FromtheabolitioneratotheCivilRightsmovementtotheageofObama,thepromiseofperfectibilityandimprovementresonatesinthestoryofAmericandemocracy.Butwhatexactlydoesracial“progress“mean,andhowdowerecognizeandachieveit?UntimelyDemocracy:ThePoliticsofProgressAfterSlaveryuncoversasurprisinganswertothisquestioninthewritingsofAmericanauthorsandactivists,bothblackandwhite.ConventionalnarrativesofdemocracystretchingfromThomasJefferson’sAmericatoourownpositapurposefulbreakbetweenpastandpresentasthekeytotheviabilityofthispoliticalform--theonlywaytoensureitscontinualdevelopment.ButforPaulineE.Hopkins,FrederickDouglass,StephenCrane,W.E.B.DuBois,CharlesW.Chesnutt,SuttonE.Griggs,CallieHouse,andtheotherfiguresexaminedinthisbook,thecampaigntosecurelibertyandequalityforallcitizensproceedsmostpotentlywhenitrefusesthepreceptsofprogressivetime.Placingtheseauthors’post-CivilWarwritingsintodialoguewithdebatesaboutracialoptimismandpessimism,tractsonprogress,andaccountsofex-slavepensionactivism,andextendingtheirinsightsintoourcontemporaryperiod,Laskirecoverslate-nineteenth-centuryliteratureasavibrantsitefordoingpoliticaltheory.UntimelyDemocracyultimatelyshowshowoneofthebleakestperiodsinAmericanracialhistoryprovidedfertileterrainforaradicalreconstructionofourmostfundamentalassumptionsaboutthispoliticalsystem.Offeringresourcesformomentswhenthemarchofprogressseemstostutterandevenstop,thisbookinvitesustoreconsiderjustwhatdemocracycanmakepossible.
FrederickDouglass CHARLESW POST MEAN
