Abstract
Marking the centenary of St. Clair Drake's birth, this examination begins the project of recovering one of the most underrated minds of the twentieth century by situating him within the community(s) that initially served to form him. Illustrative of the social theory of a black community outlined in Black Metropolis, Drake's lineage and formative years suggests that his was a cultural identity rooted in and routed through a series of racially constructed, semi-autonomous black life worlds, each held together by the collective desires of those made most vulnerable by the upheavals of capitalism and the caste-enforcing structures of segregation and colonialism in the post-emancipation Black Diaspora. From Virginia after the collapse of Reconstruction, Pittsburgh and the West Indies during and immediately after the First World War, and finally, back to Virginia in early 1920s, Drake's movement through physical worlds and social realities differently situated reveal societies defined by constant struggles for democracy and institutions and organizations considered essential for survival in a world controlled by whites. In this regard, Drake's childhood experiences may have, at best, prepared him for this epic story of Chicago's Bronzeville and, in the very least, formed the basis for a conception of himself in later years as a product of the Black Diaspora and a unique journey that overlapped the culture, political economy, and history of multiple black communities in the Caribbean and United States. This central concept in Black Metropolis, therefore, is instructive to a chronicling of Drake's early life history, especially as it speaks to the creative ways in which his transnational identity and perspective was informed by the mechanisms black people developed for accommodating and resisting social disadvantage and alienation in segregated and colonial settings.
Disciplines
African American Studies | Arts and Humanities | History | Race and Ethnicity | Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Social History | United States History
Recommended Citation
Rosa, Andrew. The Roots and Routes of “Imperium in Imperio”: St. Clair Drake, The Formative Years, American Studies, Vol. 52, No. 1, 2012.
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social History Commons, United States History Commons