A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration

Format: Paperback Language: English ISBN: 067401765X ISBN13: 9780674017658 Release Date: April 2005 Publisher: Belknap Press Length: 624 Pages Weight: 2.25 lbs. Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.1" x 9.2" This is the epic story of how African-Americans, in the six decades following slavery, transformed themselves into a political people--an embryonic black nation. As Steven Hahn demonstrates, rural African-Americans were central political actors in the great events of disunion, emancipation, and nation-building. At the same time, Hahn asks us to think in more expansive ways about the nature and boundaries of politics and political practice. Emphasizing the importance of kinship, labor, and networks of communication, A Nation under Our Feet explores the political relations and sensibilities that developed under slavery and shows how they set the stage for grassroots mobilization. Hahn introduces us to local leaders, and shows how political communities were built, defended, and