1st Edition

Black Liberation in the Midwest The Struggle in St. Louis, Missouri, 1964-1970

By Kenneth Jolly Copyright 2007
    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    250 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book offers a response to the inadequate examination of the Midwest in Civil Rights Movement scholarship - scholarship that continues to ignore the city of St. Louis and the Black liberation struggle that took place there. Jolly examines this local movement and organizations such as the Black Liberators, Mid-City Congress, Jeff Vander Lou Community Action Group, DuBois Club, CORE, Zulu 1200s, and the Nation of Islam to illuminate the larger Black liberation struggle in the Midwest in the mid- and late 1960s. Furthermore, this work details the larger atmosphere and conditions in St. Louis, Missouri and the Midwest from which this local movement developed and operated.

    This work raises important questions about periodizing and locating Black liberation and Black Nationalism. As racial oppression in the United States was equated with neo-colonialism and internal-colonialism, this discussion reveals the global nature of white supremacy, race and class oppression and exploitation, as well as the material and ideological relationship between local and transnational liberation movements.

    1. The St. Louis African American Community in the Twentieth Century: A Context for 'Revolution'  2. An Early Battle: The St. Louis Movement Before 1964  3. Black Power: The Next Step  4. Black Liberation: CORE and Coalitions in the St. Louis Region  5. Black Power in St. Louis: The Black Liberators, Black Nationalists, DuBois Club, Jeff Vander Lou Community Action Group, Nation of Islam, Mid City Congress, Zulu 1200s  6. Black Power: The Ideological Debate  7. Black Power Challenged: The War on Poverty and Black Capitalism  8. Black Power Challenged: The Cold War, FBI, and the Communist Threat  9. Black Power Challenged: Direct Conflict and Violence

    Biography

    Kenneth Jolly is Assistant Professor of History at Saginaw Valley State University.