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Eyes on the Prize
Eyes on the Prize traces the movement from the landmark Brown v . the Board of Education case in 1954 to the march on Selma and the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. This is a companion volume to the first part of the acclaimed PBS series.
300 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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August 18, 2022
While it's not nearly as expansive as Taylor Branch's three-part
America in the King Years
series, Eyes on the Prize presents a compelling overview of the Civil Rights Movement between 1954 and 1965. Enhanced by interviews with various people involved with the push for greater black freedom during those years, as well as contemporaneous news articles that convey the tense racial tenor of the time, Juan Williams' book -- a companion to the TV miniseries of the same name -- manages to be wider in scope and detail than a 320-page history of the events of the movement has any right to be. Best of all, it brings the lesser known warriors of the struggle to the forefront instead of taking the easy, if understandable, route of having a Martin Luther King Jr. or John Lewis dominate the narrative. Trailbrazers like Charles Houston and Fannie Lou Hamer; martyrs like Medgar Evers and Mose Wright; organisers like Jo Ann Robinson and E.D. Nixon; and glass ceiling breakers like Melba Patillo and Elizabeth Eckford all shine in individual chapters covering everything from school desegregation to the marches over Edmunt Pettus Bridge. I also appreciated the epilogue, which offers information on the post-1965 lives of dozens of movement participants (as well as some of their segregationist foes). Eyes on the Prize is a wonderful book.
July 18, 2020
"The only thing that we did was wrong
Was staying' in the wilderness too long
Keep your eyes on the prize
Hold on, hold on"
This book is the companion piece to THE definitive documentary on the American Civil Rights Movement of the same name. This book to a subject that I already knew a lot about and gave me even more comprehensive primary sourced information about it. I read the book to the point that the cover has been torn off. The language of the book is easy enough for any one to understand and the history is priceless.
I strongly suggest reading the book, but I more strongly suggest watching the documentary which can be found all over the place.
Was staying' in the wilderness too long
Keep your eyes on the prize
Hold on, hold on"
This book is the companion piece to THE definitive documentary on the American Civil Rights Movement of the same name. This book to a subject that I already knew a lot about and gave me even more comprehensive primary sourced information about it. I read the book to the point that the cover has been torn off. The language of the book is easy enough for any one to understand and the history is priceless.
I strongly suggest reading the book, but I more strongly suggest watching the documentary which can be found all over the place.
July 25, 2021
Eyes on the Prize utilizes the tactic of revisionist history -- that is, telling historical events from perspectives not often considered. For instance, the master narrative or textbook version of the Civil Rights movement is generally focused on Martin Luther King and how he empowered a repressed people.
Eyes on the Prize approaches the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s with a different perspective. It starts by introducing the social elements and people between the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1964, and explains how the second Civil Rights movement gained momentum and spread.
I was particularly struck by the story of Kenneth Clark and how his Dolls Study was used as evidence in the Briggs v. Clarendon County case. I think this instance is a great example of the combination of legal strategy and action with the intent to change public opinion. It is clear they were aware of the charged nature of this decision from the quote on page 20,
I think this choice must have had more impact in the legal and public spheres than is focused on in this book, as it is now relatively common for a court of law to seek the expert opinion of a mental health worker. Psychologists and others who work with the mentally ill are often tainted with a sort of stigma-by-association, yet in a high-stakes trial, they chose to highlight not only a psychological study, but a study done by a black psychologist. It is clear why: Not only is the study itself sound, the ramifications are unsettling on an instinctual level. To prove the effect of discrimination on innocent young minds is an extremely effective way of inciting both sympathy and desire to act in the viewer -- it draws on the innate human desire to protect our children from harm.
In many ways, both the legal strategy and the public action danced around this concept. Charles Houston drew on it when he focused his initial efforts of educational desegregation oat the higher education levels, knowing that it would be less threatening to whites if it started in adult institutions rather than with children. He drew on this human instinct, too, whether consciously or not, when he filmed the contrasting situations of white and black children in their segregated learning environments. I suspect it is easier for a moderate white to be unconcerned about the plight of black children if they are not aware of the reality of that plight.
