At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power

Should be taught in all schools. It documents the special ongoing oppression of black women by rape. They grew up knowing their bodies were not their own but the property of any passing white. This book documents the courage with which they fought back against overwhelming odds to report these crimes and receive legal justice and the ongoing failure of state and federal powers to take steps. The bus boycott was organized and led by women against a system where bus drivers were free to beat them and sexually harass them. Many were beaten and raped and lost their jobs but in the face of death did not give up. The crimes detailed here are horrid to read but the courage of the women and men who protested should not be forgotten. The book has a lot of footnotes and a long bibliography for those who want to read more and she has interviewed many who took part. Others have pointed that Rosa Parks was an active freedom fighter and that other women had been protesting bus unequal practices. It is well written and very readable. Mike Ditka football player who just stated there has been no oppression in 100 yrs should be forced to read this. If he is going to make stupid statements he should know his facts.

I want to tell every white person to read this book. To read it all the way through and then sit down and think about it. Take notes. Think about it some more. Does this narrative match what you learnt at school? Does it match your experience growing up? Does this USA resemble the USA you have been living in? At the Dark End of the Street is a hard read. Inside we learn about what happened to Recy Taylor in detail. About all of the work Rosa Parks was doing years before she refused to get up from that bus seat. About the countless cases of brutality and rape of black women by white men. Of the countless cases where white women called rape on innocent black men. Be prepared to be sickened by the institutionalized suffering, and also by the fact that your fellow humans doled this violence out on a daily basis, and still do. A detailed and acute research on the involvement and importance of women in the civil rights movement, this book is also a deep insight into the horrific and widespread use of sexual violence by white men to keep black women silent and to exert dominance. Sexual violence is often used as a weapon in war, we have seen many examples of this in the past and in the present, but the extent of its use in the US, and how it was constantly disregarded by the authorities, or even used against victims, is abhorrent. But these stories must be told because they should never be erased and forgotten. In addition to being a huge minefield of information, events, and facts that are not taught in history books, this book is an important reminder of how black women’s voices have been consistently erased through time. Their overwhelming role in the Montgomery bus boycott reduced to a mere footnote, the tireless activism years and years before the civil rights movement took off stuffed away in the vaults of an archive, and the work that they continue to do on a daily basis forgotten. There is so much important information in this book, sometimes it actually feels overwhelming and frustrating at the same time because it really should be common knowledge. I initially got this one from the library, but I bought a copy for myself as I feel like I only scratched the surface by reading it once and need to be able to refer back to it again and again. Can we add this book to the curriculum please? My kids will be asked to read it as soon as they are old enough to.

As an African American woman who grew up in segregated Atlanta, I felt violated while reading about the rapes and indignities by white men against black women. I often rode the public bus home from school and the bus drivers were all white and nasty. This book brought up all those feelings and more. I will never understand how white women who had consensual relations with black men could accuse them of rape when they knew those men would be tortured and lynched by mobs. The depravity of those killing mobs is incomprehensible to me. If you don’t know this history, educate yourself.

This was an excellent book. I read it for a Women's Studies course and am so glad I did. It is a hard read at times due to the subject matter and I got chills over and over with every page I turned. This is a dense read so full of information, facts, and, the best part in my opinion, stories that hit you straight in your emotions (I am not ashamed to admit I got a little teary eyed at times). The Civil Rights Movement in the US is definitely taken for granted and has been whittled down to little bites of history where MLK Jr. is glorified and positioned as the center piece but if you read this book you'll learn there was so so much more to it and that once again history bears its burden on the backs of so many brave black women.

This is a fabulously well-done telling of the history behind the Civil Rights Movement and the momentum it carried forward. I've bought nearly a dozen copies for friends. McGuire skillfully and enthrallingly takes two-dimensional historical icons and turns them back into real people. The gaps in the stories we've learned are filled with people in whom we can see ourselves. This book makes history palpable and therefore that much more comprehensible. Highly recommend.

If you thought that the Civil Rights Movement began in the 1950's or 1960's, that Rosa Parks was a reticent old woman with tired feet, that the movement started suddenly after her refusal to move from her seat on a bus, I urge you to read this. You'll learn: - that Rosa Parks was raised a Garveyite, and had been an activist and NAACP leader for more than 20 years when she famously refused to move from her seat, - that this very seat was located on a bus whose driver had (less famously) harassed Ms. Parks 10 years before, and that she also knew E.D. Nixon was searching for a victim of racial violence who was "beyond reproach" to gain national media attention, and SO much more! I should add that I usually find history books a little boring, but this was very readable...

McGuire opens with an extremely in depth account of the rape of Recy Taylor. The reader plummets into dialogue and descriptions that pertain to the rape of a woman coming home from church. Another woman enters the picture and her name is Rosa Parks, she is the investigator sent by the NAACP to document and assess this incident. In the first few pages of her book, Danielle McGuire has already made us question, why have we never heard this before? We all know and love Rosa Parks as the tired woman who refused to give up her seat, an action that supposedly started the Civil Rights Movement, and now we are informed that she was one of the NAACP’s best investigators? How perverse, that we would not know this history. Historiographies such as McGuire’s At the Dark End of the Street “stresses the abilities of southern black communities… the force that developed the infrastructure of the civil rights movement ”. Danielle McGuire presents us with a narrative of defending black womanhood as a means of fighting against white supremacy. Recy Taylor, and others like her, though rarely able to bring their attackers to justice, used their voices and their stories as direct action against the status quo.

McGuire might have had every intention of highlighting the bravery of the female contingent of what became the Civil Rights movement but I doubt it. It's a ahistorical bridge too far to paint the men as chauvinistic glory mongers denying these brave sisters their credit. Black men were also boycotting the bus system because they were also being mirdere and beaten by white supremacists at the time. McGuire tried to paint a picture of cowardly ministers deciding it was best Parks didn't speak at a rally while insinuating she declined as well. Which is it? These ministers also railed against the somewhat radical moves of a young Martin Luther King because of the viciousness of murderous whites at the time, the purveyors of a milieu she definitely could have painted with more depth. Meh, it was a good historical account before all of the agenda framing nonsense.

