Icons of African American Protest

Trailblazing Activists of the Civil Rights Movement [2 volumes]

Gladys L. Knight

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN:
  9780313340628
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781573567367
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Protest has always been a catalyst for change. It is the cornerstone of America's own birth. Did not the first immigrants help America take its first steps upon the road to greatness when they long ago protested against the oppression of their native government and established new edicts promoting the ideals of freedom and opportunity? Since the first African slave was forced to board a ship bound for this continent, protest has been a major motif in the African American experience. It was a critical weapon during the raging violence against blacks following the end of Reconstruction, the Jim Crow years, and against the grisly conditions in the ghettoes in the North. Throughout history protest has been used to combat economic and political oppression, racism, discrimination, and exclusion from mainstream America. Icons of African American Protest reveals the extraordinary strength, courage, and sacrifice displayed by individuals for the cause of freedom and civil rights. The 24 leaders showcased here cover a broad spectrum of descriptors-vibrant, tame, intense, aggressive, and diffident-and their politics ran the gamut from conservative to ultra-radical. Nevertheless, whatever techniques, modes, or tactics employed-such as Thurgood Marshall's legal fights in the court room, Dr. King's reliance on nonviolent civil disobedience and direct action, and Huey P. Newton's advocacy for armed self-defense-they were all, in their time, radicals who strove to eradicate racism and the climate of exclusion.

This two-volume reference provides both students and general readers in-depth coverage of contemporary voices of protest, supplemented by sidebars on major turning points, freedom songs, and important symbols, such as the clenched fist of the Black Power Movement. Also included are a timeline of key events, historical documents, a glossary, and a thorough bibliography of print and electronic resources to encourage further research.

Table of contents

• Contents
• List of Photos
• Series Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Icons and Protestors of the Twentieth Century
• Chronology of African American Protest
• Ella Baker
• Elaine Brown
• Stokely Carmichael
• Angela Davis
• W.E.B. Du Bois
• James Farmer
• Louis Farrakhan
• Marcus Garvey
• Fannie Lou Hamer
• Dorothy Height
• Jesse Jackson
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Spike Lee
• John Lewis
• Malcolm X
• Thurgood Marshall
• Huey P. Newton
• Rosa Parks
• A. Philip Randolph
• Al Sharpton
• Ida B.Wells-Barnett
• Roy Wilkins
• Robert F. Williams
• Whitney Young
• Appendix 1: Executive Order 8802
• Appendix 2: Executive Order 9981
• Appendix 3: Selected Excerpts from the Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Appendix 4: Selected Excerpts from the Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Appendix 5: Excerpt from the Black Panther Party Ten Point Platform and Program (October 1966)
• Appendix 6: Icons in Their Own Words
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index