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IN THIS SOPHISTICATED study of the struggle for
African-American human rights in America, Alessandra Lorini
examines public events in New York City from the end of the
Civil War through World War I, demonstrating how ritualized
elements of black processions, parades, riots, and festivals
made visible the inherent paradox of the "separate but
equal" doctrine of the time. By examining these public
events, Lorini dramatizes the quest for liberty and equality
as a story of living forces, not abstract principles and
legal maneuvers. Lorini defines public culture as a
conflictual space in which gender, race, and class alliances
are made and remade in the ongoing battle for expanded
democracy. She then explores how public rituals directly
confronted the demeaning representations of blacks prevalent
in America's civic and national culture--particularly the
idea of black racial inferiority outlined in theories of
"racial science." Through rituals, blacks constructed
collective memories and identities, which ultimately served
as the basis for their assertion of what Lorini calls
"participatory democracy," a movement created by ordinary
citizens in which activists such as W. E. B. DuBois, Ida
Wells-Barnett, Mary White Ovington, and Booker T. Washington
could attempt to effect social change.
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