Portland Public Library

Down to the crossroads, civil rights, Black power, and the Meredith march against fear, Aram Goudsouzian

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

contains biographical information

platesillustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

Down to the crossroads

bibliography

846545696

Aram Goudsouzian

civil rights, Black power, and the Meredith march against fear

"The engrossing story of a march that became the key turning point in the history of the civil rights movement. On June 5, 1966, the civil rights hero James Meredith left Memphis, Tennessee, on foot. Setting off toward Jackson, Mississippi, he hoped his march would promote Black voter registration and defy racism. The next day, he was shot by a mysterious white man and transferred to a hospital. What followed was one of the key dramas of the civil rights era. When the leading figures of the civil rights movement flew to Mississippi to carry on Meredith's effort, they found themselves confronting Southern law enforcement officials, local activists, and one another. In the subsequent three weeks, Martin Luther King Jr. narrowly escaped a mob attack, protesters were teargassed by state police, Lyndon Johnson refused federal intervention, and the young charismatic activist Stokely Carmichael first led the chant that would define the next phase of the civil rights era: Black Power. Aram Goudsouzian's Down to the Crossroads is the story of the last great march of the civil rights era and the first great showdown of the turbulent years that followed. Tracking rural demonstrators' courage and impassioned debates among movement leaders, Goudsouzian reveals the complex legacy of an event that would both integrate African Americans into the political system and inspire an era of bolder protests against it. Full of drama and historical resonance, this book is civil rights history at its best"--, Provided by publisher

Prologue: a new day -- The Bible and the gun -- Leaving Egypt -- Bargains in blood -- Daylight breaking -- Registering is all right -- The world is watching -- Everybody should have their march -- Standing tall -- Politics and poverty -- Down to the crossroads -- The crow and the blackbird -- Delta blues -- Brotherly love -- The prize bull -- The shadow of death -- Uninvited guests -- We're the greatest -- Dreams and nightmares -- Epilogue: Highway 51 revisited