Clearly, hard-core racist segregationists didn't particularly care if black children were in school, in the gutter, or dead. But it wasn't the hard-core segregationists they needed to sway; it was the moderates and public opinion in general. I think Martin Luther King's advocacy of nonviolent, passive resistance also appealed, in a sense, to the parent's desire for their children's safety. The nonviolent movement showed through both word and actions that blacks were not the threat segregationists were trying to paint them as. Indeed, as the movement progressed, the juxtaposition of dignified non-violent resistance of the blacks and their white allies to the lashing anger and rage of the of segregationists highlighted who the real danger to society was.
This is further alluded to on page 113, in an interview with a white student at Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas:
I wouldn't go so far as to argue that the entire civil rights movement was predicated on the human urge to protect the children, but I do think that a sensitivity and awareness of this shared instinct permeates the movement. It present in the cases they choose to argue and the order they chose to pursue them in. It was a consideration in the way blacks and their white allies presented themselves to the public.
In the arena of national attention, they often focused on the violence done to black children. In the arena of legal cases, they chose defendants who were either children or adults who were not considered a threat to those who needed to be protected. They also chose to focus on litigation that either did not affect children and was therefore not perceived as a threat to white children, or that focused on the harm done to black children, which incited sympathy in moderate whites. On top of these choices was the conscious decision to employ children in many marches and boycotts, which both made for moving publicity and allowed their parents more freedom of movement behind the scenes. Whether these choices were conscious or subconscious, they positively impacted both the participants in and the observers of the freedom movement on a very instinctive level.
The impact of this was even evidenced by segregationists, who in the immediate wake of the Emmet Till murder were, "outraged at what happened,"(43) and promised justice would be done. As it turned out, justice was not done -- but I do think it's telling that in the immediate aftermath of the murder, the reported reaction of, "all 'decent' people," was outrage and horror. The Southerners did not initially respond with a meh, or (worse), glee: They reacted with the disgust any right-thinking person should feel upon learning of such an incident. As the media attention grew and swelled, the white community drew back on itself and became defensive and angry, but their first reaction to the murder of a child was one of horror.
Today, many social activist groups say, "Think of the children," when they try to defend or argue some stance or other. I suspect the segregationists said this phrase, too, or some 1950's equivalent of it. It is interesting that a successful social movement is the one that does think of the children, and that considers the impact of their movement on all children, rather than just their children.
Eyes on the Prize approaches the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s with a different perspective. It starts by introducing the social elements and people between the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1964, and explains how the second Civil Rights movement gained momentum and spread.
I was particularly struck by the story of Kenneth Clark and how his Dolls Study was used as evidence in the Briggs v. Clarendon County case. I think this instance is a great example of the combination of legal strategy and action with the intent to change public opinion. It is clear they were aware of the charged nature of this decision from the quote on page 20,
"It was highly unorthodox evidence to present in a courtroom, but the situation called for unusual legal ammunition."
I think this choice must have had more impact in the legal and public spheres than is focused on in this book, as it is now relatively common for a court of law to seek the expert opinion of a mental health worker. Psychologists and others who work with the mentally ill are often tainted with a sort of stigma-by-association, yet in a high-stakes trial, they chose to highlight not only a psychological study, but a study done by a black psychologist. It is clear why: Not only is the study itself sound, the ramifications are unsettling on an instinctual level. To prove the effect of discrimination on innocent young minds is an extremely effective way of inciting both sympathy and desire to act in the viewer -- it draws on the innate human desire to protect our children from harm.
In many ways, both the legal strategy and the public action danced around this concept. Charles Houston drew on it when he focused his initial efforts of educational desegregation oat the higher education levels, knowing that it would be less threatening to whites if it started in adult institutions rather than with children. He drew on this human instinct, too, whether consciously or not, when he filmed the contrasting situations of white and black children in their segregated learning environments. I suspect it is easier for a moderate white to be unconcerned about the plight of black children if they are not aware of the reality of that plight.
Clearly, hard-core racist segregationists didn't particularly care if black children were in school, in the gutter, or dead. But it wasn't the hard-core segregationists they needed to sway; it was the moderates and public opinion in general. I think Martin Luther King's advocacy of nonviolent, passive resistance also appealed, in a sense, to the parent's desire for their children's safety. The nonviolent movement showed through both word and actions that blacks were not the threat segregationists were trying to paint them as. Indeed, as the movement progressed, the juxtaposition of dignified non-violent resistance of the blacks and their white allies to the lashing anger and rage of the of segregationists highlighted who the real danger to society was.
