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Details the ferment in civil rights that took place across the South before the momentous Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954

This collection refutes the notion that the movement began with the Supreme Court decision, and suggests, rather, that the movement originated in the 1930s and earlier, spurred by the Great Depression and, later, World War II—events that would radically shape the course of politics in the South and the nation into the next century.

This work explores the growth of the movement through its various manifestations—the activities of politicians, civil rights leaders, religious figures, labor unionists, and grass-roots activists—throughout the 1940s and 1950s. It discusses the critical leadership roles played by women and offers a new perspective on the relationship between the NAACP and the Communist Party.

Before Brown shows clearly that, as the drive toward racial equality advanced and national political attitudes shifted, the validity of white supremacy came increasingly into question. Institutionalized racism in the South had always offered white citizens material advantages by preserving their economic superiority and making them feel part of a privileged class. When these rewards were threatened by the civil rights movement, a white backlash occurred.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title Page, Copyright Page, Dedication
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. vii-viii
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. ix-x
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  1. Foreword
  2. Patricia Sullivan
  3. pp. xi-xiv
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  1. Prologue
  2. Glenn Feldman
  3. pp. 1-20
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  1. 1. "You Don't Have to Ride Jim Crow": CORE and the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation
  2. Raymond Arsenault
  3. pp. 21-67
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  1. 2. T. R. M. Howard: Pragmatism over Strict Integrationist Ideology in the Mississippi Delta, 1942–1954
  2. David T. Beito, Linda Royster Beito
  3. pp. 68-95
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  1. 3. "Blood on Your Hands": White Southerners' Criticism of Eleanor Roosevelt during World War II
  2. Pamela Tyler
  3. pp. 96-115
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  1. 4. "City Mothers": Dorothy Tilly, Georgia Methodist Women, and Black Civil Rights
  2. Andrew M. Manis
  3. pp. 116-143
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  1. 5. Louisiana: The Civil Rights Struggle, 1940–1954
  2. Adam Fairclough
  3. pp. 144-169
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  1. 6. Communism, Anti-Communism, and Massive Resistance: The Civil Rights Congress in Southern Perspective
  2. Sarah Hart Brown
  3. pp. 170-197
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  1. 7. E. D. Nixon and the White Supremacists: Civil Rights in Montgomery
  2. John White
  3. pp. 198-221
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  1. 8. "Flag-bearers for Integration and Justice": Local Civil Rights Groups in the South, 1940–1954
  2. John A. Salmond
  3. pp. 222-237
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  1. 9. Winning the Peace: Georgia Veterans and the Struggle to Define the Political Legacy of World War II
  2. Jennifer E. Brooks
  3. pp. 238-267
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  1. Epilogue: Ugly Roots: Race, Emotion, and the Rise of the Modern Republican Party in Alabama and the South
  2. Glenn Feldman
  3. pp. 268-310
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  1. Notes
  2. pp. 311-394
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  1. Contributors
  2. pp. 395-398
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 399-430
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