ABSTRACT
Black intellectuals have historically argued for specific political agendas and the establishment of a common program for a broad-based movement. Responding to the critical need for a common program, some black intellectuals seek to organize multiracial formations of progressives. Adding feminism and gay and lesbian rights to Robeson's formulations, Marable describes in BLACKWATER a Common Program agenda and principles for socialism, antiracism, and self-determination. Recounting African Americans' attempts to forge a common program for economic and social justice, Marable discusses black labor and Pan-African organizing, the 1972 National Black Political Assembly in Gary, Indiana, and the Congressional Black Caucus. Black intellectuals during the civil rights-black power movements attempted to move beyond coalition politics toward a common program. However, black feminisms' calls for a common program-a black unity sans patriarch-are often labeled divisive by (gender-) conservative black nationalists. The diversity of black women’s criticisms of the 1995 Million Man March reflected various ideological stances.
