Reporting Civil Rights Vol. 1 (LOA #137): American Journalism 1941-1963 (Library of America Classic Journalism Collection) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1931082286 ISBN 13: 9781931082280

Publisher: Library of America, 2003

Synopsis

First published for the fortieth anniversary of the March on Washington, this Library of America volume along with its companion chronicles over thirty tumultuous years in the struggle of African-Americans for freedom and equal rights.

The first volume follows the rise of the modern civil rights movement from A. Philip Randolph’s defiant 1941 call for a protest march on Washington to the summer of 1963 and the eve of the march that finally shook the nation’s conscience. Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, Pauli Murray, and Bayard Rustin record the growing determination of African-Americans in the 1940s to oppose racial injustice; Murray Kempton and William Bradford Huie report on the lynching of Emmett Till; Ted Poston offers an inside look at the courage and resourcefulness of the Montgomery bus boycotters; Relman Morin in Little Rock and John Steinbeck in New Orleans witness the terrors of mob rage; David Halberstam and Louis Lomax describe the wildfire spread of the sit-in movement; James Baldwin investigates the Nation of Islam.

Robert Penn Warren’s “Segregation,” a Southern moderate’s soul-searching interrogation of the traditions of his native region, is included in its entirety, as is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s classic defense of civil disobedience, “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Remarkable but little-known reporters from the African-American press, among them James Hicks of the Amsterdam News, George Collins of the Baltimore Afro-American, L. O. Swingler of the Atlanta Daily World, and Trezzvant Anderson of the Pittsburgh Courier, are reprinted here for the first time, along with astonishing eyewitness accounts of movement activism by Fannie Lou Hamer, Tom Hayden, and Howard Zinn.

Each volume contains a detailed chronology of events, biographical profiles and photographs of the journalists, explanatory notes, and an index.

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

About this title

About the Author

The editorial advisory board for Reporting Civil Rights includes Clayborne Carson, senior editor, The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.; David J. Garrow, Presidential Distinguished Professor, Emory University; Bill Kovach, chairman, Committee of Concerned Journalists; and Carol Polsgrove, professor of journalism, Indiana University.

Reviews

*Starred Review* Commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the March on Washington, this collection captures the long, arduous struggle for civil rights. The two-volume set begins with A. Philip Randolph's 1941 urgent call for black Americans to march on the nation's capital and ends with Alice Walker's poignant 1973 recollection of that march. In between are nearly 200 articles, essays, and book excerpts recalling the purpose and power of the civil rights movement and its profound influence on changing the status quo of race relations in the U.S. Volume 1, chronicling developments from 1941 through 1963, includes Carl Rowan on school desegregation, Martin Luther King's letter from the Birmingham jail, Charlayne Hunter on her harrowing experience integrating the University of Georgia, and Howard Zinn's criticism of John F. Kennedy as a "reluctant emancipator." Volume 2, which covers 1963 through 1973, includes Russell Baker on the 1963 March on Washington, Claude Sitton on the Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls, Marc Crawford on Malcolm X's break with the Nation of Islam, and Earl Caldwell on the assassination of Martin Luther King. Other contributors include James Baldwin, Jimmy Breslin, Robert Coles, Joan Didion, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, Gordon Parks, Lillian Smith, John Steinbeck, Calvin Trillin, and Tom Wolfe. Both volumes include inserts of news photographs, biographical sketches of the contributors, and explanatory notes. An important anthology for readers interested in the history of the civil rights movement. Vanessa Bush
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Edition details

• Publisher: Library of America
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1931082286
• ISBN 13: 9781931082280
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 996