This is further alluded to on page 113, in an interview with a white student at Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas:
"Other Whites, however, lost sympathy for the governor. 'I began to change,' remembers Craig Rains, a white senior at Central during the 1957-1958 school year, 'from being . . . a moderate, who, if I had my way, would have said, 'Let's don't integrate, because it's the state's right to decide.' I changed to someone who felt a real sense of compassion for those students, and felt like they deserved something that I had, and I also developed a real dislike for the people that were out there causing problems." (pg 113)
I wouldn't go so far as to argue that the entire civil rights movement was predicated on the human urge to protect the children, but I do think that a sensitivity and awareness of this shared instinct permeates the movement. It present in the cases they choose to argue and the order they chose to pursue them in. It was a consideration in the way blacks and their white allies presented themselves to the public.
In the arena of national attention, they often focused on the violence done to black children. In the arena of legal cases, they chose defendants who were either children or adults who were not considered a threat to those who needed to be protected. They also chose to focus on litigation that either did not affect children and was therefore not perceived as a threat to white children, or that focused on the harm done to black children, which incited sympathy in moderate whites. On top of these choices was the conscious decision to employ children in many marches and boycotts, which both made for moving publicity and allowed their parents more freedom of movement behind the scenes. Whether these choices were conscious or subconscious, they positively impacted both the participants in and the observers of the freedom movement on a very instinctive level.
The impact of this was even evidenced by segregationists, who in the immediate wake of the Emmet Till murder were, "outraged at what happened,"(43) and promised justice would be done. As it turned out, justice was not done -- but I do think it's telling that in the immediate aftermath of the murder, the reported reaction of, "all 'decent' people," was outrage and horror. The Southerners did not initially respond with a meh, or (worse), glee: They reacted with the disgust any right-thinking person should feel upon learning of such an incident. As the media attention grew and swelled, the white community drew back on itself and became defensive and angry, but their first reaction to the murder of a child was one of horror.
Today, many social activist groups say, "Think of the children," when they try to defend or argue some stance or other. I suspect the segregationists said this phrase, too, or some 1950's equivalent of it. It is interesting that a successful social movement is the one that does think of the children, and that considers the impact of their movement on all children, rather than just their children.
October 2, 2018
It's hard to review a book that covers the entire Civil Rights period in as much detail as Eyes On the Prize by Juan Williams does. The book, suitable for adults and young adults, is simultaneously comprehensive, academic, and personal. Williams wrote it as a companion to the first season of the NPR series with the same title. As noted below, several segments are now on YouTube.
Even though I have read many books on the civil rights era, William's book showed how one event led to another--like dominoes falling in succession. I recommended it to one of my experts, Vermelle Ely, who enjoys audio books. When we had talked previously my questions were about Charlotte and Second Ward High. When I asked her about Little Rock she said, "Sure we knew about it. But back then, news didn’t travel so fast." Her remark was historically revealing.
Although I have chosen different portions of the book to highlight, it is very difficult to summarize any of these historical events. For more detail--please read the book!
PART I
1954-1956
Charles Hamilton Houston served as a mentor to a generation of black lawyers leading up to the Civil Rights period. He was instrumental in attacking the "separate but equal" rules that governed the Jim Crow South. He investigated educational discrimination by creating movies of the schools for black children. Although he started with elementary schools, his goal was to develop graduate programs that were nonexistent for blacks. Houston was instrumental in pulling together the cases (including the historic challenge in Clarendon County, SC as I blogged about here) to create the lawsuit that eventually led to the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. Interestingly, Williams said that Emmit Till's murder did more for civil rights than Brown vs. the Board of Education as it brought the plight of southern blacks to national attention.
PART II
1957-1962
Since blacks frequently used buses for transportation to work, Williams noted that it was no accident that bus boycotts throughout the South became the stage of protest. "Indignity suffered alone was debilitating, but indignity shared was powerful." Although blacks feared white reprisal for their boycotts (losing their jobs and physical violence) a growing sentiment was that the time had come to take a stand for freedom.
During this time Martin Luther King, Jr. preached nonviolence. Segregationists put pressure on white commissioners not to give in to black boycotts. The boycotts received national attention and
bus segregation started to be challenged in courts.
The behind the scenes politics in all the cities, but especially Little Rock, AK were fascinating. Desegregation was a political football from the local level all the way up to President Eisenhower. The politicians, including Governor Faubus, were often more interested in grandstanding than fair play.
It was also interesting to track the role of the NAACP Youth Council as young adults and college students became involved in the movement. Williams features Diane Nash, John Lewis, and Jim Lawson who were leaders in nonviolent protests at lunch counters throughout the South. President Kennedy was deeply influenced by the student protests and became an important advocate of civil rights. An interesting segment at the end of the book details where these individuals were in 1987 when the book was published.
PART V
1962-1964
In this section I heard the sad story of Medgar Evars, a WWII veteran and civil rights activist who was murdered in 1963 by a Klansman. "All we wanted was to be ordinary citizens. If the Japs and Germans didn’t kill us, it looked like white Mississippians would." He was rejected at the University of Mississippi law school and was very active in the NAACP. This invovlement could lead blacks to being called niggers, alligators, apes, coons, possums and was often equated with being a Communist.
Similar to the political maneuverings in Little Rock, the behind-the-scenes events among the Mississippi delegation and Lyndon B. Johnson's negotiations at the 1964 Democratic convention were insightful and fascinating.
I can't possibly summarize Freedom Summer in 1964 when blacks were trying to register to vote. Whites threatened economic reprisals even though at times the blacks were better educated than the whites registering them. It was a summer of violence when President Johnson was spending money on Vietnam while blacks were being killed. But black teenagers singing the Star Spangled Banner and the marches from Selma to Montgomery were a source of inspiration to many.
Williams noted that the decade between 1954 and 1964 saw more social change and more court decisions than any other decade. The lives of blacks and whites were forever changed because of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954, the Civil Rights Act of 1960, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Television forced the print press to be more honest. The white perspective was no longer the only one heard.
Even though I have read many books on the civil rights era, William's book showed how one event led to another--like dominoes falling in succession. I recommended it to one of my experts, Vermelle Ely, who enjoys audio books. When we had talked previously my questions were about Charlotte and Second Ward High. When I asked her about Little Rock she said, "Sure we knew about it. But back then, news didn’t travel so fast." Her remark was historically revealing.
Although I have chosen different portions of the book to highlight, it is very difficult to summarize any of these historical events. For more detail--please read the book!
PART I
1954-1956
Charles Hamilton Houston served as a mentor to a generation of black lawyers leading up to the Civil Rights period. He was instrumental in attacking the "separate but equal" rules that governed the Jim Crow South. He investigated educational discrimination by creating movies of the schools for black children. Although he started with elementary schools, his goal was to develop graduate programs that were nonexistent for blacks. Houston was instrumental in pulling together the cases (including the historic challenge in Clarendon County, SC as I blogged about here) to create the lawsuit that eventually led to the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. Interestingly, Williams said that Emmit Till's murder did more for civil rights than Brown vs. the Board of Education as it brought the plight of southern blacks to national attention.
PART II
1957-1962
Since blacks frequently used buses for transportation to work, Williams noted that it was no accident that bus boycotts throughout the South became the stage of protest. "Indignity suffered alone was debilitating, but indignity shared was powerful." Although blacks feared white reprisal for their boycotts (losing their jobs and physical violence) a growing sentiment was that the time had come to take a stand for freedom.
During this time Martin Luther King, Jr. preached nonviolence. Segregationists put pressure on white commissioners not to give in to black boycotts. The boycotts received national attention and
bus segregation started to be challenged in courts.
The behind the scenes politics in all the cities, but especially Little Rock, AK were fascinating. Desegregation was a political football from the local level all the way up to President Eisenhower. The politicians, including Governor Faubus, were often more interested in grandstanding than fair play.
It was also interesting to track the role of the NAACP Youth Council as young adults and college students became involved in the movement. Williams features Diane Nash, John Lewis, and Jim Lawson who were leaders in nonviolent protests at lunch counters throughout the South. President Kennedy was deeply influenced by the student protests and became an important advocate of civil rights. An interesting segment at the end of the book details where these individuals were in 1987 when the book was published.
