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Exodus politics : civil rights and leadership in African American literature and culture / Robert J. Patterson

Author
Patterson, Robert J., 1980-
Published
Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2013.
Physical Description
1 online resource
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Language Note
English.
Contents
Introduction : civil rights, leadership, and exodus politics -- "Is he the one?" : civil rights activism and leadership in Ernest Gaines's The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman -- "The refusal of Christ to accept crucifixion" : bridge leadership in Alice Walker's Meridian -- "The important thing is making generations" : reconsidering reproduction and blues performance as forms of civil rights leadership in Gayl Jones's Corregidora -- "We all killed him" : the limits of formal leadership and civil rights legislation in Charles Johnson's Dreamer -- Epilogue : Is there life after exodus politics?
Summary
Using the term "exodus politics" to theorize the valorization of Black male leadership in the movement for civil rights, the author explores the ways in which the political strategies and ideologies of this movement paradoxically undermined the collective enfranchisement of Black people. He argues that by narrowly conceptualizing civil rights in only racial terms and relying solely on a male figure, conventional African American leadership, though frequently redemptive, can also erode the very goals of civil rights. The author turns to contemporary African American writers such as Ernest Gaines, Gayl Jones, Alice Walker, and Charles Johnson to show how they challenge the dominant models of civil rights leadership.
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Genre(s)
ISBN
9780813935270 (electronic bk.)
081393527X (electronic bk.)
1299873790 (electronic bk.)
9781299873797 (electronic bk.)
9780813935256 (cloth ; acid-free paper)
0813935253 (cloth ; acid-free paper)
9780813935263 (pbk. ; acid-free paper)
0813935261 (pbk. ; acid-free paper)
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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