Righteous Troublemakers: Untold Stories of the Social Justice Movement in America

by Al Sharpton

Overview

“This is the time. We won’t stop until we change the whole system of justice.”—Rev. Al Sharpton

In the summer of 2020, Reverend Al Sharpton stood on the marble steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech,” preparing to give the keynote address of the “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” Commitment March on Washington. He noticed an older man in the crowd wearing a button from Dr. King’s 1963 march. The man told Sharpton that he had, in fact, been to the original March on Washington. “And,” he said, “I’ll keep coming back until we see justice.”

While the mainstream media may know the major names of the movement, there are countless lesser-known heroes like this man who “keep coming back,” fighting the good fight to advance equal justice for all. Whether working in civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, or in environmental justice, they heeded the call when no one else was listening, often risking their lives and livelihoods in the process.

Righteous Troublemakers shines a light on everyday people called to do extraordinary things—like Pauli Murray, whose early work informed Thurgood Marshall’s legal argument for Brown v. Board of Education, Claudette Colvin, who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus months before Rosa Parks did the same, and Gwen Carr, whose private pain in losing her son Eric Garner stoked her public activism against police brutality. Sharpton also gives his personal take on more widely known individuals, revealing overlooked details, historical connections, and a perspective informed by years of working on the front line of the social justice movement.

From the early days of the Civil Rights Movement to the tumultuous year following George Floyd’s murder, Righteous Troublemakers gives a behind-the-scenes look at the wheels of justice and the individuals who have helped advance its cause. Sharpton offers timeless lessons about the enduring strength, moral courage, and resilience of the American people even in our darkest moments. For anyone who wants to be a change-maker or believes that truth and justice are worthwhile pursuits, this book is as inspirational as it is essential.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798200862481
Publisher:	Hanover Square Press
Publication date:	01/11/2022
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 5.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Reverend Al Sharpton is the host of MSNBC’s PoliticsNation and the founder and President of the National Action Network (NAN), one of the leading civil rights organization in the world. With over forty years of experience as a community leader, politician, minister, and advocate, the Rev. Al Sharpton is one of America’s most-renowned civil rights leaders. Sharpton also hosts the nationally syndicated radio show Keepin’ It Real, which broadcasts in forty markets, five days a week. He resides in New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The March Ain't Over 11

1 The Cornerstones of a Movement 23

2 Turning Pain into Purpose 53

3 Things Worse Than Death 81

4 A Reckoning 111

5 True Grit 141

6 A Moral Beacon 175

7 No Greater Honor 209

8 Our Legacy 241

9 The State of the Dream 265

Acknowledgments 283

Bibliography 287

Editorial Reviews

11/29/2021

In this inspiring history, civil rights activist Sharpton (Rise Up) spotlights “lesser-known rabble rousers” who have fought for racial justice in the U.S. Noting that Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington in 1963 “sidelined” women and LGBTQ people, Sharpton profiles activists including Ernestine Eckstein, whose experiences working with the NAACP influenced her activism for gay rights, and Pauli Murray, whose legal theories helped shape Thurgood Marshall’s winning arguments in Brown v. Board of Education and Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s in Reed v. Reed, the first Supreme Court ruling to hold that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment protects women’s rights. Elsewhere, Sharpton unearths the stories of Claudette Colvin, whose refusal to move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Ala., inspired Rosa Parks to do the same thing nine months later; Ramsey Orta, who filmed the police killing of Eric Garner in 2014; and George Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd, who “found a sense of purpose and meaning in life” through speaking out against police brutality. Throughout, Sharpton shares inspiring anecdotes from the front lines of protest marches and reflects on the courage of family members who have been thrust into activism by the tragic death of a loved one. This is a worthy testament to those whose commitment to the cause has flown under the radar. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"Inspiring... a worthy testament to those whose commitment to the cause has flown under the radar." —Publishers Weekly

"Sharpton delivers a fierce and celebratory book that offers insight into ways everyone can transform the pain of injustice into the 'righteous troublemak[ing]' that uplifts all. Inspired and inspiring reading for troubled times." —Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Rise Up
"My Bed-Stuy (do-or-die) brother has been at the forefront of our battles again and again. From way back in da way back to this present revolution the world is in now, Rev. has been about Black Lives Matter from the jump, also at a time when it was not the most popular or hip thing to be about. I look forward, standing next to him, to see, to witness this new energy, this new day that is about to be in these United States of America.”
—Spike Lee

“This man is a gift from God to the world. This book is a gift from Al Sharpton to us. Let’s appreciate them both.”
—Michael Eric Dyson

"Reverend Sharpton has fought on the front lines for civil rights for decades. As the events of 2020 have shown, that fight is far from over. In this inspiring, personal book, he shows us a path forward. If you want to learn how to use your voice to change a nation, you should study closely this man—and this book."
—Van Jones

"Reading Rise Up was an informative and motivational pleasure to absorb. Full of history, honesty, and valuable suggestions, Rise Up should be a staple in every home, school, and library as an essential primer on civil and political rights in America. Rev. Sharpton addresses our nation’s original sin; explains why we can’t afford to be satisfied with creature comforts while others still suffer and offers solutions in the non-violent tradition of my father and others regarding where we go from here. I highly recommend Rise Up without reservation to anyone mature enough to read and grasp the necessity of living life with a heart full of love and devoid of racism.”
—Martin Luther King III

From the Publisher

2021-11-10
The prominent Baptist preacher and activist spotlights the work of the “unsung heroes” of modern social justice movements.

For Sharpton, the 2020 George Floyd murder protests recalled the civil rights marches of the 1960s. While the former event made clear that the “hardships and victories” of all marginalized groups had merged into a single fight, both events were alike in how the bravery of everyday people had been “overlooked or cast aside.” In this apt follow-up to last year’s Rise Up: Confronting a Country at the Crossroads, the author begins with story of Darnella Frazier, who recorded Floyd’s murder on her cellphone to honor truth and all Black men who live in fear of White supremacy. In his discussion of other police brutality victims, Sharpton recalls another police chokehold victim, Eric Garner, as well as his mother, Gwen Carr. In the years after her son’s death, Carr joined forces with other similarly bereaved mothers to form Mothers of the Movement, an organization dedicated to “raising social awareness of police violence.” Yet as Sharpton emphasizes throughout, the larger movement of which all these individuals are part was built on the efforts of early civil rights activists like James Meredith, the first Black man to graduate from the rabidly segregationist University of Mississippi, and Claudette Colvin, the poor Black girl whose 1955 arrest for refusing to sit at the back of an Alabama bus inspired the more “mediagenic” Rosa Parks to action. Sharpton also pays extended homage to Pauli Murray, a queer mid-20th-century lawyer and feminist. Co-founder of the National Organization for Women with Betty Friedan and others, her legal scholarship informed the work of such judicial luminaries as Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Seeking to rectify omissions of history, Sharpton delivers a fierce and celebratory book that offers insight into ways everyone can transform the pain of injustice into the “righteous troublemak[ing]” that uplifts all.

Inspired and inspiring reading for troubled times.

Kirkus Reviews