In this Book

  • We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement
  • Book
  • Akinyele Omowale Umoja
  • 2013
  • Published by: NYU Press
summary

Winner of the 2014 Anna Julia Cooper-CLR James Book Award presented by the National Council of Black Studies

Winner of the 2014 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature


A bold and exciting historical narrative of the armed resistance of Black soldiers of the Mississippi Freedom Movement

In We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement, Akinyele Omowale Umoja argues that armed resistance was critical to the Southern freedom struggle and the dismantling of segregation and Black disenfranchisement. Intimidation and fear were central to the system of oppression in most of the Deep South. To overcome the system of segregation, Black people had to overcome fear to present a significant challenge to White domination. As the civil rights movement developed, armed self-defense and resistance became a significant means by which the descendants of enslaved Africans overturned fear and intimidation and developed different political and social relationships between Black and White Mississippians.

This riveting historical narrative reconstructs the armed resistance of Black activists, their challenge of racist terrorism, and their fight for human rights.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
  2. p. 1
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  1. Title Page, Copyright, Dedication
  2. pp. 2-7
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. vii-viii
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. ix-xii
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  1. Introduction
  2. pp. 1-10
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  1. 1. Terror and Resistance: Foundations of the Civil Rights Insurgency
  2. pp. 11-26
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  1. 2. “I’m Here, Not Backing Up”: Emergence of Grassroots Militancy and Armed Self-Defense in the 1950s
  2. pp. 27-49
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  1. 3. “Can’t Give Up My Stuff”: Nonviolent Organizations and Armed Resistance
  2. pp. 50-95
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  1. 4. “Local People Carry the Day”: Freedom Summer and Challenges to Nonviolence in Mississippi
  2. pp. 96-120
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  1. 5. “Ready to Die and Defend”: Natchez and the Advocacy and Emergence of Armed Resistance in Mississippi
  2. pp. 121-144
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  1. 6. “We Didn’t Turn No Jaws”: Black Power, Boycotts, and the Growing Debate on Armed Resistance
  2. pp. 145-172
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  1. 7. “Black Revolution Has Come”: Armed Insurgency, Black Power, and Revolutionary Nationalism in the Mississippi Freedom Struggle
  2. pp. 173-210
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  1. 8. “No Longer Afraid”: The United League, Activist Litigation, Armed Self-Defense, and Insurgent Resilience in Northern Mississippi
  2. pp. 211-253
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  1. Conclusion: Looking Back So We Can Move Forward
  2. pp. 254-260
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  1. Notes
  2. pp. 261-304
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 305-338
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  1. About the Author
  2. pp. 339-352
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