“The Civil Rights Reader: American Literature from Jim Crow to Reconciliation”
By Julie Buckner Armstrong and Amy Schmidt 
   

The University of Georgia Press offers a stunning collection of essays, drama, fiction, and poetry creating a passionate, thoughtful expression of the African-American experience with the release of  “The Civil Rights Reader: American Literature from Jim Crow to Reconciliation.” 

Put together by two talented editors, this work is a collection for anyone interested in African-American history, culture and art. Julie Buckner Armstrong offers her editorial strength from the University of South Florida, and she is joined by the craft of Amy Schmidt from the University of Arkansas. Crafting this collection, the two offer a vision of a mixture of turmoil, triumph, and heart that clarifies the struggles and emotions of the African-American existence. 

Particularly fascinating reading for the artistic or historical mindset readers would be the fiction offerings from Erskine Caldwell, Ralph Ellison and Flannery O’Connor. Also of note, the emotional resonances of dramas like “Dutchman” by Amiri Baraka and “The Great White Hope” by Howard Sackler. Further fascination for the active mind may be found in the poetic essays “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin and “The Souls of Black Folk” by W.E.B. Dubois. 

Furthermore, notes on the experience that should accompany the emotional and intellectual growth of any American can be found in some of the essays in this collection. Students should seek growth from the words of Martin Luther King Jr., strength from the fire of Malcolm X, and power from the evocative expanse offered by Lillian Smith. In particular, the illusions offered by the poems by Cyrus Cassells and June Jordon carry a depth of experience that explodes from the page. 

In sum, “The Civil Rights Reader” offers a fascinating stepping-stone to the development of more understanding and connection in a society in dire need of some form of relation beyond the material. Within this framework, the curious minds that flip the pages may open a new world of perspective for themselves and those they encounter armed with more diversified information than the average text book may offer. 

Armstrong, Julie Buckner and Amy Schmidt.  “The Civil Rights Reader:  American Literature from Jim Crow to Reconciliation.”  Athens, Georgia and London, England:  The University of Georgia Press.  2009.  363pp.  $69.95 Cloth or $24.95 Paper.  ISBN:  9780820332253.