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Robert Parris Moses: A Life in Civil Rights and Leadership at the Grassroots
One of the most influential leaders in the civil rights movement, Robert Parris Moses was essential in making Mississippi a central battleground state in the fight for voting rights. As a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Moses presented himself as a mere facilitator of grassroots activism rather than a charismatic figure like Martin Luther King Jr. His self-effacing demeanor and his success, especially in steering the events that led to the volatile 1964 Freedom Summer and the formation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, paradoxically gave him a reputation of nearly heroic proportions. Examining the dilemmas of a leader who worked to cultivate local leadership, historian Laura Visser-Maessen explores the intellectual underpinnings of Moses's strategy, its achievements, and its struggles.
This new biography recasts Moses as an effective, hands-on organizer, safeguarding his ideals while leading from behind the scenes. By returning Moses to his rightful place among the foremost leaders of the movement, Visser-Maessen testifies to Moses's revolutionary approach to grassroots leadership and the power of the individual in generating social change.
This new biography recasts Moses as an effective, hands-on organizer, safeguarding his ideals while leading from behind the scenes. By returning Moses to his rightful place among the foremost leaders of the movement, Visser-Maessen testifies to Moses's revolutionary approach to grassroots leadership and the power of the individual in generating social change.
456 pages, Hardcover
First published May 16, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 21, 2022
Bob Moses was born in Harlem (New York City). He had an outstanding education with a wide variety of interests from mathematics to philosophy. His parents made him aware of the issues concerning the plight of Black people in his country.
The oppressive state of Mississippi was making news headlines frequently during the 1950s (the vicious murder of Emmett Till being but one example) and this prompted Bob Moses to go the southern U.S. States in the late 1950s. By the early 1960s he had decided to become a movement activist in Mississippi. Bob Moses perceived this as a struggle that required time and a lot of courage. Mississippi was brutal to those who stepped outside of its racist segregationist codes of behavior.
Bob Moses was an anomaly in the Civil Rights movement – a university educated Black northerner who spoke softly. His goal was to be the anti-leader (the author mentions frequently that he was self-effacing) – and to encourage and motivate at the community grass-roots level in Mississippi. This would prove difficult. Much of his involvement was to get the vote for Black people who were largely excluded from the right to vote. Black people in Mississippi were denied this so-called American right.
Page 109 (my book)
Another canvasser summarized locals’ inhibitions best. “If you couldn’t read, couldn’t bring yourself to confront a white person on any issue, couldn’t find transportation for the journey to the appropriate location, couldn’t believe that democracy had anything to do with folks like you, couldn’t leave your obligations for more than an hour, couldn’t quiet your wife who screamed in panic when you told her you intended … to register, couldn’t think about anything except the hunger in your belly and in your children’s bellies – you couldn’t, wouldn’t, didn’t have the ballot.
These were the obstacles in the pathway to gain the right to vote. With the help of SNCC (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee) Bob Moses organized marches to the registrar’s office in small towns in Mississippi. For this the participants, including Bob Moses, were physically assaulted and beaten and sometimes arrested.
Unlike other Civil Rights organizations (like the NAACP and SCLC headed by Martin Luther King), SNCC wanted “people power” and did not emphasize leadership. Like other Civil Rights groups, SNCC adhered to non-violence; however, Mississippi Blacks did not necessarily believe in this – they had had decades of experience of white violence.
Bob Moses was a good fit for the SNCC approach. He was adept at organizing and facilitating. He established a large range of contacts, many in the North and with some federal government officials to aid the efforts to obtain voting rights. Despite his anti-leadership efforts – an aura and mystique grew around his personality – more so when he did not show frailty or shortcomings when encountering white officialdom – be it police or registrars. Also, he did not retaliate when physically assaulted. The author attempts and successfully gives us the story of Bob Moses and not the legend that grew around him.
Bob Moses stayed in the South (mostly Mississippi) for over five years. In a real way he was psychologically damaged by the savagery and the lack of government support for his attempts to have basic human rights. Herbert Lee (a Black man) was killed by E.L. Hurst allegedly for defaulting on a debt owed to Hurst. But Lee had also become active with Moses in SNCC in getting Black folks to vote. Nobody was successfully prosecuted for the murder of Herbert Lee.
Page 154
Organizing and leadership were thus not mutually exclusive domains but rather intrinsically linked complementary stages in producing social change [at a grassroots and community level].
The constant attempts to register Blacks to vote and the increasing publicity of the harassment and violence by the white Mississippi power base was witnessed by the national media and was having an effect. Also, the creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) to represent Mississippi at the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1964 as an alternative to the all-white Democrats from that state was starting to have an impact on federal policies and President Johnson.
Page 235
The MFDP’s effect on politics was thus immediate and long term; it bolstered Johnson’s determination to do something about voting rights, even if he felt that it had to wait until after the November (1964) elections because of politics.
This is a stirring biography of a man’s influence and participation in the Civil Rights movement. Most of the book is on events from 1960 to 1965. It well illustrates that the accomplishments of the Civil Rights movement were not just the efforts of a few determined individuals – but of the mobilizing of entire communities. It also demonstrates as well that the participation of “outsiders” also helped motivate the local communities to acquire their long denied human rights and power – and make their own leaders.
Interestingly the author is a woman from the Netherlands who is a professor of American literature and culture at a university in Nijmegen.
Sadly, Bob Moses died in June 2021 at the age of 86.
