Review by Choice Review
Julian Bond, tongue firmly in cheek, described the popular version of the Civil Rights Movement thusly: "Rosa sat down, Martin stood up and the white kids came down and saved the day." Hogan (Institute for the Study of Race Relations, Virginia State Univ.) demolishes this misconception in this brilliant and carefully researched work. Focusing on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Hogan argues with eloquence and passion that the crusade against segregation went deeper than simply lunch counters and ballot boxes. What started as a nonviolent movement to dismantle Jim Crow became an effort to give the poor a sense of self-worth. Hogan elegantly argues that SNCC built an organization that stressed individual action rather than hierarchical control. Often, this approach was lost on white students, who approached rural blacks with condescension. SNCC tried to build this version of the "beloved community" behind the backdrop of torture, brutality, and murder by white officials. This later led to bitterness and disillusionment, when Democratic Party officials as well as establishment black officials resisted SNCC efforts to have the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party replace the regulars at Atlantic City in 1964. Hogan produces sensitive portraits of SNCC members such as Ella Baker and the enigmatic Robert Moses. Magnificent. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. D. R. Turner Davis and Elkins College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
