I Am a Man! : Race, Manhood, and the Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement Was First And Foremost A Struggle For Racial Equality, But Questions Of Gender Lay Deeply Embedded Within This Struggle. Steve Estes Explores Key Groups, Leaders, And Events In The Movement To Understand How Activists Used Race And Manhood To Articulate Their Visions Of What American Society Should Be. Estes Demonstrates That, At Crucial Turning Points In The Movement, Both Segregationists And Civil Rights Activists Harnessed Masculinist Rhetoric, Tapping Into Implicit Assumptions About Race, Gender, And Sexuality. Estes Begins With An Analysis Of The Role Of Black Men In World War Ii And Then Examines The Segregationists, Who Demonized Black Male Sexuality And Galvanized White Men Behind The Ideal Of Southern Honor. Later, He Explores The Militant New Models Of Manhood Espoused By Civil Rights Activists And Groups Such As Malcolm X, The Nation Of Islam, The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Martin Luther King Jr., And The Black Panther Party. Reliance On Masculinist Organizing Strategies Had Both Positive And Negative Consequences, Estes Concludes. Tracing These Strategies From The Integration Of The U.s. Military In The 1940s Through The Million Man March In The 1990s, He Shows That Masculinism Rallied Men To Action But Left Unchallenged Many Of The Patriarchal Assumptions That Underlay American Society. --publisher. Introduction : Am I Not A Man And A Brother? -- Man The Guns -- A Question Of Honor -- Freedom Summer And The Mississippi Movement -- God's Angry Men -- The Moynihan Report -- I Am A Man! : The Memphis Sanitation Strike -- The Baddest Motherfuckers Ever To Set Foot Inside Of History -- Conclusion : The Heartz Of Men. Steve Estes. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [217]-233) And Index. The civil rights movement was first and foremost a struggle for racial equality, but questions of gender lay deeply embedded within this struggle. Steve Estes explores key groups, leaders, and events in the movement to understand how activists used race and manhood to articulate their visions of what American society should be.

Estes demonstrates that, at crucial turning points in the movement, both segregationists and civil rights activists harnessed masculinist rhetoric, tapping into implicit assumptions about race, gender, and sexuality. Estes begins with an analysis of the role of black men in World War II and then examines the segregationists, who demonized black male sexuality and galvanized white men behind the ideal of southern honor. He then explores the militant new models of manhood espoused by civil rights activists such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., and groups such as the Nation of Islam, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the Black Panther Party.

Reliance on masculinist organizing strategies had both positive and negative consequences, Estes concludes. Tracing these strategies from the integration of the U.S. military in the 1940s through the Million Man March in the 1990s, he shows that masculinism rallied men to action but left unchallenged many of the patriarchal assumptions that underlay American society.

The civil rights movement was first and foremost a struggle for racial equality, but questions of gender lay deeply embedded within this struggle. Steve Estes explores key groups, leaders, and events in the movement to understand how activists used race and manhood to articulate their visions of what American society should be.

Estes demonstrates that, at crucial turning points in the movement, both segregationists and civil rights activists harnessed masculinist rhetoric, tapping into implicit assumptions about race, gender, and sexuality. Estes begins with an analysis of the role of black men in World War II and then examines the segregationists, who demonized black male sexuality and galvanized white men behind the ideal of southern honor. Later, he explores the militant new models of manhood espoused by civil rights activists and groups such as Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Black Panther Party.

Reliance on masculinist organizing strategies had both positive and negative consequences, Estes concludes. Tracing these strategies from the integration of the U.S. military in the 1940s through the Million Man March in the 1990s, he shows that masculinism rallied men to action but left unchallenged many of the patriarchal assumptions that underlay American society.

The civil rights movement was first and foremost a struggle for racial equality, but questions of gender lay deeply embedded within this struggle. Steve Estes explores key groups, leaders, and events in the movement to understand how activists used race and manhood to articulate their visions of what American society should be. Estes demonstrates that, at crucial turning points in the movement, both segregationists and civil rights activists harnessed masculinist rhetoric, tapping into implicit assumptions about race, gender, and sexuality. Estes begins with an analysis of the role of black men in World War II and then examines the segregationists, who demonized black male sexuality and galvanized white men behind the ideal of southern honor. He then explores the militant new models of manhood espoused by civil rights activists such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., and groups such as the Nation of Islam, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the Black Panther Party. Reliance on masculinist organizing strategies had both positive and negative consequences, Estes concludes. Tracing these strategies from the integration of the U.S. military in the 1940s through the Million Man March in the 1990s, he shows that masculinism rallied men to action but left unchallenged many of the patriarchal assumptions that underlay American society. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 10 INTRODUCTION: Am I Not a Man and a Brother?......Page 14 CHAPTER ONE: Man the Guns......Page 24 CHAPTER TWO: A Question of Honor......Page 52 CHAPTER THREE: Freedom Summer and the Mississippi Movement......Page 74 CHAPTER FOUR: God’s Angry Men......Page 100 CHAPTER FIVE: The Moynihan Report......Page 120 CHAPTER SIX: I Am a Man!: The Memphis Sanitation Strike......Page 144 CHAPTER SEVEN: “The Baddest Motherfuckers Ever to Set Foot Inside of History”......Page 166 CONCLUSION: “The Heartz of Men”......Page 192 Notes......Page 202 Bibliography......Page 230 C......Page 248 I......Page 249 M......Page 250 S......Page 251 Y......Page 252 This explores key groups, leaders and events in the civil rights movement to understand how activists used race and manhood to articulate their visions of what American society should be. He demonstrates that both segregationists and civil rights activists harnessed masculinist rhetoric, tapping into assumptions about race, gender, and sexuality