Battling the Plantation Mentality: Memphis and the Black Freedom Struggle

by Laurie B. Green

African American freedom is often defined in terms of emancipation and civil rights legislation, but it did not arrive with the stroke of a pen or the rap of a gavel. No single event makes this more plain, Laurie Green argues, than the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' strike, which culminated in the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Exploring the notion of "freedom" in postwar Memphis, Green demonstrates that the civil rights movement was battling an ongoing "plantation mentality" based on race, gender, and power that permeated southern culture long before--and even after--the groundbreaking legislation of the mid-1960s.

With its slogan "I AM a Man!" the Memphis strike provides a clarion example of how the movement fought for a black freedom that consisted of not only constitutional rights but also social and human rights. As the sharecropping system crumbled and migrants streamed to the cities during and after World War II, the struggle for black freedom touched all aspects of daily life. Green traces the movement to new locations, from protests against police brutality and racist movie censorship policies to innovations in mass culture, such as black-oriented radio stations. Incorporating scores of oral histories, Green demonstrates that the interplay of politics, culture, and consciousness is critical to truly understanding freedom and the black struggle for it.

Genres: History

432 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2007

Reviews

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you zoom in on a location, like Memphis, and then zoom out the time, you can get a much better feel for what it takes to build an effective campaign. Green shows the continuity from the Double V campaign to the sanitation strike and the interplay between urban and rural struggles in the mid-South. Organizing efforts among the sanitation workers began ten years before the famous "I am a Man!" strike, and in addition to overcoming leftover Crump Machine paternalism, the organizers had to overcome the workers' fear. The combination of the two is what Memphians call(ed) "the plantation mentality."

I have been interested in the Black Freedom Struggle for decades now, but books like this never fail to shock me at the depths of evil and desperation that the white supremacy ideology can generate. There are the stories of police violence and racist statements from bosses an politicians that one expects, but then there are always details of day to day life that make me think, "wow."

I bought this book at the museum store in the Lorraine Motel and it has Laurie B. Green's signature in it. I'm proud of that.

[James Fabris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This meticulously researched innovative study explores what the idea of freedom meant to the people who made the Black freedom movement in Memphis between 1945 and 1968. This is essential reading for anyone interested in African-American history, women’s history, or the human struggle for liberation in general.