Armondo R. Collins is assistant professor of African American literature, thought, and cultural studies at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsChapter 1: The Black God Trope and Enthymematic BlacknessChapter 2: Proto-Black Nationalism: Early Black Church Lore as Rhetorical Performance and ResistanceChapter 3: A Message to the Blackman in America: Elijah Muhamad’s Influential Religious RhetoricChapter 4: Clarence 13x’s Black God Ethos and the Rhetorical Challenge of the Five PercentChapter 5: The Black God Trope in the Novel: A Message From the Black Woman in AmericaChapter 6: Alice Walker’s Womanist Black God Trope in The Color PurpleChapter 7: The Black God Trope as Rhetorical PedagogyBibliographyAbout the Author

The Black God Trope is the apogee of rhetorical examinations regarding Black nationalism and religion, particularly how the divine is used as ethos, authority, and resistance. Armondo R. Collins incisively synthesizes centuries of Black rhetorical tradition in the United States - from early orators in the pulpit and at the lyceum to contemporary literary geniuses - as he concomitantly analyzes the nuances of such texts. This volume demonstrates not just the power of the divine as a rhetorical trope for resistance, but it also centers its dynamism as an epistemology for living - for community, for agency, and for survival. In the same way liberation theologists have contributed to a deeper, more reflexive understanding of religion, so too does Collins provide a vigorous and fresh mapping of Black nationalism for rhetorical studies.