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Civil Rights (General Reading)
And Still I Rise by "The companion book to Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s PBS series, And Still I Rise--a timeline and chronicle of the past fifty years of black history in the U.S. in more than 350 photos"-- "Beginning with the assassination of Malcolm X in February 1965, And Still I Rise: From Black Power to the White House explores the last half-century of the African American experience. More than fifty years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the birth of Black Power, the United States has both a Black president and Black CEOs running Fortune 500 companies-- and a large Black underclass beset by persistent poverty, inadequate education, and an epidemic of incarceration. Harvard professor and scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. raises disturbing and vital questions about this dichotomy. How did the African American community end up encompassing such profound contradictions? And what will "the Black community" mean tomorrow? Gates takes readers through the major historical events and untold stories of the sixty years that have irrevocably shaped both the African American experience and the nation as a whole, from the explosive social and political changes of the 1960s, into the 1970s and 1980s-- eras characterized by both prosperity and neglect-- through the turn of the century to today, taking measure of such racial flashpoints as the Tawana Brawley case, O.J. Simpson's murder trial, the murders of Amadou Diallo and Trayvon Martin, and debates around the NYPD's "stop and frisk" policies. Even as it surveys the political and social evolution of black America, And Still I Rise is also a celebration of the accomplishments of black artists, musicians, writers, comedians, and thinkers who have helped to define American popular culture and to change our world"
Call Number: E185.86 .G384 2015
Publication Date: 2015
Atlanta and the Civil Rights Movement by Since Reconstruction, African Americans have served as key protagonists in the rich and expansive narrative of American social protest. Their collective efforts challenged and redefined the meaning of freedom as a social contract in America. During the first half of the 20th century, a progressive group of black business, civic, and religious leaders from Atlanta, Georgia, challenged the status quo by employing a method of incremental gradualism to improve the social and political conditions existent within the city. By the mid-20th century, a younger generation of activists emerged, seeking a more direct and radical approach towards exercising their rights as full citizens. A culmination of the death of Emmett Till and the Brown decision fostered this paradigm shift by bringing attention to the safety and educational concerns specific to African American youth. Deploying direct-action tactics and invoking the language of civil and human rights, the energy and zest of this generation of activists pushed the modern civil rights movement into a new chapter where young men and women became the voice of social unrest.
Publication Date: 2017
Better Day Coming by Better Day Coming recounts the endeavors of black Americans to achieve civil rights and equality in a society that, after the collapse of Reconstruction, sanctioned racial segregation, racial discrimination, and white political supremacy. It examines the leaders, movements, and strategies that shaped the black vision of equality. Beginning with the campaign against lynching launched by Ida B. Wells in the 1890s, it examines the tradition of militant protest that in 1909 led to the formation of the NAACP and which over the next fifty years formed a powerful foundation for civil rights efforts. Better Day Coming also offers a sympathetic portrait of Marcus Garvey while concluding that black nationalism, both in the 1920s and the 1960s, was doomed to failure. Paying tribute to the role of the Communist party in raising the fight against racism to a higher level of militancy during the 1930s, the book analyzes the contradictory effects of World War II, the cold war, and McCarthyism on black activism during the 1940s. Providing a detailed account of the civil rights movement and the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr., Better Day Coming
Call Number: E185.61.F35 2001
Publication Date: 2001
The Civil Rights Movement by This evocative book is the first to tell the story of the civil rights movement through the inspiring photographs that recorded, promoted, and protected it. With a striking selection of images and a lively, informative text, Steven Kasher captures the danger, drama, and bravery of the civil rights movement. After an introduction explaining the significance of photography to the movement, the text in this important book proceeds from the Montgomery bus boycott through the students, local, and national movements; the big marches; Freedom summer; Malcolm X; and the death of Martin Luther King. Each chapter begins with a fast-paced narrative of a crucial event in the movement, complemented by a portfolio of the most effective and evocative photographs of the subject. Ranging from the well known to the rare, these images were shot by such photographers as Richard Avedon, Danny Lyon, Charles Moore, Gordon Parks, Dan Weiner, and more than fifty others. Many of the pictures are accompanied by thought-provoking remembrances and analysis by various photographers and participants. REVIEWS "The visual images in this collection capture the spirit of the movement in a way that words alone cannot; the photographs are stunning. This book is poignant, uplifting, and inspirational." -- Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D. AUTHOR Steven Kasher, who lives in Manhattan, is a photographer, writer, and curator. He organized the traveling exhibiton "Appeal to This Age: Photography of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968." Myrlie Evers-Williams is past chairwoman of the NAACP and widow of the civil rights activist Medgar Evers. (less)
