African American Lives: The Struggle for Freedom uses a unique biographical approach to present the history of African Americans as active and thoughtful agents in the construction of their lives and communities. The text places African American lives and stories at the center of the narrative and as the basis of historical analysis. Each chapter opens with a vignette focusing on an individual involved in a dramatic moment or event. Personal stories are told throughout the narrative, as the lives and experiences of individuals provide the lens through which the story of African American history is viewed.

Table of Contents:
11. Post Civil War Reconstruction: A New National Era. Postwar Reconstruction. Elected Black Leaders. Citizenship and Suffrage. The Freedman's Bank. Washington, D.C. in the “New National Era.” The End of Reconstruction. Migration. First Person: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Outlines a Plan. First Person: Madison Hemings Recalls his Family History. First Person: The New National Era reports Washington Social Life. First Person: Simon Smith Laments the End of Hope. First Person: John E. Bruce Promotes Africa. 12. The Post-Reconstruction South. Education to Make a Living and a Life. The Lure of Cities. The Economics and Politics of Unity. Finding a Place to Uplift the Race. Terror and Accommodation. First Person: Blanche K. Bruce on American Indians. First Person: Alexander Crummell Pleads for Women of the South. First Person: Timothy Thomas Fortune's View of Labor. First Person: Anna Julia Cooper on Black Womens Progres.s First Person: Booker T. Washington Predicts a “New Heaven.” 13. “Colored” Becomes “Negro” in the Progressive Era. Racial Segregation. The Problem of the Color Line. Accommodation or Agitation? Black Culture. Black Progress. The “New Abolition.” First Person: Lucy Laney on Negro Women's Education. First Person: W.E.B. DuBois Eulogizes his Rival. First Person: Paul Laurence Dunbar Tells the African American Story. First Person: Fred Johnson Remembers his Youth. First Person: William Bulkley on Race and Economics. 14. The Making of the “New Negro”: From World War I to the Great Depression. “Over There” . . . and Back Here. The Challenge of Garveyism. New Beginnings in the Urban North and West. The Harlem Renaissance and “New Negro.” The Jazz Age. The Crisis of the Late 1920s. First Person: Asa Philip Randolph Demands a New Ministry. First Person: Marcus Garvey Reconceives Christianity. First Person: Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson Trains Black Speakers. First Person: Langston Hughes Dignifies Adversity. First Person: J.W. Johnson Considers the Alternatives. 15. The New Politics of the Great Depression: The 1930s. Black Reds in Desperate Times. Black Militancy. A New Deal for African Americans? Black Artists and the Cultural Mainstream. First Person: Ella Baker and Marvel Cooke, “The Bronx Slave Market.” First Person: T. Arnold Hill and “The Negro Worker in the 1930s. First Person: Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and “The Fight for Jobs.” 16. Fighting Fascism Abroad and Racism at Home: The 1940s. African Americans in the Armed Forces. Racial Issues on the Home Front. Postwar Dilemmas. Cold War Split in African American Politics. Racial Dimensions of Postwar American Popular Culture. First Person: Pauli Murrays Report on 1943 Race Riot in Harlem. First Person: A Declaration by Negro Voters. First Person: Ralph Bunche on Peace in our Time. First Person: Committee on Civil Rights, To Secure These Rights. 17. Emergence of a Mass Movement Against Jim Crow: The 1950s. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. America after Brown. Montgomery's Bus Boycott and Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The Little Rock Nine. The Student Sit-In Movement of 1960. First Person: Kenneth Clark on How Children Learn About Race. First Person: Anne Moody Recalls the Murder of Emmett Till. First Person: Melba Pattillo on Being a Racial Pioneer. 18. Marching toward Freedom: The Early and Mid-1960s. Grassroots Struggle in the Deep South. The Nationalization of Civil Rights. March on Washington and Freedom Summer. Malcolm X and the Debate over the Movement's Direction. Voting Rights and Violence. First Person: Fannie Lou Hamer on Deciding to Vote. First Person: Bayard Rustin on a Change in Strategy. First Person: Stokely Carmichael on Black Power. 19. Resistance, Repression, and Retrenchment. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Wars Against Communism and Poverty. The Black Panthers, Revolution, and the Repression of Black Militancy. The New Black Consciousness. That Pick Cotton Now Can Pick our Elected Officials. The Vietnam War Comes Home. Black Politics in the Aftermath of Rebellion. First Person: Black Panther Party Platform. First Person: National Black Political Agenda. First Person: Pauli Murray on Black Studies Programs. 20. Gender Battles in a Conservative Era: 1979-1991. The Black Response to the Trend Toward Conservatism. The Emergence of Modern Black Feminism. Sexual Politics of Black Popular Culture. Black Politics during the Reagan Presidency. Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Politics of Gender. 21. Continuing Struggles Over Identity and Destiny: 1992-present. Race and the Criminal Justice System. Resurgence of Black Males. The Racial Dilemmas of the Clinton Presidency. Black Intellectuals and Artists Assess Racial Cultures. Spike Lee's New Film. African Americans in the 21st Century.