Inside Agitators: White Southerners in the Civil Rights Movement

Winner of the Outstanding Book on the Subject of Human Rights in North America Award from the Gustavus Myers Center "In the movement, we always said that, like in a washing machine, it was the agitator that got the dirt out. David Chappell's book shows how the inside agitators helped cleanse the society of an extreme injustice. It is an enlightening and important look at a less publicized part of this history." -Andrew Young "A superb study done with subtlety and keen insight, it is absolutely essential for understanding the vital role white Southerners played in the civil rights movement." -C. Vann Woodward, Yale University "Chappell's argument is insightful and worth serious attention. It makes particularly fascinating reading from the perspective of the 1990s." -David R. Colburn, Reviews in American History "In this engaging work on Southern whites who sympathized with the Civil Rights Movement, Chappell argues that moderate whites, though lacking a moral commitment to civil rights, played a key role in the movement's success at both the local and national levels." -Virginia Quarterly Review

Table of Contents:
Foreword, by Clayborne Carson Preface Introduction Part I. The Strange Career of Racial Dissent in the South Chapter 1. The "Silent South": The Founding Fathers of Sour=thern White Dissent Chapter 2. From Silence to Futility: Southern White Dissent Gets Organized Part II. The Strategy of Nonviolence and the Role of White Southerners in the Movement Chapter 3. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-1556 Chapter 4. Tallahassee, 1956-1957 Chapter 5. Little Rock, 1957-1959 Chapter 6. Albany, Georgia, 1961-1962 Part III. The Art of the Possible: The White Southerner in the National State Chapter 7. The Late 1950s: Saving the Party from Civil RIghts Chapter 8. Lyndon Johnson Takes Center Stage-and Then an Intermission Chapter 9. Policy in High Gear: From the Justice Department to the Acts of 1964 and 1965 Epilogue: Interpreting the Movement Abbreviations Notes Bibliographical Essay Index

About the Author :
David Chappell teaches history at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Review :
David Chappell's new study provides fresh insight into the Civil Rights movement by shifting the analytical focus from the strivings of African-Americans to the crucial and little-understood role of white Southerners. Chappell explodes the convenient myth of the monolithic and homogeneous white South to reveal a society deeply divided over segregation. -- Kari Frederickson Southern Historian This well-written and fascinating account shows how important white moderates were to the success of the civil rights movement and how black leaders consciously made winning them over to their cause an integral part of their strategy. -- John E. Miller Historian Chappell is at his best in describing the dynamics which took place in various southern communities. He also examines the struggles between similar forces on the national scene, as carried on by various southern players within the Democratic Party, the executive office, and the Justice Department. -- Michael Honey Peace and Change Chappell's is a major piece of historical writing that will be of interest to general readers as well as to more specialized students of the Civil Rights movement in the American South. -- Neil Thorburn History Chappell's argument is insightful and worth serious attention. It makes particularly fascinating reading from the perspective of the 1990s. -- David R. Colburn Reviews in American History In this engaging work on Southern whites who sympathized with the Civil Rights Movement, Chappell argues that moderate whites, though lacking a moral commitment to civil rights, played a key role in the movement's success at both the local and national levels. Virginia Quarterly Review Chappell is to be commended for struggling with hard questions about historical causation. -- Robert J. Norrell Journal of American History With keen insight, Chappell argues that not only were white southerners far from solid in their commitment to segregation during the civil rights era, but that the movement actively exploited and widened their divisions to achieve both local victories and federal intervention. -- Mark Newman Journal of American Studies