The most salient part of this book is the perspective. The look at the beginnings of the civil rights movement from the eyes of Black women, who are often pushed to the margins in historical works, was a welcome addition to the civil rights historical canon. Because Ms. McGuire centered her book in this way, the reader will learn the names of women here, that contributed mightily to the struggle for not only civil rights but human dignity. For those who have read little history, you will find information about icons like Rosa Parks that goes beyond the standard high school fare. Other historical figures will be properly placed, as to their roles in pivotal events like the Montgomery Bus boycott. And for the well versed in civil rights history, much of this may be familiar ground. Claudette Colvin is certainly a familiar name for this crowd, however I doubt Rosa Lee Ingram is similiarly intimate. It is the stories of these women, that become the launching point for discussions around sexual terrorism that makes this book well worth the investment. I don't think we understand how deeply the lives of Black families were impacted by sexual terrorism, At The Dark End of the Street, does a very good job of illuminating the horror. This one should be added to your collection!

I bought this book quite a while ago, but it inadvertently ended up getting buried in my to be read stack. I suppose it's just as well, because I ended up reading it in the context of the Trayvon Martin killing which has taken up so many column inches and so much bandwidth lately. Although the Martin case is not directly relevant to Danielle McGuire's theme of sexualized violence against blacks, particularly black women, it is instructive to see many of the same themes being played out as were played out 50+ years ago, leading one to wonder how much progress the Civil Rights Movement has made since its peak in the mid-1970s, or whether we might even have gone backward despite the election of the first black president. Ms. McGuire starts by pointing out the myth of Rosa Parks: that she was a reserved, reticent, respectable and tired old black woman who made a spontaneous choice which spontaneously ignited the Civil Rights Movement. That myth was arguably necessary in the context of the explosive violence against blacks in the mid-twentieth century and the need for "respectability" in finding a sympathetic "face" of the movement, but the myth also obscures the reality of the originals of the Civil Rights Movement (and Rosa Parks' real role in it), which was not a spontaneous event starting in the mid-1950s, but rather a final rolling boil resulting from the heat of black women's anger of the decades' (or perhaps centuries') long violation of their bodily integrity and womanhood while "pure" white womanhood was staunchly protected and grounds for lynching of any black man who dared to cross the color line. Equal rights was, to hear Southern whites tell it, only a convenient cover for lustful black men to despoil the flower of white Southern womanhood. I'd argue that it's nearly impossible to date the start of the Civil Rights Movement. Long before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, Harriet Tubman was leading slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad, and long before her Africans and African-Americans were fighting slavery from the day the first blacks were taken into slavery, although their names have mostly been lost to history. Nonetheless, Ms. McGuire starts her story with Rosa Parks. Not the prim and proper Rosa Parks we all think we know, but the militant civil rights activist who defended women like Mrs. Recy Taylor, abducted and raped by seven white men in the early 1940s. In addition to that case, Parks traveled far and wide throughout the South listening to and documenting black women's and girl's sexual degradation at the hands of white men. She helped to draw attention to these outrages and bring them to justice in Southern courts, a tall order during the height of Jim Crow. Although Parks was never successful in securing justice against the perpetrators of such crimes, she did succeed in raising awareness and laying the groundwork for many of the Civil Rights victories in the decades to come. Nor did she work alone. In fact, McGuire argues, despite the male faces we now associate with the Civil Rights Movement, it was from inception a movement of women for women to reclaim - or, rather, claim for the first time - their right to bodily integrity. The richly varied hues of the complexions of African-Americans testifies to the phoniness of racist concerns over "miscegenation" and the "amalgamation" of the races. Since slavery days, white masters had raped and sexually dominated the bodies of black women, subjecting them to every sort of indignity. Black women were not safe walking in any neighborhood, whether "good" or "bad". Black women working in white homes, offices and factories were not safe from their white employers and co-workers. Black women endured humiliation and abuse riding the public buses. And black women in jail or prison - whether on legitimate or, more often, trumped up charges - were in the greatest danger of all with almost no protection or recourse. At the same time as white men were wreaking havoc on black women's bodies, white women's bodies were sacrosanct, at least from black men. The slightest violation, real or alleged, by a black man of the South's strict segregation codes was grounds for at best, arrest, at worst, summary lynching. Such strict measures were necessary, argued white demagogues, because lustful black men wanted nothing more than to ravish white women and were utterly unable to contain their bases urges. Pot, kettle, anyone? Finally, black women had had enough. The had virtually no power. The courts would not recognize their claims and, in fact, made them the guilty parties by smearing them as "prostitutes" and women of "low" character. Even black men were reluctant to stand up due to fears of reprisal But the women had one thing: their voices. More and more black women came forward to speak and testify about the abuses they suffered. Little by little they refused to be victims anymore. And little by little society heard (although, sadly, they usually heard a lot better when whites got involved). But the more society at large heard, the more the militant Southerners regrouped to protect "the Southern Way of Life". This book has a bit of a repetitive feel to it, but actually it's more layered. In chapter after chapter, McGuire focuses on a case that became famous and represented an important milestone in the Movement, while weaving in dozens of similar cases and opposing cases where the races were reversed. In each case, the pattern is roughly the same, but each time small gains are made moving public awareness and black outrage and white retaliation one step closer to confrontation, one step closer to justice. In the meantime, McGuire has piled on so many episodes of white on black violence and injustice that it is impossible to deny that this was anything other than an entrenched, universal pattern throughout the South. Black women were repeatedly victimized, then re-victimized by having the character publically smeared, while white Southern society rallied around the perpetrators and further intimidated blacks. But blacks would not be silenced, and slowly the tide turned. From Recy Taylor, who could not get justice after being raped by seven white men to Joan Little who was acquitted of killing the white jailer who attempted to rape her, black women changed the course of history and reclaimed the rights to their own bodies. Furthermore, the issue of "respectability" was dealt a painful blow. Even as a married woman and mother, Recy Taylor was not deemed "respectable" enough in 1942. Joan Little, on the other hand, was decidedly not "respectable, yet by 1975 she could be the face of the Movement. White women finally began recognizing what their black sisters had been speaking truth to power for decades: no woman, regardless of her past or her behavior, deserved to be raped. But now, another 35+ years later, we are dealing with the case of an unarmed dead black teenager and trying to decide if he was on drugs, what his school suspensions might have meant, and other hints that he might have deserved to die. And just like our compatriots decades ago, we argue with all seriousness that race isn't the issue in this case - everything would, of course, be exactly the same had the races been reversed. Of course! Of course a black George Zimmerman would have been released after killing a white/Latino Trayvon Martin and claiming self defense. In this post-racial, "colorblind" world, race no longer matters and the racists are the ones who say it does. This book is essential reading for a "post-racial" world. If anything, I'd like to see Ms. McGuire continue her thesis with an exploration of the time since Joan Little's historic victory. Although the patterns are more subtle - few whites dare openly use the N-word anymore, for instance, the can still be seen shimmering beneath the veneer of polite, "colorblind" American society in the twenty-first century.

