The Cause of Freedom

A Concise History of African Americans

Jonathan Scott Holloway

$37.95

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Oxford University Press
15 April 2021

History; African history; History of the Americas; Social & cultural history; Slavery & abolition of slavery

"What does it mean to be an American? The story of the African American past demonstrates the difficulty of answering this seemingly simple question.

What does it mean to be an American? The story of the African American past demonstrates the difficulty of answering this seemingly simple question. If being ""American"" means living in a land of freedom and opportunity, what are we to make of those Americans who were enslaved and who have suffered from the limitations of second-class citizenship throughout their lives? African American history illuminates the United States' core paradoxes, inviting profound questions about what it means to be an American, a citizen, and a human being. This book considers how, for centuries, African Americans have fought for what the black feminist intellectual Anna Julia Cooper called ""the cause of freedom."" It begins in Jamestown in 1619, when the first shipment of enslaved Africans arrived in that settlement. It narrates the creation of a system of racialized chattel slavery, the eventual dismantling of that system in the national bloodletting of the Civil War, and the ways that civil rights disputes have continued to erupt in the more than 150 years since Emancipation. The Cause of Freedom carries forward to the Black Lives Matter movement, a grass-roots activist convulsion that declared that African Americans' present and past have value and meaning. At a moment when political debates grapple with the nation's obligation to acknowledge and perhaps even repair its original sin of racialized slavery, The Cause of Freedom tells a story about our capacity and willingness to realize the ideal articulated in the country's founding document, namely, that all people were created equal."

By: Jonathan Scott Holloway
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 147mm, Width: 211mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 286g
ISBN: 9780190915193
ISBN 10: 0190915196
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 15 April 2021
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jonathan Scott Holloway is president of Rutgers University. He was formerly provost at Northwestern University and Dean of Yale College. He specializes in intellectual and social history, with an emphasis on post-emancipation United States history. His books include Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America Since 1940 and Confronting the Veil: Abram Harris Jr, E. Franklin Frazier, and Ralph Bunche, 1919-1941.

Reviews for The Cause of Freedom: A Concise History of African Americans

In this engagingly written volume, Jonathan Holloway has penned the perfect short history of African Americans, beginning his sweeping narrative with the arrival of Africans on the shore of Jamestown in 1619 and ending with the emergence of Black Lives Matter. Throughout this compelling history, Holloway challenges the reader to consider what it means to be an American, a citizen, and, most importantly, a human being. The Cause of Freedom is both a wonderful introduction to African American history for those new to the topic and a handy reference for those who are well-versed in the field. --Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University In this meditation on what is meant by American, Jonathan Holloway manages to identify critical questions that excavate the relationship between the past and the present. This is an important read for both newcomers and old-timers who want to know more about African American history. --Earl Lewis, Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of History, Afroamerican and African Studies and Public Policy