Learn more about the Civil Rights Movement with our pick of key resources
BOOKS SELECTED BY PROFESSOR ADRIANE LENTZ-SMITH
Freedom Struggles
By Prof Adriane Lentz-Smith (Harvard University Press, 2009)
Lentz-Smith examines the impact of World War I on the 200,000 black soldiers sent to Europe with the American Expeditionary Forces, and reveals how African-Americans abroad and at home reworked notions of nation and belonging, empire and diaspora.
The Night Malcolm X Spoke at the Oxford Union:
A Transatlantic Story of Antiracist Protest
By Prof Stephen Tuck (California University Press, 2014)
Tuck brings to life the dramatic events surrounding Malcolm X’s visit to Oxford in 1964, including the effect of the visit on Malcolm himself and British students.
America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s
By Prof Elizabeth Hinton (William Collins, 2021)
Drawing on previously untapped archival sources, acclaimed professor Elizabeth Hinton unravels the extraordinary history of racial inequality in America’s past and present.
Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board and Black America’s Struggle for Equality
By Richard Kluger (Vintage; revised edition, 2004)
Combining intensive research with original interviews with surviving participants, this is the definitive history of the landmark case Brown vs Board of Education and the struggle for racial equality.
ON THE
Lives Less Ordinary: I Was There the Night Emmett Till Was Taken bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0flncxn Rev Wheeler Parker, Emmett Till’s cousin, discusses the horrific murder in 1955 that sparked a wave of protest in America. Contains distressing scenes.
Breaking Mississippi bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001k0c2 This 10-part podcast series tells the story of James Meredith’s battle to smash white supremacy in the most racially segregated state
