Before the movement: the hidden history of Black civil rights
Author:
Publisher:
Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company
Publication Date:
[2023]
Edition:
First edition
Language:
English
Description
A prize-winning scholar draws on astonishing new research to demonstrate how Black people used the law to their advantage long before the Civil Rights Movement.
The familiar story of civil rights goes like this: once, America's legal system shut Black people out and refused to recognize their rights, their basic human dignity, or even their very lives. When lynch mobs gathered, police and judges often closed their eyes, if they didn't join in. For Black people, law was a hostile, fearsome power to be avoided whenever possible. Then, starting in the 1940s, a few brave lawyers ventured south, bent on changing the law. Soon, ordinary African Americans, awakened by Supreme Court victories and galvanized by racial justice activists, launched the civil rights movement. In Before the Movement, acclaimed historian Dylan C. Penningroth brilliantly revises the conventional story. Drawing on long-forgotten sources found in the basements of county courthouses across the nation, Penningroth reveals that African Americans, far from being ignorant about law until the middle of the twentieth century, have thought about, talked about, and used it going as far back as even the era of slavery. They dealt constantly with the laws of property, contract, inheritance, marriage and divorce, of associations (like churches and businesses and activist groups), and more. By exercising these "rights of everyday use," Penningroth demonstrates, they made Black rights seem unremarkable. And in innumerable subtle ways, they helped shape the law itself--the laws all of us live under today. Penningroth's narrative, which stretches from the last decades of slavery to the 1970s, partly traces the history of his own family. Challenging accepted understandings of Black history framed by relations with white people, he puts Black people at the center of the story--their loves and anger and loneliness, their efforts to stay afloat, their mistakes and embarrassments, their fights, their ideas, their hopes and disappointments, in all their messy humanness. Before the Movement is an account of Black legal lives that looks beyond the Constitution and the criminal justice system to recover a rich, broader vision of Black life--a vision allied with, yet distinct from, "the freedom struggle."--
The familiar story of civil rights goes like this: once, America's legal system shut Black people out and refused to recognize their rights, their basic human dignity, or even their very lives. When lynch mobs gathered, police and judges often closed their eyes, if they didn't join in. For Black people, law was a hostile, fearsome power to be avoided whenever possible. Then, starting in the 1940s, a few brave lawyers ventured south, bent on changing the law. Soon, ordinary African Americans, awakened by Supreme Court victories and galvanized by racial justice activists, launched the civil rights movement. In Before the Movement, acclaimed historian Dylan C. Penningroth brilliantly revises the conventional story. Drawing on long-forgotten sources found in the basements of county courthouses across the nation, Penningroth reveals that African Americans, far from being ignorant about law until the middle of the twentieth century, have thought about, talked about, and used it going as far back as even the era of slavery. They dealt constantly with the laws of property, contract, inheritance, marriage and divorce, of associations (like churches and businesses and activist groups), and more. By exercising these "rights of everyday use," Penningroth demonstrates, they made Black rights seem unremarkable. And in innumerable subtle ways, they helped shape the law itself--the laws all of us live under today. Penningroth's narrative, which stretches from the last decades of slavery to the 1970s, partly traces the history of his own family. Challenging accepted understandings of Black history framed by relations with white people, he puts Black people at the center of the story--their loves and anger and loneliness, their efforts to stay afloat, their mistakes and embarrassments, their fights, their ideas, their hopes and disappointments, in all their messy humanness. Before the Movement is an account of Black legal lives that looks beyond the Constitution and the criminal justice system to recover a rich, broader vision of Black life--a vision allied with, yet distinct from, "the freedom struggle."--
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Subjects
Subjects
African Americans
African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 19th century
African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 20th century
African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- History -- 19th century
African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- History -- 20th century
Civil rights
Civil rights movements
Civil rights movements -- United States -- History -- 20th century
History
Legal status, laws, etc
Race relations
United States -- Race relations
African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 19th century
African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 20th century
African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- History -- 19th century
African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- History -- 20th century
Civil rights
Civil rights movements
Civil rights movements -- United States -- History -- 20th century
History
Legal status, laws, etc
Race relations
United States -- Race relations
More Details
ISBN:
9781324093107
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Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | 4c9aee42-b25f-f1ee-e5ac-1e934f1e4757 |
---|---|
Grouping Title | before the movement the hidden history of black civil rights |
Grouping Author | dylan c penningroth |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2024-09-13 17:19:00PM |
Last Indexed | 2024-09-18 02:22:05AM |
Solr Fields
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0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
author
Penningroth, Dylan C.
author_display
Penningroth, Dylan C.
available_at_boulder
Boulder Main Library
NoBo Branch Library
NoBo Branch Library
detailed_location_boulder
Boulder Main Adult NonFiction
Boulder NoBo Adult NonFiction
Boulder NoBo Adult NonFiction
display_description
A prize-winning scholar draws on astonishing new research to demonstrate how Black people used the law to their advantage long before the Civil Rights Movement.
The familiar story of civil rights goes like this: once, America's legal system shut Black people out and refused to recognize their rights, their basic human dignity, or even their very lives. When lynch mobs gathered, police and judges often closed their eyes, if they didn't join in. For Black people, law was a hostile, fearsome power to be avoided whenever possible. Then, starting in the 1940s, a few brave lawyers ventured south, bent on changing the law. Soon, ordinary African Americans, awakened by Supreme Court victories and galvanized by racial justice activists, launched the civil rights movement. In Before the Movement, acclaimed historian Dylan C. Penningroth brilliantly revises the conventional story. Drawing on long-forgotten sources found in the basements of county courthouses across the nation, Penningroth reveals that African Americans, far from being ignorant about law until the middle of the twentieth century, have thought about, talked about, and used it going as far back as even the era of slavery. They dealt constantly with the laws of property, contract, inheritance, marriage and divorce, of associations (like churches and businesses and activist groups), and more. By exercising these "rights of everyday use," Penningroth demonstrates, they made Black rights seem unremarkable. And in innumerable subtle ways, they helped shape the law itself--the laws all of us live under today. Penningroth's narrative, which stretches from the last decades of slavery to the 1970s, partly traces the history of his own family. Challenging accepted understandings of Black history framed by relations with white people, he puts Black people at the center of the story--their loves and anger and loneliness, their efforts to stay afloat, their mistakes and embarrassments, their fights, their ideas, their hopes and disappointments, in all their messy humanness. Before the Movement is an account of Black legal lives that looks beyond the Constitution and the criminal justice system to recover a rich, broader vision of Black life--a vision allied with, yet distinct from, "the freedom struggle."--
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Book
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Books
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isbn
9781324093107
itype_boulder
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last_indexed
2024-09-18T08:22:05.027Z
lexile_score
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literary_form
Non Fiction
literary_form_full
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local_callnumber_boulder
973.0496 Penn
973.049607 Penn
973.049607 Penn
local_time_since_added_boulder
Year
owning_library_boulder
Boulder Public Library
owning_location_boulder
Boulder Main Library
NoBo Branch Library
NoBo Branch Library
primary_isbn
9781324093107
publishDate
2023
publisher
Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 19th century
African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 20th century
African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- History -- 19th century
African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- History -- 20th century
Civil rights movements -- United States -- History -- 20th century
United States -- Race relations
African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 20th century
African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- History -- 19th century
African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- History -- 20th century
Civil rights movements -- United States -- History -- 20th century
United States -- Race relations
title_display
Before the movement : the hidden history of Black civil rights
title_full
Before the movement : the hidden history of Black civil rights / Dylan C. Penningroth
title_short
Before the movement
title_sub
the hidden history of Black civil rights
topic_facet
African Americans
Civil rights
Civil rights movements
History
Legal status, laws, etc
Race relations
Civil rights
Civil rights movements
History
Legal status, laws, etc
Race relations
Solr Details Tables
item_details
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ils:.b30968161 | .i48176515 | Boulder Main Adult NonFiction | 973.0496 Penn | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | Aug 14, 2024 | bmnfa | ||||
ils:.b30968161 | .i48779672 | Boulder NoBo Adult NonFiction | 973.049607 Penn | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | bnnfa |
record_details
Bib Id | Format | Format Category | Edition | Language | Publisher | Publication Date | Physical Description | Abridged |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b30968161 | Book | Books | First edition | English | Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company | [2023] | xxviii, 465 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
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