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Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North
Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North
720 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
April 18, 2013
Thomas Sugrues 2008 synthesis Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North attempts to knit together the emerging urban histories. By focusing on the “forgotten struggle” of African Americans in the North Sugrue tells us that we can dispel the amnesia of a narrative of the Civil Rights Movement that turns “northward only in the mid and late 1960s, when cities exploded in riots and black power advocates burst onto the national scene” and frames the North as “the tragic denouement of the otherwise triumphant civil rights struggle.” Sweet Land of Liberty marries a sweeping survey of the northern civil rights movement from the 1930s to the 1970s with an analysis of the impact of discrimination in housing, education and employment. Sugrue traces the origin of the northern civil rights movement to the 1930s, as organizing inspired by the New Deal rhetoric of positive rights to security and prosperity. “Devout churchwomen, lawyers, laborers, Democrats, Republicans, Socialists, and Communists marched together on picket lines, lobbied public officials, and joined in lawsuits against segregated housing and schools.” While local activism won early victories against segregated public accommodations, non-discrimination laws concerning employment generally took longer to implement and were often unenforced. Education proved a resilient challenge for northern activists, who won limited victories but were often unable to overcome the quiet gerrymandering of school districts to prevent segregated schools. Sugrue views residential segregation, created by the racial considerations of FHA policies, financial lenders and real estate agents, as the lynchpin of a system that continues to marginalize urban African Americans. It is from disappointment in the hollow victories of non-discrimination legislation and deteriorating economic prospects brought on by deindustrialization that the turn toward community control and Black Power arose. The conventional narrative of this development, that after “the bloody summers of the late 1960s, minorities and their well-intentioned liberal supporters embraced a pernicious identity politics that deepened America’s racial divide and destroyed the integrationists dream of a land where character, not skin color, mattered most” is undercut by the deeper history of race in the North, in which too often it was the commitment to non-discrimination which was skin deep.
Within this history Sugrue recontextualizes the Black Power movement, reframing it less as the rejection of an integrationist vision than as a tactic of political empowerment forged in response to the lack of an integrationist reality. In the longer sweep of history provided by Sugrue the dichotomy between integration and black power breaks down. Rather than dividing into two philosophically opposing ideologies they appear rather as differing tactics employed in an improvisational manner in reaction to the shifting political and economic environment. Skeptical of the real racial liberalism of the North, Sugrue sees the Black Power movement as significant for its transition from protest to the dedicated attempt to elected black politicians, the number of which rocketed from the hundreds into the thousands in the 1970s. Occupying positions of authority at the municipal level, these politicians were often able to deliver more jobs for African Americans in municipal services, but at the state and national levels they were unable to prevent the disinvestment in urban areas and the deterioration of public benefits that accompanied the rise of the conservative movement.
Within this history Sugrue recontextualizes the Black Power movement, reframing it less as the rejection of an integrationist vision than as a tactic of political empowerment forged in response to the lack of an integrationist reality. In the longer sweep of history provided by Sugrue the dichotomy between integration and black power breaks down. Rather than dividing into two philosophically opposing ideologies they appear rather as differing tactics employed in an improvisational manner in reaction to the shifting political and economic environment. Skeptical of the real racial liberalism of the North, Sugrue sees the Black Power movement as significant for its transition from protest to the dedicated attempt to elected black politicians, the number of which rocketed from the hundreds into the thousands in the 1970s. Occupying positions of authority at the municipal level, these politicians were often able to deliver more jobs for African Americans in municipal services, but at the state and national levels they were unable to prevent the disinvestment in urban areas and the deterioration of public benefits that accompanied the rise of the conservative movement.
May 27, 2025
Having recently finished Taylor Branch's three-volume history of the civil rights movements in the south I decided to supplement them with this volume about the struggles in the north. Sugrue is not the writer that Branch is, his style being somewhat dry. Still, he covers an enormous amount of activity generally arranged by topics such as education, housing, politics, welfare etc.
