Civil Rights and the Idea of Freedom

ISBN-13: 9780195065077 / Angielski / Twarda / 1992 / 288 str.

Richard King

Opis

Focusing attention on the political ideas that were influential as well as those that were central to the civil rights movement, this pathbreaking book examines not only written texts but also oral history interviews to establish a rich tradition of freedom that emerged from the movement. He also makes clear that, though liberal notions of freedom involving the absence of restrictions and equal protections were crucial to movement goals, the movement was as much about individual and collective self-transformation and political participation as it was about removal of barriers to social and political equality. Along the way figures such as Martin Luther King and Ella Baker, Stokely Carmichael and James Forman, and political thinkers such as Hannah Arendt and Frantz Fanon are discussed and analyzed. Civil Rights and the Idea of Freedom concludes that the civil rights movement helped revitalize the meaning of citizenship and the political importance of self-respect in the contemporary world with implications reaching beyond its original setting.

Recenzje

`King begins with a stimulating analysis of what he calls the "repartory of freedom", showing that freedom as a political concept has numerous meanings ... This excellent study deals with vital but complex issues is a lucid and accessible manner. King makes very good use of oral history, particularly from Howard University's Civil Rights Documentation Project, and has consulted a massive array of published sources, particularly theoretical analyses of freedom and revolution. His fresh perspective on the civil rights movement, deserves to be read by historians and political theorists alike.' American Politics Review