African American Political Thought

"The book is a series of essays on the luminaries of African American political thought, across the history of the United States, by some of the most impressive scholars currently working. It is as close to a comprehensive overview of the African American political tradition as I’ve read, with chapters on figures from Phillis Wheatley and David Walker (two of the most important Black political thinkers of the early American republic) to Angela Davis and Clarence Thomas." -- Jamelle Bouie * The New York Times *
"Melvin Rogers’s and Jack Turner’s magisterial volume African American Political Thought comprises thirty essays on thirty different thinkers, each grappling with a shared set of questions and themes. . . . As 'collected history,' African American Political Thought offers a rich point from which to begin. Transfiguring the history of American political thought and democratic political theory, the volume proposes a canon of political thought that might itself be a starting point for democratic politics. . . . What they have achieved here does not only augment our existing canons, but works to transform those canons, and indeed the project of canon formation itself." * Comparative Political Theory *
"For those wishing to learn more about the broader significance of black social-political thought . . . African American Political Thought: A Collected History is the go-to volume. . . . All of the thirty essays in African American Political Thought generate original scholarship and insights . . . all are invaluable sources for future scholarship on these important political thinkers’ contributions to political theory. Overall, this collected history works to reshape understandings of politics, history, culture, economics, institutions, social relations, and human beings in the United States by adding missing political theorists’ voices and views and illustrating problems with some of the dominant political theorists’ voices and views." * Ethnic and Racial Studies *
"African American Political Thought, co-edited by Brown political scientist Melvin Rogers, reveals the outsize impact many Black thinkers, from Frederick Douglass to Angela Davis, have had on American society." * Brown University (News from Brown) *
"Melvin Rogers’s and Jack Turner’s highly anticipated volume African American Political Thought: A Collected History promises to transform how we read and teach the history of Black political thought. An impressive collection, it fills large gaps in our understanding of this tradition and sets a new foundation for further research... The volume sets a new standard for study of African American political thought and makes a persuasive case for the tradition’s important contributions to political theory broadly." * European Journal of Political Theory *
“For far too long, mainstream white American political theorists, whether in political science or political philosophy, have gotten away with the construction of a Jim Crow canon for which black thinkers are separate, unequal, and invisible. This groundbreaking and comprehensive overview of the African American political tradition should henceforth make such intellectual ghettoization impossible.” -- Charles W. Mills, The City University of New York
“African American Political Thought should become an instant classic. So much to mine here. So many lines of inquiry to follow. Rogers and Turner have masterfully curated a collection of essays that will guide the field of African American political thought for generations. The study of American political thought will never be the same.” -- Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Princeton University
“This book is an essential intervention in political theory and expands the notion of the canon of American political thought in ways that are both necessary and profound. Herein we begin to understand the richness of the legacies of politics reasoned from margin to center and the critical impact that can have on conceptions of democracy and justice. A must-read for those interested in understanding American politics and seriously engaging political theory.” -- Deva Woodly, The New School
"Rogers and Turner have assembled a collection of African American political thought covering a stunning range of time and ideas... Given its scope, the book maintains a sense of continuity through a plethora of resonances between its chapters. The collection boasts a variety of interpretative approaches and scales of analysis and is notable for its attention to a range of rhetorical strategies and expressive genres: sermons, slave narratives, satire, Supreme Court opinions... The time and care Rogers and Turner invested in this project from its conception in 2007 and compilation over 10 years is evident in its comprehensiveness and thorough introduction. The credentials of the contributors to this collection are astonishing and the oeuvre of each in their own right is worth reading further." * MAKE Literary Magazine *