We Ain't What We Ought to be by Stephen Tuck
Traces the black freedom struggle from the first years of freedom during the Civil War to President Obama's inauguration. This title explores the dynamic relationships between those seeking new freedoms and those looking to preserve racial hierarchies, and between grassroots activists and national leaders.
In this sweeping and absorbing history of black activism, Tuck highlights the achievements of community organizing from the mid-19th century to Barack Obama's dexterous grassroots campaign for the presidencyTuck argues that there is no one black protest movement or agenda and casts his net over 150 years of black political engagement to reel in untold stories and unsung heroes. He is particularly attentive to the first 20 years of the 20th century, which saw protest, empowerment, and the rise of galvanizing figures from Marcus Garvey to boxer Jack Johnson. While the civil rights movement of the 1960s has become emblematic in the chronology of black history, according to Tuck, it does not define the ongoing fight for social justice and freedom among blacks in America. With rich detail and a strong narrative, Tuck fills in gaps in the story, from the lesser known backroom dealings of Booker T. Washington to the noble efforts on behalf of black women by Anna Julia Cooper. Publishers Weekly 20091123 A multitude of black experiences have contributed to the complexity and diversity of the civil rights struggle beyond the iconic portrayals of the movement. Historian Tuck juxtaposes local versus national, southern versus northern, violent versus nonviolent, wartime versus peacetime, secular versus religious, separatist versus integrationist, and other polarities. Tuck profiles famous and obscure African Americans who have struggled for human and civil rights since slavery. Along with Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. DuBois, and others, he profiles Robert Smalls, an enslaved assistant to a captain in the Confederate navy, who sailed the ship to freedom while the white crew and captain slept, and Fanny Peck, a black Detroit housewife who launched a boycott in 1930 of businesses that didn't hire blacks. He chronicles struggles of black feminists, gays and lesbians, environmentalists, and others who don't often make the pages of the history books. In this well-researched volume, Tuck details protests large and small, individual and organized, from Emancipation to the election of Barack Obama. -- Vanessa Bush Booklist 20091215 Oxford University lecturer Stephen Tuck's We Ain't What We Ought To Be is a collection of voices that document our struggle for equality in America from the Reconstruction era until now. It's all here--the great speeches and moments--but it's the nod to the common woman and man that lifts this narrative a notch above similar titles. -- Patrik Henry Bass Essence 20100201 We Ain't What We Ought To Be is an astounding exercise in synthesis, bringing together the past decade of research on the African-American experience. To scholars of southern and black history, what Tuck calls "revelations" will be anything but. However, most Americans are still under the spell of the genre's first generation, with its neat divisions between North and South, violent and nonviolent, and civil rights and Black Power. Tuck's book could change that. -- Clay Risen Bookforum 20100201
Stephen Tuck is University Lecturer in American History, Pembroke College, Oxford University.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780674036260 |
| ISBN 10 | 0674036263 |
| Title | We Ain't What We Ought to be |
| Author | Stephen Tuck |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Harvard University Press |
| Year published | 2010-01-01 |
| Number of pages | 528 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |