Over the last several decades, academic discourse on racial inequality has focused primarily on political and social issues with significantly less attention on the complex interplay between race and economics. African Americans in the U.S. Economy represents a contribution to recent scholarship that seeks to lessen this imbalance. This book builds upon, and significantly extends, the principles, terminology, and methods of standard economics and black political economy. Influenced by path-breaking studies presented in several scholarly economic journals, this volume is designed to provide a political-economic analysis of the past and present economic status of African Americans. The chapters in this volume represent the work of some of the nation's most distinguished scholars on the various topics presented. The individual chapters cover several well-defined areas, including black employment and unemployment, labor market discrimination, black entrepreneurship, racial economic inequality, urban revitalization, and black economic development. The book is written in a style free of the technical jargon that characterizes most economics textbooks. While the book is methodologically sophisticated, it is accessible to a wide range of students and the general public and will appeal to academicians and practitioners alike.

Cecilia A. Conrad is the Stedman-Sumner Professor of Economics at Pomona College. She has authored or edited several monographs, including Building Skills for Black Workers: Preparing for Future Labor Markets; is the current editor of The Review of Black Political Economy; and is an associate editor of Feminist Economics. She is a recipient of the 2002 California Professor of the Year Award, an honor presented by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. John Whitehead is professor of economics and African American studies at City College of San Francisco. He has written extensively on racial economic inequality and community economic development and is the coeditor, with Cobie Kwasi Harris, of Readings in Black Political Economy. He is the founder and chairperson of the Committee on the Impact of Globalization on U.S. Minorities. Patrick Mason is associate professor of economics and director of the African American Studies Program at the Florida State University. He has authored or edited over forty journal articles, book chapters, and professional studies, including The International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. He is currently chair of the Committee of the Status of Minorities in the Economics Profession and is the past president of the National Economics Association. James B. Stewart is professor of labor studies and industrial relations, African and African American studies, and management and organization at Penn State University. He has authored or edited numerous books including Black Families: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, served as editor of The Review of Black Political Economy, and served as president of the National Economics Association. Dr. Stewart recently completed two terms as president of the National Council for Black Studies (1997-2001).

Chapter 1 Black Political Economy: An Introduction
Chapter 2
Chapter I: Slavery and the Early Formation of Black Labor
Chapter 3 The Critical Role of African Americans in the Development of the Pre-Civil War U.S. Economy
Chapter 3 The International Slave Trade
Chapter 4 Africa, Europe, and the Origins of Uneven Development: The Role of Slavery
Chapter 6 The Black Sharecropping System and Its Decline
Chapter 7 The Rise of the Black Industrial Working Class 1915-1918
Chapter 8 Civil Rights and Organized Labor: The Case of the United Steelworkers of America, 1948-1970
Chapter 8
Chapter II: Organized Labor and African Americans
Chapter 9 An Uncertain Tradition: Blacks and Unions 1865-1925
Chapter 9 Racial Economic Inequality and Discrimination: Conservative and Liberal Paradigms Revisited
Chapter 10 The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
Chapter 12
Chapter III: Theories of Racial Discrimination, Inequality, and Economic Progress
Chapter 13 The Black Political Economy Paradigm and the Dynamics of Racial Economic Inequality
Chapter 14 Race and Gender Differences in the U.S. Labor Market: The Impact of Educational Attainment
Chapter 14 Marxist Theory of Racism and Racial Inequality
Chapter 15 The Crowding Hypothesis
Chapter 16 Keeping People in Their Place: The Economics of Racial Violence
Chapter 16 Racial Inequality and African Americans' Disadvantage in the Credit and Capital Markets
Chapter 20 Persistent Racial Discrimination in the Labor Market
Chapter 20 Globalization, the Transformation of Capital, and the Erosion of Black and Latino Living Standards
Chapter 22 Changes in the Labor Market Status of Black Women, 1960-2000
Chapter 23 Single-Mother Families in the Black Community: Economic Context and Policies
Chapter 24 The Racial Wealth Gap
Chapter 27 Globalization and African Americans: A Focus on Public Employment
Chapter 28 Immigration and African Americans
Chapter 29 African American Intragroup Inequality and Corporate Globalization
Chapter 30 Globalization, Racism, and the Expansion of the American Penal System
Chapter 31
Chapter VI: Black Capitalism: Entrepreneurs and Consumers
Chapter 32 History of Black Capitalism
Chapter 33 Black-Owned Businesses: Trends and Prospects
Chapter 34 Black-Owned Banks: Past and Present
Chapter 35 Bling-Bling and Other Recent Trends in African American Consumerism
Chapter 36 A Critical Examination of the Political Economy of the Hip-Hop Industry
Chapter 37 Black Capitalism: Self-Help or Self-Delusion?
Chapter 39 Inner-City Economic Development and Revitalization: A Community-Building Approach
Chapter 39 Black Power: The Struggle for Parental Choice in Education
Chapter 40 School Choice: A Desperate Gamble
Chapter 41 The Black Youth Employment Problem Revisited
Chapter 42 Employment and Training Solutions for the Economically Disadvantaged
Chapter 43 Racism in the U.S. Welfare Policy: A Human Rights Issue
Chapter 43 African American Athletes and Urban Revitalization: African American Athletes as a Funding Source for Inner-City Investments
Chapter 44
Chapter VIII: Understanding Black Reparations
Chapter 45 Past Due: The African American Quest fort Reparations
Chapter 46 The Theory of Restitution
Chapter 47 The Economics of Reparations
Chapter 48
Chapter IV: Current Economic Status of African Americans: Hard Evidence of Economic Discrimination and Inequality
Chapter 49
Chapter V: Globalization and Its Impact on the Economic Well-Being of African Americans and Latinos
Chapter 50 Combating Gentrification through Equitable Development
Chapter 51
Chapter VII: Education, Employment, Training, and Social Welfare: Alternative Public Policy Approaches in the Struggle to Achieve Racial Equality
Chapter 51 The Black Church and Community Economic Development
Chapter 52 Black Patronage of Black-Owned Businesses and Black Employment
Chapter 53
Chapter IX: African American Economic Development and Urban Revitalization Strategies