Freedomways Reader Prophets In Their Own Country

by Jackson, Esther Cooper; Pohl, Constance

• ISBN13: 9780813364520
• ISBN10: 0813364523
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-11
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

From 1961 to 1985, a period of massive social change for African Americans,Freedomways Quarterlypublished the leaders and artists of the black freedom movement. Figures of towering historical stature wrote for the journal, among them Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, President Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere. Three Nobel Prize laureates appeared in its pagesDr. Martin Luther King, Pablo Neruda, and Derek Walcottand several Pulitzer Prize winnersAlice Walker and Gwendolyn Brooks. No other journal could boast such a long list of names from the civil rights movement:Freedomwayswas like no other journal. It was unique.Yet despite the well-known names, few Americans have heard of this national treasure. Why? Simply put, the United States was not ready for this journal in 1961. Today, many Americans cannot remember a United States where racial segregation was legal, but in 1961, many of the battles for integration were still to be won.This book is subtitledProphets in their Own Countrybecause the editors and contributors toFreedomwayswere not honored at the journal's inception. Eventually, however, much of their vision did come to pass. Until now, these documents, which show the depth and breadth of the struggle for democracy, had been lost to the public. The publication of theFreedomways Readerrestores this lost treasury. It contains what amounts to an oral history of the liberation movements of the 1960s through the 1980s. Through the reports of the Freedom Riders, the early articles against the Vietnam War and South African apartheid, the short stories and poems of Alice Walker, and the memoirs of black organizers in the Jim Crow south of the Thirties, one can walk in the footsteps of these pioneers.

Author Biography

After graduating from Oberlin College in 1938 and receiving her Masters degree from Fiske University in 1940, Esther Cooper joined the staff of the Southern Negro Youth Congress (SNYC) in Birmingham, Alabama. In the early 1940s, Cooper Jackson assumed the leadership of this early civil rights organization. Esther Cooper Jackson was part of the nucleus around W.E.B. Du Bois that founded the Freedomways Quarterly in 1961, a periodical devoted to furthering the civil rights struggle. As managing editor, Esther Cooper Jackson shepherded the magazine for twenty-five years until it ceased publication in 1986. She is also the co-editor of W.E.B. Du Bois: Black Titan and Paul Robeson: The Great Forerunner. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1938 and receiving her Masters degree from Fiske University in 1940, Esther Cooper joined the staff of the Southern Negro Youth Congress (SNYC) in Birmingham, Alabama. In the early 1940s, Cooper Jackson assumed the leadership of this early civil rights organization. Esther Cooper Jackson was part of the nucleus around W.E.B. Du Bois that founded the Freedomways Quarterly in 1961, a periodical devoted to furthering the civil rights struggle. As managing editor, Esther Cooper Jackson shepherded the magazine for twenty-five years until it ceased publication in 1986. She is also the co-editor of W.E.B. Du Bois: Black Titan and Paul Robeson: The Great Forerunner. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Table of Contents

