Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, And The Black Working Class

383 Pages·1994·8.967 MB·English

by  Robin Kelley

RAGE REBELS

RAGE
REBELS
Culture, Politics, and the
Black Working Class
ROBIN D. G. KELLEY
Iffll
THE FREE PRESS
New York
THE FREE PRESS
A Division of Simon (x Schuster Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
Newark, NY 10020
Copyright © 1994,1996 by Robin D. G. Kelley
All rights reserved,
including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form.
The Free Press and colophon are trademarks
of Simon & Schuster Inc.
First Free Press Paperback Edition 1996
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publkation Data
Kelley, Robin D. G.
Race rebels : culture, politics, and the Black working class/
Robin D. G. Kelley
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-684-82639-4 ISBN-10:0-684-82639-9
1. Afro-Americans—History—1877-1964 2. Afro-Americans—
History—1964- 3. Afro-Americans—Politics and government
4. Working class—United States—History—20th century
5. Radicalism—United States—History—20th century I. Title
E185.61.K356 1994
973‘.0496073—dc20 94-27097
CIP
Permission Credits
The Free Press and the author gratefully acknowledge permission to
reprint excerpts from the following poems, song lyrics, or book chapters.
“A New Song” by Langston Hughes, The Liberator, October 15, 1932. Copy­
right © 1932. Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates Inc.
All rights reserved.
“The Ballad of Ethiopia” by Langston Hughes, Baltimore Afro-American, Sep­
tember 28, 1935. Copyright © 1935. Reprinted by permission of Harold
Ober Associates Inc. All rights reserved.
“Letter from Spain: Addressed to Alabama” by Langston Hughes, Volunteer
for Liberty 1, no. 23 (November 15, 1937), Copyright © 1937. Reprinted
by permission of Harold Ober Associates Inc. All rights reserved.
“The Lame and the Whore,” reprinted by permission of the publishers from
Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me: Narrative Poetry from Black Oral
Tradition by Bruce Jackson, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Copyright © 1974 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
“Malcolm X—An Autobiography" by Larry Neal, in For Malcolm: Poems on
the Life and Death of Malcolm X, edited by Dudley Randall and Margaret C.
Burroughs (Detroit, Mich.: Broadside Press, 1967), 10 . Used by permis­
sion of Broadside Press.
“Romance Without Finance” by Lloyd “Tiny” Grimes. Copyright © 1944,
renewed 1972, Mills Music, Inc. Used by permission of CPP/Belwin,
Inc,, P O. Box 4340, Miami, FL 33014. All rights reserved.
iv Permission Credits
“Amerikkka’s Most V&ruecT by Ice Cube and Eric Sadler. Copyright © 1990
WB Music Corp., Gangsta Boogie Music, Warner Tamerlane Publishing
Corp., Your Mother’s Music. All rights on behalf of Gangsta Boogie Music
administered by W&mer Chapell Music (ASCAP). All rights on behalf of
Your Mother’s Music administered by V&mer Tamerlane Publishing
Corp. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“The Nigga Ya Love to Hate” by Ice Cube and Eric Sadler. Copyright © 1990
WB Music Corp., Gangsta Boogie Music, V&mer Tamerlane Publishing
Corp., Your Mother’s Music. All rights on behalf of Gangsta Boogie Music
administered by V&mer Chapell Music (ASCAP). All rights on behalf of
Your Mother’s Music administered by \^kme^ Tamerlane Publishing
Corp. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“It’s a Man’s World” by Ice Cube, Yo Yo, and Sir Jinx. Copyright © 1990
Gangsta Boogie Music. All rights on behalf of Gangsta Boogie Music ad­
ministered by V&mer Chapell Music (ASCAP). Used by permission. All
rights reserved.
“You Can’t Fade Me” by Ice Cube and Eric Sadler. Copyright © 1990 WB
Music Corp., Gangsta Boogie Music, Wfcmer Tamerlane Publishing
