The Civil Rights Reader: American Literature from Jim Crow to Reconciliation

by Julie Buckner Armstrong (Editor), Booker T. Washington (Contributor), Charles W. Chesnutt (Contributor)

This anthology of drama, essays, fiction, and poetry presents a thoughtful, classroom-tested selection of the best literature for learning about the long civil rights movement. Unique in its focus on creative writing, the volume also ranges beyond a familiar 1954-68 chronology to include works from the 1890s to the present.

The civil rights movement was a complex, ongoing process of defining national values such as freedom, justice, and equality. In ways that historical documents cannot, these collected writings show how Americans negotiated this process―politically, philosophically, emotionally, spiritually, and creatively.

Gathered here are works by some of the most influential writers to engage issues of race and social justice in America, including James Baldwin, Flannery O'Connor, Amiri Baraka, and Nikki Giovanni.

The volume begins with works from the post-Reconstruction period when racial segregation became legally sanctioned and institutionalized. This section, titled "The Rise of Jim Crow," spans the period from Frances E. W. Harper's Iola Leroy to Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

In the second section, "The Fall of Jim Crow," Martin Luther King Jr's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and a chapter from The Autobiography of Malcolm X appear alongside poems by Robert Hayden, June Jordan, and others who responded to these key figures and to the events of the time. "Reflections and Continuing Struggles," the last section, includes works by such current authors as Rita Dove, Anthony Grooms, and Patricia J. Williams.

These diverse perspectives on the struggle for civil rights can promote the kinds of conversations that we, as a nation, still need to initiate.

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Hope · Rating 2 out of 5]

Section 1 of this book was really good. Section 2 on the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century, however, was incredibly imbalanced. Most of the selections were poems. Did men and women only write poems during this era? Certainly not. Section 3 also left much to be desired. Despite being edited by two women, this book did not achieve gender parity in terms of selections. I previewed this book for a course I'm teaching in the fall and was gravely disappointed.

[Katharine Huey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful. I grew up in a pretty white area, and don't remember having any of this material in school. I loved being able to appreciate a wide range of authors and poets, receive their back stories, and then tie the works to the current events of the time of writing. An excellent complement to reading anti-racism work. Due to the content being a collection, this book can also be consumed a little at a time (3-10 pages at a time), so it's perfect for busy lives.