October 15, 2018
Thomas J. Sugrue provides a detailed narrative of a salient part of the African-American freedom struggle which has been lost to popular memory. Wrhile most Americans understand that there was a deep and long struggle against Jim Crow laws, segregation, and racial violence in the southern states, what is less known is there was a similar story to be told in the northern states, midwestern states, and even in the western regions of the United States.
His books covers the period from the 1920s to the modern era. The book is long, but not overly so giving the long cast of persons, activist groups, cities, state and local governments, and the Federal government and presidential administrations covered in vivid detail.
Given this depth, I won't attempt to provide a detailed summary of the book, but I will recommend the book to your consideration.
His books covers the period from the 1920s to the modern era. The book is long, but not overly so giving the long cast of persons, activist groups, cities, state and local governments, and the Federal government and presidential administrations covered in vivid detail.
Given this depth, I won't attempt to provide a detailed summary of the book, but I will recommend the book to your consideration.
August 2, 2011
i'm ambivalent / frustrated about the politics rendered in this narrative. but nonetheless, it is a very very well done broad history that is a great introduction to these struggles. while not necessarily forgotten, they are certainly not as iconic as what the historical memory suggests is the civil rights movement. the book could have been strengthened by more attention to struggles sometimes associated with "Black Power" in the attempt to draw out more fluid and complex relationships between Civil Rights and Black Power. it is definitely worth reading.
December 3, 2013
Thomas J. Sugrue's book Sweet Land of Liberty was no short read, but very insightful on the history of the Civil Rights movement in the north, a location with a lot of Civil Rights momentum previously overlooked by historians. Sugrue argued you can't fully understand the Civil Rights movement without the north. (xiv) Sugrue said his book was a political history, noting: "Race is a political construction, one whose pernicious consequences can be unmade only through political action." (xxiii) His book did not fall short of expectation and understanding the politics behind the Civil Rights movement from the New Deal forward. One thing I learned is how every movement was really only as strong as their grassroots. Movements were largely grassroots organized and pushed, which was where their power came from. Their activism is what drove the Civil Rights movement over the decades.
I especially liked the chapter "No Place for Color" which broke Jim Crow down in the north. I found this chapter particularly interesting, especially with the break down of police actions, press' impact, and protests in the north, and details on the regulation and effects of Jim Crow in public places like movie theatres, restaurants, beaches/pools, amusement parks, etc. This chapter really brought things into a clearer picture for me, setting the tone for the remainder of the book.
A couple critiques: I would have very much loved foot notes, especially on some of the references through the book. In addition, there were quite a few rhetorical questions that were distracting for me. (ex: 134-135; 143) One last note, the author referenced "uplift" quite a bit throughout the first part of the book, particularly referencing fraternal and sorority organizations for providing this uplift. As the book continued, there was a little more on uplift, but I would have still liked to have seen this theme carried on more. Maybe a little more on some of the influential leaders' involvements in fraternities and sororities, and grassroots movements that started with with these groups and contributed to the uplift...
I especially liked the chapter "No Place for Color" which broke Jim Crow down in the north. I found this chapter particularly interesting, especially with the break down of police actions, press' impact, and protests in the north, and details on the regulation and effects of Jim Crow in public places like movie theatres, restaurants, beaches/pools, amusement parks, etc. This chapter really brought things into a clearer picture for me, setting the tone for the remainder of the book.
A couple critiques: I would have very much loved foot notes, especially on some of the references through the book. In addition, there were quite a few rhetorical questions that were distracting for me. (ex: 134-135; 143) One last note, the author referenced "uplift" quite a bit throughout the first part of the book, particularly referencing fraternal and sorority organizations for providing this uplift. As the book continued, there was a little more on uplift, but I would have still liked to have seen this theme carried on more. Maybe a little more on some of the influential leaders' involvements in fraternities and sororities, and grassroots movements that started with with these groups and contributed to the uplift...
June 28, 2012
The struggle for racial equality in the North has been a footnote in most books about civil rights in America. Now this monumental new work from one of the most brilliant historians of his generation sets the record straight. Sweet Land of Liberty is an epic, revelatory account of the abiding quest for justice in states from Illinois to New York, and of how the intense northern struggle differed from and was inspired by the fight down South.
Thomas Sugrue’s panoramic view sweeps from the 1920s to the present–more than eighty of the most decisive years in American history. He uncovers the forgotten stories of battles to open up lunch counters, beaches, and movie theaters in the North; the untold history of struggles against Jim Crow schools in northern towns; the dramatic story of racial conflict in northern cities and suburbs; and the long and tangled histories of integration and black power.
Appearing throughout these tumultuous tales of bigotry and resistance are the people who propelled progress, such as Anna Arnold Hedgeman, a dedicated churchwoman who in the 1930s became both a member of New York’s black elite and an increasingly radical activist; A. Philip Randolph, who as America teetered on the brink of World War II dared to threaten FDR with a march on Washington to protest discrimination–and got the Fair Employment Practices Committee (“the second Emancipation Proclamation”) as a result; Morris Milgram, a white activist who built the Concord Park housing development, the interracial answer to white Levittown; and Herman Ferguson, a mild-mannered New York teacher whose protest of a Queens construction site led him to become a key player in the militant Malcolm X’s movement.
Filled with unforgettable characters and riveting incidents, and making use of information and accounts both public and private, such as the writings of obscure African American journalists and the records of civil rights and black power groups, Sweet Land of Liberty creates an indelible history.
Thomas Sugrue’s panoramic view sweeps from the 1920s to the present–more than eighty of the most decisive years in American history. He uncovers the forgotten stories of battles to open up lunch counters, beaches, and movie theaters in the North; the untold history of struggles against Jim Crow schools in northern towns; the dramatic story of racial conflict in northern cities and suburbs; and the long and tangled histories of integration and black power.
Appearing throughout these tumultuous tales of bigotry and resistance are the people who propelled progress, such as Anna Arnold Hedgeman, a dedicated churchwoman who in the 1930s became both a member of New York’s black elite and an increasingly radical activist; A. Philip Randolph, who as America teetered on the brink of World War II dared to threaten FDR with a march on Washington to protest discrimination–and got the Fair Employment Practices Committee (“the second Emancipation Proclamation”) as a result; Morris Milgram, a white activist who built the Concord Park housing development, the interracial answer to white Levittown; and Herman Ferguson, a mild-mannered New York teacher whose protest of a Queens construction site led him to become a key player in the militant Malcolm X’s movement.
Filled with unforgettable characters and riveting incidents, and making use of information and accounts both public and private, such as the writings of obscure African American journalists and the records of civil rights and black power groups, Sweet Land of Liberty creates an indelible history.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 3, 2014
In an encyclopedic volume of more than 600 pages, Sugrue chronicles the civil rights movement of the North in cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia, and in states as far afield as New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan, and California. He challenges past accounts that locate the turning point of American race relations in the 1960s, instead beginning his history in the pre-World War II era and ending not in the “post-civil rights era” of the 1970s, but in the present.
As a political history, Sugrue analyzes the actors that shaped politics and policies. On a micro-level, he focuses upon impactful individuals, organizations, and groups as they focused upon institutional/structural causes, such as employment, schools and education, housing quality and neighborhood access, public and consumer spaces, and political voice and power. On a broader level, he sheds light upon the links between the regional efforts of the North, and the South for that matter, to a national political context. Furthermore, he reveals the connections and continuity between civil rights efforts and key players in both the North and South, as they influenced one another.
By presenting these many (too many?) narratives, Sugrue addresses the varying and changing perspectives on how best to improve race relations, demonstrating how segregationist and integrationist ideals were debated by different key players, as well as how notions of race and racism were conceptualized. He shows again and again, however (for better or worse), that the theme of racial uplift and respectability framed many conversations and much activist action.
In the end, Sugrue elucidates how the civil rights movement was actually more difficult in the North, where whites viewed themselves as less bigoted than their Southern counterparts, a perception that rarely matched their actions. While Jim Crow views and practices were less overtly represented in the North than in the South, they proved just as culturally entrenched. Sugrue concludes that freedom struggles are far from over in this country.