Should be taught in all schools. It documents the special ongoing oppression of black women by rape. They grew up knowing their bodies were not their own but the property of any passing white. This book documents the courage with which they fought back against overwhelming odds to report these crimes and receive legal justice and the ongoing failure of state and federal powers to take steps. The bus boycott was organized and led by women against a system where bus drivers were free to beat them and sexually harass them. Many were beaten and raped and lost their jobs but in the face of death did not give up. The crimes detailed here are horrid to read but the courage of the women and men who protested should not be forgotten. The book has a lot of footnotes and a long bibliography for those who want to read more and she has interviewed many who took part. Others have pointed that Rosa Parks was an active freedom fighter and that other women had been protesting bus unequal practices. It is well written and very readable. Mike Ditka football player who just stated there has been no oppression in 100 yrs should be forced to read this. If he is going to make stupid statements he should know his facts.

I want to tell every white person to read this book. To read it all the way through and then sit down and think about it. Take notes. Think about it some more. Does this narrative match what you learnt at school? Does it match your experience growing up? Does this USA resemble the USA you have been living in? At the Dark End of the Street is a hard read. Inside we learn about what happened to Recy Taylor in detail. About all of the work Rosa Parks was doing years before she refused to get up from that bus seat. About the countless cases of brutality and rape of black women by white men. Of the countless cases where white women called rape on innocent black men. Be prepared to be sickened by the institutionalized suffering, and also by the fact that your fellow humans doled this violence out on a daily basis, and still do. A detailed and acute research on the involvement and importance of women in the civil rights movement, this book is also a deep insight into the horrific and widespread use of sexual violence by white men to keep black women silent and to exert dominance. Sexual violence is often used as a weapon in war, we have seen many examples of this in the past and in the present, but the extent of its use in the US, and how it was constantly disregarded by the authorities, or even used against victims, is abhorrent. But these stories must be told because they should never be erased and forgotten. In addition to being a huge minefield of information, events, and facts that are not taught in history books, this book is an important reminder of how black women’s voices have been consistently erased through time. Their overwhelming role in the Montgomery bus boycott reduced to a mere footnote, the tireless activism years and years before the civil rights movement took off stuffed away in the vaults of an archive, and the work that they continue to do on a daily basis forgotten. There is so much important information in this book, sometimes it actually feels overwhelming and frustrating at the same time because it really should be common knowledge. I initially got this one from the library, but I bought a copy for myself as I feel like I only scratched the surface by reading it once and need to be able to refer back to it again and again. Can we add this book to the curriculum please? My kids will be asked to read it as soon as they are old enough to.

As an African American woman who grew up in segregated Atlanta, I felt violated while reading about the rapes and indignities by white men against black women. I often rode the public bus home from school and the bus drivers were all white and nasty. This book brought up all those feelings and more. I will never understand how white women who had consensual relations with black men could accuse them of rape when they knew those men would be tortured and lynched by mobs. The depravity of those killing mobs is incomprehensible to me. If you don’t know this history, educate yourself.

This was an excellent book. I read it for a Women's Studies course and am so glad I did. It is a hard read at times due to the subject matter and I got chills over and over with every page I turned. This is a dense read so full of information, facts, and, the best part in my opinion, stories that hit you straight in your emotions (I am not ashamed to admit I got a little teary eyed at times). The Civil Rights Movement in the US is definitely taken for granted and has been whittled down to little bites of history where MLK Jr. is glorified and positioned as the center piece but if you read this book you'll learn there was so so much more to it and that once again history bears its burden on the backs of so many brave black women.

This is a fabulously well-done telling of the history behind the Civil Rights Movement and the momentum it carried forward. I've bought nearly a dozen copies for friends. McGuire skillfully and enthrallingly takes two-dimensional historical icons and turns them back into real people. The gaps in the stories we've learned are filled with people in whom we can see ourselves. This book makes history palpable and therefore that much more comprehensible. Highly recommend.

If you thought that the Civil Rights Movement began in the 1950's or 1960's, that Rosa Parks was a reticent old woman with tired feet, that the movement started suddenly after her refusal to move from her seat on a bus, I urge you to read this. You'll learn: - that Rosa Parks was raised a Garveyite, and had been an activist and NAACP leader for more than 20 years when she famously refused to move from her seat, - that this very seat was located on a bus whose driver had (less famously) harassed Ms. Parks 10 years before, and that she also knew E.D. Nixon was searching for a victim of racial violence who was "beyond reproach" to gain national media attention, and SO much more! I should add that I usually find history books a little boring, but this was very readable...

