A review by samantha_shain
At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power by Danielle L. McGuire

4.0

I think the official summary says it best: "Groundbreaking, controversial, and courageous, here is the story of Rosa Parks and Recy Taylor—a story that reinterprets the history of America's civil rights movement in terms of the sexual violence committed against black women by white men."

The most gripping parts of the book were about retelling the revisionist history of the civil rights movement as a movement for reproductive justice ,bodily autonomy, and dignity in Black womanhood. The movement perspective interested me more than the graphic details of each individual case, or "what they were wearing" on the witness stand. In that way, I think an article/essay version of this book would be very welcome - not because these stories shouldn't get told (!!) but because I think it can be easy to "miss the forest for the trees" in a book that has so many heartbreaking, encyclopedic examples. Expanding the timeline of the civil rights movement from the Recy Taylor case until the Loving decision is a brilliant intervention, and one that is going to continue to shape my thinking. I'm so glad this impeccably researched and thorough account is in the social movement history cannon, and I believe that it should get a lot more visibility. Highly recommend!