This nonviolent stuff'll get you killed : how guns made the civil rights movement possible / Charles E. Cobb, Jr.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York, NY : Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, [2014]Description: xiii, 294 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 0465033105 (hardback)
- 9780465033102 (hardback) :
- This nonviolent stuff will get you killed
- How guns made the civil rights movement possible
- African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 20th century
- Civil rights movements -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Firearms -- Law and legislation -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Gun control -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Self-defense -- United States -- History -- 20th century
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | 323.1196 C653 | Checked out | 06/24/2024 | 33111007564541 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Visiting Martin Luther King Jr. at the peak of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, journalist William Worthy almost sat on a loaded pistol. "Just for self defense," King assured him. It was not the only weapon King kept for such a purpose; one of his advisors remembered the reverend's Montgomery, Alabama home as "an arsenal."
Like King, many ostensibly "nonviolent" civil rights activists embraced their constitutional right to selfprotection--yet this crucial dimension of the Afro-American freedom struggle has been long ignored by history. In This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed , civil rights scholar Charles E. Cobb Jr. describes the vital role that armed self-defense played in the survival and liberation of black communities in America during the Southern Freedom Movement of the 1960s. In the Deep South, blacks often safeguarded themselves and their loved ones from white supremacist violence by bearing--and, when necessary, using--firearms. In much the same way, Cobb shows, nonviolent civil rights workers received critical support from black gun owners inthe regions where they worked. Whether patrolling their neighborhoods, garrisoning their homes, or firing back at attackers, these courageous men and women and the weapons they carried were crucial to the movement's success.
Giving voice to the World War II veterans, rural activists, volunteer security guards, and self-defense groups who took up arms to defend their lives and liberties, This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed lays bare the paradoxical relationship between the nonviolent civil rights struggle and the Second Amendment. Drawing on his firsthand experiences in the civil rights movement and interviews with fellow participants, Cobb provides a controversial examination of the crucial place of firearms in the fight for American freedom.
Includes bibliographical references (pages [253]-282) and index.
"I come to get my gun" -- "Over my head I see freedom in the air" -- "The day of camouflage is past" -- "Fighting for what we didn't have" -- "I wasn't being non-violent" -- Which cheek you gonna turn? -- Standing our ground -- "The King of Love is dead" -- Understanding history.
"Civil rights scholar Charles E. Cobb, Jr. reveals how nonviolent activists and their allies kept the civil rights movement alive by bearing and, when necessary, using firearms. Whether patrolling their neighborhoods, garrisoning their homes, or firing back at attackers, these men and women were crucial to the movement's success, as were the weapons they carried. Drawing on his firsthand experiences in the Southern Freedom Movement and interviews with fellow participants, Cobb offers a controversial examination of the vital role guns have played in securing American liberties"--Provided by publisher.
"Civil rights scholar Charles E. Cobb, Jr. reveals the fundamental, but long-overlooked, role that armed self-defense played in the golden era of the civil rights movement"--Provided by publisher.