The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change

A “valuable, eye-opening work” (The Boston Globe) about the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s.

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Mrs. Rosa Parks, weary after a long day at work, refused to give up her bus seat to a white man…and ignited the explosion that was the civil rights movement in America. In this powerful saga, Morris tells the complete story behind the ten years that transformed America, tracing the essential role of the black community organizations that was the real power behind the civil rights movement. Drawing on interviews with more than fifty key leaders, original documents, and other moving firsthand material, he brings to life the people behind the scenes who led the fight to end segregation, providing a critical new understanding of the dynamics of social change. 

“An important addition to our knowledge of the strategies of social change for all oppressed peoples.” —Reverend Jesse Jackson

“A benchmark study…setting the historical record straight.” —The New York Times Book Review

Aldon D. Morris is Associate Professor of Sociology and Faculty Associate of the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan. He is an associate editor of the American Sociological Review.