From Selma to Montgomery

Barbara Harris Combs is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi.

1. Stephen Middleton, Mississipp State UniversityThe focus on the Selma March and its connection to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is intriguing. Also, the investigator promises to include minor figures in the book, which is equally appealing. 2. Tracy K'Meyer, University of LouisvilleI do think that there is a growing need for relatively short books for lower division college classes. I also think there is a growing demand for courses on race and civil rights movement. My courses in those subjects fill up every semester.3. Clarence Lange, Illinois State UniversityThis text would be useful in survey-level African American history courses (which generally meet General Education requirements and would attract large enrollments); as well as upper-level undergraduate courses (and perhaps much smaller graduate seminars) on Civil Rights and Black Power in the 1950s-60s, or Civil Rights and the Law.With the explosion in literature on the modern Civil Rights/Black Power movements (e.g., the field of "Black Freedom Studies"), the market for this type of book has indeed grown. Most history departments and Black Studies/Ethnic Studies departments have such courses "on the books," so to speak, and they generally attract consistently large numbers of undergraduate and graduate students alike.On the plus side, the author(s) focus their attention on the movement’s lesser known local activists, which rightfully de-centers national figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., in the movement’s narrative. Moreover, linking the Selma-to-Montgomery March and the 1965 Voting Rights Act to contemporary discussions of the Voting Rights Act’s legacies (especially with regard to Latino voters and immigration), is a timely and important scholarly intervention.

• 1. One Moment in Time 2. Portrait of a Nation 3. Everyday People 4. America's Bloody Sunday 5. Aftermath. Documents.