William B. Allen is a resident scholar and the former chief operating officer of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education in Washington, D.C. He is emeritus professor of political philosophy in the Department of Political Science and emeritus dean of James Madison College at Michigan State University. In 2018–20 he was senior scholar in residence at the University of Colorado Boulder. He served previously on the United States National Council for the Humanities and as chairman and member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Recognized for excellence in liberal education on the 1997 Templeton Honor Roll (individually and institutionally), he also has been a Kellogg National Fellow, received the international Prix Montesquieu, and was the 2014 Salvatori Award winner. He has published extensively, including George Washington: A Collection (Liberty Fund, Inc.), Rethinking Uncle Tom: The Political Philosophy of H. B. Stowe (Lexington Books), and George Washington: America’s First Progressive (Peter Lang, Inc.).

“The State of Black America is a much-needed antidote to the madness-inducing contradiction of woke orthodoxy. These essays carefully consider the importance of human agency, culture, character, and the resilience of the human spirit. It is a meditation for grown-ups and not a fairy tale. If you want to know how to heal the afflictions of identity politics and restore the promise of the American republic, read this book.”  —The Honorable Judge Janice Rogers Brown“This book combines an admirable attention to empirical reality with moral seriousness and reasoned hope in the promise of America. Where so many recommend fatalism and despair, the contributors to this volume celebrate the achievement of the black middle class and the moral and civic agency impressively displayed by black Americans even under conditions of distress. A most welcome plea for sanity and the recovery of the moral promise of the American republic.” —Daniel J. Mahoney, professor emeritus, Assumption University and senior fellow, the Real Clear Foundation“Here is a sober and hopeful book. In it, you will not find the leftist tale of a black America that must be rescued from ‘systemic racism’ by ever-more state intervention. Nor will you find the right-leaning claim that America is color-blind. This book gives a believable history of black America, which is to say, one beset by moral agony and ongoing labor to make good on an American promise longing to be fulfilled.” — Joshua Mitchell, professor of government, Georgetown University and senior fellow, Common Sense Society“In the face of a plangent chorus of ‘white guilt,’ ‘black victimization,’ and ‘green’ futility, this book revives the American dream and drama of triumphant possibilities and creative abundance for all. Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, 19th century pioneers of the American dream, would gladly welcome these authors into their pantheon of true heirs and proponents of the promise of 21st century American abundance and opportunity.” —George Gilder, author, economist, and cofounder of the Discovery Institute