Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice

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Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice is a 2006 non-fiction book by Raymond Arsenault, published by Oxford University Press.

Contents

The scope of the book ranges from the Irene Morgan case and the Journey of Reconciliation. The ending of the book refers to Irene Morgan. [1]

According to David Hackett Fischer and James M. McPherson, this is the first book on the topic, written by someone who adopted being a historian as a career, that is "full-scale". [2] Todd Moye of the University of North Texas described the work as "a travelogue of the modern civil rights movement". [3]

An abridged version was released in 2011. [4]

Background

The author used scholarly works that were recent and that were older, as well as handwritten or typed documents from archives within the District of Columbia and eleven states. These archives had over 41 collections of such. [5] The author also used interviews of more than 200 people, documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), [6] historical books written for the general public, legal documents, memoirs, newspapers, [5] documents held by individual people, [6] and works that synthesized other works. [5]

Contents

John Hope Franklin is the person the book is dedicated to. [7]

Arsenault makes it clear that the Freedom Rides were a process that spanned multiple decades, versus the public perception of them taking place only in 1961. [8] Additionally, the work notes that 24% of respondents of a Gallup Poll conducted in 1961 were in favor of the Freedom Rides, while 66% of the respondents of the same poll believed that racial segregation in bus transportation should be abolished; by the time the book was published, reception was highly positive to the Freedom Rides. [9]

The ending gives honor to Irene Morgan Kirkaldy. [10]

The book has an appendix that documents the people who participated in the Freedom Rides, [6] numbering 436 in total. [11]

The abridged version has ten chapters. [12]

Reception

Original version

Eric Foner stated that the book "brings vividly to life" the subject, and that it uses "dramatic, often moving detail." [6] Foner wished that the author had done more analyses of the demographics of the Freedom Riders. [6]

Kenneth T. Andrews of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill described the work as "definitive history of" the subject and that it is "finely crafted". [13]

Nicky Cashman of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (now Aberystwyth University) described the book as "exceptionally well-documented and annotated", and that reading the book makes one feel they took "a personal journey" in the historical era. [1]

David J. Garrow of Homerton College, Cambridge University, described the book as "excellent", [8] as well as "authoritative, perceptive, and well-written", citing how the author accomplished a "superb job of" explaining the developments, as well as "capturing the striking diversity of the later groups of Freedom Riders." [9]

Stephen Goldfarb, in the magazine Alabama Heritage , stated that the book "should stand for many years as the definitive study of its subject." [14]

Jim Hahn of Harper College's library, in Library Journal , wrote that the book is "justified" and was "deftly" written. [15]

George Houser, in Fellowship magazine, wrote that the author "faithfully records" the historical events. [10]

Moye wrote that the book is "excellent", [3] as well as "passionate, dazzlingly well written", [16] and that it "may very well be the best book yet written on the civil rights movement." [17] According to Moye, much of the content about James Farmer relies on the man's memoirs, which Moye described as "self-serving and bombastic". [18]

Lee E. Williams II of the University of Alabama in Huntsville wrote that book was "voluminous". [11] He argued that the histories of the participants were "skillfully interwoven" in the book, [11] and that the book is "a must-read" for people studying the topic. [2]

Eugene Winkler, in The Christian Century described the book as "well-researched, provocative". [7]

Abridged version

Reviewer Jo Manby stated that the abridged version "retains an encyclopedic quality." [4] She stated that "At times the book reads like a written version of an action film or documentary". [12]

Adaptations

The film Freedom Riders was adapted from this book. [12]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Journey of Reconciliation</span> 1947 anti-segregation nonviolent protest in the southern United States

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Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Morgan v. Virginia (1946) and Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. The Southern states had ignored the rulings and the federal government did nothing to enforce them. The first Freedom Ride left Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961, and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17.

Carraway Methodist Medical Center was a medical facility in Birmingham, Alabama founded as Carraway Infirmary in 1908 by Dr. Charles N. Carraway. It was moved in 1917 to Birmingham's Norwood neighborhood. Its facilities were segregated according to skin color for much of its history and, in one instance, the facility refused emergency treatment to James Peck, an injured white civil rights activist who had been savagely beaten for being a Freedom Rider. This hospital was three miles from St. Vincent's. It expanded in the 1950s and 1960s and ran into financial trouble in the 2000s, declaring bankruptcy and closing in 2008.

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James Zwerg is an American retired minister who was involved with the Freedom Riders in the early 1960s.

William E. Harbour was an American civil rights activist who participated in the Freedom Rides. He was one of several youth activists involved in the latter actions, along with John Lewis, William Barbee, Paul Brooks, Charles Butler, Allen Cason, Catherine Burks, and Lucretia Collins.

Edward Norval "Ed" Blankenheim was an American civil rights activist and one of the original 13 Freedom Riders who rode Greyhound buses in 1961 as part of the Civil Rights Movement, in an effort to desegregate transit systems.

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<i>Freedom Riders</i> (film) 2010 American historical documentary film

Freedom Riders is a 2010 American historical documentary film, produced by Firelight Media for the twenty-third season of American Experience on PBS. The film is based in part on the book Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice by historian Raymond Arsenault. Directed by Stanley Nelson, it marked the 50th anniversary of the first Freedom Ride in May 1961 and first aired on May 16, 2011. It was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The film was also featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show program titled, Freedom Riders: 50th Anniversary. Nelson was helped in the making of the documentary by Arsenault and Derek Catsam, an associate professor at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sally Rowley</span> American jeweler and civil rights activist (1931–2020)

Sara Jane "Sally" Rowley was an American jewelry-maker and civil rights activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Boynton</span> American civil rights leader (1937–2020)

Bruce Carver Boynton was an American civil rights leader who inspired the Freedom Riders movement and advanced the cause of racial equality by a landmark supreme court case Boynton v. Virginia.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Cashman.
  2. 1 2 Williams, p. 143.
  3. 1 2 Moye, p. 751.
  4. 1 2 Manby, p. 64 (PDF p. 74/100).
  5. 1 2 3 Moye, pp. 749-750.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Foner, Eric (2006). "Bound for Glory". New York Times Book Review . p. 24. - Copy at the website of the author
  7. 1 2 Winkler, Eugene (2006). "Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. (Book review)". The Christian Century . Vol. 123, no. 16. p. 35. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
  8. 1 2 Garrow, p. 103.
  9. 1 2 Garrow, p. 104.
  10. 1 2 Houser, George (2006). "Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice". Fellowship . Vol. 72, no. 9–12. New York City. p. 42 – via ProQuest.
  11. 1 2 3 Williams, p. 142.
  12. 1 2 3 Manby, p. 65 (PDF p. 75/100).
  13. ↑ Andrews, p. 356.
  14. ↑ Goldfarb, Stephen (September 2008). "Freedom riders, the race beat, and Alabama.(READING THE SOUTHERN PAST)(Critical essay)". Alabama Heritage . No. 90. p. 51. - See profile
  15. ↑ Hahn, Jim (2006). "Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice". Library Journal . Vol. 131, no. 1. p. 133. ProQuest   196828011 – via ProQuest.
  16. ↑ Moye, p. 749.
  17. ↑ Moye, p. 750.
  18. ↑ Moye, p. 752.

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