As a political history, Sugrue analyzes the actors that shaped politics and policies. On a micro-level, he focuses upon impactful individuals, organizations, and groups as they focused upon institutional/structural causes, such as employment, schools and education, housing quality and neighborhood access, public and consumer spaces, and political voice and power. On a broader level, he sheds light upon the links between the regional efforts of the North, and the South for that matter, to a national political context. Furthermore, he reveals the connections and continuity between civil rights efforts and key players in both the North and South, as they influenced one another.
By presenting these many (too many?) narratives, Sugrue addresses the varying and changing perspectives on how best to improve race relations, demonstrating how segregationist and integrationist ideals were debated by different key players, as well as how notions of race and racism were conceptualized. He shows again and again, however (for better or worse), that the theme of racial uplift and respectability framed many conversations and much activist action.
In the end, Sugrue elucidates how the civil rights movement was actually more difficult in the North, where whites viewed themselves as less bigoted than their Southern counterparts, a perception that rarely matched their actions. While Jim Crow views and practices were less overtly represented in the North than in the South, they proved just as culturally entrenched. Sugrue concludes that freedom struggles are far from over in this country.
January 1, 2018
A solid survey of a complex, expansive topic. I think this book does its best in distilling the Northern freedom movement into its jockeying intellectual currents (eg integrationism vs separatism, liberals vs leftists) and showing their transformation over the course of the 1940s through the mid 70s.
While it would have been more engaging to dive deeper into specific incidents or biographies (which isn’t entirely avoided - there are useful portraits of lesser-known stories like the Hillbrook school boycott), doing so would have detracted from the larger portrait being painted. My other quibble would be that while the book does an exceptional job showing the diversity of struggle in cities and small towns across the North, it doesn’t give a framework for understanding the North geographically - what unifies and divides the Upper Midwest and New England as ‘the North’?
That being said, this was a thoughtful introduction to an array of social movements within the larger civil rights struggle who are too often ignored in popular memory, or worse brought up as an afterthought to the story of MLK Jr.
While it would have been more engaging to dive deeper into specific incidents or biographies (which isn’t entirely avoided - there are useful portraits of lesser-known stories like the Hillbrook school boycott), doing so would have detracted from the larger portrait being painted. My other quibble would be that while the book does an exceptional job showing the diversity of struggle in cities and small towns across the North, it doesn’t give a framework for understanding the North geographically - what unifies and divides the Upper Midwest and New England as ‘the North’?
That being said, this was a thoughtful introduction to an array of social movements within the larger civil rights struggle who are too often ignored in popular memory, or worse brought up as an afterthought to the story of MLK Jr.
June 12, 2018
This is an important, often overlooked thread in US history -- the long civil rights struggle in the North, to achieve access to decent jobs, housing, education, representation, and health care -- and Sugrue has researched the topic meticulously.
I highly recommend this to anybody who -- well, I just recommend it to anybody and everybody. Written in 2008, it sure as hell hasn't gotten any less relevant in the ten years that have passed, with the rise of the Tea Party and Trump.
I will say that the amount of research that went into the book is a double edged sword -- on the one hand, Sugrue builds his theses on solid ground, but on the other hand there's some repetition that occasionally makes it slow going. But ultimately it's an incredibly valuable contribution to 20th century US history.
I highly recommend this to anybody who -- well, I just recommend it to anybody and everybody. Written in 2008, it sure as hell hasn't gotten any less relevant in the ten years that have passed, with the rise of the Tea Party and Trump.
I will say that the amount of research that went into the book is a double edged sword -- on the one hand, Sugrue builds his theses on solid ground, but on the other hand there's some repetition that occasionally makes it slow going. But ultimately it's an incredibly valuable contribution to 20th century US history.
December 31, 2013
An extremely enlightening history of the African-American struggle for civil rights in the North (where North principally equals the midwest and northeast). I learned a great deal, particularly about the continuing impact of structural racism and the long, hard slog for civil rights, for true equality. It is dispiriting to see how far we have yet to go. But -- well worth reading for anyone who is interested in learning about racism, civil rights, and this important part of American history in the 20th century.
