Nonviolence before King
The Politics of Being and the Black Freedom Struggle
Anthony C. Siracusa
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 05/2021
Pages: 290
Subject: History, Political Science, Religion
Print ISBN: 9781469662992
eBook ISBN: 9781469663012
DESCRIPTION
In the early 1960s, thousands of Black activists used nonviolent
direct action to challenge segregation at lunch counters, movie
theaters, skating rinks, public pools, and churches across the
United States, battling for, and winning, social change. Organizers
against segregation had used litigation and protests for decades
but not until the advent of nonviolence did they succeed in
transforming ingrained patterns of white supremacy on a massive
scale. In this book, Anthony C. Siracusa unearths the deeper
lineage of anti-war pacifist activists and thinkers from the early
twentieth century who developed nonviolence into a revolutionary
force for Black liberation.
Telling the story of how this powerful political philosophy came to occupy a central place in the Black freedom movement by 1960, Siracusa challenges the idea that nonviolent freedom practices faded with the rise of the Black Power movement. He asserts nonviolence's staying power, insisting that the indwelling commitment to struggle for freedom collectively in a spirit of nonviolence became, for many, a lifelong commitment. In the end, what was revolutionary about the nonviolent method was its ability to assert the basic humanity of Black Americans, to undermine racism's dehumanization, and to insist on the right to be.
Telling the story of how this powerful political philosophy came to occupy a central place in the Black freedom movement by 1960, Siracusa challenges the idea that nonviolent freedom practices faded with the rise of the Black Power movement. He asserts nonviolence's staying power, insisting that the indwelling commitment to struggle for freedom collectively in a spirit of nonviolence became, for many, a lifelong commitment. In the end, what was revolutionary about the nonviolent method was its ability to assert the basic humanity of Black Americans, to undermine racism's dehumanization, and to insist on the right to be.
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