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The Resource A more beautiful and terrible history : the uses and misuses of civil rights history, Jeanne Theoharis

A more beautiful and terrible history : the uses and misuses of civil rights history, Jeanne Theoharis

Creator
Author
Summary
The civil rights movement has become national legend, lauded by presidents from Reagan to Obama to Trump, as proof of the power of American democracy. This fable, featuring dreamy heroes and accidental heroines, has shuttered the movement firmly in the past, whitewashed the forces that stood in its way, and diminished its scope. And it is used perniciously in our own times to chastise present-day movements and obscure contemporary injustice. In A More Beautiful and Terrible History, award-winning historian Jeanne Theoharis dissects this national myth-making, teasing apart the accepted stories to show them in a strikingly different light. We see Rosa Parks not simply as a bus lady but a lifelong criminal justice activist and radical; Martin Luther King, Jr. as not only challenging Southern sheriffs but Northern liberals, too; and Coretta Scott King not only as a "helpmate" but a lifelong economic justice and peace activist who pushed her husband's activism in these directions. Moving from "the histories we get" to "the histories we need," Theoharis challenges nine key aspects of the fable to reveal the diversity of people, especially women and young people, who led the movement; the work and disruption it took; the role of the media and "polite racism" in maintaining injustice; and the immense barriers and repression activists faced. Theoharis makes us reckon with the fact that far from being acceptable, passive or unified, the civil rights movement was unpopular, disruptive, and courageously persevering. Activists embraced an expansive vision of justice -- which a majority of Americans opposed and which the federal government feared. By showing us the complex reality of the movement, the power of its organizing, and the beauty and scope of the vision, Theoharis proves that there was nothing natural or inevitable about the progress that occurred.--Dust jacket
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
xxv, 253 pages
Contents
  • Preface: A dream diluted and distorted
  • THE HISTORIES WE GET. Introduction: The political uses and misuses of civil rights history and memorialization in the present
  • THE HISTORIES WE NEED. The long movement outside the South : fighting for school desegregation in the "liberal" North
  • Revisiting the uprisings of the 1960s and the history of injustice and struggle that preceded them
  • Beyond the redneck : polite racism and "the white moderate"
  • The media was often an obstacle to the struggle for racial justice
  • Beyond a bus seat : the movement pressed for desegregation, criminal justice, economic justice, and global justice
  • The great man view of history, part I: Where are the young people?
  • The great man view of history, part II: Where are the women?
  • Extremists, troublemakers, and national security threats : the public demonization of rebels, the toll it took, and government repression of the movement
  • Learning to play on locked pianos : the movement was persevering, organized, disruptive, and often disparaged, and other lessons from the Montgomery Bus Boycott
  • Afterword: A history for a better world
Isbn
9780807075876
Instance
Label
A more beautiful and terrible history : the uses and misuses of civil rights history
Title
A more beautiful and terrible history
Title remainder
the uses and misuses of civil rights history
Statement of responsibility
Jeanne Theoharis
Creator
Author
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
The civil rights movement has become national legend, lauded by presidents from Reagan to Obama to Trump, as proof of the power of American democracy. This fable, featuring dreamy heroes and accidental heroines, has shuttered the movement firmly in the past, whitewashed the forces that stood in its way, and diminished its scope. And it is used perniciously in our own times to chastise present-day movements and obscure contemporary injustice. In A More Beautiful and Terrible History, award-winning historian Jeanne Theoharis dissects this national myth-making, teasing apart the accepted stories to show them in a strikingly different light. We see Rosa Parks not simply as a bus lady but a lifelong criminal justice activist and radical; Martin Luther King, Jr. as not only challenging Southern sheriffs but Northern liberals, too; and Coretta Scott King not only as a "helpmate" but a lifelong economic justice and peace activist who pushed her husband's activism in these directions. Moving from "the histories we get" to "the histories we need," Theoharis challenges nine key aspects of the fable to reveal the diversity of people, especially women and young people, who led the movement; the work and disruption it took; the role of the media and "polite racism" in maintaining injustice; and the immense barriers and repression activists faced. Theoharis makes us reckon with the fact that far from being acceptable, passive or unified, the civil rights movement was unpopular, disruptive, and courageously persevering. Activists embraced an expansive vision of justice -- which a majority of Americans opposed and which the federal government feared. By showing us the complex reality of the movement, the power of its organizing, and the beauty and scope of the vision, Theoharis proves that there was nothing natural or inevitable about the progress that occurred.--Dust jacket
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Theoharis, Jeanne
Dewey number
323.1196/0730904
Index
index present
LC call number
E185.61
LC item number
.T44 2018
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • African Americans
  • African Americans
  • Civil rights movements
  • Civil rights movements
  • United States
  • United States
  • African Americans
  • African Americans
  • HISTORY
  • POLITICAL SCIENCE
  • SOCIAL SCIENCE
Label
A more beautiful and terrible history : the uses and misuses of civil rights history, Jeanne Theoharis
Instantiates
Publication
Copyright
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-243) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Preface: A dream diluted and distorted -- THE HISTORIES WE GET. Introduction: The political uses and misuses of civil rights history and memorialization in the present -- THE HISTORIES WE NEED. The long movement outside the South : fighting for school desegregation in the "liberal" North -- Revisiting the uprisings of the 1960s and the history of injustice and struggle that preceded them -- Beyond the redneck : polite racism and "the white moderate" -- The media was often an obstacle to the struggle for racial justice -- Beyond a bus seat : the movement pressed for desegregation, criminal justice, economic justice, and global justice -- The great man view of history, part I: Where are the young people? -- The great man view of history, part II: Where are the women? -- Extremists, troublemakers, and national security threats : the public demonization of rebels, the toll it took, and government repression of the movement -- Learning to play on locked pianos : the movement was persevering, organized, disruptive, and often disparaged, and other lessons from the Montgomery Bus Boycott -- Afterword: A history for a better world
Control code
on1008773899
Dimensions
24 cm
Extent
xxv, 253 pages
Isbn
9780807075876
Lccn
2017030979
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
(OCoLC)1008773899
Label
A more beautiful and terrible history : the uses and misuses of civil rights history, Jeanne Theoharis
Publication
Copyright
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-243) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Preface: A dream diluted and distorted -- THE HISTORIES WE GET. Introduction: The political uses and misuses of civil rights history and memorialization in the present -- THE HISTORIES WE NEED. The long movement outside the South : fighting for school desegregation in the "liberal" North -- Revisiting the uprisings of the 1960s and the history of injustice and struggle that preceded them -- Beyond the redneck : polite racism and "the white moderate" -- The media was often an obstacle to the struggle for racial justice -- Beyond a bus seat : the movement pressed for desegregation, criminal justice, economic justice, and global justice -- The great man view of history, part I: Where are the young people? -- The great man view of history, part II: Where are the women? -- Extremists, troublemakers, and national security threats : the public demonization of rebels, the toll it took, and government repression of the movement -- Learning to play on locked pianos : the movement was persevering, organized, disruptive, and often disparaged, and other lessons from the Montgomery Bus Boycott -- Afterword: A history for a better world
Control code
on1008773899
Dimensions
24 cm
Extent
xxv, 253 pages
Isbn
9780807075876
Lccn
2017030979
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
(OCoLC)1008773899

Subject

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