Stephen C. Ferguson

The Black Power Era, from the 1960s to the 1970s, is a period marked by the radical reimagining of Black identity, nationalism, and liberation. This project highlights the overlooked contributions of Black philosophers—academic and non-academic—during and after the Black Power Era. While cultural and political figures have dominated scholarly attention, this study foregrounds the philosophical voices who engaged with the era’s ideological ferment. The project examines how Black thinkers such as Eugene C. Holmes, William R. Jones, Adrian Piper, Charles Johnson, Cornel West, Charles Mills, Walter Rodney, Cedric Robinson, John H. McClendon and others grappled with the interwoven dynamics of racism, national oppression, class exploitation, and the contested relevance of Marxism. Through a dialectical analysis of their engagements with liberalism, conservatism, and revolutionary politics, this project reconstructs the complex theoretical landscape in which Black philosophy developed in response to the promises and failures of US democracy. Ultimately, the project contributes to contemporary debates about racism, democracy, and social change, challenging dominant paradigms and foregrounding Black philosophy as a vital site of critical theory and political imagination.