Critical Race Theory and the Search for Truth

"Through the lens of critical race theory, Rodney D. Coates has produced a powerful analysis of racism in the modern world. While this book focuses on the immense negative consequences of global racism for the oppressed, it does much more. It shines an illuminating light on the pivotal struggles launched by oppressed Black people to free themselves and liberate humanity. In so doing, Critical Race Theory and the Search for Truth is a must-read for all concerned about dismantling the current conflicts rocking the modern world." Aldon Morris, Northwestern University

“Rodney D. Coates completely debunks the Critical Race Theory misrepresentations with resounding clarity, professional impartiality, and, above all else, authentic truths.” Woodrow Keown Jr, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

"Just when we needed a clearheaded, analytical, and creative analysis of Critical Race Theory, Rodney D. Coates has given us just what we—and the public—need. Coates’s book is a welcome antidote to public misconceptions about the origins and meaning of critical race theory." Margaret L. Andersen, University of Delaware

“For years, Rodney D. Coates has been a go-to public scholar whose interdisciplinary and encyclopedic knowledge has helped people around the nation understand a critical counter narrative to racialized stories of ‘western civilization’s’ triumph and what Du Bois called ‘history as propaganda.’ This book demonstrates Coates’s coherent take on what Critical Race Theory is, why it’s such an important intellectual tool, and how its success has placed it in the crosshairs of white nationalists and their political operatives. This book is a must-read for anyone hoping to stave off fascism and build a true multicultural democracy.” Corey Dolgon, Stonehill College

“Mindful of the deep historical and intellectual foundations of systemic racism theory and of what has aptly been referred to as “the Black radical tradition” in African American social thought, Rodney D. Coates’s Critical Race Theory and the Search for Truth makes its case that “racism is systemic and that it is interconnected with other systems of oppression.” Viewing Critical Race Theory as “just the most recent attempt” of the racially oppressed to conceptualize their oppression, he skilfully places its development and its opposition in their proper social and historical context. From there Professor Coates takes us on an insightful journey through time and space with his critical analysis of systemic racism in both the United States and in Haiti.” Noel A. Cazenave, University of Connecticut and author of Conceptualizing Racism

Rodney D. Coates is Professor of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at Miami University. He is a public sociologist engaged in critical race, social justice, social movements, social policy, and practice.

1.Introduction: Critical Race Theory

2.In Search of the Truth

3.The Bipolar Construction of Identity: Racial Imperialism, African Agency, and Reactions of the Presumed Other

4.Black Agency, Racial Imperialism, and the Creation of a Racial State: The Case of Haiti

5.The Africans and the Making of the Americas

6.Unsung Warriors: Black Women

7.The New John Henry, Stereotypes, and Authentic Black Masculinity

8.Conclusion: Songs of Freedom