The Civil Rights Movement in American Memory - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0820328146 ISBN 13: 9780820328140

Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 2006

Synopsis

The movement for civil rights in America peaked in the 1950s and 1960s; however, a closely related struggle, this time over the movement's legacy, has been heatedly engaged over the past two decades. How the civil rights movement is currently being remembered in American politics and culture―and why it matters―is the common theme of the thirteen essays in this unprecedented collection.

Memories of the movement are being created and maintained―in ways and for purposes we sometimes only vaguely perceive―through memorials, art exhibits, community celebrations, and even street names. At least fifteen civil rights movement museums have opened since 1990; Mississippi Burning, Four Little Girls, and The Long Walk Home only begin to suggest the range of film and television dramatizations of pivotal events; corporations increasingly employ movement images to sell fast food, telephones, and more; and groups from Christian conservatives to gay rights activists have claimed the civil rights mantle.

Contests over the movement's meaning are a crucial part of the continuing fight against racism and inequality. These writings look at how civil rights memories become established as fact through museum exhibits, street naming, and courtroom decisions; how our visual culture transmits the memory of the movement; how certain aspects of the movement have come to be ignored in its "official" narrative; and how other political struggles have appropriated the memory of the movement. Here is a book for anyone interested in how we collectively recall, claim, understand, and represent the past.

About this title

About the Author

Renee C. Romano (Editor)
RENEE C. ROMANO is an associate professor of history and African American studies at Wesleyan University and the author of Race Mixing.

Leigh Raiford (Editor)
LEIGH RAIFORD is an assistant professor of African American studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Georgia Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0820328146
• ISBN 13: 9780820328140
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 408
• Editor: Romano Renee C., Raiford Leigh