Charisma and the Fictions of Black Leadership
Erica R. Edwards
Abstract
Social and political change is impossible in the absence of gifted male charismatic leadership—this is the fiction that shaped African American culture throughout the twentieth century. If we understand this, this book tells us, we will better appreciate the dramatic variations within both the modern black freedom struggle and the black literary tradition. By considering leaders such as Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Barack Obama as both historical personages and narrative inventions of contemporary American culture, this book brings to the study of black politics the t ... More
Keywords: charismatic leadership, African American culture, twentieth century, freedom struggle, black literary tradition, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Barack Obama
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2012 | Print ISBN-13: 9780816675456 |
| Published to Minnesota Scholarship Online: August 2015 | DOI:10.5749/minnesota/9780816675456.001.0001 |
