If Your Back's Not Bent: The Role of the Citizenship Education Program in the Civil Rights Movement

by Dorothy F. Cotton, Vincent Harding (Introduction), Andrew Young (Foreword)

The only female in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s inner circle of leadership, for the first time, offers her account of the Civil Rights Movement and what it means to us now.

“Nobody can ride your back if your back’s not bent,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said at the end of a Citizenship Education Program (CEP), an adult grassroots training program directed by Dorothy Cotton. This program, called the best-kept secret of the twentieth century’s civil rights movement, was critical in preparing legions of disenfranchised people across the South to work with existing systems of local government to gain access to services and resources they were entitled to as citizens. They learned to demonstrate peacefully against injustice, even when they were met with violence and hatred. The CEP was born out of the work of the Tennessee Highlander Folk School and was fully developed and expanded by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference led by Dr. King until that fateful day in Memphis in April 1968. Cotton was checked into the Lorraine Motel at that time as well, but she’d left to do the work of the CEP before the assassin’s bullet was fired.

If Your Back’s Not Bent recounts the accomplishments and the drama of this training that was largely ignored by the media, which had focused its attention on marches and demonstrations. This book describes who participated and how they were transformed—men and women alike—from victims to active citizens, and how they transformed their communities and ultimately the country into a place of greater freedom and justice for all. Cotton, the only woman in Dr. King’s inner circle of leadership, for the first time offers her account of the movement, correcting the historical impression that “we only marched and sang.” She shows how the CEP was key to the movement’s success, and how the lessons of the program can serve our democracy now. People, and therefore systems, can indeed change “if your back’s not bent.”

Genres: Social Justice

352 pages, Hardcover

First published March 13, 2012

About the author

Dorothy Cotton was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

Reviews

[Roger Smitter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Initially, I was attracted to the subtitle for the book: The Role of the Citizenship Education Program in the Civil Rights Movement. According to the book jacket blub, the CEP is one of the best kept secrets of the civil rights movement.

Unfortunately, CEP it remains a well-kept secret. Only one chapter describes the principles and themes of what was taught to organizers and leaders at the Tennesee Highlander Folk School. That chapter has a bare bones but informative summary of the principles of non-violent social change articulated by Ghandi, preached by ML King, and practiced by many, many brave graduates of the program.

The book spends far too much time providing background and narrative about the Southern Christian Leadership Council. Most of this ground has been covered by other authors. The author seems to struggle until the end of the book to make a statement about the much under-appreciated role of women in SCLC.

[Heather Kauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Ms. Cotton's writing style is really easy to read and the stories about the work she did and the people involved were so interesting. It got me thinking a lot about the philosophy and practice of nonviolence and how movements can be successful (or not).

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading Ms. Cotton's personal account of her involvement with SCLC during the years of civil rights protests and passionate surge for change. It was nice to see my Father discussed in a couple of spots.

[Yasmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a very special read from the perspective of a woman on the road to human rights (human rights as opposed to the standard "civil" rights). Her memoirs bring a new and different look to Martin Luther King Jr. and the countless others working with him. In mentioning that time in history so few women are mentioned and she has been one of the ones not mentioned when people talk or write about segregation and equal rights for all citizens of the U.S. As this is another book that is more of a memoir than an autobiography there is so much not said, however, what was said was more than good enough. Having read about Malcolm X and another side of Martin Luther King it is more apparent to me that although in many ways polar opposites there was enough in the common goals to bring them together. In many ways one could see it as W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington in the similarities in how the two men differed and saw each other's respective roles, however, there was much more that could have brought them together. Dorothy Cotton is very direct and candid when she speaks of how she had to rise herself up to self esteem and courage, how she had to struggle through eternal male chauvinism in the organisation and how there were difficulties between individuals and yet how everything did come together. Unfortunately it was only in the post script where she claims that the U.S. is the greatest country in the world. Despite overcoming 1960s racism and the elections of Obama it is not nor has ever been the greatest or one of the greatest countries in the world. She did admit that many things has changed very little, however, on a global scale the U.S. is not to be looked upon and admired.

[Didi · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the lack of an editor a powerful and vital historical account is tarnished! Dorothy Cotton was/is a significant, unsung member of the modern Civil Rights movement and MLK's inner circle -- a true national treasure. As brilliant as her teaching and organizing (and, I am told, her public speaking) she is not a natural writer. I truly wanted to immerse myself in the power and spirit of her story, but I was constantly jerked from this story by the just plain bad writing -- writing that any editor worth her salt could have turned into poetry!

Two small examples: "President Obama's election as president brought us to the next leg of an incredible journey." "I was near the front and, as we approached the slave market, I could hear what sounded like chains rattling and a lot of vulgar language aimed at the line of marchers as we approached." Help! The retired teacher in me cringes.

Anyone who lived through the 60's and is passionate about the social and political events of this era will be drawn to this book. Hopefully they will be able to embrace Dorothy Cotton's story without being put off by its presentation.

[Maughn Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

After hearing Dorothy Cotton interviewed on Smiley & West I was eager learn about her time at Highlander and the Citizenship Education Program that began there, which she directed for many years after the Southern Christian Leadership Conference took it over -- one of the most important instances of "Critical Pedagogy" in our history. I was disappointed not to get more detail or analysis of those experiences, but fascinated by this courageous woman's life and her perspective on the civil rights movement. An important lesson we learn from her account is that "even the saints were not saints" -- that even the people we most admire for their sacrifice and leadership in social justice movements were, after all, flawed human beings who sometimes stretched beyond themselves to meet the momentous moral challenges that confronted them.

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dorothy Cotton's voice is an important voice from the non-violent movement during the civil right's marches and sit-ins during the 1960s. Her continued endeavors after Martin Luther's death is a rich legacy.