PART V
1962-1964
In this section I heard the sad story of Medgar Evars, a WWII veteran and civil rights activist who was murdered in 1963 by a Klansman. "All we wanted was to be ordinary citizens. If the Japs and Germans didn’t kill us, it looked like white Mississippians would." He was rejected at the University of Mississippi law school and was very active in the NAACP. This invovlement could lead blacks to being called niggers, alligators, apes, coons, possums and was often equated with being a Communist.
Similar to the political maneuverings in Little Rock, the behind-the-scenes events among the Mississippi delegation and Lyndon B. Johnson's negotiations at the 1964 Democratic convention were insightful and fascinating.
I can't possibly summarize Freedom Summer in 1964 when blacks were trying to register to vote. Whites threatened economic reprisals even though at times the blacks were better educated than the whites registering them. It was a summer of violence when President Johnson was spending money on Vietnam while blacks were being killed. But black teenagers singing the Star Spangled Banner and the marches from Selma to Montgomery were a source of inspiration to many.
Williams noted that the decade between 1954 and 1964 saw more social change and more court decisions than any other decade. The lives of blacks and whites were forever changed because of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954, the Civil Rights Act of 1960, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Television forced the print press to be more honest. The white perspective was no longer the only one heard.
October 24, 2021
I read this book in preparation for our trip to Atlanta, Montgomery and Birmingham. I had seen the PBS Documentary for which this is companion volume, but this contained a lot more detail. It traces the struggle for integration from the legal cases--Brown and its predecessors and progeny, school desegregation, the struggle to ride buses and other public transit, from Rosa Parks to the Freedom Riders, the desgregation of restaurants, department stores and other public places and the demonstrations that led to desegregation including those in Birmingham where fire hoses and dogs were turned on small children. It recounts the struggle for voting rights, from the marches in Selma to the voting rights workers killed in Mississippi. Truly an astounding book that pull so many elements together in one place.
March 6, 2013
An awesome historical account that truly reflects the struggle African -Americans endured. I enjoyed it very much. It not often that you such a compelling history book. I actually feel like I got to know a lot of the leadera of the Civil rights movement. Their feelings and determination was so powerfully described in this book. You could connect with movement through this book and whats more important you can connect with America and what society was experiencing.
June 3, 2020
A very good book about the Civil Rights Movement I learned somenew things such as the Freedom Summer and gotten more details about events I already knew about. Also, watched some of the documentary as well.
December 31, 2024
11 hours on Audible. An excellent history of the American Civil Rights movement from 1954 to 1965.
March 10, 2020
When I realized that many people are unaware of the significance of Selma and the Pettus Bridge, I wanted to make certain that I would be better informed.
This overview is nicely written and serves as an interesting introduction.
This overview is nicely written and serves as an interesting introduction.
August 25, 2017
I normally write short reviews of a few sentences. This time it will be longer. The book, published in 1987, caught my interest after viewing an exhibition at the History Museum in St. Louis of a historical perspective on racial strife in St. Louis including several amazing women "docents" who offered a personal testimony on their times. This book covers the period 1954-1965 of the Civil Rights movement in the South and while the significant public figures are included (Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King, et. al.) the book primarily uses first person witness from those one might describe as ordinary people doing extraordinary things. For example take 64 year old Mose Wright who stood in court and named/pointed to the two killers of Emmett Till. For a black man in 1955 faced with the intimidation of whites regarding his safety, that of his family, his employment, his very life to have stood so bravely is an example of inherent courage. Unfortunately of course the two white kidnapper/murders were set free.
In 1959-1960 I lived in Montgomery Alabama (my father had a years training assignment at the nearby Air Force base) and I attended 9th grade at Cloverdale Junior High (a segregated school in spite of the Brown vs. Board Supreme Court decision five years earlier). This was the period between the successful bus boycott and the start of the sit-ins. Since we had moved there from California the other students were not sure what to make of me...I was not a Yankee since I didn't come from "up North"...California even in the South of the late 1950's had a cachet value, a mystique...I was "accepted". One lesson I learned quickly was to keep my head down and my opinions to myself (just as blacks had to do in all aspects of their lives in Montgomery). I offer a couple of events from my year.
