Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice (Pivotal Moments in American History)
By:
Raymond Arsenault
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Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5
Description:
Here is the definitive account of a dramatic and indeed pivotal moment in American history, a critical episode that transformed the civil rights movement in the early 1960s. Raymond Arsenault offers a meticulously researched and grippingly written account of the Freedom Rides, one of the most compelling chapters in the history of civil rights. Arsenault recounts how in 1961, emboldened by federal rulings that declared segregated transit unconstitutional, a group of volunteers--blacks and whites--traveled together from Washington DC through the Deep South, defying Jim Crow laws in buses and terminals, putting their bodies and their lives on the line for racial justice. The book paints a harrowing account of the outpouring of hatred and violence that greeted the Freedom Riders in Alabama and Mississippi. One bus was disabled by Ku Klux Klansmen, then firebombed. In Birmingham and Montgomery, mobs of white supremacists swarmed the bus stations and battered the riders with fists and clubs while local police refused to intervene. The mayhem in Montgomery was captured by news photographers, shocking the nation, and sparking a crisis in the Kennedy administration, which after some hesitation and much public outcry, came to the aid of the Freedom Riders. Arsenault brings the key actors in this historical drama vividly to life, with colorful portraits of the Kennedys, Jim Farmer, John Lewis, Diane Nash, Fred Shuttlesworth, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Their courage, their fears, and the agonizing choices made by all these individuals run through the story like an electric current. The saga of the Freedom Rides is an improbable, almost unbelievable story. In the course of six months, some four hundred and fifty Riders expanded the realm of the possible in American politics, redefining the limits of dissent and setting the stage in the years to come for the 1963 Birmingham demonstrations, Freedom Summer and the Selma-to-Montgomery March. With characters and plot lines rivaling those of the most imaginative fiction, this is a tale of heroic sacrifice and unexpected triumph.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Excellent - The subject of the Freedom Riders came up during a dinner conversation with my 38 year old son. I could not answer some of his questions which led me to this book. Raymond Arsenault starts exactly at the right place with Irene Morgan in 1944 to begin his narrative. He writes with a style that enables the reader to absorb the wealth of information on every page with ease. I highly recommend the book and it should be required reading for any serious student of the Civil Rights Movement post World War II.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
History at its best - This book is another great addition to the Pivotal moments in American history series. This series seeks to assess the events that led to a major paradigm shift in American history changing the country in some way. The argument here is that the Freedom Rides established a basis for social justice that had not been achieved previously. With this topic the author does an excellent job of putting a human face on the struggle the riders went through and you can feel the palpable hatred that the riders experienced and the racism is simply nauseating. It is unbelievable how clear the author captures it and not only for the hate towards the riders but the strict values that held this racism in place. What many people saw as right was the destruction of the freedom riders. The author does an excellent job at explaining the dichotomy in the country and showing how the Freedom Rides changed the perception of everyone towards social justice issues. For the first time white and black worked together not always seamlessly but with greater fervor than ever before. The direct action campaigns shifted focuses on what was happening the country creating new challenges. The book is extensively researched and relies not only on newspapers but countless interviews and the author should be commended for the work he put in. An excellent book to read and highly recommended.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
What Color Code Was This Revolution? - In the past ten years or so we've witnessed staged "revolutions" - Orange, Green, Rose, etc. - funded around the globe by Western NGOs, toppling the chosen tyrant and installing the pro-Western liberal reformer of the moment. When it came to democratic movements within the USA, of course, the enthusiasm at home was markedly lacking.
Thus, before the age of NED or Freedom House, those who challenged entrenched tyranny in America faced real risk to life and limb, with only scattered support from the media and none from either the State Department or NGO clones. Such were the Freedom Riders, who were armed with naught but the courage of their ideals, as they embarked cross-country for the lion's den to stick their heads in his jaws.
That they ultimately prevailed is a commendation of the "American Way"; but they did so only after considerable risk, repression, and one-sided bloodshed. The "flowering of democracy" in the American South was fertilized not by the blood of tyrants but those seeking freedom. Would that such cheap imitators in Serbia, Ukraine or Lebanon - basking in Western funding and media cheerleading - have had to endure a tenth of what these brave people had to risk in the US itself.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
an important piece of history finally brought to light. - I heard Mr. Arsenault speak recently and his love of this subject came through. I highly recommend this book.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Gripping, Fascinating and Required Reading - The perfect follow up to "America in the King Years," (by
Taylor Branch) Arsenault focuses in on the single most important, ground breaking, and personally dangerous aspect of the civil rights movement.
This is a gripping story, and reads like a thriller. Truly, this is contemporary history that you can't put down.
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