Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power - Softcover

Tyson, Timothy B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807849235 ISBN 13: 9780807849231

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr, 2001

Synopsis

This book tells the remarkable story of Robert F. Williams--one of the most influential black activists of the generation that toppled Jim Crow and forever altered the arc of American history. In the late 1950s, as president of the Monroe, North Carolina, branch of the NAACP, Williams and his followers used machine guns, dynamite, and Molotov cocktails to confront Klan terrorists. Advocating "armed self-reliance" by blacks, Williams challenged not only white supremacists but also Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights establishment. Forced to flee during the 1960s to Cuba--where he broadcast "Radio Free Dixie," a program of black politics and music that could be heard as far away as Los Angeles and New York City--and then China, Williams remained a controversial figure for the rest of his life.

Historians have customarily portrayed the civil rights movement as a nonviolent call on America's conscience--and the subsequent rise of Black Power as a violent repudiation of the civil rights dream. But Radio Free Dixie reveals that both movements grew out of the same soil, confronted the same predicaments, and reflected the same quest for African American freedom. As Robert Williams's story demonstrates, independent black political action, black cultural pride, and armed self-reliance operated in the South in tension and in tandem with legal efforts and nonviolent protest.

About this title

Book Description:

"Tyson has written, with compelling prose and great insight, an excellent biography as well as a definitive history of armed self-defense doctrines in the civil rights movement. He has produced a fascinating book that is a welcome antidote to the historical pap being spooned out in popular documentaries these days."-- Journal of Southern History

From the Publisher:

The first biography of the black activist who Rosa Parks proclaimed "should go down in history and never be forgotten." The story of Williams' years as a civil rights activist, who participated in many of the momentous events of the times, told in a gripping, page-turning narrative.

RADIO FREE DIXIE redefines the civil rights movement and Black Power through exhaustive research in archives all over the country as well as FBI files and interview sources that no other scholar has used. This book restores the forgotten family traditions of resistance and pride that help African Americans find meaning in the past and hope in the future.

About this edition

• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0807849235
• ISBN 13: 9780807849231
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416