Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968 / Edition 2

by Steven F. Lawson

Overview

No other book about the civil rights movement captures the drama and impact of the black struggle for equality better than "Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968". Written by two of the most respected scholars of African-American history, Steven F. Lawson and Charles Payne examine the individuals who made the movement a success, both at the highest level of government and in the grassroots trenches. Designed specifically for college and university courses in American history, this is the best introduction available to the glory and agony of these turbulent times. "Far from being the solution, American institutions have always played important roles in the creation and maintenance of racism. What happened in the movement was that civil rights activists were able to maneuver around those institutions to alleviate some of the worst features of the system." -from Charles Payne's essay "The federal government played an indispensable role in shaping the fortunes of the civil rights revolution. It is impossible to understand how blacks achieved first-class citizenship right in the South without concentrating on what national leaders in Washington, D.C. did to influence the course of events leading to the extension of racial equality. Powerful presidents, congressional lawmakers, and members of the Supreme Court provided the legal instruments to challenge racial segregation and disfranchisement. Without their crucial support, the struggle against white supremacy in the South still would have taken place but would have lacked the power and authority to defeat state governments intent on keeping blacks in subservient positions." -from Steven F. Lawson's essay

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900742551090
Publication date:	03/14/2006
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.07(w) x 9.23(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Steven F. Lawson is professor of history at Rutgers University and author of Running for Freedom: Civil Rights and Black Politics in America since 1941.Charles M. Payne is Sally Dalton Robinson professor of history, African American studies and sociology and director of the African and African-American Studies Program at Duke University. He is the author of I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part I: Debating the Civil Rights Movement: The View from the Nation
Chapter 1: Excerpt from To Secure These Rights: The Report of the President's Committee on Civil Rights (1947)
Chapter 2: '96 Congressmen's Declaration of Integration (March 11, 1956)
Chapter 3: Dwight D. Eisenhower's Radio and Television Address to the American People on the Situation in Little Rock (September 24, 1957)
Chapter 4: Excerpts from Hearings before the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Montgomery, Alabama (December 8 and 9, 1958)
Chapter 5: Memorandum to Mr. Belmont from A. Rosen Concerning the Racial Situation in Albany, Georgia (January 17, 1963)
Chapter 6: Memorandum to the Attorney General from the Director of the FBI Concerning the Racial Situation in Albany, Georgia (January 18, 1963)
Chapter 7: John F. Kennedy's Radio and Television Report to the American People on Civil Rights (June 11, 1963)
Chapter 8: Letter from Wiley A. Branton, Project Director, Voter Education Project, to Dr. Aaron Henry and Mr. Robert Moses (November 12, 1963)
Chapter 9: Lyndon B. Johnson's Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise (March 15, 1965)
Chapter 10: Excerpt from Tom Wicker's Introduction to the Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (March 1968)
Chapter 11: "Where do we go from here?"
Part II: Debating the Civil Rights Movement: The View from the Trenches
Chapter 12: Excerpt from Ella J. Baker's Bigger Than a Hamburger (June 1960)
Chapter 13: Handbill, Albany Nonviolent Movement (November 9, 1961)
Chapter 14: Chronology of Violence and Intimidation in Mississippi, 1961 (1963)
Chapter 15: Student Voice Editorial and Cartoon on the FBI (November 25, 1964)
Chapter 16: Poster from East Selma, Alabama, from the Student Voice (August 30, 1965)
Chapter 17: An Interview with Eldridge Steptoe
Chapter 18: "This Transformation of People": An Interview with Bob Moses
Chapter 19: An Interview with Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer
Selected Readings

What People are Saying About This

John Dittmer

This splendid analytic treatment of the civil rights era should be required reading for undergraduates and scholars alike.

Darlene Clark Hine

An important book that forces us to rethink the meaning of leadership in the most significant movement for social change in 20th century America.

Editorial Reviews

Payne and Lawson carefully documented the richly diverse history of the struggle to desegregate American Society. This outstanding volume illustrates fully the accomplishments and limitations of the Second Reconstruction. Debating the Civil Rights Movement makes an important contribution to our understanding of a shared racial history.

