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The River of No Return: The Autobiography of a Black Militant and the Life and Death of SNCC
Among histories of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, there are few personal narratives better than this one. Besides being an insider's account of the rise and fall of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), it is an eyewitness report of the strategies and the conflicts in the crucial battle zones as the fight for racial justice raged across the South. This memoir by Cleveland Sellers, a SNCC volunteer, traces his zealous commitment to activism from the time of the sit-ins, demonstrations, and freedom rides in the early '60s. In a narrative encompassing the Mississippi Freedom Summer (1964), the historic march in Selma, the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, and the murders of civil rights activists in Mississippi, he recounts the turbulent history of SNCC and tells the powerful story of his own no-return dedication to the cause of civil rights and social change. The River of No Return is acclaimed as a book that has become a standard text for those wishing to perceive the civil rights struggle from within the ranks of one of its key organizations and to note the divisive history of the movement as groups striving for common goals were embroiled in conflict and controversy.
289 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1990
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January 31, 2018
The River of No Return is about the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. It is the personal memoir of an insider, an eyewitness, who was in the midst of the rise and fall of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He describes his activism from the time of the sit-ins, demonstrations, and freedom rides in the early ‘60’s. He recounts The Mississippi Freedom Summer (1964), the historic march in Selma, the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, and the murders of civil rights activists. He explains in a most interesting way the history of the SNCC and his dedication to the cause of civil rights and social change.
Cleveland Sellers is from my state of SC and so I was enthralled to listen to him speak about his days in the movement and autograph my book. And I have also had the joy to meet his attorney son, Bakkari Sellers who lives in my city and is quite visible in the DNC and on television. The River of No Return is an acclaimed book and worth reading to understand and perceive the civil rights struggle as seen through the eyes of an activist
Cleveland Sellers is from my state of SC and so I was enthralled to listen to him speak about his days in the movement and autograph my book. And I have also had the joy to meet his attorney son, Bakkari Sellers who lives in my city and is quite visible in the DNC and on television. The River of No Return is an acclaimed book and worth reading to understand and perceive the civil rights struggle as seen through the eyes of an activist
April 19, 2024
Cleveland Sellers’ memoir provides a unique perspective to SNCC’s separatist turn. Growing up in the South and the same age as Emett Till, Sellers remembers his immediate association with the movement, flinching at the footage of Civil Rights groups being attacked on TV. He became involved incredibly young and was only 19 by Freedom Summer. Yet, understanding more than most what was demanded of organising in the deep South, he and Stokely Carmicheal took in 15 new recruits and taught them the ropes. Their learning was not simply practical but encouraged them “to open up and deal with those hangups and idiosyncrasies that might lead to conflict later on.” A few weeks later, those in the formal training would have to come to terms with communal living, parental concerns, and a heightened awareness of danger just as they had done. Yet, Sellers remembers the blank eyes of the white kids in Oxford, Ohio and the alienation the minority of Black volunteers felt as a result.
The narrative breaks here with the news of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner’s disappearance, but these impressions are foundational to his understanding of the movement’s direction. Heading for Mississippi to find the bodies, Sellers remained critical of the naivety of those who “wanted to believe” they may still be alive. For those who had endured several beatings it must have been strange to see these privileged white students struggle to grasp their own mortality, but keeping hope alive, even if ill-advised, was also a courtesy to Rita Schwerner.
Arriving with two-carloads of Civil Rights workers, protection from the community was vital and yet often obscured. Rather than their bumbling portrayal in ‘Mississippi Burning’, here they act courageously, under no illusions as to the danger of their task. Staying with locals under 24-hour armed surveillance, they searched in the dark without torches and between venomous spiders and snakes. Fear that was diffuse during the day, heightened his senses at night and Sellers knew that being caught was a death sentence that he would not simply accept non-violently. Rich community ties alerted them that the Klan was on their tracks and Sellers was forced to retreat. Thus begun “the longest nightmare I have ever had: three months. June, July and August 1964.” Writing this 8 years after Freedom summer, Sellers notes that “[a]lthough most of us managed to leave Mississippi, none of us escaped without terrible scars. It happened eight years ago, but the scars are still there, deep inside, where I suspect they will remain for the rest of our lives.” The psychological impact is hard to trace but, as Sellers explained with regard to the tension of early organising, hints could be found in caustic bits of humour, reading between the lines, or even in migraines and ulcers. A similar hidden transcript emerges here as, returning from Mississippi, Sellers struggled to articulate what had happened. “For the first time in my life, I understood how soldiers feel when they return from wars and have to grope unwillingly for answers to the terribly innocent “How was it?” questions of family and friends.”
