ABSTRACT
Significant knowledge and research about racial matters is not limited to the ideas and methods of mainstream social scientists. A long tradition of counter-mainstream African American activists and social analysts have developed theoretical perspectives of racial realities and other social realities contrasting sharply with those of the mainstream social scientists of European descent. Systemic racism theory builds substantially on this counter-mainstream approach, what we identify as a critical black tradition of social thought or critical black theory. Adequately understanding US racial history and social context is impossible without knowledge of the insights, theoretical approaches, and empirical research of this long-marginalized critical tradition developed by black Americans. Since the 1700s, critical black theorists have developed many concepts and theoretical perspectives essential for better understanding racism issues, in both the past and the present.1
