Published in the Journal of American History 103, no. 2 (September 2016)
Cities were fundamental to the rise of the black power movement in the late 1960s. “‘The Search for New Forms’” reveals that urban spaces served as more than a stage set for movement activists, however; so too did the built environment serve as a crucial medium through which black power proponents imagined the future that would follow from racial self-determination. As the case of Harlem shows, activist architects and planners and their community partners crafted an urban vision that valued existing, African American residents and preserved their vibrant neighborhoods. In doing so, they not only offered a rebuke to modernist city building, with its emphasis on clearance and redevelopment. They also played a thus far overlooked role in crafting a new, postmodern urbanism in its place.