Race and the Obama Phenomenon

ESSAYS THAT EXPLORE HOW THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT CONNECTS TO THE PAST AND REIMAGINES NATIONAL RACIAL AND POLITICAL HORIZONS

The concept of a more perfect union remains a constant theme in the political rhetoric of Barack Obama. From his now historic race speech to his second victory speech delivered on November 7, 2012, that striving is evident. "Tonight, more than two hundred years after a former colony won the right to determine its own destiny, the task of perfecting our union moves forward," stated the forty-fourth president of the United States upon securing a second term in office after a hard fought political contest. Obama borrows this rhetoric from the founding documents of the United States set forth in the U.S. Constitution and in Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address."

How naive or realistic is Obama's vision of a more perfect American union that brings together people across racial, class, and political lines? How can this vision of a more inclusive America be realized in a society that remains racist at its core? These essays seek answers to these complicated questions by examining the 2008 and 2012 elections as well as the events of President Obama's first term. Written by preeminent race scholars from multiple disciplines, the volume brings together competing perspectives on race, gender, and the historic significance of Obama's election and reelection. The president heralded in his November, 2012, acceptance speech, "The idea that if you're willing to work hard, it doesn't matter who you are, or where you come from, or what you look like . . . . whether you're black or white, Hispanic or Asian or Native American." These essayists argue the truth of that statement and assess whether America has made any progress toward that vision.

Contributions by Lisa Anderson-Levy, Heidi Ardizzone, Karanja Keita Carroll, Greg Carter, Frank Rudy Cooper, Marhsa J. Tyson Darling, Tessa Ditonto, David Frank, Amy L. Heyse, David A. Hollinger, George Lipsitz, Mark McPhail, Tavia Nyong'o, David Roediger, Paul Spickard, Janet Mendoza Stickman, Paul Street, Ebony Utley, Ronald Waters

G. REGINALD DANIEL, Santa Barbara, California, teaches in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His previous publications include Machado de Assis: Multiracial Identity and the Brazilian Novelist; More Than Black? Multiracial Identity and the New Racial Order; and Race and Multiraciality in Brazil and the United States: Converging Paths? HETTIE V. WILLIAMS, Long Branch, New Jersey, teaches in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University. Her previous works include We Shall Overcome to We Shall Overrun: The Black Power Revolt and the Collapse of the Civil Rights Movement, 1962-1968 and Color Struck: Essays on Race and Ethnicity in Global Perspective.