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Summary
Summary
The first major history of America's oldest civil rights organisation is destined to become a classic in the field. When it was founded in 1909, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was an elite organisation of white reformers. By 1918, it had become a mass organisation with predominantly black members. Sullivan unearths the little-known early decades of NAACP's activism, telling startling stories of personal bravery, legal brilliance and political manoeuvring, before moving on to the critical post-war era.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois prophetically labeled the central challenge of the 20th century "the problem of the color-line." Six years later, in 1909, he joined black and white civic leaders and activists to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the country's oldest civil rights organization. Rejecting Booker T. Washington's Southern-based economic uplift strategy, the NAACP-celebrating its centenary this year-favored Du Bois's emphasis on complete equality for African-Americans as guaranteed by the Constitution, joining the fight at a time of deepening racism throughout the U.S. Spurred on by Woodrow Wilson's segregationist policies, the young NAACP rapidly grew to a formidable nationwide, grassroots-driven endeavor, waging campaigns in public squares, law courts, legislatures and-with Du Bois helming its organ, the Crisis-the court of public opinion. Historian Sullivan (Days of Hope) delivers a solidly researched examination of the organization's growth and influence, leaving us with a vital account of 100 years of foundational civil rights activism. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Historian Sullivan places the NAACP front and center in the American struggle to realize the core ideal of equality. At the turn of the twentieth century, when Jim Crow laws reigned in the South, where most blacks resided, the NAACP was formed as an interracial body. Its history reflects and mirrors American blacks fighting on two fronts, at home and abroad, during both world wars. The group struggled to maximize benefits for black citizens under theNew Deal, even as President Roosevelt compromised with southern Democrats to restrict the rights of blacks. Sullivan examines the personalities behind the NAACP: W. E .B. DuBois, James Weldon Johnson, Charles Houston, Thurgood Marshall, Walter White, Roy Wilkins, and others. These were central figures behind the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision and other legal strategies. She highlights their work in organizing the South and laying the foundation for later organizations like CORE and SNCC to help more fully transform America. This is history that helped shape America's consciousness, if not its soul.--Ford, Vernon Copyright 2009 Booklist
Choice Review
Recent histories of the civil rights movement have profiled individuals and organizations overshadowed by earlier works that focused almost exclusively on Martin Luther King Jr. and the events between 1954 and 1965. Among the organizations that became a footnote to the story for racial justice was the NAACP. Sullivan (Univ. of South Carolina) reminds readers of the NAACP's important work and the persons who created the institution and established it as the most influential weapon in attacking segregation. The organizers made one key decision in the first year of the NAACP's existence: they defined southern segregation as a national problem. Through its publication The Crisis, the NAACP publicized issues that concerned the black community, especially highlighting the use of lynching to intimidate African Americans. These articles acted as catalysts for a national debate about segregation. Beginning in the 1930s, the NAACP began a legal challenge to Jim Crow that ultimately led to a series of successful Supreme Court decisions, culminating with the Brown case in 1954 and preparing the stage for the election of Barack Obama as president of the US in 2008. Summing Up: Recommended. Most levels/libraries. D. O. Cullen Collin College
Library Journal Review
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded 100 years ago by a combination of black and white reformers as a response to the violence directed at African Americans across the country. It gained national recognition by challenging the Wilson administration's attempts to segregate the federal government. By the end of World War I, the NAACP had become a black-dominated organization with 90,000 members. In a comprehensive history of the NAACP through the decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Sullivan (history, Univ. of South Carolina; Days of Hope: Race and Democracy in the New Deal Era) documents how the NAACP used its focus on law and the courts to rise from its humble origins and become the leading civil rights organization in the country. In chronicling the NAACP, Sullivan chronicles the beginnings of the civil rights struggle itself. Verdict Well recommended for both general and academic readers.-Jason Martin, Univ. of Central Florida Lib., Orlando (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.