McGuire opens with an extremely in depth account of the rape of Recy Taylor. The reader plummets into dialogue and descriptions that pertain to the rape of a woman coming home from church. Another woman enters the picture and her name is Rosa Parks, she is the investigator sent by the NAACP to document and assess this incident. In the first few pages of her book, Danielle McGuire has already made us question, why have we never heard this before? We all know and love Rosa Parks as the tired woman who refused to give up her seat, an action that supposedly started the Civil Rights Movement, and now we are informed that she was one of the NAACP’s best investigators? How perverse, that we would not know this history. Historiographies such as McGuire’s At the Dark End of the Street “stresses the abilities of southern black communities… the force that developed the infrastructure of the civil rights movement ”. Danielle McGuire presents us with a narrative of defending black womanhood as a means of fighting against white supremacy. Recy Taylor, and others like her, though rarely able to bring their attackers to justice, used their voices and their stories as direct action against the status quo.

McGuire might have had every intention of highlighting the bravery of the female contingent of what became the Civil Rights movement but I doubt it. It's a ahistorical bridge too far to paint the men as chauvinistic glory mongers denying these brave sisters their credit. Black men were also boycotting the bus system because they were also being mirdere and beaten by white supremacists at the time. McGuire tried to paint a picture of cowardly ministers deciding it was best Parks didn't speak at a rally while insinuating she declined as well. Which is it? These ministers also railed against the somewhat radical moves of a young Martin Luther King because of the viciousness of murderous whites at the time, the purveyors of a milieu she definitely could have painted with more depth. Meh, it was a good historical account before all of the agenda framing nonsense.

The most salient part of this book is the perspective. The look at the beginnings of the civil rights movement from the eyes of Black women, who are often pushed to the margins in historical works, was a welcome addition to the civil rights historical canon. Because Ms. McGuire centered her book in this way, the reader will learn the names of women here, that contributed mightily to the struggle for not only civil rights but human dignity. For those who have read little history, you will find information about icons like Rosa Parks that goes beyond the standard high school fare. Other historical figures will be properly placed, as to their roles in pivotal events like the Montgomery Bus boycott. And for the well versed in civil rights history, much of this may be familiar ground. Claudette Colvin is certainly a familiar name for this crowd, however I doubt Rosa Lee Ingram is similiarly intimate. It is the stories of these women, that become the launching point for discussions around sexual terrorism that makes this book well worth the investment. I don't think we understand how deeply the lives of Black families were impacted by sexual terrorism, At The Dark End of the Street, does a very good job of illuminating the horror. This one should be added to your collection!

I bought this book quite a while ago, but it inadvertently ended up getting buried in my to be read stack. I suppose it's just as well, because I ended up reading it in the context of the Trayvon Martin killing which has taken up so many column inches and so much bandwidth lately. Although the Martin case is not directly relevant to Danielle McGuire's theme of sexualized violence against blacks, particularly black women, it is instructive to see many of the same themes being played out as were played out 50+ years ago, leading one to wonder how much progress the Civil Rights Movement has made since its peak in the mid-1970s, or whether we might even have gone backward despite the election of the first black president. Ms. McGuire starts by pointing out the myth of Rosa Parks: that she was a reserved, reticent, respectable and tired old black woman who made a spontaneous choice which spontaneously ignited the Civil Rights Movement. That myth was arguably necessary in the context of the explosive violence against blacks in the mid-twentieth century and the need for "respectability" in finding a sympathetic "face" of the movement, but the myth also obscures the reality of the originals of the Civil Rights Movement (and Rosa Parks' real role in it), which was not a spontaneous event starting in the mid-1950s, but rather a final rolling boil resulting from the heat of black women's anger of the decades' (or perhaps centuries') long violation of their bodily integrity and womanhood while "pure" white womanhood was staunchly protected and grounds for lynching of any black man who dared to cross the color line. Equal rights was, to hear Southern whites tell it, only a convenient cover for lustful black men to despoil the flower of white Southern womanhood. I'd argue that it's nearly impossible to date the start of the Civil Rights Movement. Long before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, Harriet Tubman was leading slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad, and long before her Africans and African-Americans were fighting slavery from the day the first blacks were taken into slavery, although their names have mostly been lost to history. Nonetheless, Ms. McGuire starts her story with Rosa Parks. Not the prim and proper Rosa Parks we all think we know, but the militant civil rights activist who defended women like Mrs. Recy Taylor, abducted and raped by seven white men in the early 1940s. In addition to that case, Parks traveled far and wide throughout the South listening to and documenting black women's and girl's sexual degradation at the hands of white men. She helped to draw attention to these outrages and bring them to justice in Southern courts, a tall order during the height of Jim Crow. Although Parks was never successful in securing justice against the perpetrators of such crimes, she did succeed in raising awareness and laying the groundwork for many of the Civil Rights victories in the decades to come. Nor did she work alone. In fact, McGuire argues, despite the male faces we now associate with the Civil Rights Movement, it was from inception a movement of women for women to reclaim - or, rather, claim for the first time - their right to bodily integrity. The richly varied hues of the complexions of African-Americans testifies to the phoniness of racist concerns over "miscegenation" and the "amalgamation" of the races. Since slavery days, white masters had raped and sexually dominated the bodies of black women, subjecting them to every sort of indignity. Black women were not safe walking in any neighborhood, whether "good" or "bad". Black women working in white homes, offices and factories were not safe from their white employers and co-workers. Black women endured humiliation and abuse riding the public buses. And black women in jail or prison - whether on legitimate or, more often, trumped up charges - were in the greatest danger of all with almost no protection or recourse. At the same time as white men were wreaking havoc on black women's bodies, white women's bodies were sacrosanct, at least from black men. The slightest violation, real or alleged, by a black man of the South's strict segregation codes was grounds for at best, arrest, at worst, summary lynching. Such strict measures were necessary, argued white demagogues, because lustful black men wanted nothing more than to ravish white women and were utterly unable to contain their bases urges. Pot, kettle, anyone? Finally, black women had had enough. The had virtually no power. The courts would not recognize their claims and, in fact, made them the guilty parties by smearing them as "prostitutes" and women of "low" character. Even black men were reluctant to stand up due to fears of reprisal But the women had one thing: their voices. More and more black women came forward to speak and testify about the abuses they suffered. Little by little they refused to be victims anymore. And little by little society heard (although, sadly, they usually heard a lot better when whites got involved). But the more society at large heard, the more the militant Southerners regrouped to protect "the Southern Way of Life". This book has a bit of a repetitive feel to it, but actually it's more layered. In chapter after chapter, McGuire focuses on a case that became famous and represented an important milestone in the Movement, while weaving in dozens of similar cases and opposing cases where the races were reversed. In each case, the pattern is roughly the same, but each time small gains are made moving public awareness and black outrage and white retaliation one step closer to confrontation, one step closer to justice. In the meantime, McGuire has piled on so many episodes of white on black violence and injustice that it is impossible to deny that this was anything other than an entrenched, universal pattern throughout the South. Black women were repeatedly victimized, then re-victimized by having the character publically smeared, while white Southern society rallied around the perpetrators and further intimidated blacks. But blacks would not be silenced, and slowly the tide turned. From Recy Taylor, who could not get justice after being raped by seven white men to Joan Little who was acquitted of killing the white jailer who attempted to rape her, black women changed the course of history and reclaimed the rights to their own bodies. Furthermore, the issue of "respectability" was dealt a painful blow. Even as a married woman and mother, Recy Taylor was not deemed "respectable" enough in 1942. Joan Little, on the other hand, was decidedly not "respectable, yet by 1975 she could be the face of the Movement. White women finally began recognizing what their black sisters had been speaking truth to power for decades: no woman, regardless of her past or her behavior, deserved to be raped. But now, another 35+ years later, we are dealing with the case of an unarmed dead black teenager and trying to decide if he was on drugs, what his school suspensions might have meant, and other hints that he might have deserved to die. And just like our compatriots decades ago, we argue with all seriousness that race isn't the issue in this case - everything would, of course, be exactly the same had the races been reversed. Of course! Of course a black George Zimmerman would have been released after killing a white/Latino Trayvon Martin and claiming self defense. In this post-racial, "colorblind" world, race no longer matters and the racists are the ones who say it does. This book is essential reading for a "post-racial" world. If anything, I'd like to see Ms. McGuire continue her thesis with an exploration of the time since Joan Little's historic victory. Although the patterns are more subtle - few whites dare openly use the N-word anymore, for instance, the can still be seen shimmering beneath the veneer of polite, "colorblind" American society in the twenty-first century.

White society created a mythology of black male sexuality that authorised murder and violence while simultaneously using rape to control black women and black communities. This totally engrossing, well researched and well written exploration of terror and the failure of justice details individual cases over the course of the 20th century which coincided with other political and social advances during the struggle for black civil rights. McGuire's scholarly exposition is so compelling I read it in one sitting, I just couldn't put it down.

This book is wonderful but sad and horrific concerning the things that have happened to african american women. The book is detailed so you must be able to read about gang rape, etc. If these issues are a trigger for you then reading this book is not a good idea. Certain parts made me cringe, and I had to stop reading at certain parts. With all of that said, it is a great read because it gives you another point of view of Rosa Parks and not just the Bus Boycott. She accomplished so much more than that. She was a key figure with the NAACP and I learned a lot about her life from this book. It is a tough read but I am so glad I got a chance to read it and learn about my history.

Talk about Hidden Figures another story that needs to be told from the pov of the Women who where a crucial part of the civil rights movement **Spoiler Alert*** African American women have had a huge role in the shaping of this country and women's rights. And that contribution needs to be celebrated and woven into all of our histories

Whites Only and Colored only signs come to mind when one thinks of the post reconstruction Jim Crow South and legalized segregation that kept Back Americans in state of inequality and injustice by white supremacy. The author's work points out how sexualized violence against Black women was, and is, at the core of white supremacy. Black women were raped and denied justice in most cases, but it was their testimony of their victimization, despite the denial of justice, that allowed their stories to be told and efforts for justice mobilized for them. A very good read for what was really the seedbed for the civil rights movement.

This is a must read for anyone wanting to learn more about the depth of violence against people of color, particularly women for color, in the United States. I was surprised to learn how sexual terrorism was used to maintain white supremacy in the South. Highly recommended!

This is an absolutely essential treatment of the subject, filling in gaps in a clear and comprehensive way. The author has a great command of the material, but also manages to write in a very readable way. Parts of this are very hard to read, but I highly recommend it.

I SAW THE DOCU MOVIE ON STARS NETWORK AND WANTED MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE COVER UP OF RAPE AND BEATING OF BLACK WOMAN IN THE 1930'S TO THE 1960'S, HOW PEOPLE OF COLOR CAN COME OUT OF SLAVERY AND STILL BE RAPED, LYNCHED AND BEATEN, NO JUSTICE FROM THE GOVT, STATE OR COUNTY, THEIR JUSTICE WILL BE DELIVERED BY GOD ON JUDGEMENT DAY.

This is one of the most important books I have ever read. Impeccably researched, original and topical. It is about the use of rape by white man against black women in the Jim Crow South, rape used as an instrument in a war fought for white supremacy. The book offers an entirely new perspective on the Civil Rights Movement and women's role in it. While it is a scholarly book, it is very readable.

Our shared history, both in back and white is brought to attention in this books history of the Southern Jim Crow era; still alive in many small towns and small minds especially since the resurgence of racism in the last election. Women who kept the flames of the civil rights movement, women who bravely gave their lives for others are highlighted, though justice may not have prevailed for them -their lantern lit the path ahead for others. This is a must read and worthy another read again. Our children's children need to know this truth; it must not die.

Seriously. Out of all of the history books that i read in high school and in the libraries, this was the only one that actually CLICKED for me. The rampant rape of black women throughout slavery and the Jim Crow Era has always been ignored or quickly dismissed in historical books before but this great author made sure to NOT do that! I love her for that! This book needs to be made into a movie one day! This will be the first time where our stories will be told thoroughly. I watched The Help, and it failed to mention the sexual assaults and rapes that the black women suffered. Although i enjoyed the movie somewhat, i was still disappointed because they refused to let our REAL stories get told. You can't have a good story set in the Jim Crow era without telling the rampant rapes of black women by white men and other men. It's part of our history. Whether many people want to admit it or not!

