BLACK EXPERIENCE IN THE 20TH CENTURY (H/C)

THE BLACK EXPERIENCE IN THE 20TH CENTURY
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND MEDITATION

PETER ABRAHAMS

A BRAVE AND POWERFUL MEMOIR BY A WELL-KNOWN THIRD WORLD WRITER ON THE PROBLEM OF THE COLOR LINE IN THE LAST CENTURY.

THE BLACK EXPERIENCE IN THE 20TH CENTURY IS BOTH A PERSONAL MEMOIR AND A POWERFUL MEDITATION ON WHAT W. E. B. DUBOIS DEFINED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY AS "THE PROBLEM OF THE COLOR LINE; OF THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE LIGHTER AND DARKER RACES OF MAN...." USING DUBOIS AS A POINT OF DEPARTURE, ABRAHAMS WRITES PASSIONATELY ABOUT THE INHERENT "WRONGNESS" OF RACIAL HATRED AND CONTEMPLATES SUCH TIMELESS QUESTIONS AS "WHY WAS COLOR THE MOST CRUCIAL ISSUE OF OUR CENTURY?" AND "WHEN WILL WE GET OVER THE DEEP PSYCHIC AND EMOTIONAL DAMAGE DONE BY THE RACIAL EXPERIENCE?" ONE OF THE MAJOR THEMES OF THE MEMOIR--THE QUEST FOR AN INTEGRATED IDENTITY--DEPICTS THE CHALLENGE THAT FACES PEOPLE OF COLOR IN BOTH FIRST- AND THIRD-WORLD COUNTRIES.

THE BLACK EXPERIENCE IN THE 20TH CENTURY IS