List of Photos	p. xv
Foreword	p. xvii
Introduction	p. xix
Origins of Freedomways	p. 1
Behold the Land, No. 1, 1964	p. 6
The Battleground Is Here, No. 1, 1971	p. 12
Southern Youth's Proud Heritage, No. 1, 1964	p. 16
Memoris of a Birmingham Coal Miner, No. 1, 1964	p. 21
"Not New Ground, but Rights Once Dearly Won," No. 1, 1962	p. 26
Honoring Dr. Du Bois, No. 2, 1968	p. 31
Ode to Paul Robeson, No. 1, 1976	p. 40
Reports from the Front Lines: Segregation in the South	p. 47
The United States and the Negro, No. 1, 1961	p. 50
A Freedom Rider Speaks His Mind, No. 2, 1961	p. 59
What Price Prejudice? On the Economics of Discrimination, No. 3, 1962	p. 65
The Southern Youth Movement, No. 3, 1962	p. 69
Nonviolence: An Interpretation, No. 2, 1963	p. 72
Lorraine Hansberry at the Summit, No. 4, 1979	p. 77
"We're Moving!" No. 1, 1971	p. 82
Birmingham Shall Be Free Some Day, No. 1, 1964	p. 84
Tremor in the Iceberg: The Mississippi Summer Project, No. 2, 1965	p. 87
The Freedom Schools: Concept and Organization, No. 2, 1965	p. 94
Life in Mississippi: An Interview with Fannie Lou Hamer, No. 2, 1965	p. 97
The Politics of Necessity and Survival in Mississippi, No. 2, 1966	p. 100
International Solidarity	p. 108
The American Negro and the Darker World, No. 3, 1968	p. 111
Address to the United Nations, No. 1, 1961	p. 119
What Happened in Ghana? The Inside Story, No. 3, 1966	p. 127
Kwame Nkrumah: African Liberator, No. 3, 1972	p. 132
Socialism Is Not Racialism, No. 2, 1970	p. 141
The Antiwar Movement
Selected Speeches and Writings on Peace, No. 1, 1971	p. 145
The Giant Stirs, No. 1, 1966	p. 150
The Freedom Movement and the War in Vietnam, No. 4, 1965	p. 152
A Time to Break Silence, No. 2, 1967	p. 167
Muhammad Ali: The Measure of a Man, No. 2, 1967	p. 176
The GI Movement vs. the War: A Symposium, No. 4, 1970	p. 179
South Africa
Three African Freedom Movements, No. 1, 1962, Our Special Correspondent	p. 183
The African-American Manifesto on Southern Africa, No. 4, 1976	p. 191
South Africa and the USA, No. 4, 1976	p. 198
Northern Ireland Through Black Eyes, No. 1, 1982	p. 200
Moving North	p. 205
Anti-Semitism and Black Power, No. 1, 1967	p. 207
Labor
Address to Labor: Who Built This Land? No. 1, 1971	p. 210
Three Challenges to Organized Labor, No. 4, 1972	p. 217
Education
Education and Black Self-Image, No. 4, 1968	p. 222
School Desegregation: Seeking New Victories Among the Ashes, No. 1, 1977	p. 229
The Bakke Case and Affirmative Action: Some Implications for the Future, No. 1, 1978	p. 233
Women
Negro Women in Freedom's Battles, No. 4, 1967	p. 237
Racism and Contemporary Literature on Rape, No. 1, 1976	p. 243
Biology and Gender: False Theories About Women and Blacks, No. 1, 1977	p. 248
Prison and the Courts
Bangs and Whimpers: Black Youth and the Courts, No. 3, 1975	p. 253
Pages from the Life of a Black Prisoner, No. 4, 1971	p. 259
The Death Penalty: Continuing Threat to America's Poor, No. 1, 1971	p. 262
Pioneers of Black Studies	p. 267
Conference of Encyclopedia Africana, No. 4, 1963	p. 269
Negroes in the American Revolution, No. 2, 1961	p. 273
Black/Indian Origins of the Fight for Democracy, No. 2, 1984	p. 281
A Review of The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, No. 1, 1969	p. 284
Culture and the Cause of Black Freedom	p. 289
The Negro Woman in American Literature, No. 1, 1966	p. 291
Poetry
Paul Robeson, No. 1, 1971	p. 299
Prologue, No. 1, 1972	p. 300
Rites of Passage, No. 3, 1970	p. 304
The Lion in Daniel's Den, No. 1, 1971	p. 306
For Beautiful Mary Brown: Chicago Rent Strike Leader, No. 2, 1971	p. 308
Rock Eagle, No. 4, 1971	p. 310
Facing the Way, No. 4, 1975	p. 313
The Abduction of Saints, No. 4, 1975	p. 315
My Early Days in Harlem, No. 3, 1963	p. 317
Langston Hughes: He Spoke of Rivers, No. 2, 1968	p. 321
An Old Woman Remembers, No. 3, 1963	p. 324
A Letter from Brooklyn, No. 3, 1964	p. 326
Poems of Agostinho Neto, No. 1, 1976	p. 328
Eventide, Kumasi, No. 2, 1970	p. 330
Fiction and Drama
We Are of the Same Sidewalks, No. 3, 1980	p. 331
Lorraine Hansberry: On Time! No. 4, 1979	p. 335
The Once and Future Vision of Lorraine Hansberry, No. 4, 1979	p. 340
At the Emmy Time! No. 1, 1980	p. 345
The Welcome Table: A Short Story, No. 3, 1970	p. 349
The First Day (A Fable After Brown): A Short Story, No. 4, 1974	p. 354
A Review of God's Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembene, No. 2, 1978	p. 357
Music
Jazz, No. 2, 1962	p. 360
Black Women Singers-Artists, No. 1, 1966	p. 364
Will Jazz Survive? Thoughts on the State of the Great American Art, No. 4, 1983	p. 368
Martin Luther King: A Personal Tribute, No. 1, 1972	p. 378
Afterword	p. 380
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