The civil rights movement was among the most important historical developments of the twentieth century and one of the most remarkable mass movements in American history. Not only did it decisively change the legal and political status of African Americans, but it prefigured as well the moral premises and methods of struggle for other historically oppressed groups seeking equal standing in American society. And, yet, despite a vague, sometimes begrudging recognition
of its immense import, more often than not the movement has been misrepresented and misunderstood. For the general public, a singular moment, frozen in time at the Lincoln Memorial, sums up much of
what Americans know about that remarkable decade of struggle. In The Movement, Thomas C. Holt provides an informed and nuanced understanding of the origins, character, and objectives of the mid-twentieth-century freedom struggle, privileging the aspirations and initiatives of the ordinary, grassroots people who made it. Holt conveys a sense of these developments as a social movement, one that shaped its participants even as they shaped it. He emphasizes the
conditions of possibility that enabled the heroic initiatives of the common folk over those of their more celebrated leaders. This groundbreaking book reinserts the critical concept of "movement" back into our image
and understanding of the civil rights movement.
The civil rights movement was among the most important historical developments of the twentieth century and one of the most remarkable mass movements in American history. Not only did it decisively change the legal and political status of African Americans, but it prefigured as well the moral premises and methods of struggle for other historically oppressed groups seeking equal standing in American society. And, yet, despite a vague, sometimes begrudging recognition
of its immense import, more often than not the movement has been misrepresented and misunderstood. For the general public, a singular moment, frozen in time at the Lincoln Memorial, sums up much of
what Americans know about that remarkable decade of struggle. In The Movement, Thomas C. Holt provides an informed and nuanced understanding of the origins, character, and objectives of the mid-twentieth-century freedom struggle, privileging the aspirations and initiatives of the ordinary, grassroots people who made it. Holt conveys a sense of these developments as a social movement, one that shaped its participants even as they shaped it. He emphasizes the
conditions of possibility that enabled the heroic initiatives of the common folk over those of their more celebrated leaders. This groundbreaking book reinserts the critical concept of "movement" back into our image
and understanding of the civil rights movement.
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Introduction: Carrie's Rebellion
Chapter 1: Before Montgomery
Chapter 2: Communities Organizing for Change: New South Cities
Chapter 3: Communities Organizing for Change along the New
South-Old South Divide
Chapter 4: Organizing in "the American Congo": Mississippi's
Freedom Summer and Its Aftermath
Chapter 5: Freedom Movements in the North and the Quest for Black
Power
Chapter 6: Legacies: "Freedom is a Constant Struggle"
Notes and References
Further Readings
Thomas C. Holt is James Westfall Thompson Professor Emeritus of American and African American History at the University of Chicago and the author of Children of Fire: A History of African Americans and The Problem of Race in the Twenty-First Century.
"A concise, lucid and well-balanced account by one of America's
best historians of the topic." -- Tony Barber, Financial Times
"A slender but potent history of the civil rights movement...
Essential for students of American history as well as activists in
the ongoing struggle for civil rights for all."
--Kirkus, Starred Review
"Even readers well-versed in the subject will learn from Holt's
close attention to lesser-known figures, events, and organizations.
This well-informed history casts the civil rights struggle in a new
light."--Publishers Weekly
"A brief if full picture of the civil rights movement in
America."-- Library Journal
"Thomas C. Holt's The Movement is a succinct and powerful book... A
skilled historian whose powers are on full display in The Movement,
he knows the moments when it is best to let the participants
themselves summarize the extraordinary power of their struggle."--
The American Scholar
"A succinct but nuanced overview of the origins, objectives and
achievements of the civil rights movement ... Holt pays particular
attention to the ordinary people and communities who took
significant risks to make up the body of the movement." -- Ellie
Cawthorne, BBC History Magazine
"[This] concise but comprehensive history of the US civil rights
movement pulls off an ambitious balancing act, placing the
African-American fight for equality within its wider political and
social context - all without losing sight of the campaigners on the
frontline ... a hugely humanistic overview." -- BBC History
Revealed
"A bold and vivid story of the everyday human made heroic...
Concise and riveting, The Movement is an excellent work for those
seeking an examination of the US civil rights movement from a
perspective somewhat rare in more mainstream histories. And for
those seeking a deeper involvement, it is a good introduction. " --
Ron Jacobs, Morning Star
"Covering less discussed moments from America's struggle for
equality, The Movement is a nuanced history that takes layered
ideologies and obscured figures into account."-- Foreword
Reviews
"Rooted in the author's personal experience of the movement, this
book is a marvelous balance between economy of expression and
complexity of thought. Even those well-versed in recent movement
scholarship will learn something from this engaging and challenging
work. Some parts of the history are more telling than others and
Holt has an unerring eye for just those parts."--Charles M. Payne,
author of I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing
Tradition
and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle
"Thomas C. Holt's slim volume, The Movement: The African American
Struggle for Civil Rights, achieves in just 120 pages of text a
comprehensiveness that belies its length... a fascinating breakdown
of the movement's phases as well as a look at the groundwork that
made the successes possible... The Movement lends shape and clarity
to a messy, glorious period in American history."--Washington
Post
"As concise in its telling as it is riveting, The Movement is an
excellent work for those seeking an examination of the US civil
rights movement that looks through a viewfinder somewhat rare in
more mainstream histories."--CounterPunch
"An essential and readable primer on the mid-20th-century civil
rights movement... Holt adroitly traces the evolution of activism
throughout time and across regions."--The New York Times Book
Review
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