I had no idea. This was tough to read, yet I could not put it down. Ms/Mrs. McGuire has provided an angle to the civil rights story that is not being told, and that certainly has to be given equal time to the very comfortable story, that the Rosa Parks-inspired Movement was a spontaneous beginning, when in fact it was not. The story of Black women as victims, and then the principal organizers and leaders of the Montgomery Boycott is the story whose time has come. Thank you for exposing the sexual brutality of White men toward Black women; thank you for such extensive documentation. Remarkable. Thank you for arming those of us who tell this story time again, with another truth about the underlying causes of White bigotry and the resultant Movement.Thank you for giving us more reason to revere and honor our Black women, who endured so much as victims, and then in their fight for justice and equality. I will never teach the story of the Civil Rights Movement the same again.

Just unbelievable what torture and horror has been done to our fellow creatures. I bet all of the persecutors were "god fearing christians". How sad. This is history that needs to be taught in high school.

This book is INCREDIBLE. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, even though it was for a class. I could not believe everything that I read in the book, but as the endnotes were also very thorough, you can tell McGuire has done some in-depth research to produce this history. I recommend to everyone who has an interest in the Civil Rights Movement, feminism, and organizing.

A grassroots look at the women who led a revolution, this is the story of the protection of black bodies well before #blacklivesmatter. Here you learn of courageous women who had to fight for the right to be protected, by police, government and the community. But you also witness a relocation of the birth of the CRM. Rosa Parks’ story looms large here but not as the defiant woman on the bus. Well before that as she worked to protect the lives of black women violated by southern “norms.” An all inclusive look, this book truly makes you appreciate the struggle for rights and protections. It’s quite good.

This book is one of THE best I have ever read. It really explains the evil and nastiness of segregation, rape and trauma. I give it a 10 out of 10. EXCELLENT!

I bought this book after reading about the death last week of Recy Taylor, the woman whose sexual victimization at the hands of six white men - and a jury of their peers - is the starting point for this historical work. Who was Recy Taylor, I wondered? And why had I never heard her name? McGuire's book tells of the savage acts against Taylor and others, and also sheds light on the reasons their history - and their history of fighting back - has been "lost." Hint: HIS-tory has a lot to do with it. This is an excellent effort to reclaim the significant role Black women played in their own liberation. Though at times tragic, with tales of White on Black violence that are very difficult to read, it is only by understanding the institutionalized violence these women faced that the reader can fully appreciate the enormous courage of Mrs. Taylor and countless others. This is an important book that should be on everyone's shelves and required reading lists.

Loved this book very insightful for anyone wanting to know true history in women’s heavy involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. So many women didn’t get the credit they deserved and had suffered so much

I chose the reading because of my interest in the importance of women of color in the move towards civil rights for Black and other Americans. I suspected that rape could be a means of intimidation but was schocked by how prevalent it was and how the Jim Crow enabled people to literally get away with destroying women's lives whenever possible. I ended the book with more curiousity about the figures who were part of the Jim Crow system. Where and what are they doing now?

I read at least one new(to me) book on black history every February. This was great in that I learned new things. Highly recommend.

Very informative reading tracking the history of the treatment and hugh challenges Black women have struggled with to just survive in this racist country we call "THE LAND OF THE FREE and HOME OF THE BRAVE." Because we are still here and still STRONG speaks to our resiliency and God's grace and mercy. Amen!!

As a retired police officer and a national trainer for law enforcement and their response to sexual assault I found this book to be incredibly informative, expertly researched, and long overdue. I for one will use it as a primary source to help educate the field as we continue to strive toward eradicating sexual assault and all forms of sexual violence.

I learned SO MUCH from this book. My goodness. I knew some of the stories, but other were new to me. Great read for anyone wanting a firm understanding of the Civil Rights movement, it's origin, and aftermath.

This book brings out the hidden truth of the lives of the Black Woman and all of their suffering and achievements in American History which has been overlooked. Very important for all people and students in school to read. I much appreciated the authors historical facts that have been openly shared in this book.

A must must read

Served its purpose

Informative, educational and riveting. You learn about the real Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks was not just the lady who gave up her seat on the bus. She was much more than a symbol for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The book discusses in-depth the rape of black women throughout history which is a well kept secret. But it is a heartbreaking story. And, it is a story everyone and every women should know.

Well written book

A must read for everyone, all races. This book lets us know there was more to Rosa Parks than seating on that bus. And we celebrate Recy Taylor for her bravery to stand up and tell her story.

I love it when researchers do my homework for me.

This book is a must read for everyone. Anyone who cares about/ is interested in history, Black womens history, civil rights, racial justice and political organizing. But this book and get your life

At the Dark End of the Street is an important new approach to understanding the longstanding history of sexual violence against African American women in the South, the efforts beginning in the 1940s to combat it, the central role of African American women in organizing protest and resistance, and how this aspect of racism contributed to the passion and intensity of the movement as it developed in the fifties and sixties. I am assigning it in my class on American Radicalism because of its originality, its focus on this crucial topic, and its excellent scholarship.

Really good book

i am from montgomery,and this book made me think back to my mother/grandmother telling me never walk home by myself from school.it was so very sad how much pain,hate there was in this city.what hurt me the most was the childrens.in the book is a story call the kissing game,and what happen to the little boys and there familys.and how long they was in jail for playing a game.the book need to be in every school in the south.so that the kids can see what you can do when you put your mind to do something.the jim crow laws did not want the races to mix,but look around. this is a very good.

I have always known the fight for civil rights had its roots in the middle class. It wasn't poor sharecroppers who wanted equal access to the lunch counter. But I was really surprised how the Montgomery bus boycott started with women fed up with the indiscriminate sexual violence by white men and how the judicial system turned a blind eye to their efforts to bring their attackers to justice. HOWEVER... in order for the boycott to succeed, E.D. Nixon and other middle class blacks, put Parks on a pedestal similiar to her white middle class counterpart, portraying her as a scion of black republican motherhood. Unlike the two other girls before her who had been arrested for violating the segregation law, she has light skin, was middle class and had no scandalous demons to hide ( the first girl, Claudette Colvin, was a pregnant teenager). In fact Nixon took great pains to hide Parks work for the NAACP as a field reporter,and activist. E.D. Nixon and other ministers who formed the Montgomery Improvement Association completely bogarted all of the organizational efforts of Joanne Robinson and other women who began efforts to boycott local merchants as early as the late 1940's after the attack of local teen by a grocery store owner. No women were allowed in the organization in a leadership position and their names were not on the letterhead. This book is amazing and I am only on page 80! It is a must read if not for a history of civil rights but as a real awakening of the class and gender issues perculating within the movement itself!

I could not put it down -- a powerful proof that the Southern black women's movement worked for decades to make the Rosa Parks Moment happen most powerfully, and to make the realizing of King's Dreams possible to start happening meaningfully as soon as he uttered them. Without those groups, the economically profitable practice of treating humans like animals [or worse] could have spread across the whole world of commerce and become irredeemably entrenched, and "liberty and justice for all" would have remained a lie on the lips of every one of us white Americans -- a lie that we renewed every time we pledged allegiance to our flag. These women showed us a path upon which we could rescue our own morality from the filthiest level of quality, and they put a bright light on the truth that folks who witness evil and do nothing become defacto participants in that evil -- guilty of doing nothing about states of ours that called the privilege-of-raping black women a fringe benefit for police officers and bus drivers; guilty of giving that privilege also to every morally empty white man or teenager by assuring them zero punishment. A great book by a marvelously careful author who wrote with super clarity, and did research and documentation that -- in footnotes -- made credibility a sure thing. I saw zero 'spin'. Buying from Amazon was my quickest and least expensive way to buy, and their delivery to me was -- just barely -- within their promised 14 day time spread. All in all I give Amazon my top rating.

thank you

Really a history of women of the civil rights movement and their world changing efforts. Their leadership was instrumental in the effort. Great Read

This is a must have book if you’re into civil rights

I was deeply moved reading this painful history and simultaneously grateful for the courage and perseverance of so many African American women whose struggles for justice are described in this book.

History is a true necessary.

A great book - well written - sad, informative. I read it in 3 days. A story that needed to be examined.

Very informative. This is the second time I've bought this book. Let a friend use it and they never gave it back. Beware of loaning good books to friends.

In school we are taught about American history, but after reading this book (supplemented by other books) for one of my classes, I am completely shocked. I feel better now that I am informed. After reading this book I recommend: "Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America's Prison Nation" and "Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision."

This tells the true story of Ms. Rosa Parks...........History has a way to want to tie up issues in a neat package..........The book explains who the true Rosa Parks was.......

This is an incredibly powerful book about how the justice system failed it's citizens. It shows how jury nullification can result in injustice.

EXCELLENT BOOK!! Highly recommend to read ASAP!!

Great information that most are not aware of.

Excellent

A great read!

This was a very surprising yet illuminating book on the untold stories of the civil rights movement. The vast majority of Americans have no idea of the integral role black women played in the movement. The true heroines of this era gave been swept under the rug, forgotten and discarded without so much as a footnote in history books. This should be required reading for all Americans because a huge disservice has been done to Rosa Parks, Recy Taylor, Claudette Colvin, Betty Jean Owens, and numerous other black women who risked their lives right alongside Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, and all the other big names from this movement. Excellent excellent book. I can not recommend this book more vigorously.

It's wrong to say I love this book, since I hate all the events in it, but it's an important chronicle of a time I didn't live through.

This book is one of my favorites of my adult life. I am about to buy a few more copies to send to my parents and a few friends. It is eye opening in so many ways that I wish to have my eyes opened. I strongly suggest this for every American.

Well, I am reading the book now, it is very well written and easy to read, I received it two days after I ordered it, thanks.

WOW!!! This book is a necessary read. I learned so much about women's role in the civil rights movement. I thought I knew, but i had no idea. Highly recommended.

Such a terrible tragedy often gets unreported

This book is a must read. You want to learn some real history and the trauma that black people has to endure you will find it in this novel.

I had to read it for class. It was not a light or easy topic but the text wasn't dense or hard to follow

Great book, offers a new perspective on the roots of the civil rights movement.

For many years, we've been taught the comforting narrative of the civil rights movement as a series of nonviolent protests, led by ministers, that so moved the hearts of northern white America that the courts and the government ruled and legislated white supremacy out of existence. Danielle McGuire's At the Dark End of the Street rewrites the story, affirms the pivotal role of black women in the freedom movement, and locates its origins in the most horrific realities of the Jim Crow south. It's a gripping, essential read for anyone who wants to understand the forces that drove the movement into high gear in the 1950s and '60s: namely, the night-riding ritual of white-on-black rape and the decades-long struggle of black women to stand up to these attacks when the police and the courts would not. McGuire traces this struggle back a decade before the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott through the efforts of none other than Rosa Parks--whose "tired feet" became a movement symbol that overshadowed her militancy--to investigate and publicize Alabama rape cases as an NAACP field secretary. McGuire powerfully relates the story of violence and resistance and sacrifice and triumph over 30 years, into the 1970s, and does a masterful job of setting the record straight. If you're at all interested in understanding why this country had to change, how it did change, and who changed it, At the Dark End of the Street is an absolute must-read.

I love this book

Excellent read! Excellent service! Very thorough documentation of the horrors that black women faced and still face. This book also illustrates the bravery and struggles of black women and the lead black women took in securing some semblance of respect and civil rights for all women. Then as now, black women must still fight for honor and respect and we seem to fight alone.

