Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class.

About Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class

Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class is a 1994 non-fiction book by American writer Robin D. G. Kelley. The book, a cohesive adaptation of several articles previously published by Kelley, concerns the impact made by black members of the American working class on American politics and culture. Kelley's work does not focus solely on race, but considers the compound impact of race, class and gender. 2007's Blue-chip Black: Race, Class and Status in the New Black Middle Class draws from Kelley's text as an example of this focus the influence exercised by working-class black bus riders in Birmingham, Alabama, on segregation during World War II, an analysis described in 2003's Multiculturalism, Postcoloniality, and Transnational Media as "fascinating". Inspired by a concept put forward by political anthropologist James C. Scott, Kelley utilizes the concept of "infrapolitics" in exploring the political impact of confrontation between black Americans and white Americans, examining what Scott described as "the circumspect struggle waged daily by subordinate groups [which] is, like infrared rays, beyond the visible end of the spectrum."