Writings

What follows are some of the best known items (mostly fiction but some nonfiction too) produced by prominent activists and citizens during the civil rights movement–typically, shorter items that can be accessed here via links. (The number of writings related to the civil rights movement is vast, so only items with direct links are available here.) The many other items not enumerated here are no doubt often accessible via the Internet, and books are available from libraries. (Writings are alphabetized by author’s last name.)

Baldwin, James:

“Going to Meet the Man”: This fictional narrative was published in the short story collection Going to Meet the Man in 1965.

“Many Thousands Gone”: This piece was published in 1951 as part of Notes of a Native Man.

“Letter from a Region in My Mind”: This essay, published in the November 17, 1962 issue of The New Yorker, was reprinted the following spring in book form as The Fire Next Time.

 

Beal, Frances:

“Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female” was written in 1969.

Carmichael, Stokely:

“What We Want” was published in the New York Review of Books on September 22, 1966.

DaRRow, Clarence:

Clarence Darrow, the most famous American attorney of the twentieth century, often defended people in civil rights cases. Most famous for his efforts in the 1925 Scopes evolution trial, he once delivered “I Believe in the Law of Love” as a closing argument to a case:

https://www.famous-trials.com/sweet/113-home

Davidson, DOnald:

“Preface to Decision”: You can find a defense of Jim Crow by using this citation– Sewanee Review 53 (1945): 394-412.

Faulkner, William:

“A Letter to the North” appeared in Life on March 5, 1956.

Houser, George and Bayard Rustin:

“We Challenged Jim Crow!: A Report on the Journey of Reconciliation, April 9-23, 1947”

Johnson, Charles:

“Dr. King’s Refrigerator” (a short story) was published in 2005.

King, Martin Luther:

“Nonviolence and Racial Justice” was published in Christian Century on February 6, 1957.

“The Social Organization of Nonviolence” was published in Liberation magazine in October, 1959.

“Equality Now,” published in The Nation on February 4, 2916.

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” appeared in various places after it was written in April, 1963.

Moynihan, Daniel Patrick:

“The Negro Family: The Case for National Action”: Published in March, 1965

O’Connor, Flannery:

“Everything That Rises Must Converge” is a short story published in O’Connor’s book of short stories, Everything that Rises Must Converge, in January 1965.

 

 

Percy, Walker:

“Mississippi: The Fallen Paradise” was published in Harper’s in April, 1965.

 

 

 

Shuttlesworth, Fred:

“Birmingham Revisited” was published in Ebony magazine in August, 1971.

Vardaman, James K.:

“A Governor Bitterly Opposes Negro Education” (an example of segregationist thinking) was published in Leslie’s Weekly on February 4, 1904.

Walker, Alice:

“Everyday Use” (a short story) was published in 1973.

Weathers, Mary Ann:

“An Argument for Black Women’s Liberation As a Revolutionary Force” was published in No More Fun and Games: A Journal of Female Liberation in February, 1969.

Welty, Eudora:

“Where is the Voice Coming From?” was published in the New Yorker on July 6, 1963. It offers a fictionalized explanation of the murder of Edgar Evers.

 

 

 

Wright, Richard:

“How ‘Bigger’ Was Born” was published in March, 1940.