Customer Reviews

Civilities and Civil Rights : Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom

5 star:		(1)
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Enjoyed the book. I thought some moments in time could have been interlinked a bit tighter, but overall, it was very insightful and educational. A must read for those who get snowed over by the "his story" books.

This book is a view of what ordinary people, black and white, did to change the city of Greensboro, North Carolina during the civil rights era. It is mainly the story of grassroots activism with a smattering of the activities of politicians. In fact, there is more about what the elite of the community did than the politicians. The book covers the famous lunch counter sit-ins of 1961, school integration, white backlash and the black power movement. There is also a description of the split between members of the black community in the early seventies along generational lines.

Buyer beware...this is not a description of the Civil Rights movement in North Carolina. It is far more a case study of one town. In that sense, it is limited. Some of the prose in the book has not worn well over the past 27 years. Simply put, this isn't the definitive book for Civil Rights in North Carolina.

Having said that, the story is interesting and well researched if the reader is only looking for information on Greensboro, and the bibliography in the back, while not tremendously detailed, appears to be a good place to continue looking for more information.

ANNOTATION
"'Social history at its best, portraying the events that led up to the sit-ins and the disappointments that came after.'"--New York Times Book Review

FROM THE PUBLISHER
"The 'sit-ins' at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro launched the passive resistance phase of the civil rights revolution. This book tells the story of what happened in Greensboro; it also tells the story in microcosm of America's effort to come to grips with our most abiding national dilemma--racism."