Description: What constitutes black studies and where does this discipline stand at the end of the twentieth century? In this eclectic and original volume, Manning Marable -- one of the leading scholars of African American history -- gathers key materials from contemporary thinkers who interrogate the richly diverse content and multiple meanings of the collective experiences of black folk.

Here are numerous voices expressing very different political, cultural, and historical views, from black conservatives, to black separatists, to blacks who advocate radical democratic transformation. Here are topics ranging from race and revolution in Cuba, to the crack epidemic in Harlem, to Afrocentricity and its critics.

Highlights from Dispatches from the Ebony Tower:
-- Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Manning Marable debate the role of activism in black studies.
-- John Hope Franklin reflects on his role as chair of the President's race initiative.
-- Cornel West discusses topics that range from the future of the NAACP through the controversies surrounding Louis Farrakhan and black nationalism to the very question of what "race" means.
-- Amiri Baraka lays out strategies for a radical new curriculum in our schools and universities.
-- Marable provides a thorough overview of the history and current state of black studies in America.

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