African Americans in the Furniture City: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Grand Rapids

African Americans in the Furniture City is unique not only in terms of its subject, but also for its framing of the African American struggle for survival, civil rights, and community inside a discussion of the larger white community. Examining the African-American community of Grand Rapids, Michigan between 1850 and 1954, Randal Maurice Jelks uncovers the ways in which its members faced urbanization, responded to structural racism, developed in terms of occupations, and shaped their communal identities. Focusing on the intersection of African Americans' nineteenth-century cultural values and the changing social and political conditions in the first half of the twentieth century, Jelks pays particularly close attention to the religious community's influence during their struggle toward a respectable social identity and fair treatment under the law. He explores how these competing values defined the community's politics as it struggled to expand its freedoms and change its status as a subjugated racial minority.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments   ix Preface   xi 1. "The Negro, North and South": Racial Stigma in Nineteenth-Century Grand Rapids   1 2. "In Colored Circles": The Shape of African American Civil Society   21 3. "Thirteen Races and Nationalities": The Politics of Race Relations in the Age of Booker T. Washington   41 4. Making Opportunity: New Negroes and the Struggle against Jim Crow   63 5. "Southern Negroes Flock to Michigan": Social Welfare and Northern Migration   79 6. The Making of the Brough Community Association: The Limits of Class and Interracial Cooperation   102 7. "Today's Negro and Tomorrow's World": African American Protest and the Politics of Leadership   120 Conclusion: "Outstretched Hand into a Clenched Fist"   149 Notes   157 Bibliography   189 Index   207 Illustrations follow pages 40 and 78

About the Author :
Randal Maurice Jelks is an associate professor of American Studies and African and African American Studies at the University of Kansas. He is a coeditor of the journal American Studies and a coeditor and founder of the blog theblackbottom.com.

Review :
Winner of a State History Award in the University and Commercial Press category from the Historical Society of Michigan (2006). "The story of blacks in Grand Rapids is fascinating. African Americans in the Furniture City makes a provocative argument with conclusions clearly supported by the evidence, and this book represents a new departure that will enrich discussions on the urbanization of African Americans during the twentieth century."--Dennis C. Dickerson, author of Out of the Crucible: Black Steelworkers in Western Pennsylvania, 1875-1980 "A sweet piece of local history that deftly arranges the evidence for resistance to racism when the times (for some people) seem to say it's mainly over. The book achieves an overview that lets nobody off the hook."--The Grand Rapids Press "African Americans in the Furniture City by Randal Maurice Jelks is a welcome addition to the literature on African Americans and the city. . . . Jelks expands our understanding of the religious values that governed the quest of migrant African Americans for middle-class status and respectability. . . . Scholars interested in urbanization, migration, and community development will find this book valuable. It also will be useful for advanced courses in African American history, urban studies, and sociology."--Journal of American History