Black in Selma: The Uncommon Life of J.L. Chestnut Jr. (Fire Ant Books)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.67 (629 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0817354611 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 448 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-05-04 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
A key player on the local and state fronts, Chestnut accrued deep insights into the racial tensions in his community and deftly opened paths toward a more equitable future. Though intimately involved in many events that took place in Selma, Chestnut was nevertheless often identified in history books as simply a local attorney.” Black in Selma reveals his powerful yet little-known story. In the 2014 film Selma, director Ava DuVernay takes audiences to the climactic confrontation between civil rights advocates and the state’s security forces of March 1965. Black in Selma is the expansive autobiography of J. L. Returning to Selma, Chestnut was the town’s first and only African American attorney in the late 1950s. Chestnut Jr., a key figure of the civil rights movement in Selma, Alabama. Born in Selma in 1930, Chestnut left home to study law at Howard University in Washington, DC. As the turbulent struggle for civil rights spread across the South, Chestnut became an active and assiduous promoter of social and legal equality in his
Throughout the book, Chestnut reveals in ribald and revolutionary tones the complexities and contradictions of simultaneously working with the law and outside it, including a riveting moment alongside future congressman John Lewis as they stood eyeball-to-eyeball with a local sheriff who blocked their enteric into a court building. Overall, J.L. His encounters with activist organizations such as the NAACP, SCLC, and SNCC further illuminate the philosophical intersections and collisions between various factions of the civil rights movement. Black in Selma, his unpretentious autobiography cowritten by Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Julia Cass, recalls Ches
H. Guidugli said Black in Selma book review. This is a wonderful book detailing the experiences of an individual that contributed to the transformation of our nation during the civil rights era. It is a must read by anyone interested in U.S. history, history of the south or just what it's like growing up in a small Southern town. A great book and I recommend it to anyone regardless of age or race.. The civil rights movement after the civil rights movement This book is a very good description of local Selma people during the civil rights movement. The description of the confrontation between John Lewis and Sheriff Jim Clark is alone worth the price of the book.But the best part of the book concerns the continuing efforts of the black people in Selma to maintain the gains of the movement, especially against white establishment efforts to take away black votes by subterfuge. The trials and tribulations of Albert Turner, who recently died, are partiularly illuminating. Everyone who is interested in the continuing stuggle to keep the movement going should read th. Great lessons for activists Kate Great information about political strategy behind the civil rights movement and historical details that you won't read anywhere else. As an activist and organizer, I learned a lot from this book.The book shows the sheer guts it took to do these things when the outcome of the civil rights movement was not at all certain. I also appreciated the way the book remembered important and courageous people, some of whom risked their lives, and who might otherwise be lost to history. I hope Mr. Chestnut writes another book.