Call Number: E185.61.K347 1996
Publication Date: 1996
The Civil Rights Movement by This contribution to Salem Press's Magill's Choice series is a broadly conceived survey of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. In 319 alphabetically arranged essays, The Civil Rights Movement examines racial issues in all their manifestations
Call Number: REF E185.61.C578 2000 V. 1-2
Publication Date: 1999
The Civil Rights Movement by Examines events that led to the abolition of Jim Crow laws and discriminatory practices in the South, from the decision of 1954 to the 1968 King assassination, and discusses enduring changes in American politics and society. Articles are selected for readability and content, and analyze the progression, causes, and strategies of the movement, presenting a variety of perspectives on the leaders, groups, and milestones of the period. Includes a historical overview and selection introductions, plus a chronology and primary documents. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Call Number: E185.61.C58 2000
Publication Date: 2000
Coming for to Carry Me Home by Coming for to Carry Me Home examines the history of the politics surrounding U.S. race relations during the half century between the rise of the abolitionist movement in the 1830s and the dawn of the Jim Crow era in the 1880s. J. Michael Martinez argues that Abraham Lincoln and the Radical Republicans in Congress were the pivotal actors, albeit not the architects, that influenced this evolution. To understand how Lincoln and his contemporaries viewed race, Martinez first explains the origins of abolitionism and the tumultuous decade of the 1830s, when that generation of political leaders came of age. He then follows the trail through Reconstruction, Redemption, and the beginnings of legal segregation in the 1880s. This book addresses the central question of how and why the concept of race changed during this period.
Publication Date: 2011
Fighting the Devil in Dixie by Examining the growth of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) following the birth of the civil rights movement, this book is filled with tales of the heroic efforts to halt their rise to power. Shortly after the success of the Montgomery bus boycott, the KKKdetermined to keep segregation as the way of life in Alabamastaged a resurgence, and the strong-armed leadership of Governor George C. Wallace, who defied the new civil rights laws, empowered the Klan’s most violent members. Although Wallace’s power grew, not everyone accepted his unjust policies, and blacks such as Martin Luther King Jr., J. L. Chestnut, and Bernard LaFayette began fighting back in the courthouses and schoolhouses, as did young southern lawyers such as Charles Chuck” Morgan, who became the ACLU’s southern director; Morris Dees, who cofounded the Southern Poverty Law Center; and Bill Baxley, Alabama attorney general, who successfully prosecuted the bomber of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church and legally halted some of Governor Wallace’s agencies designed to slow down integration. Dozens of exciting, extremely well-told stories demonstrate how blacks defied violence and whites defied public ostracism and indifference in the face of kidnappings, bombings, and murders.
Publication Date: 2011
March: Book 1 by This graphic novel trilogy is a first-hand account of Congressman John Lewis' lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis' personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement. Book one spans Lewis' youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall. Book two takes place after the Nashville sit-in campaign. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper's farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington D.C., and from receiving beatings from state troopers, to receiving the Medal of Freedom awarded to him by Barack Obama, the first African-American president.
Call Number: E840.8.L46 A3 2013 V. 1
Publication Date: 2013
March: Book 2 by This graphic novel trilogy is a first-hand account of Congressman John Lewis' lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis' personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement. Book one spans Lewis' youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall. Book two takes place after the Nashville sit-in campaign. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper's farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington D.C., and from receiving beatings from state troopers, to receiving the Medal of Freedom awarded to him by Barack Obama, the first African-American president.
Call Number: E840.8.L46 A3 2015 V. 2
Publication Date: 2015
March: Book 3 by This graphic novel trilogy is a first-hand account of Congressman John Lewis' lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis' personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement. Book one spans Lewis' youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall. Book two takes place after the Nashville sit-in campaign. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper's farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington D.C., and from receiving beatings from state troopers, to receiving the Medal of Freedom awarded to him by Barack Obama, the first African-American president.
