tale before, and it was astonishing. The fact that we this collection *as* a collection is not a "given."
Though this reads like a collection of essays, it is fundamentally the work of a brilliant thinker and historian, a writer who is now on my short list of the most insightful critics of a recent chapter of American history (the 1980s, 90s, 2000s), and from whom I intend to learn quite a bit more.
April 19, 2021
Brief collection of essays by recent African American scholar. Some quite stodgy and dense for my taste. I enjoyed learning about Malcolm X - made me want to look more deeply into his life. Also the final chapter about how the promise of Brown vs. Board of Education has been steadily dismantled and how govt administrations have stepped up disfranchisement of African Americans and minorities to current record levels.
September 6, 2007
I had admittedly modest expectations for this book but found myself pleasantly surprised. I don't think Marable fully delivers on the book's subtitle (i.e. explicitly making the case for why alternative interpretations of the black past, and of America's racial history more generally, would impact contemporary struggles for justice). Nevertheless, the chapters on the popular de-radicalization of Du Bois and on the legacy of Malcolm X were both insightful and potentially useful teaching texts. In the former, Marable shows how Du Bois's complex, evolving thought and lengthy career have been popularly reduced to a few stock phrases from The Souls of Black Folk. The chapter on Malcolm was particularly thought-provoking. Here Marable traces the influence of Alex Haley, and Haley's politics, in shaping the dominant image of Malcolm. He goes on to illustrate how the lack of a unified, accessible archive has subsequently hampered scholars' ability to re-interpret the Haley/Spike Lee-driven narrative that so dramatically -- but, Marable argues, inaccurately -- emphasizes moments of stark and sudden conversion.
January 2, 2009
Very good. This books raises a bold and articulate challenge to the veracity and legitimacy of the master narrative of American history. Interesting and smooth read.
July 21, 2010
A unique and thoughtful look at black history and an antidote for the future of race in America. A must read for educators in the DC system. Loved it.
January 14, 2014
Very interesting perspective. I really enjoyed the chapter on Brown v Board.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews