Civil Rights and Beyond - by Brian D Behnken

Book Synopsis

Civil Rights and Beyond examines the dynamic relationships between African American and Latino/a activists in the United States from the 1930s to the present day. Building on recent scholarship, this book pushes the timeframe for the study of interactions between blacks and a variety of Latino/a groups beyond the standard chronology of the civil rights era. As such, the book merges a host of community histories--each with their own distinct historical experiences and activisms--to explore group dynamics, differing strategies and activist moments, and the broader quests of these communities for rights and social justice.

The collection is framed around the concept of "activism," which most fully encompasses the relationships that blacks and Latinos have enjoyed throughout the twentieth century. Wide ranging and pioneering, Civil Rights and Beyond explores black and Latino/a activism from California to Florida, Chicago to Bakersfield--and a host of other communities and cities--to demonstrate the complicated nature of African American-Latino/a activism in the twentieth-century United States.

Contributors: Brian D. Behnken, Dan Berger, Hannah Gill, Laurie Lahey, Kevin Allen Leonard, Mark Malisa, Gordon Mantler, Alyssa Ribeiro, Oliver A. Rosales, Chanelle Nyree Rose, and Jakobi Williams

Review Quotes

Over the last two decades, the history of civil rights has evolved from the story of the civil rights movement to the story of civil rights movements. Behnken's collection of essays is a valuable addition to this approach. Rejecting the traditional cooperation/conflict narrative, the contributors chose the concept of political activism as the catalyst to examine the complex but rich relationship between African Americans and Latinos.--D.O. Cullen "Choice"

About the Author

Brian D. Behnken is associate professor of history and Latino/a studies at Iowa State University. He is the author of Fighting Their Own Battles: Mexican Americans, African Americans, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Texas, The Struggle in Black and Brown: African American and Mexican American Relations During the Civil Rights Era, and Crossing Boundaries: Ethnicity, Race, and National Belonging in a Transnational World.