Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal

by Manning Marable, Leith Mullings (Editor)

One of America's most prominent historians and a noted feminist bring together the most important political writings and testimonials from African-Americans over three centuries.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Race, Social Justice, Politics, Anthologies, African American

598 pages, Hardcover

First published December 15, 1999

About the author

Manning 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.

Reviews

[Bailey Noffsinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a self-professed history nerd, and so I may be a bit biased, but this is an incredible marvel of a collection of writings. It takes a while to parse through, but I read it twice because of the incredible historical timeline, diversity of views and writing samples, and the astounding aspects of American history that the typical American History education completely misses. Thank you, Marable.

[Roger Mckenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic resource.

[Alise Napp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read my full thoughts on this book and hundreds more over at Read.Write.Repeat.

An important collection that celebrates African American voices throughout American history.

[David Withun · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices on Resistance, Reform, and Renewal an African American Anthology (Hardcover)
by Manning Marable (Editor)

from the library

Contents: (from the library computer)
Introduction: Resistance, Reform, and Renewal in the Black Experience --

Sect. 1. Foundations: Slavery and Abolitionism, 1789-1861 -- 1. Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano / Olaudah Equiano -- 2. Thus Doth Ethiopia Stretch Forth Her Hand from Slavery, to Freedom and Equality / Prince Hall -- 3. Founding of the African Methodist Episcopal Church / Richard Allen -- 4. David Walker's "Appeal," 1829-1830 -- 5. Statement of Nat Turner, 1831 -- 6. Slaves Are Prohibited to Read and Write by Law -- 7. What If I Am a Woman? / Maria W. Stewart -- 8. Slave Denied the Rights to Marry, Letter of Milo Thompson, Slave, 1834 -- 9. Selling of Slaves, Advertisement, 1835 -- 10. Solomon Northrup Describes a New Orleans Slave Auction, 1841 -- 11. Cinque and the Amistad Revolt, 1841 -- 12. Let Your Motto Be Resistance! / Henry Highland Garnet -- 13. Slavery as It Is / William Wells Brown -- 14. A'n't I a Woman? / Sojourner Truth -- 15. Black Nationalist Manifesto / Martin R. Delany -- 16. What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? / Frederick Douglass -- 17. "No Rights That a White Man Is Bound to Respect": The Dred Scott Case and Its Aftermath -- 18. Whenever the Colored Man Is Elevated, It Will Be by His Own Exertions / John S. Rock -- 19. Spirituals: "Go Down, Moses" and "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel" -

Sect. 2. Reconstruction and Reaction: the Aftermath of Slavery and the Dawn of Segregation, 1861-1915 -- 1. What the Black Man Wants / Frederick Douglass -- 2. Henry McNeal Turner, Black Christian Nationalist -- 3. Black Urban Workers during Reconstruction -- 4. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Pioneering Black Feminist -- 5. Labor and Capital Are in Deadly Conflict / T. Thomas Fortune -- 6. Edward Wilmot Blyden and the African Diaspora -- 7. Democratic Idea Is Humanity / Alexander Crummell -- 8. Voice from the South / Anna Julia Cooper -- 9. National Association of Colored Women: Mary Church Terrell and Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin -- 10. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings / Paul Laurence Dunbar -- 11. Booker T. Washington and the Politics of Accommodation -- 12. William Monroe Trotter and the Boston Guardian -- 13. Race and the Southern Worker -- 14. Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Crusader for Justice -- 15. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois -- 16. Niagara Movement, 1905 -- 17. Hubert Henry Harrison, Black Revolutionary Nationalist -

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Source documents in African American history. I read this by myself, but I would really like to take a class and read it with a professor's guidance and commentary.

[Novellway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, excellent read. I am reading this title again right now

[Katy Koivastik · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-annotated encyclopedic anthology of Black history in America; it should be required reading for all high schoolers.

From “Slavery As It Is” written in 1847 by writer, lecturer and escaped slave William Wells Brown:

“Only a short time since, an American man-of-war was anchored in the bay opposite Liverpool. The English came down by the hundreds and thousands. The stars and stripes were flying, and there stood those poor persons that had never seen an American man-of-war, but had heard a great deal of American democracy. Some were eulogizing the American people; some were calling it the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave.’ And while they stood there, one of their number rose up, and pointing his fingers to the American flag, said:

United States, your banner wears

Two emblems, —-one of fame;

Alas, the other that it bears,

Reminds us of your shame.

The white man’s liberty,

Entyped, stands blazoned by your stars;

But what’s the meaning of your stripes?

They mean your Negro scars.”

When I read these words I instantly thought of football player Colin Kaepernick “taking a knee” in protest against saluting a flag that should signify freedom for all Americans, but instead overlooks the oppression perpetrated against Americans of of color every single day. As the the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said: “No one is free until we are all free.”

[Rubí · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal intro to works and writings of figures both familiar and lesser-known in AfAm history. Works selected are perfect introductions to individual authors and inviting to further readings. Veryyyy helpful to me as someone with interest in afam history but in need of ideas of where to start/which authors to seek out.

[Cheryl]

Because I've finally learned that "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired" is from a civil rights activist that deserves to be more widely known, Fannie Lou Hamer.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read most of the book for my African American history class.

[Jamie Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this for a class but ended up reading beyond the assignments on my own. So incredible!

[O Williams]

Read many of these essays and speeches for a Black Political Thought college course.

[Kenneth Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is an incredibly long and difficult read, but persevere and you get one of the best anthological stories ever. really taught me a lot about the subject material.