Passageways:: An Interpretive History of Black America, Volume I

by A. Palmer

PASSAGEWAYS reflects current scholarship on the black past through a thematic and chronological approach. The metaphor PASSAGEWAYS describes the paths blacks in America have forged through racially inspired minefields. The two volumes focus on the ways in which a people imagined and constructed themselves, their institutions, their cultures, and their battles for freedom and equality. Colin A. Palmer is distinguished professor of History at CUNY Graduate School. He has held several fellowships and published widely in the area of the African Diaspora.

Genres: History

Paperback

First published January 12, 1998

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an extremely difficult book to get through. I was at turns incandescent with rage and frozen by horror. The rage came from the obvious source: the Black experience in the US as covered by this book is nothing less than a showcase of humanity at its worst. The horror descended on me when I stopped to consider how much of this is still relevant, and how I have been living and in and colluding with a system that perpetuates it.

At times, I had some concerns about the documentation of the sources, but, all in all, it is an impressive work. It is supremely difficult to write history when traditional sources are few and far between.

[Grace2016 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this 5 stars for sentimental reasons. This is the only book I still have from college. Its 2019 now so that means this book has been on my bookshelf for 20 years. As the cover says its history book and I was actually taught African American History using it.