An Unseen Light: Black Struggles for Freedom in Memphis, Tennessee
2019; Oxford University Press; Volume: 105; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/jahist/jaz146
ISSN1945-2314
Autores Tópico(s)Race, History, and American Society
ResumoCollections of essays often lack focus and struggle to hold a theme. This is not the case with An Unseen Light. Both of the editors and most of the sixteen contributors have strong connections to Memphis and grasp its rather unique position at the crossroads of the Deep South and the mid-South, a place governed by a rural plantation mentality, even as it often promoted a cultural and commercial vitality. Some of the essays are stronger than others; some have implications beyond Memphis; a few are focused on a small piece of the local black struggle. Yet, each is carefully researched and directly tied to black struggles for freedom in the city. Unseen Light is not a full narrative history by any means, but it lays much of the foundation for one. Against what were African Americans in Memphis struggling? Political suppression (covered in the collection's essays by Brian D. Page, Jason Jordan, and Elizabeth Gritter), lynching (by Darius Young), religious harassment (by Elton H. Weaver III), discrimination in social services (by David Welky), the impact of discrimination on self-esteem (by Beverly Greene Bond), gender discrimination and vulnerability (by Laurie B. Green), segregation in public services (by Steven A. Knowlton), limitations on black musical expression (by Charles L. Hughes), violence against peaceful protest (by Aram Goudsouzian), control of the War on Poverty (by Anthony C. Siracusa), discriminatory control of schools (by James Conway), the definitions of beauty and black power at Memphis State University (by Shirletta Kinchen), control of neighborhood revitalization (by Zandria F. Robinson), and opposition to labor unions and economic equality (by Michael K. Honey).
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