Synopses & Reviews
Focusing attention on the political ideas that were influential as well as those that were central to the civil rights movement, this pathbreaking book examines not only written texts but also oral history interviews to establish a rich tradition of freedom that emerged from the movement. He also makes clear that, though liberal notions of freedom involving the absence of restrictions and equal protections were crucial to movement goals, the movement was as much about individual and collective self-transformation and political participation as it was about removal of barriers to social and political equality. Along the way figures such as Martin Luther King and Ella Baker, Stokely Carmichael and James Forman, and political thinkers such as Hannah Arendt and Frantz Fanon are discussed and analyzed. Civil Rights and the Idea of Freedom concludes that the civil rights movement helped revitalize the meaning of citizenship and the political importance of self-respect in the contemporary world with implications reaching beyond its original setting.
Review
"A well-documented, scholarly analysis of the impact of ideas on activists."--Choice
"Stimulating and subtle, the author's arguments are also refreshingly forthright....King's book is a salutary and thought-provoking reminder that the civil rights movement...did extend the boundaries and meanings of freedom in a creative and compelling manner."--Journal of Southern History
"A remarkable book....A valuable prologue to the broader intellectual history of [the civil rights] movement."--Southern Historian
"King begins with a stimulating analysis of what he calls [repertory of freedom], showing that freedom as a political concept has numerous meanings. This excellent study deals with vital but complex issues in a lucid and accessible manner, King makes very good use of oral History, particularly from Howard University's Civil Rights Documentation Project, and has consulted a massive array of published sources, particularly theoretical analyses of freedom and revolution. His fresh perspective on the civil rights movement deserves to be read by historians and political theorists alike."--American Politics Review
"This is a splendidly lucid volume about a vital and oddly neglected topic: The ideas of freedom animating the 1960's civil rights movement and other civil rights and "liberationist" efforts of that era and beyond. Richard H. King is deeply immersed in the history of epoch and, as well, in social and political thought."--The Journal of American History
"This book achieves much...King offers some thoughtful observations on the ideas of selected black activists of the 1950's and 1960's. This study is an important critique of conventional liberalism informed by a body of modern African-American political thought that has yet to be comprehended in a single scholarly work."--American Historical Review
"This is an interesting and, in places, fascinating book....It genuinely stimulates reflection..."--American Political Science Review
Synopsis
Focusing attention on the political ideas that were influential as well as those that were central to the civil rights movement, this pathbreaking book examines not only written texts but also oral history interviews to establish a rich tradition of freedom that emerged from the movement. He also makes clear that, though liberal notions of freedom involving the absence of restrictions and equal protections were crucial to movement goals, the movement was as much about individual and collective self-transformation and political participation as it was about removal of barriers to social and political equality. Along the way figures such as Martin Luther King and Ella Baker, Stokely Carmichael and James Forman, and political thinkers such as Hannah Arendt and Frantz Fanon are discussed and analyzed. Civil Rights and the Idea of Freedom concludes that the civil rights movement helped revitalize the meaning of citizenship and the political importance of self-respect in the contemporary world with implications reaching beyond its original setting.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-254) and index.