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This article uses the life of Pittsburgh Courier editor Robert L. Vann to examine broader patterns of middle-class black activism in the interwar period. It maintains that Vann's campaign for Franklin Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election originated from an expansive vision of citizenship that the editor shared with a larger community of urban black reformers-including social workers, journalists, lawyers, scholars, clergymen, and clubwomen. For them, citizenship included access to economic opportunity, decent housing, and adequate healthcare along with civil rights and political empowerment. Yet reformers operated under extraordinarily difficult circumstances that moderated their short-term goals and encouraged them to develop workable strategies aimed at taking limited but achievable steps toward a racially egalitarian horizon. Vann's campaign efforts in 1932 illustrate the pragmatic methods by which reformers pursued citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on African American landscape painter Robert S. Duncanson and his attitude toward race in politics in the U.S. during the 19th-century. The author explores Duncanson's belief in French philosopher Auguste Comte's theory of Positivism, examines Duncanson's participation in liberal social reform, and discusses the social conditions of African Americans in reconstruction-era Cincinnati, Ohio.

An essay is presented on the music of singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder and select writings of Catholic monk Thomas Merton showing the life in cities and streets of U.S. Topics discussed include Wonder's album "Songs in the Key of Life," racial animosity, and Merton's essay "The Street Is for Celebration." Also mentioned is the African American movement.

The article discusses the role of higher education in the religious transformation of African American social reformer and scientist William Edward Burghardt Du Bois. Du Bois, who studied at Fisk University with help from congregational churches, later turned to agnosticism due apparently to dissatisfaction with the ways in which Christianity was practiced among southern and religious African-American community members.

This article focuses on the important contributions the venerable Harriet Tubman made to the field of housing for older persons and other populations at risk. It uses an historical approach to document the importance of early housing and, self-help initiatives in the African American community. It embraces Harriet Tubman and other early housers for their good works and acknowledges them as contributors to the rich legacy of community social work practice and its sage principles of empowerment and self-help. The article presents a nexus between the current housing status of older Blacks and the double jeopardy status imposed by historical discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Features Maria W. Stewart, an African American abolitionist writer and orator, and her efforts to preach spiritual and social reform in the United States. Factors that led Stewart to take her message before the public; Elements of the American jeremiad which was prominent in American religious discourse and was used by Stewart; Use of Biblical texts by Stewart to remind her audience of the sufficiency of God and the universality of the human condition.

The article examines the revisionist interpretations of the meaning and significance of the social theories of W.E.B. Du Bois, the radical revolutionary who helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The largest single celebration of Du Bois' famous book "The Souls of Black Folk" was organized by the NAACP on April 27, 2003. The origins of Du Bois's evolution toward the political left began with his desire to produce a socially relevant and responsible scholarship. Du Bois dedicated himself to the construction of viable institutions and mediums of African-American agency and capacity-building.

Comments on the attitude of the U.S. public toward the significance of the life and thought of African American civic leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Reasons for the reluctance of the public to continue his uncharted struggle toward social equality; Depiction of King by the government; Overview of his social and political views.

Examines the charisma and leadership of African American civic leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Difference between King and other African American leaders; His contributions to the U.S. civil rights movement; Leadership approach adopted by King; Problem associated with charismatic leadership according to scholars and intellectuals.

The author reflects on public acts of forgiveness. Topics discussed include the association of forgiveness with initiated acts that result in loss, African American citizens were subjected to violent acts to control social, political and economic affairs, and the structured means of remembering the death of special someone that was organized by community leaders.

This case study describes the Cook County Green Corps program, a green job training program serving African American young adults from a low-income neighborhood. The program was implemented by an interdisciplinary organizing team to build knowledge, skills, and participation in sustainable jobs and urban agriculture among young adults. The trainees' experience was documented by a program evaluation survey, environmental knowledge survey, and 1 year reflection interview. We summarize the experiential design, implementation and evaluation of the program. We discuss the limitations and the benefits of the program for trainees and the neighborhood. We share recommendations for future green job training programs that can best serve urban neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]