Scholarship on African American history has changed dramaticallysince the publication of George Washington Williams'pioneering A History of the Negro Race in America in 1882.Organized chronologically and thematically, What is AfricanAmerican History? offers a concise and compelling introductionto the field of African American history as well as the blackhistorical enterpriseÑpast, present, and future. Pero GagloDagbovie discusses many of the discipline's important turningpoints, subspecialties, defining characteristics, debates, texts,and scholars. The author explores the growth and maturation ofscholarship on African American history from late nineteenth andearly twentieth centuries until the field achieved significantrecognition from the 'mainstream' U.S. historicalprofession in the 1970s. Subsequent decades witnessed the emergenceand development of key theoretical approaches, controversies, anddynamic areas of concentration in black history, the vibrant fieldof black women's history, the intriguing relationship betweenAfrican American history and Black Studies, and the imaginablefuture directions of African American history in the twenty-firstcentury.
What is African American History? will be a practicalintroduction for all students of African American history and BlackStudies.