African Americans and right-wing politics
Hartford Web Publishing is not
the author of the documents in World
History Archives and does not presume to validate their
accuracy or authenticity nor to release their copyright.
- ‘The Loudest Silence Ever
Heard’: Black Conservatives in the Media
- By Lionel McPherson, the Friar,
August–September 1992. The contemporary interest in black
conservatives began in 1980 with the election of Ronald
Reagan, and continued, 12 years later, through George
Bush's administration. With the nomination of
Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, the subject reached
heights unmatched since the rise of Booker T. Washington
early this century.
- Uncovering the Black Conservative Movement
(extracts)
- By Justin Roberts, from Uncovering the Right on
Campus, 1997. While polls show that black Americans
are consistently more liberal than white Americans, black
conservatives are often highlighted as spokespeople for
Black America.
- The second rise of Black
conservatism
- By Mumia Abu-Jamal, 19 December 1998. How Reconstruction
conservativism is renewed today. Voices now that echo the
expressions of the white elite, in black-face. The poor,
not the ruling elite, are held responsible for their
poverty, and their poorness is a kind of defect of
character, or worse, a kind of sin.
- Civil Rights or Silver Rights?
- By Manning Marable, 4 January 2000. Booker T. Washington
proposed a strategy for black advancement within
capitalism. Don't agitate for civil rights, for
white corporations and the Republican Party were black
people's best friends. He called for building black
capitalism, forging a close partnership between wealthy
and powerful whites with the aspiring black
entrepreneurial middle class. Today, many of the most
articulate spokespersons within the black community
regarding issues of social justice are gravitating toward
this approach.