A more beautiful and terrible history : the uses and misuses of civil rights history
(Book)

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Published
Boston : Beacon Press, 2018.
ISBN
9780807075876, 0807075876, 9780807063484 (soft cover)
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Published
Boston : Beacon Press, 2018.
Format
Book
Physical Desc
xxv, 253 pages ; 24 cm
Language
English
ISBN
9780807075876, 0807075876, 9780807063484 (soft cover)

Notes

Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description
The civil rights movement has become national legend, lauded by presidents from Reagan to Obama to Trump, as proof of the power of American democracy. This fable, featuring dreamy heroes and accidental heroines, has shuttered the movement firmly in the past, whitewashed the forces that stood in its way, and diminished its scope. And it is used perniciously in our own times to chastise present-day movements and obscure contemporary injustice.000In A More Beautiful and Terrible History award-winning historian Jeanne Theoharis dissects this national myth-making, teasing apart the accepted stories to show them in a strikingly different light. We see Rosa Parks not simply as a bus lady but a lifelong criminal justice activist and radical; Martin Luther King, Jr. as not only challenging Southern sheriffs but Northern liberals, too; and Coretta Scott King not only as a ?helpmate? but a lifelong economic justice and peace activist who pushed her husband?s activism in these directions.00Moving from ?the histories we get? to ?the histories we need,? Theoharis challenges nine key aspects of the fable to reveal the diversity of people, especially women and young people, who led the movement; the work and disruption it took; the role of the media and ?polite racism? in maintaining injustice; and the immense barriers and repression activists faced. Theoharis makes us reckon with the fact that far from being acceptable, passive or unified, the civil rights movement was unpopular, disruptive, and courageously persevering. Activists embraced an expansive vision of justice?which a majority of Americans opposed and which the federal government feared.00By showing us the complex reality of the movement, the power of its organizing, and the beauty and scope of the vision, Theoharis proves that there was nothing natural or inevitable about the progress that occurred.

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Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Theoharis, J. (2018). A more beautiful and terrible history: the uses and misuses of civil rights history . Beacon Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Theoharis, Jeanne. 2018. A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History. Beacon Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Theoharis, Jeanne. A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History Beacon Press, 2018.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Theoharis, Jeanne. A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History Beacon Press, 2018.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

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