Traces the development of African-American community traditions over
three centuries
From the subaltern assemblies of the enslaved in colonial New York City
to the benevolent New York African Society of the early national era to
the formation of the African Blood Brotherhood in twentieth century
Harlem, voluntary associations have been a fixture of African-American
communities.
In the Company of Black Men examines New York City over three
centuries to show that enslaved Africans provided the institutional
foundation upon which African-American religious, political, and social
culture could flourish. Arguing that the universality of the voluntary
tradition in African-American communities has its basis in
collectivism--a behavioral and rhetorical tendency to privilege the
group over the individual--it explores the institutions that arose as
enslaved Africans exploited the potential for group action and mass
resistance.
Craig Steven Wilder's research is particularly exciting in its assertion
that Africans entered the Americas equipped with intellectual traditions
and sociological models that facilitated a communitarian response to
oppression. Presenting a dramatic shift from previous work which has
viewed African-American male associations as derivative and imitative of
white male counterparts, In the Company of Black Men provides a
ground-breaking template for investigating antebellum black
institutions.
