The most comprehensive anthology of primary sources available, spanning the entire history of the American civil rights movement.

A record of one of the greatest and most turbulent movements of this century, The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader is essential for anyone interested in learning how far the American civil rights movements has come and how far it has to go.

Included are the Supreme Court's Brown vs Board of Education decision in its entirety; speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr., and his famous "Letter from Birmingham City Jail"; an interview with Rosa Parks; selections from Malcolm X Speaks; Black Panther Bobby Seale's Seize the Time; Ralph Abernathy's controversial And the Walls Came Tumbling Down; a piece by Herman Badillo on the infamous Attica prison uprising; addresses by Harold Washington, Jesse Jackson, Nelson Mandel, and much more.

“An important volume for students and professionals who wish to grasp the basic nature of the civil rights movement and how it changed America in fundamental ways.” —Aldon Morris, Northwestern University

Prologue
We the People: The Long Journey Toward a More Perfect Union
by Vincent Harding

Chapter One:
Awakenings (1954-1956)
Introduction by Vincent Harding
Articles on the Emmett Till Case
"Coming of Age in Mississippi," by Anne Moody
A Letter from the Women's Political Council to the Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama
Interview with Rosa Parks
"The Movement Gathers Momentum," by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., at Holt Street Baptist Church
"At Holt Street Baptist Church," by joe Azbell
Resolution of the Citizens' Mass Meeting, December 5, 1955
"Desegregation at Last," by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Chapter Two:
Fighting Back (1957-1962)
Introduction by Darlene Clark Hine
Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al.
"How Children Learn About Race," by Kenneth B. Clark
"The Atlanta Decalration," by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
"Black Monday: Segregation or Amalgamation...America Has Its Choice," by Tom P. Brady
Brown v. Board of Education-The Implementation Descision
"The Long Shadow of Little Rock," by Daisy Bates
A Roundtable Discussion

Chapter Three:
Ain't Scared of Your Jails (1960-1961)
Introduction by Clayborne Carson
"Is Violence Necessary in Combat Injustice? For the Positive: Williams Says 'We Must Fight Back,'" by Robert F. Williams
"The Social Organization of Non Violence," by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Interview with Franklin McCain
"An Appeal for Human Rights"
"Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Statement of Purpose"
"Bigger than a Hamburger," by Ella J. Baker
"A Conference on the Sit-Ins," by Ted Dienstfrey
"In Pursuit of Freedom," by William Mahoney
Interview with Robert Zellner
"Eve of Nonviolent Revolution?," by James M. Lawson, Jr.

Chapter Four:
No Easy Walk (1961-1963)
Introduction by David J. Garrow
Organizing in Albany, Georgia, by Charles Sherrod
Letter from the Albany Movement to the Albany City Commission, January 23, 1962
Interview with Bernice Reagon
Letter from Albany Merchant Leonard Gilberg to Albany Police Chief Laurie Prichett, July 23, 1962
"Birmingham: People in Motion," by the Alambama Christian Movement for Human Rights
Wiretap Transcript of Phone Connversation Between Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King, April 15, 1963
"Letter from Birmingham City Jail," by Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Birmingham Truce Agreement, May 10, 1963
President John F. Kennedy's Nationally Televised Speech, June 11, 1963
Original Text of Speech to Be Delivered at the Lincoln Memorial, by John Lewis

Chapter Four:
Mississippi: Is This America? (1962-1964)
Introduction by Clayborne Carson
"Mississippi: 1961-1962," by Robert Moses
"To Praise our Bridges," by Fannie Lou Hamer
"Interim Report of the United States Commision on Civil Rights, April 16, 1963"
"Freedom Summer," by Sally Belfrage
"Mississippi at Atlantic City," by Charles M. Sherrod
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Brief Report on Guinea, by James Forman
"The Trip," by John Lewis and Donald Harris
"To Mississippi Youth," by Malcolm X
"From Protest to Politics: The Future of the Civil Rights Movement," by Bayard Rustin

Chapter Six:
Bridge to Freedom (1965)
Introduction by David J. Garrow
"Early Attempts at Betterment," by Amelia Platts Boynton
"A Letter from a Selma, Alabama, Jail," by Martin Luther King, Jr.
"A Midnight Plane to Alabama: Journey of Conscience," by George B. Leonard
SNCC-SCLC Relations, by James Forman
Personal Letter from Murial and Art Lewis to Her Mother, Selma, Alabama, March 19, 1965
"Our God is Marching On!," by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Interlude:
We The People: The Struggle Continues
by Vincent Harding

Chapter Eleven:
The Time Has Come (1964-1966)
Introduction by Clayborne Carson
"Message to the Grass Roots," by Malcolm X
"Malcolm," by Sonia Sanchez
"Black Belt Election: New Day A'Coming," by Stokely Charmichael and Charles V. Hamilton
Lowndes County Freedom Organization Pamphlet
"How the Black Panther Party Was Organized," by John Hulett
"From Black Consciousness to Black Power," by Cleveland Sellers and Robert Terrell
"What We Want," by Stokely Charmichael
"Black Power: A Voice Within," by Ruth Turner Perot