April 30, 2014
racism - whether in the north or the south has been an ugly component to our world. there are many aspects of how we relate to each other, but a person with black skin, all other aspects fade into oblivion. many people have written about racism in the south, but this book lays bare, how difficult life has been on many levels in the north. worth exploring. the book has more detail than needed, however, if you lived in philadelphia area, you know many of the activists and it will make even more of an impact....
March 27, 2014
A bit dry and acronym heavy, but that was to be expected. Very interesting description of both protests and the movement in the north much earlier than we typically think of the civil rights era beginning and the chapters on the battles between integrationists and black power separationists in the 60-present was also quite a good read. Maybe more valuable as a reference book than as a narrative but either way very informative.
September 4, 2017
If you know the story of Garvey and DuBois then Malcom X and King but little else this book does a great job of filling the gaps. If nothing else it should help to end the "not me" finger pointing that Northern liberals seem to feel entitled. Racist rot is deep in this country, all of it and only by confronting its history can we begin to make amends for this half of America's twin original sins.
April 29, 2014
I couldn't finish this tome. It is a very important account but I must say it is too dense and too packed with detail. That is of course the stuff of history but also speaks to the problems of writing a history with such a large scope. So not as good as The Origins of the Urban Crisis but nonetheless fascinating.
June 13, 2016
The issues that African Americans confronted in the North, i.e. any part of the country falling outside the boundaries of the Confederacy, during the Civil Rights era are the very issues we are facing in the post-Jim Crow South.
Not as dramatic and visible as the struggle in the South, but just as profound and in many ways more intransigent..
Not as dramatic and visible as the struggle in the South, but just as profound and in many ways more intransigent..
December 11, 2016
Sweet Land of Liberty is a comprehensive examination of the fight for Civil Rights in the North that does an excellent job of taking a look at a multitude of narratives to take a broader view but sometimes gets lost in the finer details. Sugrue's meticulous and thorough research is certainly noteworthy.
February 3, 2009
I thought Nicholas Lemann's "The Promised Land" accomplished more in fewer pages. This is a good history of an incredibly important, yet little studied topic, yet I felt like there was little to no original research in it.
August 8, 2009
It was a little slow going at first but after a few chapters, I really got into this book. I learned so much and it seems all the more applicable now that I'm living in Philadelphia. A very powerful reminder of how racism still exists and WHY it exists.
November 30, 2012
The chapters are too long, with hardly little breaks in them. Some of the information was repetitive for me. Took me two months to get through this book. Thank goodness I got it at the dollar store.
Well researched and written, but the long chapters were a big turn off for me.
Well researched and written, but the long chapters were a big turn off for me.
January 19, 2015
Sweet Land of Liberty was a long and challenging read, but definitely worth putting the time in if you'd like to learn more about a different side of American History, one that you probably weren't taught in 11th grade.
September 5, 2016
Big reminder to all that the civil rights era dealt with places north of the Mason-Dixon line. With all the concentration on South in most US history books, I think a lot of young people would be surprised by the contents of this book.
Read
December 21, 2008Finished reading except for the notes in back. It's excellent, I'll try to write some sort of review...
July 25, 2010
Full review here: http://landismom.wordpress.com/2010/0...
January 24, 2011
A colossal undertaking. His writing style isn't quite as engaging as it could be, which makes this a slog at times. But there are many important stories in these pages.
June 25, 2014
I read Thomas J. Sugrue's Sweet Land of Liberty three times as background to the problems of race in the northern USA.
August 20, 2017
overly detailed, but the most comprehensive account of the civil rights movement in the north.
March 28, 2016
I. Like. This
July 13, 2017
Really good and interesting, but some repetition and the timeline jumps around a bit. Fantastic book though.
November 13, 2017
Kind of disjointed, but overall, good information.
January 23, 2018
A great look at the civil rights from outside of the southern lense. A must read if you are interested in the civil rights movement.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews