Class, Race, and the Civil Rights Movement

By Jack M. Bloom

Book Overview

Race, Class, and the Civil Rights Movement is a unique sociohistorical analysis of the civil rights movement. In it, Jack M. Bloom analyzes the interaction between the economy and political systems in the South, which led to racial stratification.
Praise for the first edition:
"A unique sociohistorical analysis of the civil rights movement, analyzing the interaction between the economy and political systems in the South, which led to racial stratification. An intriguing look at the interplay of race and class, this work is both scholarly and jargon-free. A sophisticated study."-Library Journal
"This is an exciting book combining dramatic episodes with an insightful analysis.The use of concepts of class is subtle and effective." -Peter N. Stearns
"Ambitious and wide-ranging." -Georgia Historical Quarterly
"Excellent historical analysis." -North Carolina Historical Review
"Historians should welcome this book. A well-written, jargon-free interpretive synthesis, it relates impersonal political-economic forces to the human actors who were shaped by them and, in turn, helped shape them . . . . This refreshing study reminds us how much the American dilemma of race has been complicated by problems of class." -American Historical Review
"A broad historical sweep . . . . Skillfully surveys key areas of historiographical debate and succinctly summarizes a good deal of recent secondary literature." -Journal of Southern History
"Bloom does a masterful job of presenting the major structural and psychological interpretations associated with the Civil Rights Movement. . . . It will make an excellent general text to welcome undergraduates and reintroduce old-timers to the social ferment that surrounded the civil rights movement." -Contemporary Sociology

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0253042461
• ISBN13: 9780253042460
• Release Date: July 2019
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Length: 380 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

a must-have reference

There are hundreds of books on this era, and they all cover the same core topics -- Montgomery bus boycott, SCLC, SNCC, Black Power, ghetto revolts, etc. Bloom's book stands out from the rest, however, because of its razor-sharp class analysis in the first half of the book, called "The Changing Political Economy of Racism." Bloom begins after the Civil War, when the southern landowners need to replace the old slave-based economy with a new economy, and a new ruling class. From this vantage point he picks apart the shifting allegiances of ruling bodies, and the deliberate use of racist ideology to prevent political unrest.In the book's second half, "The Black Movement," all the familiar events are there, but they flow more clearly because of Bloom's historical set-up. Bloom is not a Marxist, but this book is a marvelous example of how a materialist class analysis can be used to better understand history. The analysis is not shallow or deterministic, but it clearly shows that white workers have nothing to gain by clinging to racist prejudices.Bloom isn't sure what kind of activism will bring black liberation, but his book helps us answer that question. It is essential reading for those who want to learn from the past and build the movements of the future.