Speak Now Against The Day: The Generation Before the Civil Rights Movement in the South [Hardcover]

John Egerton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 18, 1994

With 48 pages of photographs

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Egerton, author of several books on Southern culture and history (Generations), has put together a sprawling history of the South from 1932 to 1954-the Depression to the landmark Brown desegregation decision. His title derives from Faulkner's lament against Southern white intransigence, and his underlying question is: why wasn't change grasped sooner? Egerton answers by probing the writings of infrequently daring intellectuals (Myles Horton and Don West of Tennessee's Highlander Folk School were among the few real radicals) and often-reactionary politicians ("feudal barons" like Virginia Senators Carter Glass and Harry F. Byrd), describing the modernizing impact of radio and roadways, and charting cataclysms like the New Deal and WWII. He captures neat anecdotes: the white director of the University of North Carolina Press, who commissioned the 1943 book What the Negro Wants, was shocked by black demands for equality. Egerton's near-encyclopedic approach, surveying lists of academics, writers, organizations and institutions, makes his book read like a compendium, but given his ambitious topic, he has done yeoman work to recapture an era. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Native Southerner Egerton (Shades of Gray, LJ 10/1/91) details a rich historical narrative of black and white Southerners opposing white supremacy during the 1930s and 1940s. Egerton superbly weaves descriptions of social and intellectual ferment, politics, and culture (e.g., literature, religion, music) into a coherent synthesis. He explains why the South failed to dismantle white supremacy when the possibility existed for voluntary, peaceful social reform. Egerton excoriates the crude, anti-democratic, self-serving social elites and politicians who denied human rights to black Americans. His book is a tribute to those black and white Southerners who wanted racial equality when many white Americans preferred not to acknowledge that racism had corroded America. Strongly recommended for public and academic libraries.
Charles L. Lumpkins, Bloomsburg Univ. Lib., Pa.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 704 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1 edition (October 18, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679408088
• ISBN-13: 978-0679408086
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.7 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,154,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vivid, enlightening review of a neglected period of history, February 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Speak Now Against The Day: The Generation Before the Civil Rights Movement in the South (Hardcover)

The author reviews the period of American history between 1930 and 1954 with the central goal of illuminating the foundations of our civil rights movement. The depth, detail and accessability of this information is without peer; any reader will have their insight into American racism expanded, as well as their knowledge of the many people who have opposed racism and bigotry. One important lesson is demonstrated over and over again: We do not need to be perfect to stand up for what is right. Again and again, the author tells us stories about people who were clearly imperfect, narrow-minded, or flawed; yet these same people were able to change their communities for the better. The author clearly shows that the period from 1945 to 1954 was a time of possibility, of potential. Americans had an opportunity then to improve race relations in our nation, yet they turned away from that choice. Today, with headlines about OJ blaring, with so many people deserting the cities, we would do well to heed the lesssons offered in this book.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book, February 25, 2003

By 

Schmerguls "schmerguls" (Sioux City, Ia USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Speak Now Against the Day: The Generation Before the Civil Rights Movement in the South (Chapel Hill Books) (Paperback)

I found this a stupendous book, and while at times I felt I was treading well-known ground, and at times the account of the efforts of groups battling to end segregation was overly extensive in discussing individuals of little present fame, the book reads pleasantly and effortlessly, with the decision in Brown v. Board of Education as the good finale. I would recommend that after reading this book one should read Simple Justice, by Richard Kluger, which tells the story of Brown v. Board of Education itself superlatively. The title of this book is from a statement by William Faulkner heavy with prophetic insight: "We speak now against the day when our Southern people who will resist to the last these inevitable changes in social relations, will, when they have been forced to accept what they at one time might have accepted with dignity and goodwill, will say: 'Why didn't someone tell us this before? Tell us this in time?'"

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Turning Point in the Civil Rights Struggle, October 19, 2002

By 

John C. Landon "nemonemini" (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Speak Now Against the Day: The Generation Before the Civil Rights Movement in the South (Chapel Hill Books) (Paperback)

A recent work by MacPherson on the battle of Antietam attempts to locate the turning point in the Civil War. Reading this work one wonders if the whole history of abolition is not a series of endless turning points against eternal delays. This very cogent work by someone acquainted with the facts is an invaluable expose of how politics actually works in that scarface Uncle Sam's 'democracy' of equals. Giving the history and gritty details of post-Reconstruction politics dominated by the Bourbon elites, it is essential reading for anyone attempting to decipher the legacy of the Civil Rights movement this period prefigures, and starts to anticipate. Histories of Roosevelt's presidency don't always make clear what was going on, and the obstacles he faced. Nor do we quite assess the effect of the Second World War on the economic context behind Jim Crow in its ad infinitum history of domination, political manipulation, and class and racial struggle. We can see the great tide turning in the thirties and forties, as the struggle begins just to recoup the ground lost in the 1870's and after, Lyndon Johnson's voting rights bill a resurrection of the same failed bill of the Redemption era. Out of many issues in this very useful book is a reminder of how Lyndon Johnson, extremely adept in this Lost Cause dominion, was deftly able at the right moment to get the job done, if it has been done. With this history, keep your eyes peeled. We could be far short of 'done'.