Manning Marable

For use in the classroom, this book cuts straight to the heart of the matter. My students have appreciated the work's conciseness as well as the spirited engagement between the authors. The new edition, moreover, incorporates a new and valuable essay by Lawson as well as some powerful interviews conducted by Payne and others, which provide further source material for students to discuss. This remains my favorite civil rights text for use in my American history courses.

Paul Harvey

The second edition of Debating the Civil Rights Movement introduces students to Martin Luther King as a 'genuine revolutionary' with an insightful essay by Steve Lawson and King's 'Where Do We Go from Here' speech. King's admonition that the problems of race, economic exploitation, and war 'are all tied together' has haunting relevance for readers today. Transcriptions of interviews with Bob Moses, E.W. Steptoe, and Fannie Lou Hamer in Charles Payne's section, 'The View from the Trenches,' vividly illustrate perseverance and courage of grass roots organizers and the value of oral history in giving voice to 'local people' in the struggle for civil rights.

Barbara Steinson

This book teaches well and I will use it again.

Zachary M. Schrag

For use in the classroom, this book cuts straight to the heart of the matter. My students have appreciated the work's conciseness as well as the spirited engagement between the authors. The new edition, moreover, incorporates a new and valuable essay by Lawson as well as some powerful interviews conducted by Payne and others, which provide further source material for students to discuss. This remains my favorite civil rights text for use in my American history courses.

The second edition of Debating the Civil Rights Movement introduces students to Martin Luther King as a 'genuine revolutionary' with an insightful essay by Steve Lawson and King's 'Where Do We Go from Here' speech. King's admonition that the problems of race, economic exploitation, and war 'are all tied together' has haunting relevance for readers today. Transcriptions of interviews with Bob Moses, E.W. Steptoe, and Fannie Lou Hamer in Charles Payne's section, 'The View from the Trenches, ' vividly illustrate perseverance and courage of grass roots organizers and the value of oral history in giving voice to 'local people' in the struggle for civil rights.

This book teaches well and I will use it again.

From the Publisher

This splendid volume is the first of a new series that takes a fresh approach to the task of presenting different viewpoints about our recent past. This volume consists of just two essays written from opposing perspectives but comprehensive in their treatment of the subject under discussion. Indeed Lawson and Payne are such fair-minded and careful scholars that many readers may carry away the notion that not as much separates them in their debate as is officially claimed. That the excellence of the essays mutes some of the conflict between them does not diminish the value of this challenging approach to twentieth-century America.

The Journal of Southern History

If the other books in the series are as well considered as this one they should prove a great aid to a better understanding of the nature of historical writing. These books would appear to be useful vehicles to initiate classroom discussions on the topics covered as well as the question of 'truth' in historical study.

Race Relations Abstracts

A useful, readable, and provocative book from a series that aims to bring important current historiographical and methodological debates into undergraduate classrooms. Debating the Civil Rights Movement is so well done, however, that it is also highly recommended for nonspecialist graduate students and even professors looking to brush up on their civil rights historiography.
— Derek Catsam, Ohio University

H-Pol

This splendid volume is the first of a new series that takes a fresh approach to the task of presenting different viewpoints about our recent past. This volume consists of just two essays written from opposing perspectives but comprehensive in their treatment of the subject under discussion. Indeed Lawson and Payne are such fair-minded and careful scholars that many readers may carry away the notion that not as much separates them in their debate as is officially claimed. That the excellence of the essays mutes some of the conflict between them does not diminish the value of this challenging approach to twentieth-century America.

The Journal Of Southern History

This splendid volume is the first of a new series that takes a fresh approach to the task of presenting different viewpoints about our recent past. This volume consists of just two essays written from opposing perspectives but comprehensive in their treatment of the subject under discussion. Indeed Lawson and Payne are such fair-minded and careful scholars that many readers may carry away the notion that not as much separates them in their debate as is officially claimed. That the excellence of the essays mutes some of the conflict between them does not diminish the value of this challenging approach to twentieth-century America.

Journal Of Southern History