Charleston in Black and White: Race and Power in the South after the Civil Rights Movement

by Steve Estes

Overview

Once one of the wealthiest cities in America, Charleston, South Carolina, established a society built on the racial hierarchies of slavery and segregation. By the 1970s, the legal structures behind these racial divisions had broken down and the wealth built upon them faded. Like many southern cities, Charleston had to construct a new public image. In this important book, Steve Estes chronicles the rise and fall of black political empowerment and examines the ways Charleston responded to the civil rights movement, embracing some changes and resisting others.

Based on detailed archival research and more than fifty oral history interviews, Charleston in Black and White addresses the complex roles played not only by race but also by politics, labor relations, criminal justice, education, religion, tourism, economics, and the military in shaping a modern southern city. Despite the advances and opportunities that have come to the city since the 1960s, Charleston (like much of the South) has not fully reckoned with its troubled racial past, which still influences the present and will continue to shape the future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469645506
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	08/01/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Steve Estes is professor of history at Sonoma State University and author of I AM a Man!: Race, Manhood, and the Civil Rights Movement and Ask and Tell: Gay and Lesbian Veterans Speak Out.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“There are a number of books that explore the conservative reaction to the civil rights movement and the rise of the Republican South and modern rights; Steve Estes’s brilliantly written Charleston in Black and White complicates that story. Once again, we see how a local case study can provide the 'yes, but' story that illustrates the complexity of social trends often painted with too broad a brush.” — Tracy K'Meyer, University of Louisville

Editorial Reviews

“Southern history aficionados and scholars alike will appreciate this compact analysis of race relations in Charleston that has sadly become all too relevant in the wake of recent events.” — Library Journal

“A good narrative, full of insight and aware of the broader urban and regional contexts.” — American Historical Review

“Commended for its extensive use of interviews, [and] is helpful in putting the recent history of Charleston into perspective.” — CHOICE

“For those endeavoring to make sense of the color line in the post-civil rights era, Charleston in Black and White is an excellent starting point.” — Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

“An essential read on recent southern history.” — H-Net Reviews

“Beyond his important contributions to Charleston’s history, Estes explicitly addresses civil right historiography.” — North Carolina Historical Review

“A community study that ties Charleston to larger national trends while also showing how its convoluted history challenges popular notions of the post-civil rights South.” — Oral History Review

“A valuable and well-executed study of civil and human rights in one southern city in the years following the Civil Rights Movement. A solid local history, it also sheds light on a variety of issues facing the present-day South more broadly.”—Journal of African American History

“Estes’s study of the post-civil rights period provides a critical local history with insightful analysis that extends beyond the low-country region to make a significant contribution to the wider historiography of South Carolina, the American South, and the national civil rights movement.”—South Carolina Historical Magazine

From the Publisher