The Economic Civil Rights Movement: African Americans and the Struggle for Economic Power

ISBN-13: 9781138952485 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 214 str.

Michael Ezra

Opis

Economic inequalities have been perhaps the most enduring problem facing African Americans since the civil rights movement, despite the attention they have received from activists. Although the civil rights movement dealt successfully with injustices like disenfranchisement and segregated public accommodations, economic disparities between blacks and whites remain sharp, and the wealth gap between the two groups has widened in the twenty-first century. The Economic Civil Rights Movement is a collection of thirteen original essays that analyze the significance of economic power to the black freedom struggle by exploring how African Americans fought for increased economic autonomy in an attempt to improve the quality of their lives. It covers a wide range of campaigns ranging from the World War II era through the civil rights and black power movements and beyond. The unfinished business of the civil rights movement primarily is economic. This book turns backward toward history to examine the ways African Americans have engaged this continuing challenge.

Spis treści

Introduction: The Economic Dimensions of the Black Freedom Struggle  Michael Ezra  Part I: African American Campaigns for Economic Power Before the Civil Rights Movement, 1925-1954  1. A. Philip Randolph, Early Pioneer: The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, National Negro Congress, and the March on Washington Movement  Rhonda Jones  2. Mary McLeod Bethune, the National Council of Negro Women, and the Prewar Push for Equal Opportunity in Defense Projects  gloria-yvonne  3. The Brooklyn Urban League and Equal Employment Opportunity in New York’s War Industries  Carla J. DuBose  4. Early Economic Civil Rights in Washington, DC: The New Negro Alliance, Howard University, and the Interracial Workshop  Derek Charles Catsam  5. The Moral Economy of　Postwar Radical Interracial Summer Camping  Orion A. Teal  6. The NAACP Boycott of the Amos ‘n’ Andy Show  Justin T. Lorts  Part II: African American Campaigns for Economic Power During the Civil Rights Era and Beyond  7. Economic Civil Rights Activism in Pensacola, Florida  J. Michael Butler  8. Muhammad Ali’s Main Bout: African American Economic Power and the World Heavyweight Title  Michael Ezra  9. Operation Breadbasket in Chicago: Between Civil Rights and Black Capitalism  Enrico Beltramini  10. Progress Plaza: Leon Sullivan, Zion Investment Associates, and Black Power in a Philadelphia Shopping Center  Stephanie Dyer  11. Black Power on the Factory Floor  Kieran W. Taylor  12. Acquiring "A Piece of the Action": The Rise and Fall of the Black Capitalism Movement  Ibram H. Rogers  13. Soul City, North Carolina and the Business of Black Power  Christopher B. Strain

O autorze

Michael Ezra is Associate Professor in the American Multicultural Studies Department at Sonoma State University, USA.