Call Number: E840.8.L46 A3 2016 V. 3
Publication Date: 2016
Moral Courage and Political Risks by Given his background, President Truman was an unlikely champion of civil rights. Where he grew up - the border state of Missouri - segregation was accepted and largely unquestioned. Both his maternal and paternal grandparents had owned slaves, and his mother, victimized by Yankee forces, railed against Abraham Lincoln for the remainder of her ninety-four years. When Truman assumed the presidency on April 12, 1945, Michael R. Gardner points out, Washington, D.C., in many ways resembled Cape Town, South Africa, under apartheid rule circa 1985. Truman's background notwithstanding, Gardner shows that it was Harry Truman - not Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, or John F. Kennedy - who energized the modern civil rights movement, a movement that basically had stalled since Abraham Lincoln had freed the slaves. Gardner analyzes Truman's speeches, private conversations with colleagues, the executive orders that shattered federal segregation policies, and the appointments of like-minded civil rights activists to important positions. Among those appointments was the first black federal judge in the continental United States. One of Gardner's essential and provocative points is that the Frederick Moore Vinson Supreme Court - a court significantly shaped by Truman - provided the legal basis for the nationwide integration that Truman could not get through the Congress. Challenging the myth that the civil rights movement began with Brown vs. Board of Education under Chief Justice Earl Warren, Gardner contends that the life-altering civil rights rulings by the Vinson Court desegregating higher education, housing, and interstate travel provided the necessary legal framework for the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Gardner characterizes Truman's evolution from a man who grew up in a racist household into a president willing to put his political career at mortal risk by actively supporting the interests of black Americans.
Call Number: E814.G37 2002
Publication Date: 2002
Reporting Civil Rights by From A. Philip Randolph's defiant call in 1941 for African Americans to march on Washington to Alice Walker in 1973, Reporting Civil Rights presents firsthand accounts of the revolutionary events that overthrew segregation in the United States. This two-volume anthology brings together for the first time nearly 200 newspaper and magazine reports and book excerpts, and features 151 writers, including James Baldwin, Robert Penn Warren, David Halberstam, Lillian Smith, Gordon Parks, Murray Kempton, Ted Poston, Claude Sitton, and Anne Moody. A newly researched chronology of the movement, a 32-page insert of rare journalist photographs, and original biographical profiles are included in each volume Roi Ottley and Sterling Brown record African American anger during World War II; Carl Rowan examines school segregation; Dan Wakefield and William Bradford Huie describe Emmett Till's savage murder; and Ted Poston provides a fascinating early portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. In the early 1960s, John Steinbeck witnesses the intense hatred of anti-integration protesters in New Orleans; Charlayne Hunter recounts the hostility she faced at the University of Georgia; Raymond Coffey records the determination of jailed children in Birmingham; Russell Baker and Michael Thelwell cover the March on Washington; John Hersey and Alice Lake witness fear and bravery in Mississippi, while James Baldwin and Norman Podhoretz explore northern race relations. Singly or together, Reporting Civil Rights captures firsthand the impassioned struggle for freedom and equality that transformed America.
Call Number: E186.61.R47 2003 (2 vols.)
Publication Date: 2003
Ripples of Hope by Brings together the most influential and important voices from two hundred years of America's struggle for civil rights, including essential speeches from leaders, both famous and obscure. With voices as diverse as Cesar Chavez, Harvey Milk, Betty Friedan, Frederick Douglass, and Sojourner Truth, this anthology constitutes a unique chronicle of the nation's civil rights movements and the critical issues they've tackled, from slavery and suffrage to immigration and affirmative action.
Publication Date: 2009
We Shall Overcome by Despite America’s commitment to civil rights from the earliest days of nationhood, examples of injustices against minorities stain many pages of U.S. history. The battle for racial, ethnic, and gender fairness remains unfinished. This comprehensive book traces the history of legal efforts to achieve civil rights for all Americans, beginning with the years leading up to the Revolution and continuing to our own times. The historical adventure Alexander Tsesis recounts is filled with fascinating events, with real change and disappointing compromise, and with courageous individuals and organizations committed to ending injustice. Viewing the evolution of civil rights through the lens of legal history, Tsesis considers laws that have restricted civil rights (such as Jim Crow regulations and prohibitions against intermarriage) and laws that have expanded rights (including antisegregation legislation and other legal advances of the civil rights era). He focuses particular attention on the African American fight for civil rights but also discusses the struggles of women, gays and lesbians, Japanese Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Jews. He concludes by assessing the current state of civil rights in the United States and exploring likely future expansions of civil rights.