The title of this book comes from James Forman’s addition to an anonymous letter presented at the Waveland conference. Invoking Neurath, it read: “We are a boat in the middle of the ocean. It has to be rebuilt in order to stay afloat. It also has to stay afloat in order to be rebuilt.” Forman added that “[t]here are some who say they don’t understand the metaphor. Well, let me further confuse the picture by saying that we are on a river of no return.” Though this note is now attributed to Bob Moses, Sellers highlights its typographical errors, possibly wanting to believe that it belonged to a member with less formal education. It is interesting that, though he was a Hardliner who criticised Floaters for “lov[ing] to bring meetings to a screeching halt with open-ended theoretical questions”, this metaphor left the greatest mark. Perhaps it would have made no difference if Moses had signed his name. Sellers was aware of his philosophical ability and, though he did not see Moses’ later withdrawal from the debate as an admission of ideological failure, he did interpret it as a recognition of the Floater faction’s inability to execute this vision.
An exhausted resignation to historical inevitability makes the final chapters almost unbearable. He is held back from dropping everything to try again with Sandy, feeling that it must end the same way every time. Looking back now, he leaves little space for regret only noting that Bob Zellner’s expulsion was not reflected on because of SNCC’s frantic pace. Uncharacteristically, he writes with an emotional distance of his new reality. The shame of asking for food money and pressure of living hand-to-mouth is obscured by this distance.
The river of no return no longer seems an exciting journey but, at only 29 years old, has been transformed into the site of Fate’s grinding, daily reality. Perhaps this is the problem with Forman’s extension of the metaphor, that to watch the horizon only for the river’s mouth is to miss the unpredictability of the open sea.
The narrative breaks here with the news of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner’s disappearance, but these impressions are foundational to his understanding of the movement’s direction. Heading for Mississippi to find the bodies, Sellers remained critical of the naivety of those who “wanted to believe” they may still be alive. For those who had endured several beatings it must have been strange to see these privileged white students struggle to grasp their own mortality, but keeping hope alive, even if ill-advised, was also a courtesy to Rita Schwerner.
Arriving with two-carloads of Civil Rights workers, protection from the community was vital and yet often obscured. Rather than their bumbling portrayal in ‘Mississippi Burning’, here they act courageously, under no illusions as to the danger of their task. Staying with locals under 24-hour armed surveillance, they searched in the dark without torches and between venomous spiders and snakes. Fear that was diffuse during the day, heightened his senses at night and Sellers knew that being caught was a death sentence that he would not simply accept non-violently. Rich community ties alerted them that the Klan was on their tracks and Sellers was forced to retreat. Thus begun “the longest nightmare I have ever had: three months. June, July and August 1964.” Writing this 8 years after Freedom summer, Sellers notes that “[a]lthough most of us managed to leave Mississippi, none of us escaped without terrible scars. It happened eight years ago, but the scars are still there, deep inside, where I suspect they will remain for the rest of our lives.” The psychological impact is hard to trace but, as Sellers explained with regard to the tension of early organising, hints could be found in caustic bits of humour, reading between the lines, or even in migraines and ulcers. A similar hidden transcript emerges here as, returning from Mississippi, Sellers struggled to articulate what had happened. “For the first time in my life, I understood how soldiers feel when they return from wars and have to grope unwillingly for answers to the terribly innocent “How was it?” questions of family and friends.”
The title of this book comes from James Forman’s addition to an anonymous letter presented at the Waveland conference. Invoking Neurath, it read: “We are a boat in the middle of the ocean. It has to be rebuilt in order to stay afloat. It also has to stay afloat in order to be rebuilt.” Forman added that “[t]here are some who say they don’t understand the metaphor. Well, let me further confuse the picture by saying that we are on a river of no return.” Though this note is now attributed to Bob Moses, Sellers highlights its typographical errors, possibly wanting to believe that it belonged to a member with less formal education. It is interesting that, though he was a Hardliner who criticised Floaters for “lov[ing] to bring meetings to a screeching halt with open-ended theoretical questions”, this metaphor left the greatest mark. Perhaps it would have made no difference if Moses had signed his name. Sellers was aware of his philosophical ability and, though he did not see Moses’ later withdrawal from the debate as an admission of ideological failure, he did interpret it as a recognition of the Floater faction’s inability to execute this vision.
An exhausted resignation to historical inevitability makes the final chapters almost unbearable. He is held back from dropping everything to try again with Sandy, feeling that it must end the same way every time. Looking back now, he leaves little space for regret only noting that Bob Zellner’s expulsion was not reflected on because of SNCC’s frantic pace. Uncharacteristically, he writes with an emotional distance of his new reality. The shame of asking for food money and pressure of living hand-to-mouth is obscured by this distance.
