Battling the Plantation Mentality: Memphis and the Black Freedom Struggle

Exploring the notion of African American 'freedom' in postwar Memphis, Green demonstrates that the civil rights movement was battling an ongoing 'plantation mentality' based on race, gender, and power that permeated southern culture long before--and even after--the groundbreaking legislation of the mid-1960s. She points to the Memphis sanitation workers strike as a clarion example of how the movement fought for a black freedom that consisted of not only constitutional rights but also social and human rights.

Laurie B. Green is assistant professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin.