Freedom: A Photographic History of the African American Struggle [Hardcover]

Manning Marable (Author), Leith Mullings (Author), Sophie Spencer-Wood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2002

In the famous Brown v Board of Education of Topeka case of 1954, the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools violated the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. This decision marked a critical turning point in the American judicial system, which, since the Jim Crow Laws of the 1880s, had previously upheld the practice of segregation. The outcome of the Supreme Court case encouraged a growing challenge to segregation on all levels, thus creating a momentum that would, within a decade, lead to the Civil Rights and Voting Acts that definitively guaranteed African Americans equal protection under the law. The Civil Rights Movement itself, from 1954 to 1968, marked a climactic era in the struggle for political equal rights for African Americans. After World War II, the economic boom and America's advocacy of individual self-determination on the international scene made segregation in the United States more obsolete and even more unjustifiable. Through a combination of charismatic leadership and grass-root support, the period saw the revocation of the segregationist laws that had pervaded American society for two hundred years. However, this famous era marks neither the beginning nor the end of the African-American fight for equality, and this book tells, through photographs, the story of the struggle in its widest scope for the first time. From the bonds of slavery to Civil Rights, from the Deep South to the northern metropolis, from the Harlem Renaissance to the riots in South Central LA, this book reveals the African-American struggle for equality from the first photographic records in the 19th century all the way to the present. The photographs reveal the journey in all its complexity and nuance. They cover the struggle in its many different aspects: political, social, economic, and cultural, showing the incredible courage and determination of people fighting for a common goal, as well as the internal conflicts and contradictions. It is a story that has sometimes been in the front lights, but more often in the shadows, and which has changed American society and touched the lives of millions. The selection of photographs presents milestone events, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, through famous as well as rarely-seen images; it shows iconic figures such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Malcolm X in an unusual light; but it also includes a wide range of images of the everyday struggle and lives of the people, from the rural Deep South to the urban agglomerations of Chicago and Detroit, and to the very heart of modern African-American culture, Harlem. Renowned experts on the subject of African-American history Manning Marable and Leith Mullings give this book and its still highly controversial subject matter thoughtful scholarship and authority.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Manning Marable is a prominent lecturer and interpreter of the politics and history of race in America. He is the Founding Director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York City, and is the author of more than fifteen books on the subject, including the highly acclaimed Black Leadership (1998), and co-edited with Leith Mullings a groundbreaking anthology of African-American texts, Let Nobody Turn Us Around (2000); in 1994 Marable initiated Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, a quarterly journal that examines key theoretical issues within black America, Africa and the Caribbean, which is distributed throughout the U.S. and internationally. Leith Mullings is presidential professor of anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and is the author of many books with a special emphasis on the study of race, class, and gender in African-American communities.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press; First Edition edition (October 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714842702
• ISBN-13: 978-0714842707
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 10.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,273,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Freedom:Photographic History/African American Struggle, December 13, 2002

By 

Melanie Hovey (KENOSHA, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Freedom: A Photographic History of the African American Struggle (Hardcover)

This book is a gorgeous coffee-table volume. It is divided into sections by time periods beginning in the 1840s and continues to the present. Each chapter is introduced with an in-depth discussion of what was happening at that time, then moves to captioned photos. The book is large, 10"x12", and is presented on heavy, high quality paper; a pleasure to hold and look at! My only criticism is that readability was sacrificed for design. The type is very small and, therefore, difficult to read, and the caption reference number below each photo is mircoscopic. Also, even though I'm sure the photos were reproduced perfectly, some are hard to make out (what do I expect for 100+ year old photos!) I recommend this book whether you are interested in this subject, interested in photography or just love beautiful books.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous Book, February 1, 2005

By 

Aisha Williams (Detroit) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Freedom: A Photographic History of the African American Struggle (Hardcover)

This is an absolutely gorgeous book, very comprehensive and tons of excellent pictures

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Wonderful Book, January 11, 2009

By 

R. West - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Freedom: A Photographic History of the African American Struggle (Paperback)

This book is a wonderful additon to my coffee table book collection. The photographs and historical information regarding the African American struggle for equality in America illustrates just how far African Americans have come in obtaining "freedom and justice for all". I highly recommend this book.