PREFACE TO THE 2007 EDITION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
ONE
SETTING THE STAGE
TWO
TESTING THE LIMITS
Black Activism in Postwar Mississippi
THREE
GIVE LIGHT AND THE PEOPLE WILL FIND A WAY
The Roots of an Organizing Tradition
FOUR
MOVING ON MISSISSIPPI
FIVE
GREENWOOD
Building on the Past
SIX
IF YOU DON'T GO, DON'T HINDER ME
The Redefinition of Leadership
SEVEN
THEY KEPT THE STORY BEFORE ME
Families and Traditions
EIGHT
SLOW AND RESPECTFUL WORK
Organizers and Organizing
NINE
A WOMAN S WAR
TEN
TRANSITIONS
ELEVEN
CARRYING ON
The Politics of Empowerment
TWELVE
FROM SNCC TO SLICK
The Demoralization if the Movement
THIRTEEN
MRS. HAMER IS NO LONGER RELEVANT
The Loss if the Organizing Tradition
FOURTEEN
THE ROUGH DRAFT OF HISTORY
EPILOGUE
BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY:
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF HISTORY
NOTES
INTERVIEWS
INDEX
Charles M. Payne is Professor and Bass Fellow, African American Studies, History and Sociology, Duke University
"Not a comprehensive history of the civil rights movement in
Mississippi, this thoughtful study instead analyzes the legacy of
community organizing there. . . . Concentrating on the delta city
of Greenwood, he offers useful profiles of local activists, showing
that many came from families with traditions of social involvement
or defiance. He also explores the disproportionate number of female
volunteers, the older black generation's complex interactions with
whites and the decline of organizing as the 1960s proceeded."
*Publishers Weekly*
"An illuminating examination of the Civil Rights movement at the
local level, in this case Greenwood, Mississippi, in the 1960s. As
Payne deftly grafts Greenwood's struggle onto the larger movement,
he challenges several widely accepted conclusions, such as
overemphasizing a core cadre of male leaders while overlooking the
important contributions of women and youth and the belief that the
black church was an early leader in the movement. Much of Payne's
information is culled from oral interviews with actual movement
participants. The result is an important history of the Civil
Rights movement at the grass-roots level . . . The excellent
bibliographic essay is essential reading. Recommended for any
library that collects Civil Rights materials."
*Library Journal*
Payne (African American studies, Northwestern Univ.) presents an illuminating examination of the Civil Rights movement at the local level, in this case Greenwood, Mississippi, in the 1960s. As Payne deftly grafts Greenwood's struggle onto the larger movement, he challenges several widely accepted conclusions, such as overemphasizing a core cadre of male leaders while overlooking the important contributions of women and youth and the belief that the black church was an early leader in the movement. Much of Payne's information is culled from oral interviews with actual movement participants. The result is an important history of the Civil Rights movement at the grass-roots level that is reminiscent of Robert Norrell's Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee (Knopf, 1985). The excellent bibliographic essay is essential reading. Recommended for any library that collects Civil Rights materials.-Jonathan Jeffrey, Western Kentucky Univ., Bowling Green
"Not a comprehensive history of the civil rights movement in
Mississippi, this thoughtful study instead analyzes the legacy of
community organizing there. . . . Concentrating on the delta city
of Greenwood, he offers useful profiles of local activists, showing
that many came from families with traditions of social involvement
or defiance. He also explores the disproportionate number of female
volunteers, the older black generation's complex interactions with
whites and the decline of organizing as the 1960s proceeded." *
Publishers Weekly *
"An illuminating examination of the Civil Rights movement at the
local level, in this case Greenwood, Mississippi, in the 1960s. As
Payne deftly grafts Greenwood's struggle onto the larger movement,
he challenges several widely accepted conclusions, such as
overemphasizing a core cadre of male leaders while overlooking the
important contributions of women and youth and the belief that the
black church was an early leader in the movement. Much of Payne's
information is culled from oral interviews with actual movement
participants. The result is an important history of the Civil
Rights movement at the grass-roots level . . . The excellent
bibliographic essay is essential reading. Recommended for any
library that collects Civil Rights materials." * Library Journal *
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