Black and White

Featuring a new foreword by Robin D. G. Kelley, this updated edition of the classic exploration of the economic inequality that fuels systematic racism, from one of the leading Black public intellectuals of the last century, is as timely and radical today as it was when it was first published. Originally published in 1884, T. Thomas Fortune's Black and White is an insightful and clear-eyed exploration of a post-Reconstruction America--one with issues that are still plaguing the United States to this day. As "the preeminent Black journalist of his age" (Henry Louis Gates, Jr., author of The Black Church), and an early agitator for Civil Rights, Fortune astutely and compellingly analyses the relationship between capitalism and racism in the United States, revealing how the country's racial hierarchy was and still is rooted in a much larger system of economic exploitation. He argues that in order for The United States to progress and fully embrace its ideals and to truly end racial discrimination, this system must be dismantled, reparations made, and labor fairly reimbursed. Featuring actionable arguments such as the power of voting, especially at the local level, and the importance of the working class embracing all races and ethnicities to build a non-exclusionary democracy, Black and White is a passionate and dynamic vision that will inspire a new generation.