Forum Network

Manning Marable describes his theoretical approach to the writing of African history and the construction of black studies, which is directly connected with living history. He argues that oppressed people in the United States generally think about their living history very differently from those closer to centers of institutional power. Because of the difficult circumstances of their lives, the oppressed often celebrate myth over factual accuracy. No black poets have written about Clarence Thomas or Condi Rice, but entire books, films, symphonies, and even an opera have been composed about the life of the heroic figure Malcolm X.