ABSTRACT
Violence from Slavery to #BlackLivesMatter brings together perspectives on violence and its representation in African American history from slavery to the present moment. Contributors explore how violence, signifying both an instrument of the white majority’s power and a modality of black resistance, has been understood and articulated in primary materials that range from slave narrative through "lynching plays" and Richard Wright’s fiction to contemporary activist poetry, and from photography of African American suffering through Blaxploitation cinema and Spike Lee’s films to rap lyrics and performances. Diverse both in their period coverage and their choice of medium for discussion, the 11 essays are unified by a shared concern to unpack violence’s multiple meanings for black America. Underlying the collection, too, is not only the desire to memorialize past moments of black American suffering and resistance, but, in politically timely fashion, to explore their connections to our current conjuncture.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|2 pages
The Violences of Slavery
chapter 1|36 pages
“The Zest of Sport”
chapter 2|16 pages
“My Massa Whip Me, Cause I Love You”
chapter 3|17 pages
“Monstrous Perversions and Lying Inventions”
chapter 4|17 pages
“The Lynching Had to Be the Best It Could Be Done”
part II|2 pages
From Civil War to Civil Rights
chapter 7|17 pages
A Necessary Undoing
part III|2 pages
From Blaxploitation to #BlackLivesMatter