{"id":3930,"date":"2009-12-18T01:46:10","date_gmt":"2009-12-18T01:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=3930"},"modified":"2011-10-27T19:37:16","modified_gmt":"2011-10-27T19:37:16","slug":"barack-obama%e2%80%99s-improbable-election-and-the-question-of-race-and-racism-in-contemporary-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=3930","title":{"rendered":"Barack Obama\u2019s Improbable Election and the Question of Race and Racism in Contemporary America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barack Obama\u2019s Improbable Election and the Question of Race and Racism in Contemporary America<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Journal of Black Studies<\/a>
\nJanuary 2010
\nVolume 40, No. 3<\/p>\n

Guest Editor<\/strong>
\nPamela D. Reed<\/a><\/strong>, Assistant Professor of English Composition and Africana Literature
\nVirginia State University<\/em><\/p>\n

The Journal of Black Studies<\/em> has now issued two special issues on President Barack Hussein Obama<\/a>. \u201cThe Barack Obama Phenomenon\u201d (Mazama, 2007) examines the historic candidacy of the then Illinois Senator. The present issue explores Obama\u2019s nascent presidency and matters of race and racism, both in the run-up to and in the wake of his landmark victory.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Try as one might, it is not possible to minimize the centrality of race in all areas of American life, even now. Indeed, since the inception of the American republic, built on the backs of enslaved Africans, race and color have been the ultimate determinants of socioeconomic status. For over four centuries, dating from around the mid-15th century, millions of Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic Ocean, and scores of them were brought to the United States, where their forced labor provided the engine for the American capitalist machine…<\/p>\n

…Whatever the case, W. E. B. Du Bois<\/a>\u2019s prescient statement (1903) regarding the problem of the color line in the 20th century is no less true today\u2014even as we head into the second decade of the 21st century. Be that as it may, Barack Hussein Obama is the 44th President of these United States. As a result, scholars will undoubtedly dissect his election and his presidency for the foreseeable future. We begin that process herein.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Table of Conents<\/strong><\/p>\n