Beginning with the slave trade, the book interprets black ideologies and protest movements throughout American history, particularly in the 20th century.

Includes index.

The West African heritage and Afro-American History -- Black men in agrarian America : slavery and the plantation -- Negroes in the antebellum cities : manumission, alienation, and protest -- A dream betrayed : negroes during the Civil War and Reconstruction -- "Up from slavery" : the age of accommodation -- Black men in the urban age : the rise of the ghetto -- The Black Revolt of the 1960s -- The legacy of the Black Revolt.