Publication Date: 2008
Black America since MLK: And Still I Rise by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. embarks on a deeply personal journey through the last fifty years of African American history. Joined by leading scholars, celebrities, and a dynamic cast of people who shaped these years, Gates travels from the victories of the civil rights movement up to today, asking profound questions about the state of black America, and our nation as a whole.
Call Number: DVD E185.86 .B533 2016
Publication Date: 2016
Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years (3 discs) by The definitive story of the Civil Rights era from the point of view of the ordinary men and women whose extraordinary actions launched a movement that changed the fabric of American life, and embodied a struggle whose reverberations are felt today.
Call Number: DVD E185.61.E94 2010
Publication Date: 2010
I am Not Your Negro by Using James Baldwin's unfinished final manuscript, Remember This House, this documentary follows the lives and successive assassinations of three of the author's friends, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., delving into the legacy of these iconic figures and narrating historic events using Baldwin's original words and a flood of rich archival material. An up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, this film is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter.
Call Number: DVD PN1995.9.D6 I26 2017
Publication Date: 2016
Selma by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historical struggle to secure voting rights for all people. A dangerous and terrifying campaign that culminated with an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1964.
Call Number: DVD PN1997.S456 2015
Publication Date: 2015
Landscapes of Exclusion by From early in the twentieth century, the state park movement sought to expand public access to scenic American places. During the 1930s those efforts accelerated as the National Park Service used New Deal funding and labor to construct parks nationwide. However, under severe Jim Crow restrictions in the South, African Americans were routinely and officially denied entrance to these sites. In response, advocacy groups pressured the National Park Service to provide some facilities for African Americans. William E. O'Brien shows that these parks were typically substandard in relation to "white only" areas. In the postwar years, as the NAACP filed federal lawsuits that demanded park desegregation and increased pressure on park officials, southern park agencies reacted with attempts to expand segregated facilities, hoping they could demonstrate that these parks achieved the "separate but equal" standard. But the courts consistently ruled in favor of integration, leading to the end of segregated state parks by the middle of the 1960s. Even though the stories behind these largely inferior facilities faded from public awareness, the imprint of segregated state park design remains visible throughout the South. O'Brien illuminates this untold facet of Jim Crow history in the first-ever study of segregation in southern state parks. His new book underscores the profound inequality that persisted for decades in the number, size, and quality of state parks provided for African American visitors in the Jim Crow South.
Publication Date: 2015
Academic OneFile (Gale) This link opens in a new windowConnect students to the information they're looking for with tools that make discovery fast and easy. This premier periodical resource provides millions of articles from over 17,000 scholarly journals and other authoritative sources.
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Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Online source for over 1100 reference books: dictionaries, encyclopedias, and biographical information.
History Reference Center This link opens in a new windowFeatures full text for more than 1,990 reference books, encyclopedias, and non-fiction books, and nearly 150 history periodicals.
U.S. History (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new windowLibrary resource that provides periodical content covering events in U.S. history as well as scholarly work established in the field.
U.S. History (Gale In Context) This link opens in a new windowDesigned to support U.S. history studies and provides an overview of our nation's past, covering the most-studied events, decades, conflicts, wars, political and cultural movements, and people.
Encyclopedias & Reference Resources
Encyclopedia of Race and Racism by In more than 1,800 pages of alphabetical entries, each ranging from 500 to 12,000 words, The Encyclopedia Of Race And Racism, 2nd Edition, provides critical information and context on the underlying social, economic, geographical, and political conditions that gave rise to, and continue to foster, racism. Religion, political economy, social activism, health, concepts, and constructs are explored. Given the increasingly diverse population of the United States and the rapid effects of globalization, as well as mass and social media, the issue of race in world affairs, history, and culture is of preeminent importance. This work is designed to bring vetted and accessible facts and analysis to experts and students as well as lay readers.
Publication Date: 2013
Museums, Libraries, & Websites
- COFO - Council of Federated Organizations
- CORE - Congress on Racial Equality
- HARYOU - Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited
- MIA - Montgomery Improvement Association
- NAACP - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- Nation of Islam
- SNCC - Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee