River of hope
Subtitle: Black politics and the Memphis freedom movement, 1865-1954
By: Elizabeth Gritter
Series: Civil rights and the struggle for Black equality in the twentieth century; Civil rights and the struggle for Black equality in the twentieth century
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 355
ISBN-13: 9780813144504
Subjects: Politics and government; Race relations; Civil rights; African Americans; Civil rights movements; History
Other titles: Black politics and the Memphis freedom movement, 1865-1954
Description: One of the largest Southern cities and a hub for the cotton industry, Memphis, Tennessee, was at the forefront of Black political empowerment during the Jim Crow era. Compared to other cities in the South, Memphis had an unusually large number of African American voters. Black Memphians sought reform at the ballot box, formed clubs, ran for office, and engaged in voter registration and education activities from the end of the Civil War through the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. In this groundbreaking book, Elizabeth Gritter examines how and why black Memphians mobilized politically in the period between Reconstruction and the beginning of the civil rights movement. Gritter illuminates, in particular, the efforts and influence of Robert R. Church Jr., an affluent Republican and founder of the Lincoln League, and the notorious Memphis political boss Edward H. Crump. Using these two men as lenses through which to view African American political engagement, this volume explores how black voters and their leaders both worked with and opposed the white political machine at the ballot box. River of Hope challenges persisting notions of a "Solid South" of white Democratic control by arguing that the small but significant number of black southerners who retained the right to vote had more influence than scholars have heretofore assumed. Gritter's nuanced study presents a fascinating view of the complex nature of political power during the Jim Crow era and provides fresh insight into the efforts of the individuals who laid the foundation for civil rights victories in the 1950s and '60s.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: "To regain the lost rights of a growing race": Black political mobilization from 1865 to 1916; title: "The fight...to make America safe for Americans": Memphis as a political model for the region and the country, 1917-1927; title: "Come...and see what a Negro Democrat looks like": the diversity of Black political activity from 1928 to 1939; title: "As un-American as any dictator-ridden country in Europe": seeking democracy during the war years, 1940-1945; title: "A new day breaking" in the city and the south: the decline of the Crump machine and the rise of new leadership, 1946-1954; title: Conclusion.