Read more
This cultural biography tells the story of Birmingham World editor Emory O. Jackson. During his 35-year career in Alabama, he waged numerous sustained civil-rights campaigns for the franchise, equal educational opportunities, and justice for the victims of police brutality and bombings. The semiweekly newspaper was central to his advocacy. Jackson wrote editorials and columns that documented injustices and urged legislative and legal action in an effort to secure civil rights for Black Alabamians. His body of work, grounded in protest and passion, was part of the long tradition of the Black Press as an instrument to agitate for social and political change. Jackson also was a frequent speaker at NAACP branches, colleges, and churches. He was known as a commanding, even fiery, speaker who stressed first-class citizenship. Issues explored in the book demonstrate an assertion of constitutional rights in post-World War II America and a remarkable resilience. Editor Emory O. Jackson, the Birmingham World, and the Fight for Civil Rights in Alabama, 1940-1975 is the first scholarly analysis of his work and as such contributes to scholarship on the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama and the nation.
List of contents
List of Figures - Hank Klibanoff: Foreword - Preface: Alabama Has Lost a Giant - Acknowledgments - Magic City, Tragic City - Battle for the Ballot - An Act of Civil Disobedience - We Demand Equal Education - Free by '63 - Violence Has Sullied Birmingham's Magic Name - Continue the Journey of Freedom - Yet We Go on Fighting - Index.
About the author
Kimberley Mangun earned a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and is an associate professor at the University of Utah. Her award-winning book, A Force for Change: Beatrice Morrow Cannady and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Oregon, 1912-1936, inspired an Oregon Public Broadcasting documentary.
Report
"Emory O. Jackson at last has the biographer he has long deserved. As editor of the Birmingham World, he was first to cover fully the Montgomery Bus Boycott and he led the years-long effort to desegregate the University of Alabama. He also advocated voting rights and justice related to police violence and the bombing of churches, homes, and businesses. Through all the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement, Emory Jackson's hand was forever present. Now his story is told by gifted historian Kimberley Mangun, who links his fight for equal rights to present-day issues and topics including voter disenfranchisement, officer-involved shootings, and #BlackLivesMatter." -E. Culpepper Clark, Dean and Professor Emeritus, the University of Alabama and the University of Georgia; Author of The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation's Last Stand at the University of Alabama, a Notable Book Selection by The New York Times Book Review
