PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; INTRODUCTION: The Ambiguity of Nomenclature; 1. Leaders of Thought, Missionaries of Culture; 2. From the Hollow to the High Ground and Back: The Civil Rights Movement and Its Aftermath; 3. To Preserve the Dignity of the Race: Black Conservatives and Affirmative Action; 4. Integrating the Many Voices: The Continuing Growth of African American Literature; 5. Sound and Image: The Cultural Fruits of Integration; 6. Changing the Guard: AfroAmerica's New Guardians of Culture; NOTES; SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX
Summary
In late twentieth-century America the black middle class has occupied a unique position. It greatly influenced the way African Americans were perceived and presented to the greater society, and it set roles and guidelines for the nation's black masses. Though historically a small group, it has attempted to be a model for inspiration and uplift. As a key force in the "Africanizing" of American culture, the black middle class has been both a shaper and a mirror during the past three decades. This study of that era shows that the fruits of integration have been at once sweet and bitter
