Right now social media is awash with quotes from Martin Luther King Jnr and other prominent figures from the American Civil Rights Movement, and sadly those words are still as poignant and relevant today as they were 50 years ago. If all the current events have left you wanting to learn more about the movement and the struggles faced by Americans of colour in the last 50 years then we have some recommended books on the subject.
Now as a white British person, I don’t claim to be an expert on the subject so if you have any further recommendations, please add them in the comments.
Why We Can’t Wait – Martin Luther King Jnr
Civil Rights activist and speaker Martin Luther King was best known for his speeches and sermons, and so it should come as no surprise that his writing is just as inspirational, including his letter from a Birmingham Jail, part of this collection.
Freshwater Road – Denise Nicholas
It’s not only through non-fiction and historians we can learn about the American Civil Rights Movement, there are plenty of novels on the subject too, and one of the most vivid is Freshwater Road by Denise Nicholas. The story follows a 19-year old student who goes to Mississippi in the summer of 1964 to help blacks register to vote
The Warmth of Other Suns – Isabel Wilkerson
One of the more recent additions to the genre is The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. By focusing on three individuals, Wilkerson chronicles the mass migration of nearly six million African Americans who left the south between 1915 and 1970, reshaping America.
Malcolm & Martin and America – James Cone
Theologian James Cone looks at Martin Luther King Jnr, Malcolm X and the American Civil Rights Movement. Looking at two key figures who fought for the same thing, yet seemed to be polar opposites.
Malcolm & Martin and America US
Malcolm & Martin and America UK
Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement – Barbara Ransby
Even in the most oppressed sections of society, women’s roles are neglected and when we look at the Civil Rights Movement it’s often men who we focus on. This study charts the remarkable life of activist Ella Baker, one of the movements forgotten heroes.
Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement US
Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement UK
The Help – Kathryn Stockett
The Help is a beautifully written and moving novel that chronicles life in the 1960s in Mississippi, focusing on the black maids that were known as ‘The Help’. Funny, moving, with strong voices, this is a must read for everyone.
There are hundreds, and thousands of books on this subject in the non-fiction genre, but not so many fiction books, a surprising amount in fact and the ones that do exist use the movement as a back story in crime novels and the such, written by white Americans. With that, I have done what I can, but if anyone does have any further recommendations, particularly books by persons of colour, please add them in the comments.
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“Thorpe” by Mary Dutton. The story of a little white girl growing up in rural Arkansas, whose father is an educator. When he performs the simple act of giving used textbooks – that were being discarded anyway – to the local black school, the outrage that follows leads to tragedy that affects her family and the families of her African American best friends. This book is hard to find now, and little known, but reviewers at the time it was publushed, I believe in the early 60’s, likened it to “To Kill a Mockingbird”.