The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader: Documents, Speeches, and Firsthand Accounts from the Black Freedom Struggle

Description

The most comprehensive anthology of primary sources available, spanning the entire history of the American civil rights movement. A record of one of the greatest and most turbulent movements of this century, The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader is essential for anyone interested in learning how far the American civil rights movements has come and how far it has to go. Included are the Supreme Court's Brown vs Board of Education decision in its entirety; speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr., and his famous "Letter from Birmingham City Jail"; an interview with Rosa Parks; selections from Malcolm X Speaks ; Black Panther Bobby Seale's Seize the Time ; Ralph Abernathy's controversial And the Walls Came Tumbling Down ; a piece by Herman Badillo on the infamous Attica prison uprising; addresses by Harold Washington, Jesse Jackson, Nelson Mandel, and much more. “An important volume for students and professionals who wish to grasp the basic nature of the civil rights movement and how it changed America in fundamental ways.” —Aldon Morris, Northwestern University Review: First Hand Documents Bring You There - When you get involved in studying political events and movements, ultimately there is going to be some disagreement on interpretations. While the Civil Righs Movement has suffered less revisionist history than many events of the last century, it is still valuable to go to the source documents and read about events in the words of those who participated in history or who made history. I agree that this book works well in tandem with another more narrative history, such as Eyes on the Prize, or Partin the Waters. But the compilers have done an excellent job of grouping by topics, with clear introductions putting the pieces that follow into proper place. I was surprised - I feared that this would be more dry of a read than it was. Instead I found myself pulled along, especially by some riveting first hand accounts of events such as the Attica riots. Another big plus for the book is that it brings the documents and the struggles into the 1980's, when first published. Many books ont he Civil Rights Movement cover until 1965, or 1968, this one keeps events in the 1970's and 80's relevant to what came before. I highly recommend this for anyone who is looking to feel as if they were there for these struggles, and understand our history. Review: Great companion to the series. - Great resource of civil rights documents. This should be read as a supplement to the Eyes on the Prize documentary series. It contains fourteen chapters that go with the fourteen episodes. Each chapter contains a wealth of writings that complement each episode.