This book emphasizes blacks' agency and achievements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, notably outcomes of the Civil Rights Movement. To consider the means or strategies that African Americans utilized in pursuing their aspirations and struggles for freedom and equality, readers can consult subjects delineating ideological, institutional, and organizational aspects of black priorities, with tactics of resistance or dissent, over time and place. The entries include but are not limited to Afro-American Culture; Anti-Apartheid Movement; Anti-lynching Campaign; Antislavery Movement; Black Power Movement; Constitution, US (1789); Conventions, National Negro; Desegregation; Durham Manifesto (1942); Feminism; Four Freedoms; Haitian Revolution; Jobs Campaigns; the March on Washington (1963); March on Washington Movement (MOWM); New Negro Movement; Niagara Movement; Pan-African Movement; Religion; Slavery; Violence, Racial; and the Voter Education Project. While providing an important reference and learning tool, this volume offers a critical perspective on the actions and legacies of ordinary and elite blacks and their non-black allies.

‘In this welcome, extensive examination of the field of African American studies, Gavins has selected key interpretive and explanatory essays that depict ideologies, institutions, and movements over time and place. Providing up-to-date description, interpretation, and critical analysis of the most vital developments, the essays cover a central theme - the quest of African Americans for dignity, freedom, citizenship, and equality. This masterful and comprehensive survey informs the study, teaching, and understanding of African American history. It is a thoughtful, rewarding, and essential contribution and will be used in a variety of settings by a variety of scholars.’

Orville Vernon Burton - Creativity Professor of Humanities and Professor of History and Sociology, Clemson University, and Emeritus Distinguished University Professor, University of Illinois

‘The Cambridge Guide to African American History is a most impressive reference text: up to date, cutting edge, and highly readable. With an engaging style and accessible format, this invaluable work offers wide-ranging and substantive coverage as well as insightful treatments of the most important developments and best scholarship in the field. The Cambridge Guide to African American History has the making of an indispensable work destined to become a classic.’

Waldo E. Martin, Jr - Morrison Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley

'Raymond Gavins described The Cambridge Guide to African American History as ‘intended for secondary school and college students, teachers, adult educational groups, and general readers alike'. [His] remarkably designed, exquisitely written and resourced entries make this volume attractive to a general, but also a scholarly audience. The Guide’s essays focus on a comprehensive array of individuals from politics, business, organizations, education, culture and social worlds, and also attend to more generally based contributions on ‘ideologies, institutions and movements’ mounted by African Americans throughout American history. Readers will find this resource an essential element for the library of anyone interested in understanding African American history.'

Dianne Pinderhughes - University of Notre Dame, Indiana

'This newest work covers a range of subjects pointing to African American achievements in many disciplines, from art, journalism, and technology to topical treatments of voting rights, negritude, and Pan-African and Negro history movements … Recommended. All levels of students, general readers.'

C. Williams Source: Choice