Traveler's Guide to the Civil Rights Movement Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book is fascinating even if you never leave home. It's both a travel guide and a reference for anyone wanting to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement. But it's not limited to modern times; like many historians, the author takes the view that the struggle for civil rights began the moment the first enslaved African set foot on these shores and tried to break free. And it continued anywhere that people fought for dignity and equality.
Consequently, the sites described here include sites of slave rebellions, legal battles, Underground Railroad safe houses, historically black colleges, churches, museums...even the minor league stadium in Florida where Jackie Robinson broke through the color line.
I particularly enjoyed the author's honest and opinionated style. Black history has been overshadowed by white interpretation for a very long time, even in locations where the majority population was black. Visit a Southern plantation and you will learn about the lifestyle of the owners, but very little about the slaves who made that lifestyle possible. You may ogle the beautiful handcrafted furniture, yet never be told that a black artisan created it. He notes that much depends on which particular docent you end up with. Regarding Monticello, he says "...some guides more comfortable with the old Jefferson story of his inventions and quirks acknowledge the Hemings affair in clipped tones. Others discuss it volubly."
The National Park Service is among those working toward a more inclusive interpretation of their historic sites, and Carrier tells us when changes are planned. He provides web sites for further study. He also writes about planned memorials.
Women are equally represented here. For example, he notes that the Montgomery bus boycott was Jo Ann Robinson's brainchild and that a "reluctant" Martin Luther King Jr. was brought in to head the movement the day after the Women's Political Caucus had distributed leaflets to every business and church in town. He also notes that despite black women's long history of struggle for civil rights, the male leadership refused to allow any to speak at the 1963 March on Washington...in fact, Coretta King and other wives weren't wasn't even allowed to march with their husbands. "...after all their work and sacrifice, deliberate rebuff by male activists was unforgivable" he says.
A book that belongs in every high school library!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Traveler's Guide to the Civil Rights Movement

In 2004, the United States will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. As our country begins a national retrospective of the civil rights movement, here is the perfect book to help explore the long struggle toward racial equality. Part guidebook, part civil rights primer, A Traveler's Guide to the Civil Rights Movement memorializes the years 1954 to 1965 as well as the vast, underappreciated black history from which our modern civil rights movement began.More than five million people visit civil rights and black history landmarks each year, from the National Voting Rights Museum and the King Center to lesser-known spots such as slave auction sites and the locations of crucial marches and boycotts. This guide provides suggested state and city tours of these historic places and offers thoughtful commentary on the importance of each landmark, giving us a unique lens through which to view one of America's most important social movements.Includes suggested state and city tours in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.