Whose Harlem is this, anyway? : community politics and grassroots activism during the new Negro era

"Historians will find it a perspective orchestration of individuals and movements, and students will find inspiration to grapple with the persistence of structural racism and to assert and expand individual and community rights." * Journal of American History * "A fine-grained account of community politics, Whose Harlem Is This, Anyway? is a welcome alternative to accounts of the New Negro era that focus only on the arts and prominent leaders. . . . Through meticulous research and vivid storytelling, King argues that the activism associated with later eras had roots in battles for Harlem tenants rights, workers rights, and consumers rights, and for freedom from overzealous reformers and policing based on white stereotypes rather than concern for the communitys safety." -- James Davis * The Journal of American History * "Whose Harlem Is This, Anyway? Community Politics and Grassroots Activism during the New Negro Era is a synthetic masterpiece, drawing on a wide array of primary and secondary literature to produce a grassroots picture of black Harlems genesis from 1900 to 1930." -- David Huyssen * American Historical Review * "Through this book, labor educators can explore the historical roots of present-day issues such as the racial wealth gap and the Black Lives Matter movement, and can examine how grassroots activism around community issues confronted racism." -- Will Cooley * Labor Studies Journal * "Moving past grim depictions of Harlem as a ghetto or romantic views of Harlem as the Black Mecca, Shannon King captures the neighborhood's history from below. Harlem, he shows us, was a community born from struggles for justice. King has written a rich and telling account of how Harlem's activists fought for good jobs, challenged exploitative landlords, and resisted police and reformers who targeted 'vice.' Attentive to institutions and politics, to movement building and structural racism, to interracial conflict and intraracial divisions, this is a dynamic history of a community in formation." -- Thomas J. Sugrue,author of Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North "Historians will find it a perceptive orchestration of individuals and movements, and students will find inspiration to grapple with the persistence of structural racism and to assert and expand individual and community rights." * Journal of American History * "Whose Harlem Is This, Anyway? Community Politics and Grassroots Activism during the New Negro Era is a synthetic masterpiece, drawing on a wide array of primary and secondary literature to produce a grassroots picture of black Harlems genesis from 1900 to 1930." * American Historical Review * "Highly attuned to the intraracial politics of class and gender that contested the meanings of community rights, Whose Harlem Is This, Anyway? . . . This excellent, highly original work adds a new dimension to the study of black neighbourhood politics in the early decades of the twentieth century through its exploration of community rights thought and activism." -- Daniel Matlin * Journal of American Studies * "This is a fabulous study of Harlem, peeling back the layers of a place we thought we knew so well; no longer assuming but demonstrating precisely how the 'Negro Mecca' took shape within the crucible of angst and ambition. . . . A wonderful piece of urban and political history." -- Davarian L. Baldwin,Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies, Trinity College "This book deserves much praise for these scholarly contributions, as well as the questions it raises regarding Harlems positionality to other urban black communities." * H-Net * "Whose Harlem is this, Anyway? Community and Grassroots Activism during the New Negro Erais a synthetic masterpiece, drawing on a wide array of primary and secondary literature to produce a grassroots picture of black Harlems genesis from 1900 to 1930." * American Historical Review * "Historian King demonstrates in his excellent study that during the New Negro era, especially between WWI and the beginning of the Great Depression, blacks in Harlem vigorously fought for their community rights against tremendous odds of white discrimination.A must read for those interested in urban civil rights and race in the 20th-century US. Summing Up: Highly recommended." * Choice * Read more...