Welcome ladies and gentlemen to The Territory! I don’t want to make everything topical to holidays but it is Martin Luther King day and I’d like to bring something into The Territory by Manning Marable. MM has written several books dealing specifically with race and religion and teaches at Colombia University. I know books are more than seasonal reminders and I will not spend next Christmas doing a Christmas book. The book I want to bring into The Territory is called Black Leadership and MLK isn’t really mentioned in it. The reason for this is that there are a million other books about MLK but there are so many other amazing Americans that get glossed over that MM decided to write a good book about them. As the title describes BL concentrates on prominent black leaders throughout the history of America. From the very beginning it dissects the constitution and how it presupposes slave trade. Later on BL goes in an in depth look at Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois and Louis Farrakhan and their impact on not just America but Black America. As with all things having to do with struggle, be it racial, sex, class or any other of the myriad amounts of hardship people put people through this book is for everyone no matter what race box you check at the DMV. BL has an element of aggressive criticism toward Black America which comes off a bit too far reaching for my own sense of logic. But that’s my thing and if you disagree and have a minute to spare, let me know why. Another cool part about BL is that there is a great deal of focus on Black American Women which also get glossed over all too much in all history but especially during Black History Month. Seriously, it’s like if you’re not Rosa Parks you just didn’t do anything. Luckily there are plenty of Women that kicked a lot of ass and changed a lot of things that we take for granted. There are names in here I had never heard of and immediately went to check out more via internet and other books. There is much to learn from BL and since it’s on Penguin Books you can probably get it in any bookstore in the known world.
