Black Police in America by W. Marvin Dulaney is a sociological overview of the efforts made by African Americans to become part of the law enforcement community in the United States from the early 1900s to the present. Dulaney traces the appearance, disappearance, and reappearance of African American police officers on the job from ante-bellum New Orleans to modern-day police forces in large American cities. The book begins in the early 19th century and follows the path of African American police officers through three historical eras, or generations, as they worked their way up the organizations. African American police officers progressed from separate "negro" units to street crime fighters to administrative and leadership positions. The subject matter of the book provides a historical perspective of the times and a survey of the contributions made by African American police officers to American law enforcement and to the African American community.
The book is organized in eight chapters. Chapter 1 provides a brief summary of the African American experience through the 19th century. Dulaney notes that police forces in the North and the South developed very different approaches to law enforcement. The contrast resulted from very different perspectives of law enforcement. Most northern police forces copied the "British model" of policing. This method was designed to combat street violence and urban crime. Police forces in the American South, by comparison, were structured to accommodate slavery and to enforce racial oppression.
Chapter 2 examines the initial efforts made by African Americans to participate in law enforcement. Beginning with the ante-bellum and Reconstruction South, Dulaney traces the history of jobs held by African Americans in law enforcement. The emergence of African American police officers in the North is the main subject of Chapter 3.
In Chapters 4 and 5, Dulaney discusses African ...