Traveler's Guide to the Civil Rights Movement [Paperback]

Jim Carrier (Author), John Lewis (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 19, 2004

In 2004, the United States will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. As our country begins a national retrospective of the civil rights movement, here is the perfect book to help explore the long struggle toward racial equality. Part guidebook, part civil rights primer, A Traveler's Guide to the Civil Rights Movement memorializes the years 1954 to 1965 as well as the vast, underappreciated black history from which our modern civil rights movement began.
More than five million people visit civil rights and black history landmarks each year, from the National Voting Rights Museum and the King Center to lesser-known spots such as slave auction sites and the locations of crucial marches and boycotts. This guide provides suggested state and city tours of these historic places and offers thoughtful commentary on the importance of each landmark, giving us a unique lens through which to view one of America's most important social movements.

Includes suggested state and city tours in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A record of courage, conviction and social change. A good book to have, even if you never leave your armchair."

(Austin-American Statesman )

"What a great idea. A thoughtful, insightful and intelligent travel guide."

(Chicago Tribune )

"An excellent resource for anyone who wants to plan a trip centered around that important period in American history."

(Detroit Free Press )

From the Back Cover

"Jim Carrier takes us to the street corners and bus stops where ordinary people changed America. In his beautifully written and easy-to-use guide, he captures their sacrifice and triumphs. Everyone should visit these hallowed sites. With this guidebook in hand, you will be impressed, as I was, by the lasting power of the civil rights story."--Morris Dees , cofounder and lead counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center

From the public schools where Brown v. Board of Education was first implemented to the Southern cities where boycotts, sit-ins, and marches mobilized a generation of brave Americans, A Traveler's Guide to the Civil Rights Movement traces a path through one of the most signifi cant eras in our country's history.
Visit the bus where Rosa Parks made her historic stand; make a pilgrimage to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s boyhood home and tomb; or explore the vast, underappreciated black history from which our modern civil rights movement arose. Packed with maps, suggested tours, fascinating anecdotes, and thoughtful commentary, this unique guidebook will allow travelers to explore civil rights landmarks both famous and forgotten.

Includes State and City Tours In:
Washington, D.C.*Virginia*North Carolina*South Carolina*Georgia*Florida*Alabama *Mississippi*Louisiana*Arkansas*Tennessee*Kansas*Kentucky*Maryland*and more


Jim Carrier is an award-winning journalist and author of eight books. He has written for National Geographic, SAIL, and the New York Times. From 1999 to 2001, he worked at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where he created and developed their Web site, www.tolerance.org. He lives in Montgomery, Alabama.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (January 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 015602697X
• ISBN-13: 978-0156026970
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #910,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Carrier is an award-winning journalist, author and civil rights activist. In a 45-year career, Jim has worked as a radio newsman, AP editor and correspondent, newspaper managing editor, roaming columnist, freelance writer and filmmaker.

Author of nine books, he also has been published in the National Geographic, the New York Times, USA Today, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Orion and Cruising World magazines. His work is included in BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE AND NATURE WRITING 2010.

For 13 years Jim roamed the American West as the Rocky Mountain Ranger for The Denver Post, which took him through 500,000 miles, 7,665 sunsets and 87 pairs of Levis. In 1997, Carrier bought a sailboat, named it Ranger, and set out to sail the Pacific. He diverted to Alabama because of a hate crime against a black man. Volunteering at the Southern Poverty Law Center, he wrote Ten Ways to Fight Hate, a community guide distributed to one million officials and human rights activists. In 1999, Carrier developed Tolerance.org, which has won two Webbys for activist Web sites.

In 2002, Carrier sailed Ranger across the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean, journeys chronicled in Cruising World magazine. In 2003 he combined his love of navigation and story telling in IntelliTours, a technology company that created GPS-guided audio tours.

In 2005, after losing his home and office in Hurricane Katrina, he returned to Montgomery where he wrote, directed and narrated, Faces in the Water, a documentary film featured in the Civil Rights Memorial Center.

Carrier and his daughter, Amy, descend from Martha Carrier who was hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Carrier resides in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife, Trish O'Kane, a journalist and PhD candidate in environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin. In Madison he founded the nonprofit Wisconsin Film School (www.wisconsinfilmschool.org) and Wild Warner (www.wildwarner.org). Jim is an avid banjo player and cook.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book!, February 27, 2004

By 

AfroAmericanHeritage (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Traveler's Guide to the Civil Rights Movement (Paperback)

This book is fascinating even if you never leave home. It's both a travel guide and a reference for anyone wanting to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement. But it's not limited to modern times; like many historians, the author takes the view that the struggle for civil rights began the moment the first enslaved African set foot on these shores and tried to break free. And it continued anywhere that people fought for dignity and equality.

