ABOUT THIS BOOK

Despite the growing scholarly interest in the Civil Rights movement, to date there has been no comprehensive examination of the Black Power movement. Black Power in the Belly of the Beast fills this gap by providing the first in-depth look at the Black Power movement from the 1963 founding of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) to the Black Power Movement's demise in the mid 1970s.

The volume’s twelve contributors include well-known scholars such as James A. Geschwender and Douglas Glasgow as well as prominent community activists Akbar Muhammad Ahmad, Floyd W. Hayes III, and Komozi Woodard. Each of their chapters explores a single Black Power organization including Us, the Black Panther Party, and the Deacons for Defense and Justice. Important but lesser-known Black Power organizations such as the Republic of New Afrika and Sons of Watts are paid equal attention, as contributors address issues including self-defense, Black identity, and the politics of class and gender. Throughout, authors emphasize the primary role that Black institutions and charismatic leaders played in the rise, development, and eventual decline of the overall movement.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Judson L. Jeffries is an associate professor of political science and American Studies at Purdue University. His most recent book is Urban America and its Police. Tiyi M. Morris is an assistant professor of history at DePauw University.

REVIEWS

"[Black Power in the Belly of the Beast] is compelling because it rehearses the dominant recitation foraged from contemporary Black Power manifestos, interviews, documentaries, and the autobiographies which followed."--Journal of African American History

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
 Acknowledgments
 Foreword
 Tiyi M. Morris
 Introduction: A Retrospective Look at the Black Power Movement
 Judson L. Jeffries
 1. The Deacons for Defense and Justice
 Christopher B. Strain
 2. Imamu Baraka, Newark and the Congress of African People and
 Black Power Politics
 Komozi Woodard
 3. "U.S." Does Not Stand for United Slaves!
 Floyd W. Hayes III and Judson L. Jeffries
 4. The Republic of New Africa in Mississippi
 Donald Cunnigen
 5. Sons of Watts
 Douglas G. Glasgow
 6. League of Revolutionary Black Workers
 James A. Geschwender and Judson L. Jeffries
 7. The Defenders
 Harold A. Nelson
 8. An Unexamined Chapter of Black Panther History
 Judson L. Jeffries
 9. The Black Liberation Army and the Radical Legacy of the Black
 Panther Party
 Akinyele O. Umoja
 10. The Revolutionary Action Movement
 Akbar Muhammad Ahmad
 11. The Black Liberators: A Historical Perspective
 William B. Helmreich
 Conclusion: The Fall and Legacy of the Black Power Movement
 Judson L. Jeffries
 Contributors
 Index