Third World Press

In this analysis of early Black literature, Dr. Adenike Davidson takes us on a thought-provoking exploration of those noteworthy novels from the 19th and 20th centuries. What she discovers is astonishing: Black nationalist themes were present in many of these early novels, prefiguring the themes that would be the centerpiece of the Black Power Movement. The Black Nation Novel adds to the discourse of Black literature and literary criticism.

Dr. Davidson states in her Introduction that “the most important strategy for recreating the United States as a homeplace has been racial uplift, a form of activism practiced by the elite segment of the African American community during the nineteenth century.  Racial uplift was widely adopted after Emancipation and promoted especially through the Black church.  Its purpose was to enable masses educationally, financially, and spiritually to battle and overcome racism and racial oppression.” This has not changed even in the 21st century.