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A review by lizmart88
A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History by Jeanne Theoharis
4.0
This is a book everyone should read. If you want to learn more deeply about the US civil rights movement, start here. This book unpacks the legacy of how we teach about civil rights alongside how the media has reported on civil rights.
The first chapters dive deep into the Northern Black-led movements for school desegregation, which were minimized by the media. It looks at Boston and NYC (which never desegregated) and then it looks at Los Angeles. Then it pivots to really look at specific examples of how the (white) media did a disservice to Black-led movements for justice.
Finally, she digs into myths around the movement including that MLK was the sole leader, and the silencing of women by MLK and his peers highlighting the intentional lack of women speakers at the March on Washington. She explores Coretta Scott King's role as more progressive than her husband, and other Black women leaders like Gloria Richardson and Anna Arnold Hedgeman. In the last chapter, she retells the story of Rosa Parks in the way it should be told without minimizing the true terrible and beautiful history. It was not inevitable, but neither was it an accident.
The first chapters dive deep into the Northern Black-led movements for school desegregation, which were minimized by the media. It looks at Boston and NYC (which never desegregated) and then it looks at Los Angeles. Then it pivots to really look at specific examples of how the (white) media did a disservice to Black-led movements for justice.
Finally, she digs into myths around the movement including that MLK was the sole leader, and the silencing of women by MLK and his peers highlighting the intentional lack of women speakers at the March on Washington. She explores Coretta Scott King's role as more progressive than her husband, and other Black women leaders like Gloria Richardson and Anna Arnold Hedgeman. In the last chapter, she retells the story of Rosa Parks in the way it should be told without minimizing the true terrible and beautiful history. It was not inevitable, but neither was it an accident.