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1. |
My
Soul Is Rested: Movement Days in the Deep South Remembered
by Howell Raines |
| The
almost unfathomable courage and the undying faith that
propelled the civil rights movements are brilliantly
capturing in these moving personal recollections. Here
are the voices of leaders and followers, of ordinary
people who became extraordinary in face of turmoil and
violence. |
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2. |
Walking
with the Wind: A memoir of the movement by John Lewis |
| Written
with charm, warmth, and honesty, Walking with the Wind
offers rare insight into the movement and the personalities
of all the civil rights leaders-what was happening behind
the scenes, the infighting, struggles, and triumphs.
Lewis takes us from the Nashville lunch counter sit-ins
to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where
he led more than five hundred marchers on what became
known as "Bloody Sunday". While there may have been
exceptional books on the movement, there has never been
a front line account by a man like John Lewis. |
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3. |
A
Traveler's Guide To The Civil Rights Movement by Jim
Carrier |
| From
the public schools where Brown vs. Board of Education
was first implemented to the Southern cities where boycotts,
sit-ins, and marches mobilized a generation of brave
Americans, A Travelers Guide to the Civil Rights Movement
traces a path through one of the most significant eras
in our county's history. Visit the bus where Rosa Parks
made her historic stand; make a pilgrimage to Martin
Luther King, Jr.'s boyhood home and tomb; or explore
the vast, underappreciated black history from which
our modern civil rights movement arose. Packed with
maps, suggested tours, fascinating anecdotes, and thoughtful
commentary, this unique guidebook will allow travelers
to explore civil rights landmark both famous and forgotten. |
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4. |
How
Long? How Long: African American Women and The Struggle
for Freedom and Justice by Belinda Robnett |
| With
the idea of heritage tours of historical sites becoming
more and more important, Carrier's book comes in a timely
fashion. Along with Townsend Davis' "Weary Feet, Rested
Souls" the two books form an indispensable guide to
the places important to the Civil Rights movement in
America. |
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5. |
From
Jim Crow to Civil Rights by Michael J Klarman |
| Do
Supreme Court decisions matter? In 1896 the United States
Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that railroad
segregation laws were permissible under the Fourteenth
Amendment. In 1954 the Court's decision in Brown v.
the Board of Education held that the same constitutional
provision invalidated statutes segregating public schools
How great an impact did judicial rulings such as Plessy
and Brown have? How much did such Court decisions influence
the larger world of race relations? In From Jim Crow
to Civil Rights, Michael J. Klarman examines the social
and political impact of the Supreme Court's decisions
involving race relations from Plessy, the Progressive
Era, and the Interwar Period to World Wars I and II,
Brown and the Civil Rights Movement. |
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6. |
The
Struggle For Black Equality (Revised Edition) by Harvard
Sitkoff |
| The
Struggle for Black Equality is an arresting history
of the civil-rights movement--from the path breaking
Supreme Court decision of 1954, Brown v. Board of Education
of Topeka, Kansas, through the growth of strife and
conflict in the 1960s to the major issues of the 1990s.
Harvard Sitkoff offers not only a brilliant interpretation
of the personalities and dynamics of the civil-rights
organization--SNCC, CORE, NAACP, SCLC, and others--but
a superb study of the continuing problems plaguing the
African-American population: the future that in 1980
seemed to hold much promise for a better way of life
has by the early1990s hardly lived up to expectations.
Jim Crow has gone, but, forty years after Brown, poverty,
big-city slums, white backlash, politically and socially
conservative policies, and prolonged recession have
made economic progress for the vast majority of blacks
an elusive, perhaps ever more distant goal. |
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7. |
Civil
Rights and The Idea of Freedom by Richard H. King |
| Focusing
attention on the political ideas that were influential
as well as those that were central to the civil rights
movement, this path-breaking 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. |
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8. |
Eye
on The Prize by Clayborne Carson |
| Arguably
the most tumultuous time in recent American history,
the Civil Rights years inspired the most rational and
irrational of human behaviors and set the stage for
sweeping reform in the nation's race relations. Juan
Williams's moving chronicle of the movement stands as
the definitive history of the era. |
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9. |
Teaching
the Civil Rights Movement: Freedom's Bittersweet Song
by Julie Buckner Armstrong |
| The
past fifteen years have seen renewed interest in the
civil rights movement. Television documentaries, films
and books have brought the struggles into our homes
and classrooms once again. New evidence in older criminal
cases demands that the judicial system reconsider the
accuracy of investigations and legal decisions. Racial
profiling, affirmative action, voting districting, and
school voucher programs keep civil rights on the front
burner in the political arena. In light of this, there
are very few resources for teaching the civil rights
at the university level. This timely and invaluable
book fills this gap. This book offers perspectives on
presenting the movement in different classroom contexts;
strategies to make the movement come alive for students;
and issues highlighting topics that students will find
appealing. Including sample syllabi and detailed descriptions
from courses that prove effective, this work will be
useful for all instructors, both college and upper level
high school, for courses in history, education, race,
sociology, literature and political science. |
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10. |
Origins
of the Civil Rights Movement by Aldon D. Morris |
| Morris
tells for the first time the complete story behind ten
years that transformed America, tracing the essential
role of the black community organizations that were
the real power behind the civil rights movement. Drawing
on interviews with over 50 key leaders, on original
documents, and other moving on first hand material he
brings to life the people behind the scenes that who
led the fight to end segregation. His piercing insights
into the role of local community groups, along with
the efforts of SCLC, NAACP, CORE, and SNCC and the leadership
of organizations such as Martin Luther King Jr., Nixon,
Ella Baker, Fred Shuttlesworth, and Floyd McKissmick
provide a critical new understanding of the dynamics
of social change. |
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11. |
GREATER
U STREET by Paul K Williams |
| Paul
K Williams a 12 year resident of the U Street neighborhood
and the proprietor of Kelsey & Associated, a historic
preservation firm specializing in building histories,
William has gathered vintage photographs and memorabilia
and combined them with informative text to convey the
unique story of this remarkable neighborhood. |