Black Americans and the Civil Rights Movement in the West

Abstract

Black Americans and the Civil Rights Movement in the West is an ambitious collection of essays by sixteen historians who illuminate the understudied freedom rights struggle of African Americans and their allies in the West and integrate it as part of a crucial national effort. The authors focus on the stories of black westerners to articulate how they tirelessly challenged oppression and discrimination in dismantling racial barriers, just as their counterparts did in other parts of the United States. Similar, overlapping struggles of other groups of color are brought into the essays, when applicable, in connection to the black struggle. The authors showcase mostly urban areas where black westerners, often predating actions in the South or the North, used the political tactics of nonviolence, civil disobedience, direct action, legal battles, suffrage, and the quest for empowerment that were foundational to the modern civil rights movement strategy. The book focuses on the time of the greatest racial justice struggle, from the mid-1940s to the mid-1970s, though some chapters cover a broader period as appropriate to the activities of their geographic focus.