Radicalizing the Ebony Tower: Black Colleges and the Black Freedom Struggle in Mississippi (Reflective History Series)

ISBN: 0807748633

Author: Williamson-Lott, Joy Ann

Condition: Used

This path-breaking examination of black colleges in Mississippi during the civil rights and black power movements offers a unique opportunity to understand how institutions are transformed into liberatory agents. Williamson examines how campus constituents negotiated and clashed over local, state, and national pressures against the backdrop of the highly contentious conflict between those determined to protect racial hierarchy and others equally determined to cripple white supremacy. She shows how students challenged the notion of the university as an ivory tower, aloof from community affairs, and documents how these colleges tried to resolve the tension between activism and academics. Through the words and deeds of actual participants, this profoundly moving account also provides firsthand knowledge of how students balanced their pursuit of higher education with campus and societal reform.This book sheds new light on one of the foundational movements of the twentieth century and those who thrust it into history.-Aldon Morris, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University"Joy Williamson has written an important book about a neglected subject. Her examination of student activism on black college campuses adds much to our understanding of the civil rights movement. Solidly researched, Radicalizing the Ebony Tower is also compelling reading."-John Dittmer, Professor Emeritus of History, DePauw University