African Americans in Conservative Movements The Inescapability of Race

Providing an expansive view of the making and meaning of African American conservatism, this volume examines the phenomenon in four spheres: the political realm, the academic world, the black church, and grass-roots activism movements. In his analysis of their activities in these realms, Louis Prisock examines the challenges African American conservatives face as they operate within the context of (largely white) conservatism. At the same time that African American conservatives challenge the white conservative movement’s principle of “color blindness,” they are accused of being “racial mascots,” or “tokens” from those outside of it. Prisock unwinds the intricacies of black conservatives’ relationships to both the wider conservative movement and the everyday life experiences of black Americans, showing that they are as vulnerable to the “inescability of race” as any other individual in a racialized America. 

Introduction. Race: Achilles Heel of a Movement

1. Beginnings: The Subtleties of Race in Conservative Politics

2. The New “Color Blind” Conservatism: Creating an Intellectual Infrastructure

3. Stop The Genocide! Save the Race: The Anti-Abortion Movement in the African American Community

4. Fight against the “Special Rights” Movement and End the Mis-Education of Black Children: Support School Vouchers!

5. Chasing Fools Gold: African Americans and the Party of Lincoln

6. The Creation of the Black Conservative Intelligentsia and its Impact on Black America

7. Rolling Rightward: An Examination of The African American Religious Right

Epilogue: Looking Back, Looking Forward: The Future of African American Conservatism in the 21st Century

Louis Prisock is Assistant Professor of Africana and American Studies at Rutgers University, USA. He has published on political sociology, urban sociology, race and ethnicity, and economic sociology in Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society, The Journal of African American Studies, Critical Sociology, Social Forces, and other venues.