The Colored Conventions Movement

“Through these essays, the editors masterfully portray the CCP’s aim to realize the linkages of Black intellectual work and social activism that the conventions represented, individually and sequentially, in the 19th century. . . . A must for all students, researchers, and general readers with an interest in Black lives, this essential overview of the CCP’s legacy offers fresh understanding of the history of organized Black activism and commitment to community efforts for equal rights. Highest recommendation.”—Library Journal

“This collection captures an important piece of African American history. . . . Given that African American history is often difficult to research through conventional resources, the contributors are to be commended for successfully mining unconventional resources, such as the Conventions' minutes and African American periodicals and their advertisements. . . . Highly recommended.”—Choice Reviews

“The [Colored Conventions] project serves as a brilliant example of scholarly crowdsourcing. . . . CCP allows us finally to do justice to the overdetermined and multidimensional legacy that nineteenth-century Black activism bequeathed the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.”—Early American Literature

“The Colored Conventions Movement significantly reframes our understanding of nineteenth-century Black history. . . . Through its meticulous exploration of Black-led organizing, the volume corrects historical oversights and challenges readers to reconsider what they know about nineteenth-century activism.”—North Carolina Historical Review

“[The Colored Conventions Movement] productively expands our understanding of early Black writing by highlighting the significance of collaborative writing modes that focused on community and social justice, modes that represented a decisive element of African Americans’ efforts to secure equitable rights.”—American Literary History

“With its historical heft and excellent prose, this book deserves to be the reference book for all things related to nineteenth-century Black activism.” — Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Rutgers University

“This collection of essays offers an exciting, original rethinking of nineteenth-century Black political thought that resonates with the justice movements of our own time.” — Sharla Fett, Occidental College