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Books by Wilson Jeremiah Moses
Golden Age of Black Nationalism, 1850-1925
(1988) /
The Wings of Ethiopia (1990)
Alexander
Crummell: A Study of Civilization and Discontent (1992) /
Destiny & Race: Selected Writings, 1840-1898 (1992)
Black
Messiahs and Uncle Toms: Social and Literary Manipulations of a Religious Myth
(1993)
Liberian Dreams: Back-to-Africa Narratives from the 1850s
/
Afrotopia: The Roots of African American Popular History
(2002)
Creative Conflict in African American Thought (2004)
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Afrotopia: The Roots
of African American Popular History
By Wilson Jeremiah Moses
Reviews
Wilson Moses traces the origins of Afrocentrism since the 18th century. Moses
provides a rich history of black intellectual life and the concept of race. Afrocentrism and its history have long been disputed and controversial. In
this book, Wilson Moses presents a critical and nuanced view of the issues.
Tracing the origins of Afrocentrism since the eighteenth century, he examines
the combination of various popular mythologies, some of them mystical and
sentimental, others perfectly reasonable. A level presentation in what is often
a shouting match,
Afrotopia: The Roots
of African American Popular History is a
rich history of black intellectual life and the concept of race.
—Publisher
Wilson Moses has written an enormously engrossing book. It is
trenchant, timely, and beneficently iconoclastic. His mind is a gift to the
field of African American studies.
—David Levering Lewis, author of
W.E.B. Dubois: Biography of a Race winner
of the Pulitzer Prize in Biography
In
AfrotopiaWilson J. Moses boldly challenges both the proponents and
critics of Afrocentrism, Egyptocentrism, and multiculturalism . . . With verve
and vision [he] energizes Black intellectual discourse, exploding its myths and
romance and exposing weaknesses and strengths in the works of many black and
white scholars, pundits, and polemics . . . an accessible and important study of
Black intellectual traditions by one of the major historians in the modern
academy."
—Darlene Clark Hine, coauthor of
A SHINING THREAD OF HOPE: THE HISTORY OF
BLACK WOMEN IN AMERICA
Most authors would rather be attacked than ignored, so perhaps I should
not protest too much the reactions of the scholars who have taken my ideas
seriously enough to respond to them. Stephen Howe and Eugene Genovese apparently
view me as an apologist for historical romanticism and accuse me of unfairly
attacking the work of Mary Lefkowitz, while L. Keita and Molefi Asante see me as
a Eurocentrist, who replicates Professor Lefkowitz’ worst mischief.
None of the above would call me an Afrocentric extremist, but none of them are
comfortable with my attempt to take a moderate position. I can readily accept
Afrocentrism in the tradition of David Walker (1785-1830), who recognized a
spiritual and political tie to Africa, but expressed his dedication to America,
believing that black and white Americans should become "a united and happy
people."
Like Martin Delany (1812-1885), I see no contradiction
between commitment to Africa and the struggle for democracy and integration as a
citizen of the United States.
—Wilson J. Moses—Penn State University, on L. Keita’s Request for Further
Documentation in his Review of
Afrotopia: The Roots
of African American Popular History.
Afrotopia is a book that helped me to clear away some of the cobwebs
of racial thought and imaginings, especially regarding Afrocentrism and other
mythic views carried around in the heads of even the most enlightened black
intellectuals. I thank God often for the wit and critical humor of Wilson
Jeremiah Wilson. This book will never get old.
—Rudolph
Lewis, Editor ChickenBones: A Journal
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Paperback - 288 pages (September 1998)Cambridge Univ Pr
Afrotopia: The Roots
of African American Popular History
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updated 15 October 2007
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