The Civil Rights Movement

by Davis, Jack E.

• ISBN13: 9780631220435
• ISBN10: 0631220437
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-10-19
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

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.

Author Biography

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).

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	x
Series Editor's Preface	xii
Acknowledgments	xiv
List of Acronyms	xv
Chronology	xvi
Introduction	1	(6)
PART I SOWING SEEDS	7	(54)
Foundations	9	(24)
Introduction	9	(1)
Article: Southern Reformers, the New Deal, and the Movement's Foundation	10	(20)
Patricia Sullivan
Document A: Street Car Petition, Jacksonville, Florida, 1901	30	(1)
Document B: NAACP School Desegregation Petition, 1955	31	(1)
Further Reading	32	(1)
Labor and Civil Rights	33	(28)
Introduction	33	(1)
Article: Organized Labor and the Struggle for Black Equality in Mobile during World War II	34	(20)
Bruce Nelson
Document A: Transcription of Tape Documentary on Natchez Laundry Workers Strike, October 17, 1965	54	(2)
Document B: Memoirs of a Birmingham Coal Miner, 1964	56	(4)
Further Reading	60	(1)
PART II DEFIANCE	61	(46)
White Resistance	63	(26)
Introduction	63	(1)
Article: Crabgrass-Roots Politics: Race, Rights, and the Reaction Against Liberalism in the Urban North, 1940-1964	64	(20)
Thomas J. Sugrue
Document A: Untitled Little Rock Poem, ca. 1957	84	(1)
Document B: Americans for the Preservation of the White Race, Broadside, ca. 1960s	85	(2)
Document C: Brumsic Brandon Jr. ``Up North, Down South,'' cartoons, 1963	87	(1)
Further Reading	87	(2)
Anticommunism, Anti-Civil Rights	89	(18)
Introduction	89	(1)
Article: Race and Red-Baiting	90	(12)
Adam Fairclough
Document A: Defenders' News and Views, August-September, 1959	102	(1)
Document B: Letter to the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, 1960	103	(1)
Further Reading	104	(3)
PART III PARTICIPANTS	107	(46)
Liberals and Moderates	109	(20)
Introduction	109	(1)
Article: ``South of the South?'': Jews, Blacks, and the Civil Rights Movement in Miami, 1945-1960	110	(12)
Raymond A. Mohl
Document A: The Conversion of Peggy Terry, ca. 1950s	122	(3)
Document B: ``One can not be a Christian and a Segregationist, Too,'' 1979	125	(2)
Further Reading	127	(2)
Women in the Civil Rights Movements	129	(24)
Introduction	129	(1)
Article: Passing the Torch: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement	130	(15)
LaVerne Gyant
Document A: Fannie Lou Hamer, ``The Special Plight and Role of Black Women,'' 1971	145	(4)
Document B: Septima Poinsette Clark Memoir, 1979, 1984	149	(1)
Document C: Clarice T. Campbell Correspondence, Summer 1956	150	(1)
Further Reading	151	(2)
PART IV LOCAL-NATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS	153	(50)
The NAACP	155	(48)
Introduction	155	(1)
Article: The NAACP in North Carolina during the Age of Segregation	156	(16)
Raymond Gavins
Document A: NAACP v. Button, 1963	172	(2)
Document B: Jackson, Mississippi, Boycott Campaign, 1962-3	174	(2)
Further Reading	176	(1)
Grassroots
Introduction	177	(1)
Article: Baseball's Reluctant Challenge: Desegregating Major League Spring Training Sites, 1961-1964	178	(15)
Jack E. Davis
Document A: Siege at Savannah, 1964	193	(5)
Document B: People in Motion: The Story of the Birmingham Movement, 1966	198	(3)
Further Reading	201	(2)
PART V EMPOWERMENT	203	(52)
Black Power and Culture	205	(26)
Introduction	205	(1)
Article: New Day in Babylon: The Black Power Movement and American Culture, 1965-1975	206	(19)
William L Van DeBurg
Document A: Robert Williams, Negroes With Guns, 1962	225	(1)
Document B: Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton, ``The Search for New Forms,'' 1967	226	(2)
Document C: Brumsic Brandon Jr. Cartoon, 1968	228	(1)
Further Reading	229	(2)
Political Power	231	(24)
Introduction	231	(1)
Article: The Civil Rights Movement as Urban Reform: Atlanta's Black Neighborhoods and a New ``Progressivism''	232	(14)
Ronald H. Bayor
Document A: Voter Registration Testimonies, ca. 1960s	246	(2)
Document B: Petition, August 29, 1965	248	(3)
Document C: Shaw v. Reno, 1993	251	(2)
Further Reading	253	(2)
PART VI THE CONTINUING SAGA	255	(48)
Environmental Injustice	257	(23)
Introduction	257	(1)
Article: From NIMBY to Civil Rights: The Origins of the Environmental Justice Movement	258	(16)
Eileen Maura McGurty
Document A: Slum Clearance, Community Style, ca. 1940s	274	(2)
Document B: Letter Addressing Lead Poisoning, 1957	276	(2)
Further Reading	278	(2)
Affirmative Action	280	(23)
Introduction	280	(1)
Article: Race, History, and Policy, African Americans and Civil Rights Since 1964	281	(17)
Hugh Davis Graham
Document A: The Kerner Report, Employment Report, Introduction, 1968	298	(1)
Document B: Keyes v. School District No. I, Denver, Colorado (1973)	299	(3)
Further Reading	302	(1)
Index	303