Bruce Dierenfield is Peter Canisius Distinguished Teaching Professor of American History at Canisius College in Buffalo New York. He directs a program in the African American Experience that includes lectures courses and field trips related to the civil rights movement. Dierenfield has been a senior Fulbright professor in Cologne Germany and has also taught at the University of Helsinki in Finland and Nanjing University in China. He has authored or coauthored two previous books--Keeper of the Rules: Congressman Howard W. Smith of VirginiaandThe Federal Role and Activities in Energy Research and Development 1946-1980.

The civil rights movement was arguably the most important reform in American history. This book recounts the extraordinary and often bloody story of how tens of thousands of ordinary African-Americans overcame long odds to dethrone segregation to exercise the right to vote and to improve their economic standing. Their civil rights movement required unfathomable courage and persistent agitation during which many activists sacrificed their homes jobs and lives. Written in a lively and accessible style the book: Provides a detailed discussion of the racism that accompanied slavery in America and thereafter consigned African-Americans to an inferior position Addresses the actions of racists liberals and reformers and radicals Discusses local reformers who laboured for years to get the movement off the ground Provides documents covering the most important aspects of the modern civil rights movement Contains Maps and Photographs as well as a Glossary Chronology a Who's Who list of key figures and a Guide to Further Reading. Organized in a clear chronological fashion the book shows how concerted pressure in a variety of forms ultimately carried the day in realizing a more just society for African- Americans. It will provide students of American history with an invaluable comprehensive introduction to the Civil Rights Movement. Bruce J. Dierenfieldis Peter Canisius Distinguished Teaching Professor of American History at Canisius College in Buffalo New York where he directs the All-College Honors Program and the African-American Experience.

Chronology
Abbreviations Who's Who
Glossary Maps
List of plates

PART ONE: The Mississippi Plan
1. Jim Crow South

PART TWO: The New Negro
2. Origins of the Movement
3. TheBrownDecision
4. Little Rock Crisis

PART THREE: Freedom Bound
5. Montgomery Bus Boycott
6. Sit-Ins
7. Freedom Ride
8. Battle Of Ole Miss
9. Bombingham
10. March On Washington

PART FOUR: The Movement Fractures
11. Freedom Summer
12. Bloody Sunday

PART FIVE: The Dream Deferred
13. Black Power Assessment

PART SIX: DOCUMENTS FURTHER READING
INDEX