Struggle for Freedom: A History of African Americans, The, Penguin Academic Series, Concise Edition, Volume II

by Clayborne Carson, Gary B. Nash, Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner

The Struggle for Freedom, a narrative of the black experience in America, uses a distinctive biographical approach to guide the story and animate the history.
In each chapter, individual African Americans are the pivot points on which historical changes of the era turn. Life stories capture the rush of events that envelop individuals and illuminate the momentous decisions that, collectively, frame the American past and present. Inasmuch as that history is grounded in struggle—in the consistent and insistent call to the United States to deliver on the constitutional promises made to all its citizens—this book is also an American history text, weaving into the narrative the milestones of mainstream American history, economy, politics, arts and letters.

384 pages, Paperback

First published August 23, 2004

About the author

Clayborne Carson is professor of history at Stanford University, and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. Since 1985 he has directed the Martin Luther King Papers Project, a long-term project to edit and publish the papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.