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The Resource Black freethinkers : a history of African American secularism, Christopher Cameron

Black freethinkers : a history of African American secularism, Christopher Cameron

Resource Information

The item Black freethinkers : a history of African American secularism, Christopher Cameron represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri Libraries.
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Creator

Cameron, Christopher, 1983-

Author

Cameron, Christopher, 1983-

Summary: "This book is a political and intellectual history of black freethought during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Beginning its analysis in the era of slavery, "Black Freethinkers" demonstrates an alternative origin to nonbelief and religious skepticism in America, namely the brutality of the institution of slavery. The book then turns to the growth of atheism and agnosticism among African Americans in two major political and intellectual movements of the 1920s: the New Negro Renaissance and the growth of black socialism and communism. A final chapter explores the critical importance of freethought among participants in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Key figures in this narrative include well-known people such as Frederick Douglass, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and Alice Walker, as well as lesser known thinkers such as Louise Thompson Patterson, Sarah Webster Fabio, and David Cincore. The study employs a diverse array of sources, including slave narratives, travel accounts, novels, poetry, memoirs, newspapers, and archival sources such as church records, sermons, and letters. The central argument of the book is that freethought, which includes atheism, agnosticism, and non-traditional religious orientations such as deism and paganism, has been a central component of black political and intellectual life from the 19th century to the present. Contrary to historical and popular depictions of African Americans as naturally religious, this study demonstrates the great diversity in black religious thought and makes an important contribution to our understanding of black intellectual history"--

Language: eng

Work

Publication

Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University Press, 2019

Extent: 1 online resource (xvii, 236 pages).

Contents

Slavery and reconstruction
The New Negro Renaissance
Socialism and communism
Civil rights and Black Power

Isbn: 9780810140806

Instance

Label: Black freethinkers : a history of African American secularism

Title: Black freethinkers

Title remainder: a history of African American secularism

Statement of responsibility: Christopher Cameron

Creator

Cameron, Christopher, 1983-

Author

Cameron, Christopher, 1983-

Subject

Genre

Language: eng

Summary: "This book is a political and intellectual history of black freethought during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Beginning its analysis in the era of slavery, "Black Freethinkers" demonstrates an alternative origin to nonbelief and religious skepticism in America, namely the brutality of the institution of slavery. The book then turns to the growth of atheism and agnosticism among African Americans in two major political and intellectual movements of the 1920s: the New Negro Renaissance and the growth of black socialism and communism. A final chapter explores the critical importance of freethought among participants in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Key figures in this narrative include well-known people such as Frederick Douglass, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and Alice Walker, as well as lesser known thinkers such as Louise Thompson Patterson, Sarah Webster Fabio, and David Cincore. The study employs a diverse array of sources, including slave narratives, travel accounts, novels, poetry, memoirs, newspapers, and archival sources such as church records, sermons, and letters. The central argument of the book is that freethought, which includes atheism, agnosticism, and non-traditional religious orientations such as deism and paganism, has been a central component of black political and intellectual life from the 19th century to the present. Contrary to historical and popular depictions of African Americans as naturally religious, this study demonstrates the great diversity in black religious thought and makes an important contribution to our understanding of black intellectual history"--

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