Synopses & Reviews
After decades of scholarship on the civil rights movement at the local level, the insights of bottom-up movement history remain essentially invisible in the accepted narrative of the movement and peripheral to debates on how to research, document, and teach about the movement. This collection of original works refocuses attention on this bottom-up history and compels a rethinking of what and who we think is central to the movement.
The essays examine such locales as Sunflower County, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; and Wilson, North Carolina; and engage such issues as nonviolence and self-defense, the implications of focusing on women in the movement, and struggles for freedom beyond voting rights and school desegregation. Events and incidents discussed range from the movementandrsquo;s heyday to the present and include the Poor Peopleandrsquo;s Campaign mule train to Washington, D.C., the popular response to the deaths of Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King, and political cartoons addressing Barack Obamaandrsquo;s presidential campaign.
The kinds of scholarship represented hereandmdash;which draw on oral history and activist insights (along with traditional sources) and which bring the specificity of time and place into dialogue with broad themes and a national contextandmdash;are crucial as we continue to foster scholarly debates, evaluate newer conceptual frameworks, and replace the superficial narrative that persists in the popular imagination.
Review
andldquo;Engaging and accessible for nonspecialists and thought provoking for scholars, this well-written, feisty book offers cutting-edge historiography, tools for teachers, and insights for all of us. It is a must read for anyone interested in the freedom struggle and in a just, democratic society.andrdquo;andmdash;Julian Bond, founding member of SNCC and former chair of the NAACP
Review
andldquo;Provides the single most compelling interpretation of the African American freedom struggle in the South yet produced. National in scope, deep and concrete, empirical and analytical, clear and accessible, this collection clarifies virtually all the crucial scholarly debates while furnishing engaging examples for students and general readers. Crosby shows us a historic movement as deep as it is long, rooted in the black South, but speaking to the whole world.andrdquo;andmdash;Timothy B. Tyson, author of Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power
Review
andquot;Civil Rights History from the Ground Up contains a remarkable bounty of insights for teachers and advanced students of civil rights. Emilye Crosby has recruited 'the best and the brightest' for this phenomenal volume, and the result of that combination of talent is simply outstanding.andquot;andmdash;Komozi Woodard, author of A Nation within a Nation: Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) and Black Power Politics
Review
andldquo;This collection is essential for everyone interested in the past and present movement for social justice and human rights.andrdquo;andmdash;Kenneth S. Jolly, Journal of American History
About the Author
“Engaging and accessible for nonspecialists and thought provoking for scholars, this well-written, feisty book offers cutting-edge historiography, tools for teachers, and insights for all of us. It is a must read for anyone interested in the freedom struggle and in a just, democratic society.”—Julian Bond, founding member of SNCC and former chair of the NAACP
“Provides the single most compelling interpretation of the African American freedom struggle in the South yet produced. National in scope, deep and concrete, empirical and analytical, clear and accessible, this collection clarifies virtually all the crucial scholarly debates while furnishing engaging examples for students and general readers. Crosby shows us a historic movement as deep as it is long, rooted in the black South, but speaking to the whole world.”—Timothy B. Tyson, author of Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power
"Civil Rights History from the Ground Up contains a remarkable bounty of insights for teachers and advanced students of civil rights. Emilye Crosby has recruited 'the best and the brightest' for this phenomenal volume, and the result of that combination of talent is simply outstanding."—Komozi Woodard, author of A Nation within a Nation: Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) and Black Power Politics
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction. The Politics of Writing and Teaching Movement History
Emilye Crosby 1
Part One. Local Studies as Case Studies
Local People and National Leaders:The View from Mississippi
John Dittmer 43
Challenging the Civil Rights Narrative: Women, Gender,and the andldquo;Politics of Protectionandrdquo;
Laurie B. Green 52
Finding Fannie Corbett: Black Women and the Transformation of Civil Rights Narratives in Wilson, North Carolina
Charles W. McKinney Jr. 81
The 1968 Poor Peopleandrsquo;s Campaign, Marks, Mississippi, and the Mule Train: Fighting Poverty Locally, Representing Poverty Nationally
Amy Nathan Wright 109
Part Two. From Local Studies to Synthesis
Focusing Our Eyes on the Prize: How Community Studies Are Reframing and Rewriting the History of the Civil Rights Movement
J. Todd Moye 147
Freedom Now: Nonviolence in the Southern Freedom Movement, 1960andndash;1964
Wesley Hogan 172
andldquo;It wasnandrsquo;t the Wild Westandrdquo;: Keeping Local Studies in Self- Defense Historiography
Emilye Crosby 194
Part Three. Creating and Communicating Movement History: Methodology and Theory
Remaking History: Barack Obama, Political Cartoons, and the Civil Rights Movement
Hasan Kwame Jeffries 259
Making Eyes on the Prize: An Interview with Filmmaker and SNCC Staffer Judy Richardson
Emilye Crosby, interviewer and editor 278
andldquo;Sexism is a helluva thingandrdquo;: Rethinking Our Questions and Assumptions Charles
M. Payne 319
Telling Freedom Stories from the Inside Out: Internal Politics and Movement Cultures in SNCC and the Black Panther Party
Robyn C. Spencer and Wesley Hogan 330
That Movement Responsibility: An Interview with Judy Richardson on Movement Values and Movement History
Emilye Crosby, interviewer and editor 366
Accidental Matriarchs and Beautiful Helpmates: Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, and the Memorialization of the Civil Rights Movement
Jeanne Theoharis 385
Why Study the Movement? A Conversation on Movement Values and Movement History
Charles M. Payne 419
Conclusion. andldquo;Doesnandrsquo;t everybody want to grow up to be Ella Baker?andrdquo;: Teaching Movement History
Emilye Crosby 448
Contributors 477
Index 481