The Shaping of Black Identities: Redefining the Generations through the Legacy of Race and Culture

Turn the traditional generational groupings on their head through this examination of Black life, culture, and the struggle for racial justice in the United States. The Shaping of Black Identities explores the generations of African Americans who have lived in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and the impact that living in the United States has had on them. Jimmie R. Hawkins examines how identity is formed and shaped by internal and external forces. He investigates collective memory and the stories told to each succeeding generation about the lives of the preceding generations. But most of all, this book is about belonging. Using the generational time frames established by the Pew Research Center, Hawkins proposes six new generational categories rooted in the Black experience: the New Negro, Motown, Black Power, Hip-Hop, #BlackLivesMatter, and Obama generations. He emphasizes the need for reexamination in distinguishing generational uniqueness with attention to disparate, nondominant groups. Given the history of racial and cultural discrimination against Blacks in the United States, such an examination of the ways in which Black life has taken its own unique shape among generations offers new ways to understand the transition in identity adopted by Blacks. Hawkins examines the historical contexts that shaped each generation and the general attitudes and perceptions of each generation as influenced by the cultural, political, and racial environment of the nation. Throughout, there is a unique focus on Black protest. With its attention to each generation of Blacks, The Shaping of Black Identities speaks to this active, liberative, and distinct historical attempt to define the self in the pivotal and ongoing search for meaning.

About the Author :
Jimmie R. Hawkins served as Director of Advocacy for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and is the author of Unbroken and Unbowed: A History of Black Protest in America, also published by Westminster John Knox Press. He has also written for Call to Worship, Presbyterian Outlook, and Focus Magazine. Hawkins has served on the boards of Church World Service, the National Council of Churches, National Religious Campaign against Torture, National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Union Presbyterian Seminary, and as a tri-chair of the Washington Interreligious Staff Committee. An ordained clergy member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), he holds an MA from Union Presbyterian Seminary and a MDiv from Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, and is the recipient of the 2024 Union Presbyterian Seminary Alumni of the Year award.

Review :
“Kudos to Jimmie Hawkins, who has done it again. Like his first book, Unbroken and Unbowed, that offered a necessary history of African American movements of resistance and liberation, this book provides requisite insight into the evolution of African American culture and identity. With the careful analysis of a historian of religion and the commitment to understanding shifts in African American identity of a justice practitioner, Hawkins reminds us not only how identity has shifted but also why it matters. Further, while many talk about what Black people think, this book explodes the mythology of an essentialist monolithic view of Black thought and explores the various contextual contingencies that shape Black reality throughout several generations. I highly recommend this book to all who wish to understand the changing complexities of Black identity and the significance of its responsiveness to the concerns of each historical moment.” —Rodney S. Sadler Jr., Associate Professor of Bible and Director of the Center of Social Justice and Reconciliation, Union Presbyterian Seminary “The Shaping of Black Identities meets people through a lens of lived experiences of Black Americans and their generational pursuit for a better life. It helped me to see my own biological family differently through the eras that shaped and impacted their lives. In my efforts to navigate identity of self, culture, and God throughout ministry, I find this book helpful in acknowledging who I am, who I serve, and how I serve them.” —Cecelia D. Armstrong, co-moderator of the 226th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and associate pastor of St. James Presbyterian Church “What does it mean to be Black in America? Hawkins’s analysis of ‘Black generational uniqueness’ is a weaving of history, sociology, pop culture, and the spirits of each generation from 1900 to present. From the cultural and historical moments to the movements and slogans that define generations, The Shaping of Black Identities is a necessary read for those both inside and outside the Black experience. For us outsiders, Hawkins provides a necessary grounding and understanding of each generation at precisely the time when anti-Black sentiment and racial tensions are high. Highly recommended for those interested in the liberation and freedom of all people.” —Patrick B. Reyes, dean at Auburn Theological Seminary and author of The Purpose Gap: Empowering Communities of Color to Find Meaning and Thrive