The social studies teacher spent about a quarter of the year extolling the virtues of segregation and provided Klan literature to all her students displaying such "hideous" things as black and white children swimming in the same pool "up North". Prejudice is not an inherent quality...it is learned and I came realize it was taught to white children in Montgomery from birth by family, church and school. A black woman one day accidentally bumped a young white man on a downtown street...he had one of those small souvenir baseball bats and cracked her over the head leaving her laying on the sidewalk bleeding...that was horrible but what was worse was the next day in shop class at my junior high...the boys were turning small baseball bats on the lathes and saw the man as a hero.
A girl in my class expressed some interest in me and we had a couple minor dates (really group things). Her father had run for about every political office in Alabama (unsuccessfully) and was running for office during my time there. He had billboards all over the city proclaiming that he was "anti Negro, anti Jew and anti Catholic (I fit in the third category). What is telling is that over recent years I have asked people if they could imagine such public postings on the highways around St. Louis and none could...however, for Montgomery of 1959, this was normal.
I will stop here...too many other stories would make this review unreadable. As I watched the events in Charlottesville and the aftermath I am taken back almost 60 years to my time in Montgomery. The same prejudice, bias, hatred, ignorance and violence spewing from individuals spanned the gulf of time between then and now.
Read this book! It is our history and needs never to be lost.
In 1959-1960 I lived in Montgomery Alabama (my father had a years training assignment at the nearby Air Force base) and I attended 9th grade at Cloverdale Junior High (a segregated school in spite of the Brown vs. Board Supreme Court decision five years earlier). This was the period between the successful bus boycott and the start of the sit-ins. Since we had moved there from California the other students were not sure what to make of me...I was not a Yankee since I didn't come from "up North"...California even in the South of the late 1950's had a cachet value, a mystique...I was "accepted". One lesson I learned quickly was to keep my head down and my opinions to myself (just as blacks had to do in all aspects of their lives in Montgomery). I offer a couple of events from my year.
The social studies teacher spent about a quarter of the year extolling the virtues of segregation and provided Klan literature to all her students displaying such "hideous" things as black and white children swimming in the same pool "up North". Prejudice is not an inherent quality...it is learned and I came realize it was taught to white children in Montgomery from birth by family, church and school. A black woman one day accidentally bumped a young white man on a downtown street...he had one of those small souvenir baseball bats and cracked her over the head leaving her laying on the sidewalk bleeding...that was horrible but what was worse was the next day in shop class at my junior high...the boys were turning small baseball bats on the lathes and saw the man as a hero.
A girl in my class expressed some interest in me and we had a couple minor dates (really group things). Her father had run for about every political office in Alabama (unsuccessfully) and was running for office during my time there. He had billboards all over the city proclaiming that he was "anti Negro, anti Jew and anti Catholic (I fit in the third category). What is telling is that over recent years I have asked people if they could imagine such public postings on the highways around St. Louis and none could...however, for Montgomery of 1959, this was normal.
I will stop here...too many other stories would make this review unreadable. As I watched the events in Charlottesville and the aftermath I am taken back almost 60 years to my time in Montgomery. The same prejudice, bias, hatred, ignorance and violence spewing from individuals spanned the gulf of time between then and now.
Read this book! It is our history and needs never to be lost.
March 31, 2020
I wish I would have read this book earlier in my life, as it provides the perfect introduction to further study of the most remembered years of the Civil Rights Movement. This book not only scratches the surface of the highlighted events and people during these critical years, but it digs a little deeper, providing details as to the people and the sub-events involved in America really coming of age, backing the words of the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Star Spangled Banner; along with the critical Court decisions and legislation which truly provided African Americans with the equal protections under the law, and moving toward a more inclusive society (including African Americans). I plan to explore further this movement, by using this book as my blueprint, some of the other works cited by this book and its accompanying PBS Documentary. This book represents one of the best I've ever read.
July 9, 2018
While often written off as simplistic and out of date, its cultural impact and relationship with the documentary leave it endearing. Written at a time when the Civil Rights movement was largely thought of as the creation of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcom X; 'Eyes on the Prize' reveals the depth of the Civil Rights movement from the 1950s-1960s and focuses on how ordinary African-Americans not only participated, but developed grass root organizations that focused national and international attention on their neighborhoods. I really enjoyed the interviews and thoughts from those who participated on the ground.
I really enjoyed it and would recommend it as an intro to the 1950s-1960s Civil Rights Movement.
I really enjoyed it and would recommend it as an intro to the 1950s-1960s Civil Rights Movement.
