The Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement is a collection of the best scholarship on one of America′s most important social movements. Editor Jack Davis expands the usual historical boundaries of the Civil Rights Movement as he follows it from pre–World War II activism to the affirmative action initiatives begun in the 1960s. These essays reveal the grassroots character of the movement by exploring its continuity, local nature, and decentralized and diverse leadership. Through this broader scope, students learn about women′s activism, white liberals and moderates, local initiatives, environmental racism, and black political empowerment. Twelve essays are arranged chronologically and topically, each with supporting primary documents, a detailed timeline, and further reading lists. This collection provides an ideal source for teaching Civil Rights with a fresh perspective.

Introduction. List of Acronyms. Chronology. Part I: Sowing Seeds. 1. Foundations. Introduction. Article: Southern Reformers, the New Deal, and the Movement′s Foundation. (Patricia Sullivan). Document A: Street Car Petition, Jacksonville, Florida, 1901. Document B: NAACP School Desegregation Petition, 1955. Further Reading. 2. Labor and Civil Rights. Introduction. Article: Organized Labor and the Struggle for Black Equality in Mobile during World War II. (Bruce Nelson). Document A : Transcription of Tape Documentary on Natchez Laundry Workers Strike, October 17, 1965. Document B: Memoirs of a Birmingham Coal Miner, 1964. Further Reading. Part II: Defiance. 3. White Resistance. Introduction. Article: Crabgrass–Roots Politics: Race, Rights, and the Reaction Against Liberalism in the Urban North, 1940–1964. (Thomas J. Sugrue). Document A:Untitled Little Rock Poem, ca. 1957. Document B: Americans for the Preservation of the White Race, Broadside, ca 1960s. Document C: Brumsic Brandon Jr. "Up North, Down South," cartoons, 1963. Further Reading. 4. Anti–Communism, Anti–Civil Rights. Introduction. Article: Race and Red–Baiting. (Adam Fairclough). Document A: Defender′s News and View′s Aug–Sept 1959. Letter to the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, 1960. Further Reading. Part III: Participants. 5. Liberals and Moderates. Introduction. Article: "South of the South?": Jews, Blacks, and the Civil Rights Movement in Miami, 1945–1960. (Raymond A. Mohl). Documents:. Document A: The Conversion of Peggy Terry, ca 1950s. Document B: "One can not be a Christian and a Segregationist, Too," 1979. Further Reading. 6. Women in the Civil Rights Movement. Introduction. Article: Passing the Torch: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement: LaVerne Gyant. Document A: Fannie Lou Hamer, "The Special Plight and Role of Black Women," 1971. Document B: Septima Poinsette Clark Memoir, 1979, 1984. Clarice T. Campbell Correspondence, summer 1956. Further Reading. Part IV: Local–National Relationships. 7. The NAACP. Introduction. Article: The NAACP in North Carolina during the Age of Segregation. (Raymond Gavins). Document A:NAACP v. Button, 1963. Document B: Jackson, Mississippi, Boycott Campaign, 1962–63. Further Reading. 8. Grassroots. Introduction. Article: Baseball′s Reluctant Challenge: Desegregating Major League Spring Training Sites, 1961–1964. (Jack E. Davis). Document A: Siege at Savannah, 1964. Document B: People in Motion: The Story of the Birmingham Movement, 1966. Further Reading. Part V: Empowerment. 9. Black Power and Culture. Introduction. Article: New Day in Babylon: The Black Power Movement and American Culture, 1965–1975. (William L. Van DeBurg). Document A:Robert Williams, Negroes With Guns, 1962. Document B: Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton, "The Search for New Forms," 1967. Document C: Brumsic Brandon Jr. cartoon, 1968. Further Reading. 10. Political Power. Introduction. Article: The Civil Rights Movement as Urban Reform: Atlanta′s Black Neighborhoods and a New "Progessivism": Ronald H. Bayor. Document A: Voter Registration Testimonies, ca 1960s. Document B: Petition, August 29, 1965. Document C: Shaw v. Reno, 1993. Part VI: The Continuing Saga. 11. Environmental Injustice. Introduction. Article: From NIMBY to Civil Rights: The Origins of the Environmental Justice Movement. (Eileen Maura McGurty). Document A: Slum Clearance, Community Style, ca 1940s. Document B: Letter Addressing Lead Poisoning, 1957. Further Reading. 12. Affirmative Action. Introduction. Article: Race, History, and Policy, African Americans and Civil Rights Since 1964. (Hugh Davis Graham). Document A: The Kerner Report, Employment Report, Introduction, 1968. Document B: Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver, Colorado (1973). Further Reading. Index.

Jack E. Davis teaches history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is the author of Race Against Time: Culture and Separation in Natchez since 1930 (2001).

"This volume offers a collection of informative essays and supporting documents on the Civil Rights Movement that will stimulate classroom discussions. It expands coverage of the movement temporally and geographically, venturing away from the standard 1954–1968 time frame and ranging beyond the familiar sites of racial contention to less heralded but important ones, in the North as well as the South." Steven Lawson, Rutgers University <!––end––> "Students and teachers alike will find much here to challenge stereotypical assumptions and to prompt critical thinking and analysis, as interpretative frameworks are constructed and defended ... Davis is able to make clear that the struggle for equal rights for African American people was one that energized and mobilized ordinary people from all walks of life to work for a common goal. The extraordinary efforts of those ordinary people changed the history of a nation forever." History: Reviews of New Books