The Civil Rights Movement warrants continuing and extensive examination.
The six papers in this collection, each supplemented by a follow-up
assessment, contribute to a clearer perception of what caused and
motivated the movement, of how it functioned, of the changes that
occurred within it, and of its accomplishments and shortcomings. Its
profound effect upon modern America has so greatly changed relations
between the races that C. Vann Woodward has called it the "second
revolution."
In a limited space the eleven scholars range with a definitive view over
a large subject. Their papers analyze and emphasize the Civil Rights
Movement's important aspects: its origins and causes, its strategies and
tactics for accomplishing black freedom, the creative tensions in its
leadership, the politics of the movement in the key state of
Mississippi, and the role of federal law and federal courts.
In this collection a scholarly balance is achieved for each paper by a
follow-up commentary from a