June 10, 2009
i havent learned about teh civil rights movement entirely yet, but its totally awesome. its some what boring, but then also its also really interesting;.. what hapens is that it tells of the story of the civil rights movement, as well as giving little excerpts of slavery over the years. i learned more about mlk and even rosa parks. it was all about how activsts and leaders in teh civil rights movement did as much as they could for the movement... please read this in order to learn more about the civil rights movement.!!!
November 21, 2014
The fact that this book focuses on depth rather than breadth is very much a point in its favor. It digs into eleven of the most significant years of the Civil Rights movement, blending fairly straightforward history writing (sometimes a bit dry) with photos and primary sources in an engaging way. It's interesting--and not a just a little bit discomfiting--to note some of the similarities in the attitudes and tactics of segregationists from half a century ago to some of what's going on today. [Insert just about any famous quotation by George Santayana here...]
June 12, 2017
I first became inspired and engaged with the American Civil Rights story when I watched the PBS documentary, "Eyes on the Prize" in the early 1990s. This book is the companion to the TV series but it really stands on its own. As a primer on the history of the "King years", it is absolutely excellent. It covers the main events in the ten years from 1954 to 1965, in enough detail that you understand both the context and the events, but not in so much depth that you lose focus. If you want to start somewhere with Civil Rights history, this may be the place.
January 3, 2008
My first dose of white guilt quickly turned to anger at a mis-education system that never showed me this period of our history. This book reveals the good, the bad, and the ugliness of the Civil Rights Movement. I use the PBS video companion to supplement my 6th graders' photohistory "The Day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was Shot" selection. I highly recommend watching this if you are interested in reading the book to see interviews, news footage, and commentary.
November 1, 2009
I have always been interested in the civil rights movement, even though I am too young to remember anything about when it was in full swing (I was in kindergarten when Martin Luther King was assassinated). This book brings those years to life and has helped me better understand what the whole movement was about and what fueled the movement. I have also watched the video series of the same name and can highly recommend those as well.
June 14, 2020
This is the companion to the excellent PBS "Eyes on the Prize" docuseries from several years ago. My friend uses the documentary while teaching the civil rights movement to his high school students. Reading this book while America is in the midst of daily Black Lives Matter protests made me wonder how far we've actually come from the lynchings and racism of mid-century...not as far as we expected. Highly recommended reading!
February 24, 2008
Should be in EVERYBODY'S library, for reference as to what the heck was going on during the civil rights movement. I go back to this book every time Martin Luther King's birthday rolls around, just to refresh my memory as to just how important the civil rights era of the 50's and 60's was, and just how far we have to go to create a just, equitable society in this country.
March 3, 2014
Easily the most important book I've read lately, and possibly ever. A clear and concise history that I found fascinating, shocking, and enlightening. Should be required reading for every child of the 60's and 70's like me, whose prior knowledge of civil rights basically consisted of Rosa Parks and a bus.
July 16, 2018
Good book. The writing doesn't reach out and grab your attention, but it is a good and solid synopsis of the Civil Rights Movement. It would be very good for an introductory history class or reader. The asides which are sprinkled throughout the book can be a bit distracting, but overall these first-person accounts or excerpts from writings are helpful.
December 27, 2009
I will start by saying that I generally don't enjoy history books, but this book is SO WELL written! It actually made the civil rights movement sound fascinating! I enjoyed learning so much about the history of that time period!
March 21, 2013
Holy shit this book is awesome. Thank you Professor Melvin Ely, William and Mary. Perhaps the best professor I've had, our class used to rock out to this book. Amazing. I love the chaper on the Emmitt Till and the Freedom Ride.
July 19, 2016
Good book to read after Bearing the Cross by Garrow. This book provided the stories of. the many others who worked to ensure blacks had equal rights and opportunities. This book did a better job highlighting the risks that the individual blacks were taking in the fight.
April 16, 2007
everyone should know the story of the american civil rights movement.
September 12, 2007
A very thorough history of one of the most interesting periods in American history.
July 29, 2008
This is a good book if you are looking to learn more about the Civil Rights movement. Which I was, since I must have slept through every history class in my entire life.
June 25, 2008
a fairly thorough overview of the civil rights movement
July 16, 2008
The DVD companion set is incredible.
October 26, 2008
My personal biases and the conflicts within the black community.
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