To Secure These Rights: The Report of Harry S. Truman's Committee on Civil Rights - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312402147 ISBN 13: 9780312402143

Publisher: Bedford/st Martins, 2003

Synopsis

Following a hard-fought war to preserve freedom and combat racial tyranny, Harry S Truman faced a nation of racial turmoil at home where many Americans did not enjoy the basic rights they had fought to secure. Lynchings, violent racial attacks, and widespread discrimination undermined the country’s democratic ideals and prompted Truman to appoint a committee on civil rights. The committee’s report, To Secure These Rights, is one of the most important documents in the history of the modern civil rights movement; its findings showed a nation torn by racial injustice and its recommendations set the agenda for the ongoing struggle for racial equality. This volume contains the full text of the 1947 report, plus an insightful introduction by Steven F. Lawson that chronicles early civil rights efforts and details the political and social climate of the postwar era. Also included are nine original images from the report, questions for consideration, an annotated chronology, and suggestions for further reading.

About this title

About the Author

STEVEN F. LAWSON has taught at the University of South Florida and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is now professor of American history and vice-chair for undergraduate education at Rutgers University. He is the author of Black Ballots: Voting Rights in the South, 1944-1969; In Pursuit of Power: Southern Blacks and Electoral Politics, 1965-1982; Running for Freedom: Civil Rights and Black Politics in America Since 1941; and, with Charles Payne, Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968. He served as an academic adviser to the public television documentary series Eyes on the Prize, I and II. He is currently completing a volume of his essays on the civil rights movement.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bedford/st Martins
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312402147
• ISBN 13: 9780312402143
• Binding: Paperback
• Editor: Lawson Steven F.