The river of no return no longer seems an exciting journey but, at only 29 years old, has been transformed into the site of Fate’s grinding, daily reality. Perhaps this is the problem with Forman’s extension of the metaphor, that to watch the horizon only for the river’s mouth is to miss the unpredictability of the open sea.
April 26, 2022
Cleveland Sellers's autobiography is a stunning dive into the inner workings of the Civil Rights Movement. As a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Sellers's account of interactions with other key figures of the Movement, as well as the exploration of his own thoughts on the issues that plagued African Americans activists in the mid-late 20th century were well-crafted and interesting to read about.
Unfortunately, I did not care for Sellers as a narrator (which sounds mean, given that River of No Return is an autobiography). I started questioning his writing when Sellers felt the need to comment on almost every Black female's appearance when describing their contributions to the Movement - mostly negative. I know it sounds trivial, but it happened enough for me to notice. I seriously do not think the passive-aggressive comments about an African American female activists' looks added anything to his own story. "She had plain features," in reference to Ruby Doris. "Although she was attractive, she was not beautiful," in reference to Gloria Richardson. But Sellers rarely commented on the appearance of the male activists he met? This aspect threw me off, especially with his (albeit isolated) instance of domestic violence.
Unfortunately, I did not care for Sellers as a narrator (which sounds mean, given that River of No Return is an autobiography). I started questioning his writing when Sellers felt the need to comment on almost every Black female's appearance when describing their contributions to the Movement - mostly negative. I know it sounds trivial, but it happened enough for me to notice. I seriously do not think the passive-aggressive comments about an African American female activists' looks added anything to his own story. "She had plain features," in reference to Ruby Doris. "Although she was attractive, she was not beautiful," in reference to Gloria Richardson. But Sellers rarely commented on the appearance of the male activists he met? This aspect threw me off, especially with his (albeit isolated) instance of domestic violence.
April 9, 2019
Super interesting book — gets into the divisions between different black organizing institutions during the civil rights movement and really emphasizes the degree of pure violence really young black organizers faced. I knew/understood on some level that people were threatened, beaten, and demoralized by white people and state forces in the civil rights movement but the first person account detailed in this book made it more real than any other text has.
This book is pretty much all about SNCC. How to started, how it struggled and failed, how it compared to and fought with the NAACP and eventually the SCLC. In the last few chapters it gets into SNCC’s relationship to Black Power ideologies and eventually, the Blank Panthers. It sheds light on how John Lewis was viewed by his young black peers and the rationale (or lack thereof) behind SNCC’s organizing projects. The book is talks directly to the tensions that grew overtime between young and older black Americans, and black and white organizers within SNCC.
The downsides of the book are not surprising: women are fairly invisible in the book, except for 2-3 organizers that are described first and foremost by their looks. Men are consistently described as frustrated, while women chapter after chapter are described as hysterical. MLK and the men leading SNCC are all described at length, while other women are basically invisible. The author also writes about physically lashing out on his wife out of rage at another man’s actions. Another failing of the book is that it really centers the organizers and dwells very, very little on what was learned from the Black people SNCC organized. I learned a lot about the organization and almost nothing about the communities it organized which was a bummer. In my opinion, too much time was spent on MLK and not enough on other prominent civil rights organizers like Bayard Rustin, Fannie Lou Hammer, or Ella Baker. Lastly, there is almost too much detail in this book for
it be be believable — the language is too flowery. Sellers gives pretty detailed descriptions that I had to take with a grain of salt.
Over all, I enjoyed the book and learned a lot from it. I’d recommend to anyone interested in learning about the things I highlighted up top. It’s a relatively short, pretty digestible book.
This book is pretty much all about SNCC. How to started, how it struggled and failed, how it compared to and fought with the NAACP and eventually the SCLC. In the last few chapters it gets into SNCC’s relationship to Black Power ideologies and eventually, the Blank Panthers. It sheds light on how John Lewis was viewed by his young black peers and the rationale (or lack thereof) behind SNCC’s organizing projects. The book is talks directly to the tensions that grew overtime between young and older black Americans, and black and white organizers within SNCC.