The oppressive state of Mississippi was making news headlines frequently during the 1950s (the vicious murder of Emmett Till being but one example) and this prompted Bob Moses to go the southern U.S. States in the late 1950s. By the early 1960s he had decided to become a movement activist in Mississippi. Bob Moses perceived this as a struggle that required time and a lot of courage. Mississippi was brutal to those who stepped outside of its racist segregationist codes of behavior.
Bob Moses was an anomaly in the Civil Rights movement – a university educated Black northerner who spoke softly. His goal was to be the anti-leader (the author mentions frequently that he was self-effacing) – and to encourage and motivate at the community grass-roots level in Mississippi. This would prove difficult. Much of his involvement was to get the vote for Black people who were largely excluded from the right to vote. Black people in Mississippi were denied this so-called American right.
Page 109 (my book)
Another canvasser summarized locals’ inhibitions best. “If you couldn’t read, couldn’t bring yourself to confront a white person on any issue, couldn’t find transportation for the journey to the appropriate location, couldn’t believe that democracy had anything to do with folks like you, couldn’t leave your obligations for more than an hour, couldn’t quiet your wife who screamed in panic when you told her you intended … to register, couldn’t think about anything except the hunger in your belly and in your children’s bellies – you couldn’t, wouldn’t, didn’t have the ballot.
These were the obstacles in the pathway to gain the right to vote. With the help of SNCC (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee) Bob Moses organized marches to the registrar’s office in small towns in Mississippi. For this the participants, including Bob Moses, were physically assaulted and beaten and sometimes arrested.
Unlike other Civil Rights organizations (like the NAACP and SCLC headed by Martin Luther King), SNCC wanted “people power” and did not emphasize leadership. Like other Civil Rights groups, SNCC adhered to non-violence; however, Mississippi Blacks did not necessarily believe in this – they had had decades of experience of white violence.
Bob Moses was a good fit for the SNCC approach. He was adept at organizing and facilitating. He established a large range of contacts, many in the North and with some federal government officials to aid the efforts to obtain voting rights. Despite his anti-leadership efforts – an aura and mystique grew around his personality – more so when he did not show frailty or shortcomings when encountering white officialdom – be it police or registrars. Also, he did not retaliate when physically assaulted. The author attempts and successfully gives us the story of Bob Moses and not the legend that grew around him.
Bob Moses stayed in the South (mostly Mississippi) for over five years. In a real way he was psychologically damaged by the savagery and the lack of government support for his attempts to have basic human rights. Herbert Lee (a Black man) was killed by E.L. Hurst allegedly for defaulting on a debt owed to Hurst. But Lee had also become active with Moses in SNCC in getting Black folks to vote. Nobody was successfully prosecuted for the murder of Herbert Lee.
Page 154
Organizing and leadership were thus not mutually exclusive domains but rather intrinsically linked complementary stages in producing social change [at a grassroots and community level].
The constant attempts to register Blacks to vote and the increasing publicity of the harassment and violence by the white Mississippi power base was witnessed by the national media and was having an effect. Also, the creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) to represent Mississippi at the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1964 as an alternative to the all-white Democrats from that state was starting to have an impact on federal policies and President Johnson.
Page 235
The MFDP’s effect on politics was thus immediate and long term; it bolstered Johnson’s determination to do something about voting rights, even if he felt that it had to wait until after the November (1964) elections because of politics.
This is a stirring biography of a man’s influence and participation in the Civil Rights movement. Most of the book is on events from 1960 to 1965. It well illustrates that the accomplishments of the Civil Rights movement were not just the efforts of a few determined individuals – but of the mobilizing of entire communities. It also demonstrates as well that the participation of “outsiders” also helped motivate the local communities to acquire their long denied human rights and power – and make their own leaders.
Interestingly the author is a woman from the Netherlands who is a professor of American literature and culture at a university in Nijmegen.
Sadly, Bob Moses died in June 2021 at the age of 86.
April 21, 2017
This was an incredible inside look at Bob Moses as a civil rights leader who worked at the grassroots level, and attempted to empower working class and poor Blacks in Mississippi and elsewhere in the Deep South to be a part of the Movement instead of being left behind by the self-serving middle class Blacks and Whites who didn't think beyond voting rights to human rights.
This book gave me additional perspectives on why the NAACP supported the fights they did, and actively opposed other fights for equality and equity. It also speaks to why the NAACP is mostly irrelevant in the 21st century.
This book gives deep background on Bob Moses' triumphs, and horrific losses, in the Movement.
Recommended for: history geeks, civil rights scholars, pacifist scholars, and community organizers
This book gave me additional perspectives on why the NAACP supported the fights they did, and actively opposed other fights for equality and equity. It also speaks to why the NAACP is mostly irrelevant in the 21st century.
This book gives deep background on Bob Moses' triumphs, and horrific losses, in the Movement.
Recommended for: history geeks, civil rights scholars, pacifist scholars, and community organizers
August 29, 2021
A biography of Moses, with emphasis on his work as an organizer/leader in Mississippi (1960-65) working with SNCC. She makes it clear that he was not only a local organizer, helping local blacks to organize but an important person raising money and other support for the movement beyond Mississippi. Visceral-Maessen also covers Moses’ early life, and activities after he left SNCC, including his development of Algebra Project. This is a serious scholarly work on a complex man. Her epilogue is a review of the historiography of Moses and his place in the civil rights movement.
August 30, 2021
I would love to learn more about this remarkable man but this book was way too dense to even start. Very much for a history professor to read.
There is a novel about him; I'll try to find that.
There is a novel about him; I'll try to find that.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews