Memphis native D'Army Bailey was the freshman class president at Southern University when four black college students refused to leave the whites-only lunch counter of a Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth's on February 1, 1960. Their action set off a wave of similar protests among black college students across the South, including D'Army Bailey and his classmates at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Education of a Black Radical details Bailey's experiences on the front lines of the black student movement of the early 1960s, providing a rare firsthand account of the early days of America's civil rights struggle and a shining example of one man's struggle to uphold the courageous principles of liberty, justice, and equality. ¶ After being expelled from Southern for leading a class boycott to protest the administration's efforts to quell the lingering unrest on campus, Bailey continued his academic journey north to Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He sustained and expanded his activism in the North and he provides invaluable eyewitness accounts of many major events from the civil rights era, including the 1963 March on Washington. Labeled "subversive" and a "black nationalist militant" by the FBI, Bailey crossed paths with many visionary activists, including Malcolm X, Abbie Hoffman, Reverend Will D. Campbell, Anne Braden, James Meredith, Tom Hayden and future Congressmen Barney Frank, John Lewis, and Allard Lowenstein.

In this exciting revisionist history, Stephen Tuck traces the black freedom struggle in all its diversity, from the first years of freedom during the Civil War to President Obamarsquo;s inauguration. As it moves from popular culture to high politics, from the Deep South to New England, the West Coast, and abroad, Tuck weaves gripping stories of ordinary black people-as well as celebrated figures-into the sweep of racial protest and social change. The drama unfolds from an armed march of longshoremen in postndash;Civil War Baltimore to Booker T. Washingtonrsquo;s founding of Tuskegee Institute; from the race riots following Jack Johnsonrsquo;s ldquo;fight of the centuryrdquo; to Rosa Parksrsquo; refusal to move to the back of a Montgomery bus; and from the rise of hip hop to the journey of a black Louisiana grandmother to plead with the Tokyo directors of a multinational company to stop the dumping of toxic waste near her home.We Ainrsquo;t What We Ought To Be rejects the traditional narrative that identifies the Southern non-violent civil rights movement as the focal point of the black freedom struggle. Instead, it explores the dynamic relationships between those seeking new freedoms and those looking to preserve racial hierarchies, and between grassroots activists and national leaders. As Tuck shows, strategies were ultimately contingent on the power of activists to protest amidst shifting economic and political circumstances in the U.S. and abroad. This book captures an extraordinary journey that speaks to all Americans-both past and future.

Williams and Beard are both writers and editors who have specialized in civil rights and African-American history, and they have written this catalog of major human rights events that correspond to each day of the year. Written for general audiences, this volume contains single-page descriptions ranging from the Emancipation Proclamation (issued on January 1, 1863) to poet Charles McKay's response to race riots on December 31, 1919. An introductory essay from the authors analyzes the debate on how to define the scope and timeline of the modern Civil Rights Movement. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Barack Obama’s presidential victory demonstrated unprecedented racial progress on a national level. Not since the civil rights legislation of the 1960s has the United States seen such remarkable advances. During Obama’s historic campaign, however, prominent African Americans voiced concern about his candidacy, demonstrating a divided agenda among black political leaders. nbsp; The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. changed perceptions about the nature of African American leadership. InYes We Did?,Cynthia Fleming examines the expansion of black leadership from grassroots to the national arena, beginning with Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois and progressing through contemporary leaders including Harold Ford Jr., Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson Jr., and Barack Obama. She emphasizes socioeconomic status, female black leadership, media influence, black conservatism, and generational conflict. nbsp; Fleming had unprecedented access to a wide range of activists, including Carol Mosley Braun, Al Sharpton, and John Hope Franklin. She deftly maps the history of black leadership in America, illuminating both lingering disadvantages and obstacles that developed after the civil rights movement. Among those interviewed were community activists and scholars, as well as former freedom riders, sit-in activists, and others who were intimately involved in the civil rights struggle and close to Dr. King. Their personal accounts reflect the diverse viewpoints of the black community and offer a new understanding of the history of African American leadership, its current status, and its uncertain future.