Dividing Lines: Municipal Politics and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma

by J. Mills Thornton III

Presents the story of the civil rights movement from the perspective of community-municipal history at the grassroots level

Thornton demonstrates that the movement had powerful local sources in its three birth cities—Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma. There, the arcane mechanisms of state and city governance and the missteps of municipal politicians and civic leaders—independent of emerging national trends in racial mores—led to the great swell of energy for change that became the civil rights movement.

Genres: History

748 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2002

About the author

Dr. J. Mills Thornton earned his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1974. A Professor of History at the University of Michigan, n academic advisor to "Eyes on the Prize," Dr. Thornton is a nationally known expert on the subject of the Civil Rights Movement and local activism, and Southern history during the period from 1815 to 1877.

Reviews

[Sam Hodges · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully challenging study, derived from intensive examination of racial change in Montgomery, Birmingham and Selma. The footnotes are a book within the book, and worthy of close reading.