Making Black History: The Color Line, Culture, and Race in the Age of Jim Crow - Tapa dura

Snyder's lucidly written and passionately argued story of the making of black history offers a timely and compelling reminder of how much the writing of our racial past has shaped the present and future of America. The struggles for a black archive and against historical erasure in the pathbreaking scholarship of Carter G. Woodson, John Hope Franklin, and others is part of the foundation upon which the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture rests. Their commitment to telling--and learning--what Woodson called the 'whole truth' should be shared by every American and immigrant alike.--Khalil Gibran Muhammad "author of The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America " In the era of "fake news," this detailed volume is a testament that the work engaged by early black history movement advocates must continue.--Hilary Green "History of Education Quarterly " Making Black History will be of interest to scholars in many disciplines (history, literary studies, education) and promises to provoke more work on a towering figure in U.S. history whose contributions have for too long been underappreciated.--Arthur Riss "Journal of American History " Making Black History is an original, deeply-researched, and thoughtful account of Carter G. Woodson and the founding of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Jeffrey Aaron Snyder does a particularly fine job of situating the origins of African American history as a discipline against the backdrop of larger struggles for racial justice in the twentieth century. In the process, he raises key questions about the relationship between politics and history, and the potential for scholarly inquiry into the past to improve African Americans' current and future life chances. Snyder writes with nuance, clarity, and precision. Making Black History will no doubt be of great interest to scholars of public history and memory, education, and African American culture and politics.--Hilary J. Moss "author of Schooling Citizens: The African American Struggle for Education in Antebellum America "