Table of Contents

Author's Note  xi

Preface to the Paperback Edition: More Than a Gun Story  xv

Introduction  1

Prologue: I Come to Get My Gun  19

1. "Over My Head I See Freedom in the Air"  27

2. "The Day of Camouflage Is Past"  55

3. "Fighting for What We Didn't Have"  83

4. "I Wasn't Being Non-Nonviolent"  114

5. Which Cheek you Gonna Turn?  149

6. Standing Our Ground  187

Epilogue: "The King of Love Is Dead"  227

Afterword: Understanding History  239

Acknowledgments  251

Notes  253

Index  283

About the Author

Charles E. Cobb Jr. is a former field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and has taught at Brown University. An award-winning journalist, he is an inductee of the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame. Cobb lives in Jacksonville, Florida.  

Reviews

"Students at a high school or college level would find the book both a fascinating read and a useful tool for learning about civil rights activism. For students in a survey course on United States history, or undergraduates in a U.S. history course for up and coming history majors, This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed would be a valuable resource in both how to write compelling history and how to explore themes, such as civil rights history, that have been well traveled before."
*History Teacher*

"This book will have readers who might have nothing else in common politically reaching for a copy."
*PJ Media*

"In this challenging book, Charles Cobb, a former organizer, examines the role of guns in the civil rights movement."
*Mother Jones*

"[A] brilliant book. . . . A serious analytical work of the African-American southern Freedom Struggle, Cobb’s book…deserves a prominent place on everyone’s reading list."
*Against the Current*

"[A] richly detailed memoir." 
*New York Times Book Review*

"A frank look at the complexities and contradictions of the civil rights movement, particularly with regard to the intertwined issues of nonviolence and self-defense. . . . Thought-provoking and studded with piercing ironies."  
*Kirkus Reviews*

"Cobb's long-essay format brings the Freedom Movement to life in an unexpected way, shaking up conventional historical views and changing the conversation about individual freedom and personal protection that continues today. . . . A nuanced exploration of the complex relationship between nonviolent civil disobedience and the threat of armed retaliation." 
*Shelf Awareness for Readers*

"Cobb brilliantly situates the civil rights movement in the context of Southern life and gun culture, with a thesis that is unpacked by way of firsthand and personal accounts."
*Library Journal*

"[A] bracing and engrossing celebration of black armed resistance." 
*Publishers Weekly*

"Cobb’s book extends beyond the subject of self-defense and violence to provide an enhanced understanding of community organizing yesterday and today in the freedom struggle for a more inclusive and progressive society."
*Journal of American Culture*

"[A] revelatory new history of armed self-defense and the civil rights movement."
*Reason*

"Cobb . . . reviews the long tradition of self-protection among African Americans, who knew they could not rely on local law enforcement for protection. . . . Understanding how the use of guns makes this history of the civil rights movement more compelling to readers, Cobb is nonetheless focused on the determination of ordinary citizens, women included, to win their rights, even if that meant packing a pistol in a pocket or purse." 
*Booklist*