NAACP Youth and the Fight for Black Freedom, 1936-1965

by Thomas Bynum

Overview

This book is very important in the wider context of related scholarship in the modern-day civil rights movement because it will be the first on the youth perspective in the NAACP. . . . I believe that it will be widely used by scholars and the general public.”—Linda Reed, author of Simple Decency and Common Sense: The Southern Conference Movement, 1938-1963

“A recent trend in the historiography of the civil rights movement is the increased understanding of the role that young people played in the right for equality. . . . Bynum has filled a gap in the civil rights literature in this short book.” —Choice

Historical studies of black youth activism have until now focused almost exclusively on the activities of the Congress Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). However, the NAACP youth councils and college chapters predate both of those organizations. Thomas Bynum carefully examines the activism of the NAACP youth and effectively refutes the perception of the NAACP as working strictly through the courts. His research illuminates the many direct-action activities undertaken by the young people of the NAACP—activities that helped precipitate the breakdown of racial discrimination and segregation in America. He also explores the evolution of the youth councils and college chapters, including their sometime rocky relationship with the national office, and captures the successes, failures, and challenges the NAACP youth groups experiences at the national, state, and local levels.

Thomas Bynum is an assistant professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781621901532
Publisher:	University of Tennessee Press
Publication date:	09/30/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	226
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Thomas Bynum is an assistant professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University. 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xiii

1 "Ours Is an Immediate Task": Juanita Jackson and the Origins of the NAACP Youth Movement 1

2 To "Keep Our Vision Unclouded": War and Democracy 23

3 To Finish the Fight: "Freedom from Fear!" 45

4 "With All Deliberate Speed": School Desegregation, Emmett Till, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott 79

5 "More Than a Hamburger and a Cup of Coffee": NAACP Youth and the 1960s Freedom Struggle 95

6 "And If Not Now, When?" Securing Our Freedom 119

Epilogue 147

Notes 153

Bibliography 193

Index 209

Editorial Reviews

“This book is very important in the wider context of related scholarship in the
modern-day ciivil rights movement because it will be the first on the youth
perspective in the NAACP. . . . I believe that will be widely used by scholars and
the general public.”  —Linda Reed, author of Simple Decency and Common Sense: The
Southern Conference Movement, 1938–1963

From the Publisher