Consequently, the sites described here include sites of slave rebellions, legal battles, Underground Railroad safe houses, historically black colleges, churches, museums...even the minor league stadium in Florida where Jackie Robinson broke through the color line.

I particularly enjoyed the author's honest and opinionated style. Black history has been overshadowed by white interpretation for a very long time, even in locations where the majority population was black. Visit a Southern plantation and you will learn about the lifestyle of the owners, but very little about the slaves who made that lifestyle possible. You may ogle the beautiful handcrafted furniture, yet never be told that a black artisan created it. He notes that much depends on which particular docent you end up with. Regarding Monticello, he says "...some guides more comfortable with the old Jefferson story of his inventions and quirks acknowledge the Hemings affair in clipped tones. Others discuss it volubly."

The National Park Service is among those working toward a more inclusive interpretation of their historic sites, and Carrier tells us when changes are planned. He provides web sites for further study. He also writes about planned memorials.

Women are equally represented here. For example, he notes that the Montgomery bus boycott was Jo Ann Robinson's brainchild and that a "reluctant" Martin Luther King Jr. was brought in to head the movement the day after the Women's Political Caucus had distributed leaflets to every business and church in town. He also notes that despite black women's long history of struggle for civil rights, the male leadership refused to allow any to speak at the 1963 March on Washington...in fact, Coretta King and other wives weren't wasn't even allowed to march with their husbands. "...after all their work and sacrifice, deliberate rebuff by male activists was unforgivable" he says.

A book that belongs in every high school library!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Heritage Guide, March 21, 2004

By 

J. J. Kwashnak "voracious reader" (Monroe, LA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Traveler's Guide to the Civil Rights Movement (Paperback)

With the idea of heritage tours of historical sites becoming more and more important, Carrier's book comes in a timely fashion. Along with Townsend Davis' "Weary Feet, Rested Souls" the two books form an indispensable guide to the places important to the Civil Rights movement in America.

Where Carrier shines is in the unsung areas. He highlights the places were things happened, especially in the country, where there are no markers, but should be. So while you might not find these places normally, you learn about their important role in a century long movement. He pulls no punches, often times pointedly noting the important part played by the unsung heroes whose place in history has been usurped by the big names, including Martin Luther King, Jr. The book is up to date, noting actions by the National Park Service in 2003, and sites in progress expected to be ready in 2004-2008.

One thing that comes from reading this book is the lack of formal recognition of the lives and struggles of African-Americans in the south - from plantation sites that usually don't acknowledge the lives of the slaves, to states such as Mississippi that give very little space to the African American experience in state heritage museums. A lot of this is changing, so hopefully this guide will have to be updated and revised in the near future to hopefully indicate more museums and exhibits are open.

Though most of the events noted in the book happened 30 to 150 years ago, it gives the reader the chance to walk in the footsteps of those who came before us. Most importantly to keep history alive, so that we never forget what has happened.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Info, July 24, 2008

By 

southernwriter (st. petersburg, fl) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Traveler's Guide to the Civil Rights Movement (Paperback)

In the introduction to A Traveler's Guide to the Civil Rights Movement, Congressman John Lewis reminds us that in order to understand and appreciate our nation's history, we must live it and visit its birthplaces. This new guide to an important part of our collective history takes visitors to Montgomery, Little Rock, Selma, and Memphis and tells the stories of these and many other places where the chronicle of civil rights should be preserved for the next generation.

Beginning with Washington D.C. where the author casts familiar venues in a new light, and continuing state by state through the South and beyond, this beautifully written guide shares stories of well-known memorials and the not-so-famous street corner stops. An award-winning journalist and author of eight books, Jim Carrier does more than point out places of interest. He writes about the Rosenwald Schools built all over the South by a partnership between Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears, Roebuck & Co. He takes us to the first state memorial to African American history, the South Carolina Capitol in Columbia. He points out seven spots on a suggested driving tour of Greenwood, Mississippi, ground zero for the civil rights struggle in the Delta. And tucked between place names, maps, and black and white photographs are essays about topics from sports heroes and music to women of the movement and the military. More history than guidebook, this is a fascinating look back as well as forward at the ongoing struggle for civil rights.