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.
""John Dittmer, Danielle L. McGuire, and Steven F.
Lawson have each in their own way revolutionized the historiography of
the black freedom struggle. With Freedom Rights, Dittmer and McGuire
bring together scholars whose provocative and quite readable essays
offer both a fitting tribute to Lawson's influential scholarship and a
road map suggesting new directions for future civil rights
study."--Todd Moye, author of Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen
of World War II" --
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.