Chapter Eight:
Two Societies (1965-1968)
Introduction by Darlene Clark Hine
"A Proposal by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of the Development of a Nonviolent Action Movement for the Greater Chicago Area"
Demands Placed on the Door of Chicago City Hall by Martin Luther King, Jr., July 10, 1966
"Agreement of the Subcommittee to the Conference on Fair Housing Convened by the Chicago Conference on Religion and Race"
Interview with Kinda Bryant Hall
"Profiles of Disorder...Detroit"
"A Man's Life," by Roger Wilkins

Chapter Nine:
Power! (1966-1968)
Introduction by Gerald Gill
"Taking Over," by Carl B. Stokes
Interview with Thompson J. "Mike" Gaines
Interview with Geraldine Williams
"The Founding of the Black Panther Party" and "Patrolling," by Huey P. Newton
"Seize the Time," by Bobby Seale
Interview with Delores Torres
"A JHS 271 Teacher Tell It Like He Sees It," by Charles S. Isaacs
Interview with Karriema Jordan
"Anti-Semitism?-A Statement by the Teachers of Ocean Hill-Brownsville to the People of New York"

Chapter Ten:
The Promised Land (1967-1968)
Introduction by David J. Garrow
"A Time to Break Silence," by Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Conversation with Martin Luther King"
"I See the Promised Land," by Martin Luther King, Jr.
"My Last Letter to Martin," by Ralph David Abernathy
"On the Case in Resurrection City," by Charlayne A. Hunter

Chapter Eleven:
Ain't Gonna Shuffle No More (1964-1972)
Introduction by Gerald Gill
"...I'm the Greatest,' a poem by Cassius Clay"
"The Greatest," by Muhammad Ali with Richard Durham
"Muhammad Ali-The Measure of a Man," from Freedomways
Interview with Paula Giddings
An Open Letter Sent to Howard President James M. Nabrit
Interview with Tony Gittens
"The Nature and Needs of the Black University," by Gerald McWorter
"It's Nation Time," by Amari Baraka
"We Must Pave the Way: An Independent Black Political Thrust," by Richard Hatcher
"National Black Political Agenda. The Gary Declaration: Black Politics at the Crossroads"

Chapter Twelve:
A Nation of Law?
Introduction by Gerald Gill
"Fred Speaks"
Interview with Akua Njere (Deborah Johnson)
"Search and Destroy: A Report by the Commission of Inquiry into the Black Panthers and the Police," Roy Wilkins and Ramsey Clark, Chairmen
"The FBI's Efforts to Disrupt and Neutralize the Black Panther Party"
"Angela Davis: An Autobiography"
Letter From George Jackson
Attica Prisoners' Demands
"Negotiations and Failure," by Herman Badillo and Milton Haynes
"The Brothers of Attica," by Richard X. Clark

Chapter Thirteen:
The Keys to the Kingdom (1974-1980)
Introduction by Gerald Gill
Statement to the Boston School Committee, June 11, 1963
"Death at an Early Age," by Jonathan Kozul
Tallulah Morgan et al. v. James W. Hennigan et al.
Commencement Address as Howard University by Lyndon B. Johnson
Inaugural Address by Mayor Maynard Jackson
"Can Atlanta Succeed Where America Has Failed? An Exclusive Atlanta Magazine Interview with Mayor Maynard Jackson as He Completes Hits First 500 Days in Office"
Amicus Curiae Brief in Regents of University of Californias v. Allan Bakke
Regents University of California v. Allan Bakke (The Supreme Court Judgement), June 28, 1978
Regents University of California v. Allan Bakke (Justice Marshall's Dissent), June 28, 1978
"Whites Say I Must Be on Easy Street," by Nell Irvin Painter

Chapter Fourteen:
Back to the Movement (1979-mid-1980s)
Introduction by Vincent Harding
"A Historic Look at Our Neighborhoods," by the Black Archives, History and Research Foundation of South Florida
"Death Watch," by Marvin Dunn
"Confronting racial Isolation in Miami," by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
Interview with Edward Gardner
Harold Washington's Announcement of Candidacy for the Democratic Nomination for Mayor of Chicago
"Harold Washington: uniting Chicago for All People"
Harold Washington's Inaugural Speech
"Of Harold Washington," by Gwendolyn Brooks
"Address by the Reverend Jesse Jackson," Democratic National Connvention, San Francisco, July 17, 1984
Interview with Unita Blackwell
"Platform Presentation by Mayor Henry G. Cisneros," Democratic National Convention, San Francisco, July 17, 1984
Address to the National College and University Student Conference, Shen Tong
Address by Nelson Mandela

About the General Authors

The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader Publishing Project Staff

Eyes on the Prize: The Film and Publishing Project

Notes on Sources
Index