Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice
- ISBN-10
- 0199792968
- ISBN-13
- 9780199792962
- Series
- Freedom Riders
- Category
- Social Science
- Pages
- 320
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2011-03-11
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Author
- Raymond Arsenault
Description
The saga of the Freedom Rides is an improbable, almost unbelievable story. In the course of six months in 1961, four hundred and fifty Freedom Riders expanded the realm of the possible in American politics, redefining the limits of dissent and setting the stage for the civil rights movement. In this new version of his encyclopedic Freedom Riders, Raymond Arsenault offers a significantly condensed and tautly written account. With characters and plot lines rivaling those of the most imaginative fiction, this is a tale of heroic sacrifice and unexpected triumph. Arsenault recounts how a group of volunteers--blacks and whites--came together to travel from Washington DC through the Deep South, defying Jim Crow laws in buses and terminals and putting their lives on the line for racial justice. News photographers captured the violence in Montgomery, shocking the nation and sparking a crisis in the Kennedy administration. Here are the key players--their fears and courage, their determination and second thoughts, and the agonizing choices they faced as they took on Jim Crow--and triumphed. Winner of the Owsley Prize Publication is timed to coincide with the airing of the American Experience miniseries documenting the Freedom Rides "Arsenault brings vividly to life a defining moment in modern American history." --Eric Foner, The New York Times Book Review "Authoritative, compelling history." --William Grimes, The New York Times "For those interested in understanding 20th-century America, this is an essential book." --Roger Wilkins, Washington Post Book World "Arsenault's record of strategy sessions, church vigils, bloody assaults, mass arrests, political maneuverings and personal anguish captures the mood and the turmoil, the excitement and the confusion of the movement and the time." --Michael Kenney, The Boston Globe
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2011-03-11
- 320 pages
- Ebook
- Oxford University Press
-
- 2006-01-15
- 704 pages
- Ebook
- Oxford University Press
-
- 2006
- 705 pages
- Paperback
- Oxford University Press
Similar books
-
Freedom Riders: A Primary Source Exploration of the Struggle for Racial Justice
By Heather E. Schwartz"Uses primary sources to tell the story of the Freedom Riders during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement"--
-
The Freedom Rides
By Anne Wallace SharpAuthor Anne Wallace Sharp describes the events that led up to and followed the historic Freedom Rides of 1961.
-
Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961
By Larry Dane BrimnerMAY 1961 SUNDAY 21 28 MONDAY 7 14 MOTHER'S DAY 1 8 15 22 29 MEMORIAL DAY TUESDAY 2 9 16 23 30 WEDNESDAY 3 10 17 24 31 THURSDAY 4 11 18 25 FRIDAY 5 12 19 26 6 SATURDAY 13 20 27 TWELVE DAYS IN MAY FREEDOM.
-
Autobiography of a Freedom Rider: My Life as a Foot Soldier for Civil Rights
By Thomas Armstrong, Natalie BellThey were called Freedom Riders and Thomas M. Armstrong was one of them. This is his story as well as a look ahead at the work still to be done. June, 1961.
-
Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders
By Eric EtheridgeIn the spring and summer of 1961, several hundred Americans—blacks and whites, men and women—converged on Jackson, Mississippi, to challenge state segregation laws. The Freedom Riders, as they came to...
-
Buses Are a Comin': Memoir of a Freedom Rider
By Charles Person, Richard RookerAt 18, Charles Person was the youngest of the original Freedom Riders, key figures in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement who left Washington, D.C. by bus in 1961, headed for New Orleans.
-
Civil Rights: Freedom Riders
By Harriet IseckePresents an introduction to the Freedom Rides in a readers' theater format.
-
The Freedom Rides: The Rise of the Civil Rights Movement
By Sarah MachajewskiBy the middle of the 1900s, African Americans were tired of the discriminatory treatment they had been receiving even after the abolition of slavery nearly 100 years prior.
-
Freedom Rider Diary: Smuggled Notes from Parchman Prison
By Carol Ruth SilverThis book offers a heretofore unavailable detailed diary from a woman Freedom Rider along with an introduction by historian Raymond Arsenault, author of the definitive history of the Freedom Rides.
-
Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement
By Ann BausumHow did two youths-one raised in an all-black community in the deep South, the other brought up with only whites in the Midwest-become partners for freedom during the civil rights...