Customer Reviews

Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965 (Blacks in the Diaspora)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this text in a course seminar during my graduate training in African American Studies. The text contains a few insightful and informative essays on some of the more prolific, but under appreciated women leaders in the CRM. Unfortunately, discontinuity, repetitiveness, and a clashing mixture of genres make the book difficult to use as a teaching aid. Also, and on a personal note, the book's title, TRAILBLAZERS AND TORCHBEARERS, and the editorial note to the reader, attempt to position the impact of black women's leadership roles in ways that differ from the impact of the activities of their male counterpart, yet, the book's essays attempt to demonstrate how black women's contributions were equally as important to the CRM. Were black women more/less trailblazing or torch-bearing than black men? In my interpretation of the CRM, the answer is a profound no. Both women and men played equally important-though perhaps different (in some instances) roles in the CRM. So why does the editorial body choose to cast black women's leadership in such demarcating ways? When I teach my course on CRM, my goal is to demonstrate gender inclusivity; I try to give equal exposure to the contributions made by women and men. I utilize books that aid me in that process. A preferred alternative to this text is Paula Giddings' WHEN AND WHERE I ENTER. Giddings' text has better continuity, more depth, and it provides essential information that helps to build a context for the long history of African American women's involvement in the struggle to obtain first-class citizenship for blacks in the United States. I hope this is helpful.

this is a good book from a historical perspective.It will fill in the blanks for those who did or did not live through that era.