Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945-1990

by Manning Marable

This important Race, Reform, and The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945-1990 is a must read. This contemporary history of black American outlines the basic problems and challenges during the crucial era of black reform.

Genres: History, Race, Nonfiction, Politics, American History, African American, Economics

283 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1984

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

[Demetri Broxton-Santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am currently re-reading this book. Marable reframes the World War II era through Civil Rights, all the way up to the George Bush Era as a Second Reconstruction. First of all, this revelation is revolutionary. It was a reconstruction, with America trying to figure out how to deal once again with the "Negro" problem. However, this time, the Negro/ African American population was able to exert much more political, economic, and social power and frame its own vision and goals.

Marable recognizes that history never repeats itself except in our imaginations, but in the preface, he states: "Despite a series of successive legislative and judicial victories, the burden of racial inequality continued to weigh most heavily upon black Americans".

Marable's book offers new perspectives on African American and American history, race relations, and in the Obama era of "post-racialism", he offers a new lens for us to reconsider the remaining race problem in America: the fact that racial disparities are still very much alive and deeply seated in our culture. However, Marable's vision is one of hope. He understands that progress has been made and that progress is a slow process. Rather than complaining, Marable's text is more of a call to action. For this reason, and to honor this great scholar of American history, I'm re-reading this text to get deeper into the thought process of Marable. I invite you to join me.

[Ariane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super eye-opening. Very dense (it took me forever to get through all of it) but incredibly enlightening. Hard to tell if the anti-capitalist bent is excessive bias or just the truth -- can capitalism coexist with racial equality? I don't think so, but I still felt like Marable was a little heavy-handed in his emphasis on socialist or communist activism. Also, would've enjoyed a little more on black feminism/womanism/intersectionality, but otherwise found this book invaluable.

[David Hollingsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book on the Civil Rights Movement and its aftermath I've ever read. It's a look at the history of what Marable calls the Second Reconstruction, which he also calls the black freedom struggle. It's a well-researched, readable account that pays mind to the intersection of race, class, and militarism.

An interesting way Marable frames the civil rights movement is as a second Reconstruction. He sees it as a spiritual successor to the first Reconstruction after the Civil War. It's an interesting way to look at it that puts the civil rights movement into a wider historical context.

Like I said above, this is a history that is intersectional. In other words, it doesn't look at the black community as a monolith. It distinguishes between the black middle class, working class, and poor, which helps add extra depth to his account. Ways in which each group could and did contribute are spelled out. He also has some info specifically on black women's role in the movement and the black feminism that would come after, which is nice.

Marable is a scholar-activist who clearly cares deep about his subject matter. I cannot recommend this book enough.

[Daniel Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fairly spectacular book which not only covered the strengths and faults of well known names like MLK jr., Malcom X, Medgar Evars and Rosa Parks but also more revered radical stalwarts like Huey P. Newton and other leaders of the black power movement and the great weaknesses of many leaders who focused to wholly on race to the detriment of gender or patriarchy considerations or class while refusing to admit race as a factor and as a result highlighting the reality of a modern organizer who lives in a inter-sectional reality that refuses o disconnect the struggles of women, people of color, trans people and people from each other. Encouraging to read something so connected from 1990. Points for covering the American Indian Movement (AIM) and a good part of the Latino farm workers movement and for pointing out the misogyny of leaders who only wanted to focus on race and the racism of leaders who chose to focus only on class.

[Sam Whitehill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great overview of the civil rights movement era. If you are looking for a book that grapples with all the major figures and events from the freedom struggles of the mid to late twentieth century, and does so through the critical lens of democratic socialism, this is that book. Marable praises the directions both Malcolm X and MLK were headed before their assassinations, while also taking the movement to task for relying on top down leadership from charismatic individuals. He empathizes with the most radical currents in the movement while also highlighting the destructive and conservative tendencies of black nationalism. He juxtaposes the black struggle for freedom, democracy, and economic justice with the hesitancy of the black upper class and the often violent reactions of white supremacy. All in all, Marable shows how the successes of the “second reconstruction” were mostly rolled back or neutralized in the subsequent decades, but that there always remains a path forward for the next great reconstruction of American society.

[Lucas Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this book up years ago, and never picked it up. I had largely purchased it because I had read a bit about the controversy surrounding the author's biography of Malcolm X (another book I own, but have not read), but this is a special book. That reframes the Civil Rights Movement in important ways that really have me excited to read more in the historical "classics" of the era.