The downsides of the book are not surprising: women are fairly invisible in the book, except for 2-3 organizers that are described first and foremost by their looks. Men are consistently described as frustrated, while women chapter after chapter are described as hysterical. MLK and the men leading SNCC are all described at length, while other women are basically invisible. The author also writes about physically lashing out on his wife out of rage at another man’s actions. Another failing of the book is that it really centers the organizers and dwells very, very little on what was learned from the Black people SNCC organized. I learned a lot about the organization and almost nothing about the communities it organized which was a bummer. In my opinion, too much time was spent on MLK and not enough on other prominent civil rights organizers like Bayard Rustin, Fannie Lou Hammer, or Ella Baker. Lastly, there is almost too much detail in this book for
it be be believable — the language is too flowery. Sellers gives pretty detailed descriptions that I had to take with a grain of salt.
Over all, I enjoyed the book and learned a lot from it. I’d recommend to anyone interested in learning about the things I highlighted up top. It’s a relatively short, pretty digestible book.
May 24, 2025
I read this book for class, but since it is up my alley I kept reading and enjoyed. The book is a good first person look into SNCC organizing, and some of the scenes are truly haunting and personal when you place a 20 year old Sellers in the dangerous and horrific scenes in the south. The personal narrative was a nice way to see this story, but I didn’t enjoy the fact that there was not a lot of personal reflection on the author’s own fucked up behaviors (he beats his girlfriend senseless and doesn’t seem the need to mention how that’s horrific). Overall 4/5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 2, 2019
This was a really great book I read for a civil rights movement class. It gives a personal account of the movement from the perspective of a SNCC worker, which I think added a lot to it. Would definitely recommend!
November 3, 2020
This book was very informative. It introduced me to a lot of figures we don’t usually focus on in school. I’d be interested in reading from the perspective of someone in SCLC or another organization since SNCC often had conflicting ideas and approaches to things during the civil rights movement.
November 10, 2022
Not sure I fully agree with his beliefs on how the Civil Rights movement should have happened but it was very interesting reading something from the perspective of someone involved in the grassroots of it all
August 23, 2018
One word: hypnotizing. I am not going to give a wordy review. All I will say is just read this memoir.
December 26, 2020
Cleveland Sellers filled in the gaps between the unknown information and the misinformation. Thank you for your dedication and perseverance for the struggle.
January 31, 2025
One of the best movement autobiographies I've read. A clear telling of SNCC histories that has lots of lessons for today's organizers, activists, or others with interest.
June 28, 2011
SO fascinating. One of my textbooks for my Civil Rights class. It was amazing what those students went through. My teacher pointed out the hypocrisy of the organization towards the end of the movement- People were calling it the Non-Student Violent Uncoordinated Committee (which is kind of funny.)
It was kind of interesting to see the psychological strain that all the members felt around the middle of the 60s. Some people were really falling apart, and working far too hard. One of the memorable parts of the book was when Cleveland Sellers beat up his girlfriend, we talked about that in class for a long time. And seeing the reasons for the split in the group was really interesting, and also a little sad. It was tough to read at parts, but very important.
It was kind of interesting to see the psychological strain that all the members felt around the middle of the 60s. Some people were really falling apart, and working far too hard. One of the memorable parts of the book was when Cleveland Sellers beat up his girlfriend, we talked about that in class for a long time. And seeing the reasons for the split in the group was really interesting, and also a little sad. It was tough to read at parts, but very important.
April 11, 2011
Cleveland Sellers is from my home state of South Carolina, and I had the pleasure of getting to know his daughter Nosizwe while we were both medical students at MUSC. Nosizwe is also my sorority sister. Well I didn't realize the impact her Dad had on the course of the civil rights movement until she posted a picture of him meeting her as a baby for the first time while he was imprisoned for his activist involvement surrounding the Orangeburg Massacres. Nosizwe was kind enough to have her Dad autograph a copy of the book for me!
December 9, 2012
Heroic, horrowing look at Sellers work as a leader in SNCC — a group I'd argue may be one of America's greatest legacies. Really enjoyed his analysis of the organizing these brave women and men did in the South in the 1960s and the openness with which he talked about how that thinking changed over time.
October 25, 2021
#2 of the Sellers family trifecta. First, Bakari’s The Vanishing Country, then this memoir by his father from 1973 then next up “Outside Agitator.” An intense history of the civil rights struggle in the 1960s culminating in the Orangeburg Massacre. 5 stars for his mighty lifelong struggle for fair and just treatment.
July 11, 2020
Interesting story from the point of view of Cleveland Sellers during the civil rights movement. Cleveland was a member of the SNCC, and tells his story of the movement through the eyes of a younger, more radical paradigm.
February 28, 2008
had to read it for a class and ended up loving it
March 13, 2010
A very different view of the civil rights movement. If you're looking for praise of MLK and black unity, you won't find it in this book. Presents a rather complicated view of SNCC.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews