Yes We Did? From King's Dream to Obama's Promise Now Available

On November 6^th, Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States, will run for reelection. Despite party politics and other divisions apparent in our country today, Obama's 2008 presidential victory demonstrated unprecedented racial progress on a national level. In his acceptance speech at the August 28 Democratic convention he echoEd Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic speech at the March on Washington exactly forty-five years earlier. Through their words, both men left Americans hopeful for a movement that would change the face of America forever.

Cynthia Griggs Fleming's Yes We Did? From King's Dream to Obama's Promise, now available in paperback, explores the evolution of black leadership that ultimately led to the election of the country's first African American president, tracing the civil rights movement from its beginnings to the present day. Fleming analyzes historical leaders as well as contemporary advocates, examining social progress in a debatably post-racial America. The vision among African American leaders for achieving equal opportunities was not always unified, and many remain divided on important political and social concerns. By analyzing issues such as socioeconomic status, female leadership, black conservatism, and generational conflict, Yes We Did? investigates the differences that have historically divided black leadership in America-ranging from the grass roots to the national level-and still divides it today.

Much of Fleming's research comes from her interviews with forty-two notable civil rights advocates and black leaders such as Al Sharpton, Carol Mosley Braun, James Lawson, John Lewis, and Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles, who offer critical insight into the ongoing search for solutions to the problems facing African Americans in the twenty-first century. She uses the voices of those actually involved in black leadership to complement her analysis. Yes We Did? demonstrates the diverse outlooks and priorities within the black community and helps illuminate the development of black leadership as well as project its future. Fleming provides readers with an unprecedented combination of narrative history and social analysis that helps define what it means to be a black leader in America.