African American women have always placed great importance on helping others within their community. They have long formed the backbones of their families, church congregations, and communities. Black women have also played significant roles in the fight for racial equality. This book examines the roles of African American women in the struggle for racial equality and the reasons why these women were often undervalued by their male counterparts and largely ignored by historians until rather recently. Full chapters are devoted to describing the life and leadership of Ida Wells, Dorothy Height, Septima Clark, Rosa Parks, Jo Ann Robinson, Daisy Bates, Ella Baker, and Fannie Lou Hamer. Sidebars throughout the text highlight the contributions of other women who were influential during the Civil Rights Movement.

In a new anthology of essays, an international group of scholars examines the powerful interaction between gender and race within the Civil Rights Movement and its legacy.

Drawing on the most recent scholarship, The Civil Rights Movement provides a concise overview of the most important social movement of the 20th century and will expand readers' understanding of the fight for racial equality. Ideal for research, this one-stop reference provides a unique introduction to the Civil Rights Movement as it includes its development, issues, and leaders. Six essays capture the drama and conflict of the struggle, covering, among other topics, the origins of the movement, the role of women, the battle for racial equality in the North, and the lasting effects of the protests of the 1950s and 1960s. Ready-reference features include a chronology, a bibliography, photographs, and biographical profiles of 20 activists, from Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X to Ella Baker and Angela Davis. The book also contains a selection of primary sources, including presidential addresses, Supreme Court decisions, and FBI reports on Malcolm X and Stokeley Carmichael. Based on the latest scholarship in the field, this guide gives readers all of the analysis and reference sources they need to expand their understanding of the Civil Rights movement.

What role did religion play in sparking the call for civil rights? Was the African American church a motivating force or a calming eddy? The conventional view among scholars of the period is that religion as a source for social activism was marginal, conservative, or pacifying. Not so, argues Johnny E. Williams. Focusing on the state of Arkansas as typical in the role of ecclesiastical activism, his book argues that black religion from the period of slavery through the era of segregation provided theological resources that motivated and sustained preachers and parishioners battling racial oppression. Drawing on interviews, speeches, case studies, literature, sociological surveys, and other sources, Williams persuasively defines the most ardent of civil rights activists in the state as products of church culture. Both religious beliefs and the African American church itself were essential in motivating blacks to act individually and collectively to confront their oppressors in Arkansas and throughout the South. Williams explains how the ideology of the black church roused disparate individuals into a community and how the church established a base for many diverse participants in the civil rights movement. He shows how church life and ecumenical education helped to sustain the protest of people with few resources and little permanent power. Williams argues that the church helped galvanize political action by bringing people together and creating social bonds even when societal conditions made action difficult and often dangerous. The church supplied its members with meanings, beliefs, relationships, and practices that served as resources to create a religious protest message of hope.

" The crusade for civil rights was a defining episode of 20th century U.S. history, reshaping the constitutional, political, social, and economic life of the nation. This collection of original essays by both European and American scholars includes close analyses of literature and film, historical studies of significant themes and events from the turn-of-the century to the movement years, and assessments of the movement's legacies. Ultimately, the articles help examine the ways civil rights activism, often grounded in the political work of women, has shaped American consciousness and culture until the outset of the 21st century. Patrick Miller is Professor of History at North Eastern Illinois University, Chicago, Ill., USA. Elisabeth Schaefer-Wuensche teaches American Studies at the University of Duesseldorf, Germany. Therese Steffen is Professor of English at the University of Basel, Switzerland. "

This work documents the importance of the civil rights movement and its lasting impression on American society and culture. This revealing volume looks at the struggle for individual rights from the social historian's perspective, providing a fresh context for gauging the impact of the civil rights movement on everyday life across the full spectrum of American society. From the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case to protests against the Vietnam War to the fight for black power, Civil Rights Movement: People and Perspectives looks at events that set the stage for guaranteeing America's promise to all Americans. In eight chapters, some of the country's leading social historians analyze the most recent investigations into the civil rights era's historical context and pivotal moments. Readers will gain a richer understanding of a movement that expanded well beyond its initial focus (the treatment of African Americans in the South) to include other Americans in regions across the nation.

The 16th volume in a series published by Carlson Publishing Inc., PO Box 023350, Brooklyn, NY 11202-0067. Seventeen papers presented at the conference on [title] held in Atlanta, Georgia, October 1988 focus on contributions of African-American women during the civil rights movement as activists, journalists, students, entertainers, and attorneys. The studies bring forth important, yet little known, individual and collective efforts that demonstrate the extent of women's leadership in the movement. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

African-American women played a major role in bringing about social change during the civil rights movement. They participated in sit-ins and marches. They helped plan demonstrations and boycotts. And they were arrested for civil disobedience. Many women worked behind the scene, helping to organize protest efforts. Some women took on leadership roles. One was NAACP activist Rosa Parks, who is best known for inspiring the Montgomery bus boycott. She worked alongside Ella Baker, who later helped organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). SNCC founding member Diane Nash directed sit-ins and Freedom Rides. Fannie Lou Hamer took on the political machine of Mississippi in a demand for black voter representation. These women and many others of the civil rights movement helped ensure that the United States government guaranteed equal rights for all Americans, black and white.

A fundamental and well-illustrated reference collection for anyone interested in the role of women in North American religious life.

Documenting the history of the American women's rights movement from 1945 through the 2016 election, this reference offers a crucial and objective look at the changing strategies, goals, and challenges of American feminists. Many aspects of women's lives in the mid-twentieth century—including legal subjugation to their husbands, limitations in education and employment, and restrictions on sexual and reproductive autonomy—are unthinkable today. Women's lives improved only through the concerted action of several generations of activists, whose work lies at the center of this volume. This book traces women's changing relationships to family, work, education, government, and sexuality from 1945 through the 2016 election. The book begins with an overview essay that places the women's rights movement in its historical context. This is followed by a chronology offering concise profiles of key events. A series of chapters then discusses the history of the women's rights movement since 1945 and what the movement has accomplished. Biographical entries profile key figures involved in the movement, and a selection of primary source documents gives first-hand accounts of the movement. An annotated bibliography directs readers to additional sources of information.