In his groundbreaking new book Charles Pete Banner-Haley explores the history of African American intellectualism and reveals the efforts of black intellectuals in the ongoing struggle against racism, showing how they have responded to Jim Crow segregation, violence against black Americans, and the more subtle racism of the postintegration age. Banner-Haley asserts that African American intellectuals-including academicians, social critics, activists, and writers-serve to generate debate, policy, and change, acting as a moral force to persuade Americans to acknowledge their his