The Black people of Marks, Mississippi, and other rural southern
towns were the backbone of the civil rights movement, yet their
stories have too rarely been celebrated and are, for the most part,
forgotten. Part memoir, part oral history, and part historical
study, A Day I Ain't Never Seen Before tells the story of the
struggle for equality and dignity through the words of these
largely unknown men and women and the civil rights workers who
joined them. Deeply rooted in documentary and archival sources,
this book also offers extensive suggestions for further readings on
both Marks and the civil rights movement. Set carefully within its
broader historical context, the narrative begins with the founding
of the town and the oppressive conditions under which Black people
lived and traces their persistent efforts to win the rights and
justice they deserved. In their own words, Marks residents describe
their lives before, during, and after the activist years of the
civil rights movement, bolstered by the voices of those like Joe
Bateman who arrived in the mid-1960s to help. Voter registration
projects, white violence, sit-ins, arrests, school desegregation
cases, community-organizing meetings, protest marches, Freedom
Schools, door-to-door organizing-all of these played out in Marks.
The broader civil rights movement intersects many of these local
efforts, from Freedom Summer to the War on Poverty, from the death
of a Marks man on the March against Fear (Martin Luther King Jr.
preached at his funeral) to the Poor People's Movement, whose Mule
Train began in Marks. At each point Bateman and local activists
detail how they understood what they were doing and how each
protest action played out. The final chapters examine Marks in the
aftermath of the movement, with residents reflecting on the changes
(or lack thereof ) they have seen. Here are triumphs and beatings,
courage and infighting, surveillance and-sometimes- lasting
progress, in the words of those who lived it.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
