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How 1963 Transformed America's Civil Rights Revolution
by Peniel E. Joseph
A kaleidoscopic narrative history of 1963, the pivotal moment in America's long civil rights movement—the year of the March on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and the assassinations of Medgar Evers and John F. Kennedy.
In Freedom Season, acclaimed historian Peniel E. Joseph offers a stirring narrative history of 1963, marking it as the defining year of the Black freedom struggle—a year when America faced a deluge of political strife and violence and emerged transformed.
Nineteen sixty-three opened with the centenary of the Emancipation Proclamation and ended with America in a state of mourning. The months in between brought waves of racial terror, mass protest, and police repression that shocked the world, inspired radicals and reformers, and forced the hands of moderate legislators. By year's end the murders of John F. Kennedy, Medgar Evers, and four Black girls at a church in Alabama left the nation determined to imagine a new way forward. Alongside the stories of historical giants like James Baldwin and Martin Luther King Jr., Joseph uplifts the perspectives of less celebrated leaders like playwright Lorraine Hansberry and activist Gloria Richardson.
Over one heartbreakingly tumultuous year, America unraveled and remade itself as the world looked on. Freedom Season shows how the upheavals of 1963 planted the seeds for watershed civil rights legislation and renewed hope in the promise and possibility of freedom.
"Timely reading in an era of social and legislative backsliding that threatens to erase many civil rights gains." —Kirkus Reviews
"Freedom Season is a remarkable book, shining new light on a pivotal year in our nation's past. Joseph's sweeping narrative makes history come alive, showing how 1963 continues to haunt and inspire America. From James Baldwin to Gloria Richardson, this is a story of bold ideas and actions that is as relevant today as ever." ―Matthew F. Delmont, author of Half American
"Peniel E. Joseph's Freedom Season is a brilliantly constructed and endlessly rewarding history of 1963 in America, with the Kennedy brothers, Malcom X, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Baldwin, and Medgar Evers taking center stage. Joseph, our dean of Black Power Studies, expertly grapples with the milieu of race and the liberal Democratic political stratagems that tragically culminated in the assassination of JFK in Dallas. Packed with thorough research and fresh anecdotes, this is a master class in US civil rights history like none other. Highly recommended!" ―Douglas Brinkley, author of Silent Spring Revolution
This information about Freedom Season was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Peniel E. Joseph is the Barbara Jordan Chair in Ethics and Political Values, founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, and distinguished service leadership professor and professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author and editor of eight award-winning books on African American history, including The Third Reconstruction and The Sword and the Shield. He lives in Austin, Texas.
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