The Human Tradition in the Civil Rights Movement
Published on 11. September 2006
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-7425-4408-6 (ISBN)
Description
The American civil rights movement represents one of the most remarkable social revolutions in all of world history. While no one would discount the significance of the leadership of Martin Luther King and others, we should also recognize that the fight could not have been waged without the countless foot soldiers in the trenches.
As an important corrective to the traditional "great man" studies, these essays emphasize the importance of grassroots actions and individual agency in the effort to bring about national civil renewal. These biographies assert the importance of individuals on the local level working towards civil rights and the influence that this primarily African-American movement had on others including La Raza, the Native American Movement, feminism, and gay rights.
Through engaging biographies of such varied individuals as Abraham Galloway, Ida B. Wells, James K. Vardaman, Jose Angel Gutierrez, and Sylvia Rivera, Glisson widens the scope of most Civil Rights studies beyond the 1954-1965 time frame to include its full history since the Civil War. By widening the time frame studied, these essays underscore the difficult, often unrewarded and generational nature of social change.
As an important corrective to the traditional "great man" studies, these essays emphasize the importance of grassroots actions and individual agency in the effort to bring about national civil renewal. These biographies assert the importance of individuals on the local level working towards civil rights and the influence that this primarily African-American movement had on others including La Raza, the Native American Movement, feminism, and gay rights.
Through engaging biographies of such varied individuals as Abraham Galloway, Ida B. Wells, James K. Vardaman, Jose Angel Gutierrez, and Sylvia Rivera, Glisson widens the scope of most Civil Rights studies beyond the 1954-1965 time frame to include its full history since the Civil War. By widening the time frame studied, these essays underscore the difficult, often unrewarded and generational nature of social change.
Reviews / Votes
Glisson's volume convincingly argues that the civil rights movement was not always top-down and that local grassroots organizers deserve recognition from scholars and the general public alike. * The Journal Of Mississippi History * Susan Glisson has assembled a stellar cast of scholars to tell the stories of individual Americans engaged in the struggle for human rights. This remarkable collection of essays is at once inspiring and sobering. It demonstrates that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things. But it also reminds us of the distance still to be traveled before this country lives up to its democratic promise. -- John Dittmer, DePauw UniversityMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
747 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7425-4408-6 (9780742544086)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Susan M. Glisson is director of the Institute for Racial Reconciliation and assistant professor of southern studies at the University of Mississippi.
Content
Introduction: The Human Tradition and Civil Rights
Part I: Hope is Born
Chapter 1: Abraham Galloway: Prophet of Biracial America
Chapter 2: Homer Plessy: Unsuccessful Challenger to Jim Crow
Chapter 3: James K. Vardaman: "A Vote for White Supremacy" and the Politics of Racism
Part II: Should We Stay or Should We Go?
Chapter 4: Ida B. Wells: Higher Law and Community Justice
Chapter 5: A. Philip Randolph: Labor and the New Black Politics
Chapter 6: Lucy Randolph Mason: "The Rest of Us"
Part III: Awakenings
Chapter 7: Amzie Moore: The Biographical Roots of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi
Chapter 8: James Lawson: The Nashville Civil Rights Movement
Chapter 9: Charles Sherrod and Martin Luther King Jr.: Mass Action and Nonviolence in Albany
Part IV: Freedom Is a Constant Struggle
Chapter 10: Diane Nash: "Courage Displaces Fear, Love Transforms Hate": Civil Rights Activism and the Commitment to Nonviolence
Chapter 11: Mae Bertha Carter: These Tiny Fingers
Chapter 12: Robert F. Williams: "Black Power" and the Roots of the African American Freedom Struggle
Part V: The Borning Movement
Chapter 13: Judith Brown: Freedom Fighter
Chapter 14: Jose Angel Gutierrez: La Raza Unida and Scholarship for Social Justice
Chapter 15: Leonard Peltier: A Small Part of a Much Larger Story
Chapter 16: Sylvia Rivera: Fighting in Her Heels: Stonewall, Civil Rights, and Liberation
Part I: Hope is Born
Chapter 1: Abraham Galloway: Prophet of Biracial America
Chapter 2: Homer Plessy: Unsuccessful Challenger to Jim Crow
Chapter 3: James K. Vardaman: "A Vote for White Supremacy" and the Politics of Racism
Part II: Should We Stay or Should We Go?
Chapter 4: Ida B. Wells: Higher Law and Community Justice
Chapter 5: A. Philip Randolph: Labor and the New Black Politics
Chapter 6: Lucy Randolph Mason: "The Rest of Us"
Part III: Awakenings
Chapter 7: Amzie Moore: The Biographical Roots of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi
Chapter 8: James Lawson: The Nashville Civil Rights Movement
Chapter 9: Charles Sherrod and Martin Luther King Jr.: Mass Action and Nonviolence in Albany
Part IV: Freedom Is a Constant Struggle
Chapter 10: Diane Nash: "Courage Displaces Fear, Love Transforms Hate": Civil Rights Activism and the Commitment to Nonviolence
Chapter 11: Mae Bertha Carter: These Tiny Fingers
Chapter 12: Robert F. Williams: "Black Power" and the Roots of the African American Freedom Struggle
Part V: The Borning Movement
Chapter 13: Judith Brown: Freedom Fighter
Chapter 14: Jose Angel Gutierrez: La Raza Unida and Scholarship for Social Justice
Chapter 15: Leonard Peltier: A Small Part of a Much Larger Story
Chapter 16: Sylvia Rivera: Fighting in Her Heels: Stonewall, Civil Rights, and Liberation