By These Hands: A Documentary History of African American Humanism [Hardcover]

Anthony Pinn (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0814766714 | ISBN-13: 978-0814766712 | Publication Date: September 1, 2001

The Black church is often praised for its contribution to Black culture and politics. More recently Islam has been recognized as an important force in African American liberation. Anthony Pinn's new anthology By These Hands demonstrates the crucial, often overlooked role that Humanism has played in African American struggles for dignity, power and justice. Pinn collects the finest examples of African American Humanism and shows how its embrace by a variety of prominent figures in African American thought and letters has served as the basis for activism and resistance to American racism and sexism.

Pinn uncovers little known treasures of African American Literature such as The Slave Narrative of James Hay, where an abused slave decides to rely on himself, rather than God, for deliverance from the horrors of slavery, and a letter from Frederick Douglass which scandalized his religious friends by proclaiming that "One honest Abolitionist was a greater terror to slaveholders than whole acres of camp-meeting preachers shouting glory to God." Essays by Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright demonstrate the profound influence of Humanism in the Harlem Rennaisance, and pieces by James Farmer, Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) and Huey Newton show Humanism's impact on the civil rights and Black Power movements.

Designed for classroom use, this radical reconsideration of African American history will be a must read for anyone interested in African American History, African American Religion and Philosophy, and American History.

Contributors: Norm Allen, Jr., Herbert Aptheker, James Baldwin, Amiri Imamu Baraka, J. Mason Brewer, Sterling Brown, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B.Du Bois, James Foreman, Duchess Harris, Hubert H. Harrison, Harry Haywood, Zora Neale Hurston, William R. Jones, William Loren Katz, Benjamin E. Mays, Huey P. Newton, Daniel Payne, J. Saunders Redding, William L. Van DeBurg, Alice Walker, and Richard Wright.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"By These Hands is an important collection showing the impact of humanism on African-American life and thought. I strongly recommend it."

-James H. Cone,Briggs Distinguished Professor of Theology, Union Theological Seminary

About the Author

Anthony B. Pinn is the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University, where he also serves as the executive director of the Society for the Study of Black Religion. His books include Varieties of African-American Religious Experience, Why Lord?: Suffering and Evil in Black Theology, and By These Hands: A Documentary History of African-American Humanism (NYU Press, 2001).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814766714
• ISBN-13: 978-0814766712
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,532,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book, November 6, 2011

By 

Seon Lewis (Spice Island Atheist) - See all my reviews

This review is from: By These Hands: A Documentary History of African American Humanism (Paperback)

Professor Anthony Pinn has added a welcomed incite into understanding the many worldviews that shape the struggle for the liberation of black people throughout the years. First, however, I am opposed to Professor Pinn's view that the word "religion" should be part of the nomenclature of black humanism or black non-theism. Professor Pinn hinges his argument on the original meaning of the word religion which means: to link, to bind, to connect. And one can connect to anything, people, places or things.Thus, as a word, religion" has no specific connection to theism per-say. He also points out that because "humanism function[s] as a religious system within African American communities", "religion" should be used as part of the name. He argues that the word should be reclaimed from the theistic world.
Indeed, the word "religion" is in no way connected to theism, but because it has been co-opted by the theistic world, "religion", as a word, is contaminated with centuries of theistic baggage that makes it an obstacle to humanism and non-theism.
However, despite my disagreement with Professor Pinn on this nomenclature issue, I, as an Afro-Caribbean, non-theistic humanist, strongly endorses this book. Professor Pinn has shown light on an aspect of the black liberation struggle that has been neglected by almost all black authors writing on black peoples struggle for dignity, power and justice. By These Hands has peeled back the cover that, for years, has prevented many of us from recognizing the fact that it was not only the theistic religions that contributed to the black liberation struggle. It shows that many regular and intellectual African Americans has, from the beginning, embraced a non-theistic and humanistic approach to improving their conditions. By These Hands has exposed as myth the idea that all slaves were obedient lambs who obediently rolled over and accepted the slave masters' religion.
In one essay entitle, Experiences of a Chimney Sweeper, for instance, we are introduced to John Junior. A man who denounced the commonly held position that says if you put your burdens in Christ/God, all will be taken care of. To John, he recognized that his condition could only have been changed by him becoming the doer/active agent. In other words;By his own hands, and not through prayer. The Black abolitionist, Fredrick Douglass, expresses it this way, "I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs". Douglas, of course, was talking about his eventual escape from slavery.
By These Hands has brought to light the deep historical roots and influence humanism and non-theism have had in shaping the struggle for liberation. This book is an excellent book that should be read by all who are interested in an often overlooked dimension of Black history. It is a must read for the black population.