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Overview
This short, accessible introduction to the Civil Rights Movement covers the movement's history, scope and impact. The key areas of debate are outlined and assessed, with the emphasis being placed on the movement's long history and the importance of local activity. The movement is considered in its political and historical context and there is an exploration of the range of white responses to it. Key areas considered include the philosophy and utility of non-violent direct action in civil rights protests, the role and function of leadership, the role of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the radicalization of his views, the crucial role of the federal government in facilitating movement successes and failures, the responses of southern whites and blacks to the movement, and the failure of the movement in the north. Attention is also paid to tensions within the movement caused by class, gender and generational divisions. Overall the book offers a history of the movement which presents interpretive and historiographical material within a clear, chronological framework. A timeline allows the reader to trace the major events in the Civil Rights Movement and its aftermath.Synopsis
Newman (history, U. of Derby) presents an introductory survey to the civil rights movement in the US. He examines the movement's roots in the 1940s, its activities in and out of the South, the diversity and complexity of its decentralization, the significant contributions of the NAACP and of women, and the support afforded by whites, nationally and in the south. Newman surveys the changes wrought by the movement, and how the de jure discrimination of the South was merely replaced by the de facto discrimination of the North. This work is organized chronologically to provide context, but Newman provides comparative historiography throughout. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Editorials
Choice
Newman has written an excellent introduction to the Civil Rights Movement... Highly Recommended.
Journal of Southern History
An excellent general introduction to the civil rights movement.— Simon Wendt
Journal of Southern History -
An excellent general introduction to the civil rights movement.