Voices of Freedom: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement from the 1950s through the 1980s

by Henry Hampton (Editor), Steve Fayer (Editor)

“A vast choral pageant that recounts the momentous work of the civil rights struggle.”— The New York Times Book Review
 
A monumental volume drawing upon nearly one thousand interviews with civil rights activists, politicians, reporters, Justice Department officials, and others, weaving a fascinating narrative of the civil rights movement told by the people who lived it
 
Join brave and terrified youngsters walking through a jeering mob and up the steps of Central High School in Little Rock. Listen to the vivid voices of the ordinary people who manned the barricades, the laborers, the students, the housewives without whom there would have been no civil rights movements at all.
 
In this remarkable oral history, Henry Hampton, creator and executive producer of the acclaimed PBS series  Eyes on the Prize , and Steve Fayer, series writer, bring to life the country’s great struggle for civil rights as no conventional narrative can. You will hear the voices of those who defied the blackjacks, who went to jail, who witnessed and policed the movement; of those who stood for and against it—voices from the heart of America.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Race, Oral History, Politics, African American

720 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't seen Eyes on the Prize, a situation I plan to rectify, so this book was a complete "read" for me. The interviews were clearly arranged, and the organization of the book made the through-line extremely easy to follow, far more easily than I suspect it was at the time people lived through this. All sorts of names that were familiar in my youth came back --- Medgar Evers, Louise Day Hicks, Stokely Carmichael, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, Bull Connor, the three civil rights workers killed in Mississippi, Andrew Young, etc, but what makes this book resound are the interviews with people that most of us have never encountered before. It was astounding to realize the sheer amount of courage that was demonstrated again and again by college student and ordinary young people, who risked their lives and futures to take part in demonstrations that transformed the nation; the voices of the young children who integrated Little Rock schools, Emmett Till's mother, the students at Howard University between 1963-1968; the list of those interviewed is immense. There are sufficient notes to follow the historical outline of the civil rights movement, but you can really do it by simply reading what people have to say. The editing is superb, distilling what must have been thousands of hours of material into a tight narrative. The cumulative effect is that these people have come together to tell a community story, and not only the black community. This is our story as Americans, something that Martin Luther King, Jr. realized early on and that fueled his rhetoric. When you combine the civil rights movement with the Vietnam War, the emergence of the women's rights, Hispanic and gay liberation movements, all of which were operating by 1969, it's a wonder the country survived the structural stress. One of the most moving parts occurs at the end (1990 publication date), when Maynard Jackson, the first black mayor of a major Southern city (Atlanta) comments that he expects to see an African-American president in his lifetime.

If nothing else, the book restored to me the knowledge as to how incredible it is that Barack Obama was elected in 2008, less than fifty years after Selma, the Freedom Riders, Malcolm X's assassination, King's assassination, the Black Panther Party movement, the murders of hundreds of people during the effort to make the Republic conform to its stated ideals.

An incredibly engrossing read. Highly recommend.

[Melissa Jung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firsthand perspectives of moments in the Civil Rights movement that we've all learned about as well as moments that were completely new to me. A fascinating and important read that builds context for the struggle that continues today.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

First rate. This is by far the best work I've read on the Civil Rights movement. A very rare 5 stars.

[JackO608 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and eye-opening oral history of the civil rights era, going well past the March on Washington. It's a great way to learn history - through the voices of the people that lived it - and this book gathers an incredibly comprehensive list of sources for its first-person accounts. Voices of Freedom could possibly be a bit more concise (it's a rather lengthy volume) but it's very compelling reading. (There's just a whole lot of it!) But then again, there's a lot to tell. A very worthwhile and enlightening read.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book that I think everyone should read. It has stories from the actual people involved in the civil rights movements. Their thoughts, their actual encounters, basically their side of the story. It was an emotional time for many people and I don't think most other books touch on this. Very powerful!

[Joy Galston · Rating 4 out of 5]

An 'easy to read' and thorough rendition of the events of the civil rights movement, with voices from a wide variety of viewpoints. Brings the events right into focus, be prepared for a lot of adrenalin rushes, incredulity and amazement at the actions of 'average' citizens on both sides of the fight.

[Karen]

#UnderstandingOppression

Voices of Freedom: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement from the 1950s Through the 1980s by Henry Hampton | The creator and a writer of the acclaimed public TV series Eyes on the Prize draws upon 1,000 interviews with those who took part in the marches, sit-ins and Freedom Rides. #civilrightsmovement

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible stories from the people on the front lines of the Civil Rights movement.

[Selika]

Excellent!

[Doris Raines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where. Would. We. Be. Without. History. Doris.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is long

[Helene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a MAJOR undertaking and mostly worth it. I loved the real person interviews. This gave the history a personal, 'backstage' look at events.

