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Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights: 1919-1950

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In a speech before the Organization of American Historians, scholar Jacquelyn Dowd Hall offered a window onto "the long civil rights movement" -- a struggle for human rights, economic and social citizenship, and human dignity that began long before Brown v. Board of Education and continued long after the assassination of Martin Luther King.

In her pathbreaking book, Defying Dixie, professor Glenda Gilmore gives texture and character to the long civil rights movement, using indigenous southern activists, black and white, to give her story shape. These activists, from the fearless and foolhardy Lovett Fort-Whiteman to the brilliant and indomitable Pauli Murray, all faced the demon of American white supremacy and did their best to slay it. They did not always prevail with strategies they dreamed up and pursued, but their vision and dedication bequeathed us a social movement, more expansive than the classic civil rights movement, that still informs drives for justice and equity.

Gilmore's book moves beyond the tired debates of Cold War historiography and the simple hagiography of civil rights heroes to give us a dynamic movement filled with complex characters. In giving these people their due, and rooting them in American soil, Defying Dixie helps us to understand the promise and possibilities of American politics, and to contend with the present in which we live.

This book covers an important period just after World War I (1919) and just prior to the Brown V. Board of Education decision(1954). This was a period of severe violence and repression for "Negroes". This violence and repression permeated every aspect of "Negro" life--lynching, race riots, tenant farming, convict labor system, jury exclusion, poll taxes, rigged legal systems and employment and public accommodation discrimination and more. For African Americans the situation had become untenable. Many of the returning veterans and others realized that the United States could be a very different place if it could be moved in the right direction in line with its creeds and constitution. "Negroes" had to play an ever increasing role in their own deliverance. Against this backdrop, Defying Dixie documents the attempts of the African American people and their allies to establish full identities for themselves and create a social milieu where they could operate as full human beings. This was an era where "Negroes" pursued an assortment of strategies and tactics-legal battles, letter writing campaigns, media engagement, governmental appeals, mass protests, sit-ins, boycotts, internal migration, emigration, etc and selected from an array of ideologies and guiding principles--democracy, communism, Gandhian passive resistance, integration, desegregation, socialism to support their liberation. Alliances and allegiances developed across the political spectrum to support "Negro" rights. This book gives voice to little known organizations and activists who worked tirelessly to improve the condition of "Negroes" and set the stage for the more famous civil rights activities which were to occur in the later fifties and sixties. Many of the tactics were tried and perfected during this period. Many connections were made between civil rights and communism, international and domestic politics, anti-communism and anti-liberalism and the support of segregation, and the origin of states rights to support continued black suppression. How could the American ideology against fascism and communism be reconciled with its own failings to live up to its promises for all of its citizens? "Negroes" were among the first Americans to offer support for Jews in the age of Hitler because "Negroes'" understood that their plights were similar. Both Jews and "Negroes" were savaged by fascism with a particularly racist overlay. The civil rights activities that we are all familiar with did not appear out of nowhere or accidentally, but were the result of decades of sacrifice by activists who risked and loss much in the service of human rights. This formative period of direct action and legal protest by pioneers should be more well known.

Many of the issues related to individual identity formation which are still in the process of being resolved today were recognized during this period. Discrimination based on sex and gender orientation are also a part of this legacy.

The book though informative is at times difficult reading because there is considerable chronological overlap in the telling. This makes the narrative somewhat difficult to follow; however, the value of the information overcomes this mild deficiency and makes the effort worthwhile.

Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore's DEFYING DIXIE: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919 - 1950 is the history of the civil rights movement from that time until the early 1950s. It gives inside history, interviews and information on how the Civil Rights movement that we are aware of today, came about. In the beginning, the Communist party was deeply involved. Their plan was to get the workers of America - black and white - to fight for better salaries from the companies they worked for. The only way to accomplish that was to get the two groups to work together. Naturally, the South, with its legacy of slavery, wasn't too happy with the mixing of the races. The companies, to keep their profits high, wanted to continue to pay blacks less than they paid whites and the only way to do that was to keep them separate. Many residents of the South didn't want blacks involved in the job market because they felt it would reduce their ability to have those jobs. There were, however, many people, of both races, who were determined that segregation/Jim Crow, would end. They were brave enough to defy the system and as a result, they frequently ended up in jail or worse.

During the Second World War, as Stalin took power, the involvement of the Communist party began to lose its appeal. The House Un-American Activities became concerned and the FBI spied on Communist and suspects. Any contact with a Communist could cause problems. It didn't stop those who were determined to force America to honor what it claimed it went to war for, from pushing their agenda for social and economic equality for all, even though many of them suffered for it.

Gilmore has written a heart rending account that covers history that is either missing or glossed over in our history books. So often we don't know the brutal history that brought us where we are today and Gilmore lets us know in no uncertain terms. Some of the unfair situations that blacks face will break your heart. It is a book every American should read in order to understand where we have come from and where we are going. It should be required reading for both high school and college students.

Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Defying Dixie talks about the radical roots during the Civil Rights Movement. Glenda Gilmore language throughout the book is a little hard to understand. However, if your are into the civil rights movement and how this affect to other people outside our nation, this book is just for you.

Yale University provides annual book awards for outstanding students. This book was on their list of award books in 2009 for graduating high school seniors. To know where we are, we have to know where we've been. History matters.