With a focus on economics and the relationship to the labor movement, Marable provides a broad ranging, survey of the Civil Rights Movement, its formation, and its aftermath. He is unsentimental, but not cold. There is a sense of historical objectivity and something deeply personal. It's a very good book that could be read several times or used as a set text or a course. There is a third edition that carries the story up to 2006. It's on my list now. Highly Recommended.

[Brinda Gurumoorthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty dense but very comprehensive history of black American political and social movements in the 20th century. My main takeaway is that many things have stayed the same throughout the last century (historic uprisings followed by white backlash, battles between moderates and radical organizers, politicians making symbolic but mostly useless gestures towards anti racism).

[Malik · Rating 5 out of 5]

must read for his contextualizing of post-1965 black political/social life

[Cynara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marable does not fail to impress his audience with this work that sheds much light on the events and movements that helped to socially and politically shape the period known as the second reconstruction in African-American history, as well as those that contributed to its failure.

[John Beeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A polemic to be sure, but nevertheless compelling.

[Craig Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book exemplifies the brilliance that is Manning Marable.

[Johorse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Manning marble can write yo. Really well put together book. Basically Reagan is satan.

[Brandon Milton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone who is not an expert in post-World War II race relations in the United States.

[Meghan McDonald Carlson of Texas, Maryland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quintessential reading for those who want a hand understanding how our nation both accepted and rejected the liberal aims of the Civil Rights Movement. Marable is masterful.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned so much from this and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about Black struggle in the postwar era (which everyone should!). It is extremely comprehensive and covers a lot of ground, but is eminently readable. My one gripe with it is that it largely considers history from the particular standpoint of Black identity, which starting in the late '60s leaves Marable somewhat rudderless as he struggles to analyze the class politics behind neoliberal economics and mass incarceration, and the process by which liberal rights absorbed the Black challenge to the state by constructing a reified racial identity hitched to the redress of racially particular injuries -- his takes on affirmative action policies and reparations proposals are quite uncritical, as opposed to other scholars like the Fields sisters in Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life. This leaves Marable lacking compared to Du Bois, whose work on Reconstruction this book consciously takes after -- "Race, Reform, and Rebellion" presents the history of its period as an arc of rise and fall of one particular historical subject, rather than a dialectical struggle between racial and class forces, as DuBois did for the "first" Reconstruction.

But matching Du Bois is an impossibly tall order in the first place, and this remains an excellent book. You will come away with it understanding that it is impossible to understand the last ~80 years in America without a recognition of the centrality of race, and knowing the key names, places, and events in this key historical arc.

[John Bunyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read books about MLK, Bayard Rustin, Thurgood Marshall, and others. I’ve read about Freedom Riders, SNCC, NAACP, Black Panthers and other groups. This book gives a timeline and ties together these various elements of what the author calls “The Second Reconstruction”.
It gives some better insights into the weaknesses of and conflicts between individuals and groups in the civil rights movement that might not be as clear in focused biographies or histories of the individual or groups.
I learned some things about the failures of Jimmy Carter and other democrats to address the needs of the ooor and minority groups. The discussion of Reagan and Bush era active reversal of civil rights gains is familiar and depressing to revisit.
It’s a good book and, for the most part in an engaging read. There are sections of the second half that provide long stretches of statistics, which are important and enlightening, but become very dry and textbookish.
I got this book from the library, which had only the second edition. There is a third edition with further updates that I have requested my library to order so I can see what additional info there is.
The author makes it clear that he is a democratic socialist so to some extent the reader needs to be aware of that lens but I believe it’s a pretty objective and fair book.
Unfortunately the author died in 2011 at only 61, so there will be no further addition looking at the Obama era.
Three stars, good not great, but I’m glad I read it and I recommend it.

[Josh Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hoping for more analysis and less straight up-and-down history, but this is one hell of a book anyway. I learned a lot of history of the civil rights struggle, and Marable's socialist lens really highlights the way class and race are intertwined.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than an Instagram power point


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Book purchased based on this article: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/07/ma...

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was assigned reading for me during my undergraduate African American Studies class that, at 20 y/o, young, dumb college student didn't read and wish I had. If you can get past several misspellings and the density of the subject matter, it's not a bad read. It should certainly provide the reader with some enlightenment.