I knew that Jonathan Daniels (Lowndes County, 1965-1966) had died during the Civil Rights movement, (there was an elementary school named after him in Keene, NH) but I didn't know the details. Very brave and noble, you would expect that.

To know what Martin Luther King was doing just before he was assassinated and how the people around him reacted was another insight.

It seems I like what Roger Wilkins reflected on. I'll have to see if he's written anything. On page 390 he says "The state troopers were the scariest people because they were from out of town, most of them, and had very little contact with Detroit. They were from little places like Grayling and Zeeland, and here, all of a sudden, they were in big Detroit and there were all these black people that they were afraid of. And frightened people with guns are terrifying." And again on page 482 "And I looked around, and up on the back of a flatbed truck, there was young Jesse Jackson, who was about twenty-six . . . And he was preaching. And he was saying, "I am somebody. If you're somebody, you don't riot. Say after me, "I am somebody" . . . What Jesse was doing was preaching the riot out of those people. He's preaching, really, pride. . . .He was taking quite a risk. 'Cause to preach nonviolence and to preach no rioting to a group of kids who wanted to tear the palce down was taking a risk that you'd be called an Uncle Tom. Jackson took the risk, he preached the people down. They became calm, they went home, there was no riot. It was quite a remarkable performance for a twenty-six-year-old kid."

On the 1972 Gary Convention, Estelle Verner-David says: "There is beauty in diversity. The convention promoted "unity without uniformity."" (p.585)

Though Lyndon Johnson certainly had his flaws, the more I read about him, the more respect I have for him and what he tried to do for civil rights. Here's a great passage from page 621: "President Lyndon Johnson, in a commencement address at Howard University on June 4, 1965, declared, "You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, 'You are free to compete with the others,' and still justly believe that you have been completely fair. Thus it is not enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates. This is the next and most profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result."" Almost 50 years after he gave this address and we are still not there. I'd like to think it's better, but there is still such inequality.

So, gird your loins, it's 700 pages! Some sections better than others, but I'm glad I finished and I learned so much!

[William Schram · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Voices of Freedom" is a brilliant book. It is a companion volume to a television series, but it seems to be a direct transcript of the television show.

I am an American, so I have a passing knowledge of the events of the Civil Rights Movement. Harry Hampton and Steve Fayer take that knowledge to a new level with interviews of people involved. For example, I did not remember hearing about the Emmett Till incident. I thought the Civil Rights Movement started with Rosa Parks refusing her seat on a bus to a white man. That event spurred the people to peaceful protest. Perhaps the Emmett Till incident was in the book to show the sudden paradigm shift in thought.

While the protests started peacefully, they were not always that way. Some thought it necessary to become militant or at least more aggressive.

The book shows both sides of the story; it interviews blacks and whites, moderate people, and extremists. It covers the significant events of the Civil Rights Movement in vivid detail.

I took this book out of the library because of the recent events happening in the United States. The Black Lives Matter Movement spurred my interest.

[Will Lashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

First person accounts of the Civil Rights movement at the midcentury crescendo of its catalytic challenge to the American social order. Henry Hampton, who created the PBS series "Eyes on the Prize" is one of the editors, and the companion book produced for the documentary series is also excellent, but this could just as well stand as the essential complement to the films.

[Brittany Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is THE book on the Civil Rights Movement, not because it is new or all that updated, but because it takes the experiences of people who were in the spaces and participants in the events that shaped the fight for civil rights for the African American population of the United States. A long read but well worth it.

[Dalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book could’ve been a hot mess. With quotes from so many different people.
But the authors organized all the testimonials beautifully. Each chapter recounts its events in the words of the people who were there, laid out so that you can follow what happened and really feel the importance and impact of all the events.
Great book!

[Adina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most amazing literary curatorial feat I have ever experienced. I wish everyone had the opportunity to read this book.

[Tim Moran · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compilation of excerpts of oral interviews conducted for the 14 part Eyes of the Prize Series. Well organized and illuminating. I found the chapter on Attica particularly gut wrenching.

[Daniel Pearse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is how history should be presented, first person narratives of people actual involved in the events.

[lacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute must read with first hand accounts of events throughout the civil rights movement.

[Bud · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was made as a companion to a television series, Eyes on the Prize. It gives interview transcripts from eyewitnesses to the critical events of the Civil Rights movement from the 1950's through the 1980's. It allows you to decide for yourself what the real story is.

[Norman Tibbils · Rating 5 out of 5]

Voices of Freedom sat on my bookshelves for 30 years, long before George Floyd and Black Lives Matter. I finally read it, and I'm so glad I did. Many of my Civil Rights heroes discussed in great detail.

[SD]

A+