The Eyes on the prize : civil rights reader : documents, speeches, and firsthand accounts from the Black freedom struggle, 1954-1990 /

An anthology of primary material important in the historiography of this country's civil rights movement. An updated revision of the 1987 Penguin publication Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, which appeared in conjunction with the acclaimed 14-part PBS television series "Eyes on the Prize," this collection gathers such essential documents as landmark Martin Luther King, Jr., speeches; the text of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case; excerpts from significant writings of Malcolm X; and a 1980 address delivered in Atlanta by African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela. Not simply for reference use, this compilation makes provocative cover-to-cover reading and is extremely worthy of consideration by every library, even by those whose holdings include the previous edition. ~--Brad Hooper

This volume is one of several produced in conjunction with the 14-part PBS Eyes on the Prize television series. It is a collection of over 100 court decisions, speeches, interviews, and other documents on the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1990. Included in the collection are the Brown v. Board of Education decision of the Supreme Court that declared legally segregated schools to be unconstitutional, Martin Luther King's ``Letter from Birmingham City Jail,'' Harold Washington's inaugural speech after being elected mayor of Chicago, and the speech delivered by Nelson Mandela in Atlanta in June 1990. The chapter introductions written by the editors are sometimes too brief to enable readers to fully appreciate the context and importance of the documents. Nonetheless, the volume is rich in primary source material on the civil rights movement. It can be a valuable reference work for public and university libraries.-- Thomas H. Ferrell, Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.