The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement Annotated Edition

by Lance Hill (Author)

118 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0807857021

ISBN-10: 0807857025

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In 1964 a small group of African American men in Jonesboro, Louisiana, defied the nonviolence policy of the mainstream civil rights movement and formed an armed self-defense organization--the Deacons for Defense and Justice--to protect movement workers from vigilante and police violence. With their largest and most famous chapter at the center of a bloody campaign in the Ku Klux Klan stronghold of Bogalusa, Louisiana, the Deacons became a popular symbol of the growing frustration with Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent strategy and a rallying point for a militant working-class movement in the South.

Lance Hill offers the first detailed history of the Deacons for Defense and Justice, who grew to several hundred members and twenty-one chapters in the Deep South and led some of the most successful local campaigns in the civil rights movement. In his analysis of this important yet long-overlooked organization, Hill challenges what he calls "the myth of nonviolence--the idea that a united civil rights movement achieved its goals through nonviolent direct action led by middle-class and religious leaders. In contrast, Hill constructs a compelling historical narrative of a working-class armed self-defense movement that defied the entrenched nonviolent leadership and played a crucial role in compelling the federal government to neutralize the Klan and uphold civil rights and liberties.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"An engrossing, well-written study."
-- "Journal of American Studies"

"An engaging writer, Hill has written a graceful book that fills an important gap in civil rights scholarship."
"Florida Historical Quarterly"

"Hill has written a masterful account of a vital, understudied organization. This will undoubtedly be "the" book on the Deacons for a long time."
"The Journal of Southern History"

"Hill's ground-breaking, historical narrative adds not only to Southern historiography, but to that of the United States as well."
"Louisiana History"

"This is a significant book."
"The North Carolina Historical Review"

"This well-argued revisionist text should spur useful debate and encourage others to recast traditional civil rights-era narratives."
"The Journal of American History"

Review

This refreshing and illuminating account documents how militant black men, most of them working class and many of them military veterans, used armed self-defense to supplement nonviolent direct action. Lance Hill treats their struggle with the analysis and respect it deserves and opens a new window into freedom movement history.--Michael Honey, University of Washington

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of North Carolina Press; Annotated edition (February 27, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807857025
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807857021
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1530L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.14 x 0.91 x 9.06 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #356,105 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #143 in Civil Rights
- #1,009 in Civil Rights & Liberties (Books)
- #1,466 in United States History (Books)

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118 ratings

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Gary Mauser

A well-written and informative account of how the Second Amendment works in reality

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2017

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This is a well-written and informative account of how real people living in the Deep South dealt with life-threatening events in their lives. Buy this book if you want to understand the decisions they made were shaped by the culture of the US South -- both black and white cultures share a lot more than most people realize. They are Americans and understand the deep importance of the Second Amendment.

I strongly recommend this book.

5 people found this helpful

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James P. Patuto

An Obscure Facet of the Civil Rights Movement

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2013

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The Deacons for Defense story has been buried since the mid sixties. The reasons for this loss are many. The Deacons don't fit the stereotype promulgated by the orthodox civil rights leaders and historians, nor does it particularly fit with the "conservative" historian view that anti-black violence largely was confined to a few terrible but soon overcome incidents [overcome with support of the Feds and the Press]. This book shows how pervasive the violence was and how the African-American Community especially the men, were scarred by the violence, and reluctant to join with the non-violent philosophy of the orthodox movement , as it destroyed their sense of manhood. The author does stretch at times to support his themes, especially the class differences between the Deacons and the mainstreamers, but this story is strong and should be better known. One amazing thing, with all of the hoopla about gun control, I'm surprised the NRA doesn't push the Deacon's story, as it does support the notion of an armed citizen being effective in countering an oppressive government. One can only surmise that the NRA supporters are also supporters of the repression in these instances. Ironic [but I digress].

9 people found this helpful

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Best Of All

"When you're dealing with the wolf,

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2007

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you have to speak the language of the wolf." - Henry Austin, Deacons for Defense

This is truly a lost history of the civil rights movement that author Lance Hill has found under the layers upon layers of mainstream narratives which conveniently dictate false truths that - when repeated enough - become larger than life.

Following the organized self-defense philosophy espoused by Robert F. Williams in Monroe, N.C., a small group of men in Jonesboro, Louisiana, founded an organization that had great influence in the civil rights movement of the mid-1960s. The success the Deacons had in defeating the KKK and other haters on the streets by standing up, moving forward and staring them down with guns loaded brought a new sense of empowerment in demanding that justice truly be served today.

Hill explains how he became aware of the Deacons and then began his quest to research the history. Initially founded to protect civil rights workers, the Deacons' influence in the Deep South grew with a regional organizing campaign in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, along with chapters being founded in several Northern cities.

The success and expansion of the program brought interest from the FBI, coverage by an oftentimes adverse media and linkage - oftenetimes quite temporary - with a number of revolutionary organizations.

But through the comparatively brief time the Deacons operated - about four years - Hill successfully argues that the organization forced the federal government to aggressively enforce the 1964 Civil Rights Act and was the bridge to the Black Power movement that emerged later in the decade.

The Deacons' legacy continues, as former members have strongly stated over the years that the group has never actually gone away. And, as Hill writes, "Finally, there is something inspiring in a story of people who stood up to injustice when everyone around them was afraid. That is a fable that will always serve us well."

The Deacons for Defense lives in the souls of those who do their part on a daily basis to bring real justice to this country.

24 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

A side to Civil Rights

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2013

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A Civil Rights victory through purely peaceful means never seemed completely likely to me and this book is certainly an eye opener and contains information that every US History and US Government teacher should know.

Rights are not preserved unless men are willing to stand up to those who seek to oppress. In this case, many black men in the heart of Dixie finally, and near spontaneously banded together and stopped the KKK and forced the local and state governments to finally acknowledge that the natural born rights that John Locke wrote of in the Second Treatise of Government and that the Founders and Framers of our country adopted applied to all men, regardless of race.

2 people found this helpful

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Chevonda Leonard

I love this book

Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2017

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I love this book. Some of the incidents took place in my home town of Jonesboro, LA. I knew many of the men (and women) who risked their lives to take a stand for racial equality. CORE's Jonesboro Freedom House (although it is vacant) still stands today, and its structure has not changed. This house, along with many of the pictures of individuals, are shown between pages 107 & 108 of the book. I shared this information with some of my students. They were quite surprised that our small town was a part of History!

3 people found this helpful

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Ira M Wechsler

Non-violence does not stop racist murder

Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2013

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This book successfully blows away the myth that non-violence won the day with the civil rights movement in the deep South in the 1960's. On the contrary, the armed self defense strategy of the Deacons of Defense was the only way the anti-racist movement was able to organize under the terror of the KKK. This well-documented study of real people in the struggle of their lives touches the very soul of our humanity. Things are not that different today. The power of the employers, the racist murders committed by the police, the war mongering regime of terror that rules capitalist society all are back in spades. Understanding that organized terror of the ruling class can not be defeated non-violently is an important part of strategy to build a fighting , winning movement to resist oppression and ultimately to impose the working class's will on society.

3 people found this helpful

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Ross Ashley

Read this important book!

Reviewed in Canada on May 2, 2017

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A history of the single most effective organization of Blacks in the US south in the 60s. The only way to beat the KKK and the terrorist racist police forces was not calling for Federal action, it was showing the terrorist racists that they would no longer have a monopoly of force.

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The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement Annotated Edition

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