Corp., Your Mother’s Music. All rights on behalf of Gangsta Boogie Music
administered by V&mer Chapell Music (ASCAP). All rights on behalf of
Your Mother’s Music administered by V&mer Tamerlane Publishing
Corp. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“Endangered Species (Tales from the Darkside)” by Ice Cube and Eric
Sadler. Copyright © 1990 WB Music Corp., Gangsta Boogie Music,
VV&mer Tamerlane Publishing Coip., Your Mother’s Music. All rights on
behalf of Gangsta Boogie Music administered by Wfcmer Chapell Music
(ASCAP). All rights on behalf of Your Mother’s Music administered by
Wkmer Tamerlane Publishing Corp. Used by permission. All rights re­
served.
“The Product" by Ice Cube. Copyright © 1990 Gangsta Boogie Music. All
rights on behalf of Gangsta Boogie Music administered by W&mer
Chapell Music (ASCAP). Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“How 1 Could Just Kill a Man.” Copyright © 1993 BMG Songs, Inc. (AS­
CAP), Cypress Phunky Music, MCA Music Publishing, Budget Music,
and Powerforce Music. All rights for Fowerforce Music and Budget Music
administered by Careers-BMG Music Publishing, Inc. (BM1). All rights for
Cypress Phunky Music administered by BMG Song?, Inc. (ASCAP). Used
by permission. All rights reserved.
Permission Credits v
“One Less Bitch" by I Curry, L. Patterson, and A. Young. Copyright © 1991
Ruthless Attack Musik (ASCAP)/Sony Songs Inc. (BMI). Used by permis­
sion. All rights reserved.
“Dress Code” by William Calhoun. Copyright © 1991 337 Music, Base
Pipe Music, Urban Music. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“Fuck My Daddy” by William Calhoun. Copyright © 1991 337 Music, Base
Pipe Music. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“If You Don’t Work, U Don’t Eat" by William Calhoun. Copyright © 1991
337 Music, Base Pipe Music. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“Straight Up Nigga” by Ice T (Tracy Marrow). Copyright © 1991 Rhyme
Syndicate Music (ASCAP). Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“The Tower" by Ice T (Tracy Marrow). Copyright © 1991 Rhyme Syndicate
Music (ASCAP). Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Portions of chapters 1, 2, and 3 previously appeared in Robin D. G. Kelley,
“‘We Are Not What We Seem’: Re-thinking Black Working-Class Opposi­
tion in the Jim Crow South," Journal of American History 80, no. 1 (June
1993): 75-112. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Portions of chapter 4 previously appeared in Robin D. G. Kelley, “The Black
Poor and the Politics of Opposition in a New South City, 1929-1970,” in
The “Underclass" Debate: Views from History, edited by Michael Katz
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), 293-333. Used by per­
mission. All rights reserved.
Portions of chapters 5 and 6 appeared in Robin D. G. Kelley, “Introduction,”
African-Americans and the Spanish Civil War; “This Ain’t Ethiopia, But It’ll
Do,” edited by Danny Duncan Collum (New York: G. K. Hall, 1992),
5-57. Used by permission of G. K. Hall Publishers and the Abraham Lin­
coln Brigade Archives. Founded in 1979, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Archives’ mission is to preserve historical materials relevant to the Span­
ish Civil W&r and to encourage broader public and scholarly understand­
ing of the issues raised by that conflict. The archive is located at Brandeis
University, PO. Box LI 1, Waltham, Mass., 02254.
Chapter 7 previously appeared in a slightly revised form in Robin D. G. Kel­
ley, “The Riddle of the Zoot: Malcolm Little and Black Cultural Politics
During World War 11,” in Joe Wood, ed., Malcolm X: In Our Own Image.
Copyright ©Joe Wood. Reprinted with permission of St. Martin’s Press,
Incorporated.

To my two best friends,
Diedra and Elleza,
who taught me more about resistance
than I ever cared to know.