The Omni-Americans

Some Alternatives to the Folklore of White Supremacy

By: Albert Murray

Narrated by: Mirron Willis

Rediscover the "most important book on black-white relationships" in America in this special 50th anniversary edition.

"The United States is in actuality not a nation of black people and white people. It is a nation of multicolored people.... Any fool can see that the white people are not really white, and that black people are not black. They are all interrelated one way or another." These words, written by Albert Murray at the height of the Black Power movement, cut against the grain of their moment and announced the arrival of a major new force in American letters. In his 1970 classic The Omni-Americans, Murray took aim at protest writers and social scientists who accentuated the "pathology" of race in American life. Against narratives of marginalization and victimhood, Murray argued that Black art and culture, particularly jazz and blues, stand at the very headwaters of the American mainstream, and that much of what is best in American art embodies the "blues-hero tradition" - a heritage of grace, wit, and inspired improvisation in the face of adversity. Reviewing The Omni-Americans in 1970, Walker Percy called it "the most important book on black-white relationships...indeed on American culture...published in this generation".

©1970 Albert Murray (P)2020 Tantor

Wonderful

This is a wise book that brings sanity to its’ readers. Should be required reading for everyone who has a Twitter or Facebook account.

Requied Reading

Dr. Sheena Mason's Theory of Racelessness references Albert Murray in many ways, one of which is the belief that Racialized Black and White folks are, for the most part, living the same lives. The biggest difference is when you ignore history, or choose to omit it.
Great book and I'll be buying a physical copy soon.

Should be part of every education

I heard about this book from Chloe Valdary and I’m so grateful to have encountered it. So clear, direct and full of urgent, earnest truth. The issues it deals with are as relevant today as ever and the current solutions on offer by both “sides” are just repeating the same failed philosophies and practices Murray meticulously catalogs.