The Black Humanist Tradition in Anti-Racist Literature: A Fragile Hope [Hardcover]

This book presents an intellectual history and theoretical exploration of black humanism since the civil rights era. Humanism is a human-centered approach to life that considers human beings to be responsible for the world and its course of history. Both the heavily theistic climate in the United States as well as the dominance of the Black Church are responsible for black humanisms existence in virtual oblivion. For those who believe the world to be one without supernatural interventions, human action matters greatly and is the only possible mode for change. Humanists are thus committed to promoting the public good through human effort rather than through faith. Black humanism originates from the lived experiences of African Americans in a white hegemonic society. Viewed from this perspective, black humanist cultural expressions are a continuous push to imagine and make room for alternative life options in a racist society. 

Alexandra Hartmann counters religions hegemonic grasp and uncovers black humanism as a small yet significant tradition in recent African American culture and cultural politics by studying its impact on African American literature and the ensuing anti-racist potentials. The book demonstrates that black humanism regards subjectivity as embodied and is thus a worldview that is characterized by a fragile hope regarding the possibility of progress  racial and otherwise  in the country.

1. Introduction.- 2. Embodiment, Agency, and Conceptions of Hope in Black Humanist Thought Embodied Subjectivity and Embodied Blackness.- 3. Self-Reliance Towards Deep Democracy: Theorizing Racial Embodiment in Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man.- 4. The (Im)Possibility of Interracial Relationships in John A. Williams Night Song.- 5. Subjectivities between Structure and Agency: Enlightenmentlã'