“The Salvation of the Negro”

This chapter examines the arguments that Turner makes in favor of emigration. In promoting emigration as an option for African American well-being, Turner offered a third way in African American rhetorical discourse in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was through Turner’s prophetic pessimism and bearing witness to the ills faced by many African Americans during this time that gave many African Americans a sense of pride and the necessary courage to face whatever came their way. Though he knew he was fighting a losing cause, it is out of these arguments that Turner helps to lay the foundation of the Black Radical tradition.

Conclusion

In this concluding chapter, Johnson offers a review of the previous chapters. Then the author turns his attention to the movements in the twentieth century that Turner foreshadowed. The chapter closes with some lessons that modern-day readers could learn from Turner.

“Negroes Should Worship a God Who Is a Negro”

This chapter offers a brief sketch of the theological thought, or more specifically, the God-Talk language of Turner. The chapter then offers a rhetorical analysis of the text and argues that Turner engages in what some scholars call rhetorical theology. By maintaining that all theology is at its core a form of argument, rhetorical theology places emphasis on how a speaker or writer situates language in order to persuade its hearers to a certain position. In other words, when Turner spoke and wrote “God is a Negro,” he was not doing systematic theology; he was engaged in a public theology, which is a rhetorical enterprise that had as its aim a persuasive function within a specific context.

“Hell Is an Improvement So Far As the Negro Is Concerned”

Chapter 6 examines Turner’s prophetic ire against America and how the country deals with race. The chapter offers analysis of speeches in which he condemns America, calls the flag a “contemptible rag,” and suggests that African Americans have nothing to obtain if they remained in the country.