Book description
In his seminal article “Freedom Then, Freedom Now,” renowned civil
rights historian Steven F. Lawson described his vision for the future
study of the civil rights movement. Lawson called for a deeper
examination of the social, economic, and political factors that
influenced the movement's development and growth. He urged his fellow
scholars to connect the “local with the national, the political with the
social,” and to investigate the ideological origins of the civil rights
movement, its internal dynamics, the role of women, and the significance
of gender and sexuality. In Freedom Rights: New Perspectives on the
Civil Rights Movement, editors Danielle L. McGuire and John Dittmer
follow Lawson's example, bringing together the best new scholarship on
the modern civil rights movement. The work expands our understanding of
the movement by engaging issues of local and national politics, gender
and race relations, family, community, and sexuality. The volume
addresses cultural, legal, and social developments and also investigates
the roots of the movement. Each essay highlights important moments in
the history of the struggle, from the impact of the Young Women's
Christian Association on integration to the use of the arts as a form of
activism. Freedom Rights not only answers Lawson's call for a more
dynamic, interactive history of the civil rights movement, but it also
helps redefine the field. Danielle L. McGuire, assistant professor at
Wayne State University, is the author of At the Dark End of the Street:
Black Women, Race and Resistance-A New History of the Civil Rights
Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. She lives in
Detroit, Michigan. John Dittmer, professor emeritus at DePauw
University, is the author of The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for
Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care. He
lives in Fillmore, Indiana.
