Jean Toomer's adamant stance against racism and his call for a raceless society were far more complex than the average reader of works from the Harlem Renaissance might believe. In To Make a New Race Jon Woodson explores the intense influence of Greek-born mystic G. I. Gurdjieff on the thinking of Toomer and his coterie--Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larson, George Schuyler, Wallace Thurman--and, through them, the mystic's influence on many of the notables in African American literature. Gurdjieff, born of poor Greco-Armenian parents on the Russo-Turkish frontier, espoused the theory that man is asleep and in prison unless he strains against the major burdens of life, especially those of identification, like race. Toomer, whose novel Cane became an inspiration to many later Harlem Renaissance writers, traveled to France and labored at Gurdjieff's Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man. Later, the writer became one of the primary followers approved to teach Gurdjieff's philosophy in the United States. Woodson's is the first study of Gurdjieff, Toomer, and the Harlem Renaissance to look beyond contemporary portrayals of the mystic in order to judge his influence. Scouring correspondence, manuscripts, and published texts, Woodson finds the direct links in which Gurdjieff through Toomer played a major role in the development of "objective literature." He discovers both coded and explicit ways in which Gurdjieff's philosophy shaped the world views of writers well into the 1960s. Moreover Woodson reinforces the extensive contribution Toomer and other African-American writers with all their international influences made to the American cultural scene. Jon Woodson, an associate professor of English at Howard University in Washington, D.C., is a contributor to the collection, Black American Poets Between Worlds, 1940-1960. He has published articles in African American Review and other journals.

Denise Kimber Buell radically rethinks the origins of Christian identity, arguing that race and ethnicity played a central role in early Christian theology. Focusing on texts written before the legalization of Christianity in 313 C.E., including Greek apologetic treatises, martyr narratives, and works by Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Justin Martyr, and Tertullian, Buell shows how philosophers and theologians defined Christians as a distinct group within the Roman world, characterizing Christianness as something both fixed in its essence and fluid in its acquisition through conversion. Buell demonstrates how this view allowed Christians to establish boundaries around the meaning of Christianness and to develop the kind of universalizing claims aimed at uniting all members of the faith. Her arguments challenge generations of scholars who have refused to acknowledge ethnic reasoning in early Christian discourses. They also provide crucial insight into the historical legacy of Christian anti-Semitism and contemporary issues of race.

A groundbreaking exploration of how race in America is being redefined The American racial order—the beliefs, institutions, and practices that organize relationships among the nation's races and ethnicities—is undergoing its greatest transformation since the 1960s. Creating a New Racial Order takes a groundbreaking look at the reasons behind this dramatic change, and considers how different groups of Americans are being affected. Through revealing narrative and striking research, the authors show that the personal and political choices of Americans will be critical to how, and how much, racial hierarchy is redefined in decades to come. The authors outline the components that make up a racial order and examine the specific mechanisms influencing group dynamics in the United States: immigration, multiracialism, genomic science, and generational change. Cumulatively, these mechanisms increase heterogeneity within each racial or ethnic group, and decrease the distance separating groups from each other. The authors show that individuals are moving across group boundaries, that genomic science is challenging the whole concept of race, and that economic variation within groups is increasing. Above all, young adults understand and practice race differently from their elders: their formative memories are 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and Obama's election—not civil rights marches, riots, or the early stages of immigration. Blockages could stymie or distort these changes, however, so the authors point to essential policy and political choices. Portraying a vision, not of a postracial America, but of a different racial America, Creating a New Racial Order examines how the structures of race and ethnicity are altering a nation.

Are overburdened mothers justified in their appeals for contraceptives or abortions?... Will anyone... dare to say to these women that they should go on bringing helpless children in to the world to share their misery?... To say to these women that they should continue their helpless breeding of the helpless is stupid brutality. -from "Avoiding Childbirth" An iconic figure in the fight for reproductive rights for women in America, Margaret Sanger was a powerful voice in the early years of the 20th century. This 1920 book is Sanger's cry for the legalization of birth control and the education of women about their own bodies. With a fiery passion, she discusses: .women's struggle for freedom .the wickedness of creating large families .contraceptives or abortion? .legislating woman's morals .and more. An important record of the beginnings of the feminism in the modern era, Sanger's words remain vital and necessary at a time when women's control over their bodies continues to be challenged. American activist MARGARET HIGGINS SANGER (1879-1966) was an early advocate of birth control; she served as president of the International Planned Parenthood Federation from 1952 to 1959. She also wrote Happiness in Marriage (1926) and her autobiography (1938).

Introduction : the paradox -- The scientific sources of the paradox -- The political sources of the paradox -- International pragmatism -- Sociological knowledge -- Conceptions of racism -- Ethnic origin and ethnicity -- Collective action -- Conclusion : the paradox resolved.

In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Ijeoma Oluo offers a revelatory examination of race in America Protests against racial injustice and white supremacy have galvanized millions around the world. The stakes for transformative conversations about race could not be higher. Still, the task ahead seems daunting, and it’s hard to know where to start. How do you tell your boss her jokes are racist? Why did your sister-in-law hang up on you when you had questions about police reform? How do you explain white privilege to your white, privileged friend? In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from police brutality and cultural appropriation to the model minority myth in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race, and about how racism infects every aspect of American life. "Simply put: Ijeoma Oluo is a necessary voice and intellectual for these times, and any time, truth be told." ―Phoebe Robinson, New York Times bestselling author of You Can't Touch My Hair

Reprint of the original, first published in 1880.

Resource added for the Psychology (includes Sociology) 108091 courses.

Since the election of President Barack Obama, Americans have struggled to understand a world of race relations that has changed profoundly since the 60s-era struggles for equality. For this incisive, accessible volume, a group of the nation's eminent public intellectuals explore what, in fact, has changed—or not. The contributors, including Lani Guinier, Glenn Loury, Paul Butler, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Elizabeth Alexander, Orlando Patterson, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Lawrence Bobo, and many others, took this as an invitation to think well beyond the debates prompted by the civil rights movement and its aftermath, challenging conventional wisdom on all fronts. In a book with relevance for all Americans, The New Face of Race shows how the deep social transformations since the 1960s, in such areas as immigration patterns, the image of black women, and the changing political power of African Americans and other groups, have shifted the ground beneath our feet even as the terms of debate over race and inequality have largely stayed the same. A major new effort to move this debate forward—and to address the real and persistent inequalities more effectively—this book offers a vital set of fresh ideas and intellectual tools for facing the new century.