Customer Reviews

Long Memory: The Black Experience in America

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Contrary to the myopic review below, 'Long Memory' chronicles an extensive analysis of the African American experience in America. Apart from an illusory union of American peoples which exists only in flaming conservative imaginations, there is nothing in this particular piece of classic literature that could even be remotely viewed as divisive, unless of course ethnophobia prevents one from seeing the world from the perspective of someone else's looking glass.

I am an African and African American Studies and History major at Indiana State University. Long Memory is a powerful and provocative survey organized on key themes in African American history: slavery, family, religion, sex and racism, politics, economics, education, criminal justice, discrimination and protest movements, and black nationalism. An excellent and timeless book that reveals "the African American experience" to students that have little or no historical knowledge about African American history. Regardless of its age, Long Memory continues to be an invaluable resource for students and a required text in many Black Studies courses across the United States.

Long Memory is a well-developed masterpiece of scholarship that should be read by students looking to learn more about the African American experience. It has revealed to me the Afrocentric perspective of African American history and a must read for Black Studies majors. The authors of Long Memory are Mary Frances Berry at Howard University, and John W. Blassingame at Yale University.

Even thought the book barely got used for its intended purpose, it was still a fine read.

This book can be overly academic and really drag on. The book is worth dragging through, however. It is the most complete history of the black experience in America that I have ever seen.

I first read the book 15 years ago when I used it in a black history course. I recently adopted the book again and find myself wondering where I was the other times I read it.

A little more mature and disciplined in my field, I now find the book lacking. Lacking in documentation (though there are extensive general references in the back, there is no documentation throughout). Therefore, lacking in credibility.

I am really disappointed in the text. Now (finally!) I understand why Berry and Blassingame never updated it.

It is worth reading, however, be careful to seek verification before accepting the arguments.

This book was over 20 years old and very yellowed. They did nothing about my complaint or return, so Amazon had to refund my purchase price.

If you wonder why Civil Rights Commission chairman Mary Frances Berry has been so controversial and why so many have questioned her ability to chair the commission, read below. If you ever wondered why African American Studies departments turn out such extremists, read below. "Long Memory" is typical of the type of books used in colleges and Afrocentric circles. This quote from the book should be sufficiently enlightening:

"Blacks shared so many of the economic goals of the Communists that many of them might be described as fellow travelers." Yet, the authors disparaged, "blacks remained cool to the Communists." Why, do you wonder? Their answer: "Subjected to a massive barrage of propaganda from the American news media, few of them knew about Russia's [i.e; they mean the old Soviet Union] constitutional safeguards for minorities, the extent of the equality of opportunity, or the equal provision of social services to its citizens." Yes, even back in the 1980s, as the Soviet Union was on the road to collapse, Berry and her co-author cited the old Stalin Constitution of 1936 as proof of the system's constitutionality, and attributed the obvious hardships of life in Soviet Russia as due to the old "capitalist propaganda."

And as for the situation of black Americans . . ., Berry and Blassingame wrote: "The threat of genocide was real. It was roughly comparable to the threat faced by Jews in the 1930s." So Berry believes: the Soviet Union was good for blacks; USA was practicing genocide against them.

It almost makes it obvious why many say that the Civil Rights Commission serves to divide the country rather than to unite.