Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of America

If we face America’s racial history squarely, must we conclude that the American project is a failure? Conversely, if we think the American project is a worthy endeavor, do we have to lie or equivocate about our past?

Exhausted by extremism on both left and right, a majority of Americans—black and white—love this country and want to do right by all its citizens. In Black Liberation Through the Marketplace, Rachel Ferguson leaves readers with a better understanding of black history and creative ideas for how to make this nation one that truly enjoys liberty and justice for all.

Ferguson uses the classical liberal lens to ask Americans on the political right to seriously reckon with America’s deep racial pain—much of which arises from violations of rights that conservatives say they deeply value. And those on the left must take a hard look at the failed paternalism, and in some cases thoroughgoing racism, of past progressive policy. All Americans are asked to apply their concern for individual rights and constitutional order fairly to our historical record. In doing this, we discover blatant injustices perpetrated against black Americans. But we also find black entrepreneurs overcoming amazing obstacles and a black community that has created flourishing institutions and culture.