This book examines the evolution of black leadership and politics since the Civil Rights Movement. It looks at the phenomenon of Barack Obama, from his striking emergence as a successful candidate for the Illinois State Senate to President of the United States, as part of the continuum of African American political leaders.

Racializing Obama; M.Marable Background to the New Black Politics System Values and African-American Leadership; R.C.Smith The Limits of Black Pragmatism; R.Reft City Politics and Black Protest; D.S.Hyra Towards a Pragmatic Black Politics; F.Harris On Black Leadership, Black Politics, and the U.S. Immigration Debate; M.Sawyer The Political Orientations of Young African Americans; D.A.Bositis The Case for a Neo-Rainbow Electoral Strategy; D.Glover & B.Fletcher Jr. The Ethics of Colin Powell; G.Farred The Meaning of Barack Obama First Lady in Black; G.Horne & M.Horne The Race Problematic, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Narrative, and the Presidential; R.Hill From Idol to Obama; S.Ifill The 2008 Presidential Campaign and Beyond Race, Post-Black Politics, and the Obama Candidacy in the 2008; C.Fraser Sovereign Kinship and the President-Elect; J.James You May Not Get There With Me; K.Crayton Barack Obama and the Black Electorate in Georgia; K.M.Middlemass Obama's Candidacy and the Collateral Consequences of the 'Politics of Fear'; G.S.Parks & J.J.Rachlinski Race-Ing The Right to Vote; K.Clarke About the Authors About the Editors Index