The first chapter was so upsetting, I didn't know if I could continue, but am so glad I did. I'd begun to learn that Rosa Parks was not simply physically tired, but not all she'd done before that fateful day. Reading this put many aspects of the Civil Rights movement in perspective, and I couldn't put it down. The footnotes helped, and it was in no way dry as some dissertation based books are. Although not the point of her book, I gained a sense of why women usually became background workers,and how black men felt both guilty and shamed because they couldn't (didn't dare!) protect their wormen. My only confusion was in McGuire's use of honorifics. Sometimes women were introduced as "Mrs." and sometimes not, and I couldn't find a pattern. I've loaned the book out, so can't check, but I don't think any men were addressed as "Mr.". It's as if the point of view changed from conventions from that perioed to those of the present, but not consistently. I wrote to the author and she said she tried to follow how people were addressed in various contexts. The book is personal to me because I grew up in Detroit and my brother worked for the Civil Rights Commisssion in 1962-1963, but I think this book is important for all of us. Rape as an instrument of terror and control still exists throughout the world, and I'll no longer be able to think it'd never be like that in America.

This book is powerful, gripping, well written, and a must read for all!!! This book moved me so much that I speak about it to everyone, with several people then buying it. I urge you to get this book for yourself and get extra copies as gifts. I do not know Ms McGuire but I thank her for this extraordinary work!

A great history book.

Very valuable history

enjoyed reading book with women's role defined in the civil rights struggle. I confirmed some of he myhs abou how it had all come about. Showed egregious mistreatment o black women in he south.

Extremely well written!

Excellent book, I have recommended it to friends.

The detail and untold history in this book gives insight into the problems of sexual violence and racism in the past and serves as a foundation for understanding the prejudices we still see today. Brilliant work.

educational and illuminating

An excellent account of an overlooked part of civil rights history.

Excellent book of women's history - and how the act of gang rape of a black woman was instrumental in the civil rights movement of the USA. These stories are crying out to be told!!!

co-worker loves it

Always enjoy reading up and my history!

Amazing insight into the pre civil war era. The writer made you feel like you were there. Event after event backed by amazing sources.

I bought this as a gift but my friend raved about it so much I read it too. Powerful read I learned a lot about the Civil Rights Movement and how women were the real backbone to the movement but at the time had to take a backseat to the more prominent males who took credit for what really started as a women's rights issue. Thanks Danielle

I'd recommend that anyone interested in women's or civil rights history should read this--it is a quick and eye-opening read.

Great book!

The Dark End of the Street is an insightful,well-researched piece into the plight of a near defenseless population at a time when there were few avenues to protect themselves. This is a topic that has not garnered the attention warranted until Ms. McGuire's book finally put this period of time into the proper context. What I find shocking is that this book has not been discussed or received the attention from the media forums that discuss discrimination and Afro-American history. Is it because it is too difficult to reconcile this period of history? This is a thought provoking book and I highly recommend it.

Some good information but overall not the best I've read. Probably won't read it again. Probably won't recommend to a friend

I purchased this book for a Sociology of Gender class this semester. It was a great book - very easy to read, and very engaging. There were many disturbing parts of this book, but it was definitely worth the read.

this book should be required text for high school/college students to give a better history of the civil rights struggle. it is an excellent depiction of what happened and gives the women of the movement their just dues.

Just finished reading the book for the second time. The depth of research is incredible and the premise for the thesis is extremely important. The book is educational, thought-provoking, and stimulates great discussion - just read the other reviews. I had the opportunity to hear the author, Danielle McGuire, speak and she is awesome. She is passionate, articulate, and clearly an expert in this facet of American history. A MUST READ BOOK and if the opportunity presents where the author is speaking, A MUST ATTEND.

This New History of the Civil Rights Movement focuses on black women's fight against sexual assault by white men as a means of racial intimidation or just because rape of black women wasn't seen as a crime during the 1940s to the 1970s. Makes me even more thankful to the black men and women who actively fought in the civil rights movement.

Illuminating work that reframes the seminal events of the Civil Rights Movement as a struggle for black women's right to protect their bodies. Must read work.

I learned so much by reading this book. So interesting, informative, and accessible. A must read for any feminist.

I was Super Stoked to receive this amazing book on time and as promised, Thank You!

Super informative .

A lot of the history of african-Americans in the country is either lost, ignored or forgotten. This fills in some of the blanks in the history of this country.

Every woman needs to read this book. And every library needs to have multiple copies so students of the early civil rights movement can learn about the important leadership of women in the movement.

A must-read for all feminists!

Good Book

She shows a side of the civil rights movement I never knew about! And she did it in a way that kept me interested throughout the entire book. Simply a fantastic read!

A very important study of black women's struggle to protect their bodily integrity against rape and sexual assault, which offers us a feminist understanding of civil rights.

Excellent story that will enhance your ability to see a very different perspective. A quick read concerning a very old dilemma.

very riveting and compelling novel. not your typical Civil Rights book - things i never knew before i read this book

My daughter ordered it as a class assignment, she shares her thoughts about it. It's a great book!

Great book.

Great read!

great book. I intend to use it in my Women and Politics class next spring

I had to order this book for one of my college classes and the shipment was fast and the book is in great conditions.

The book is easy to read and as an introduction to the Civil Rights movement it is a good book to start. However, the problem with the book is in regard to Rosa Parks. The author infers that Rosa Parks "sold out" the feminist civil rights movement when she decided to be the person on the bus who was to be arrested and allowed the men, including Dr. King, to take over the movement. In fact after the bus strike is over, Professor McGuire abandons Rosa Parks and the work she did elsewhere for civil rights. Rather, Professor McGuire concentrates on one of the female victims of the rapes that occurred frequently to black women by white women. If you buy the book after reading it I strongly suggest you buy another book about the civil rights movement and especially a book about Rosa Parks.

This book discusses the role of black women in the civil rights movement and how the fight against sexual assault of black women intersected with the broader movement. The author begins with the case of Recy Taylor, and Alabama sharecropper, who was gang-raped by four white men in 1944. None of her assailants were ever brought to justice or even stood trial. The book ends with the case of Joan Little, a black woman accused of killing a sheriffs deputy while he was raping her in her jail cell in 1975. These two cases are used to show the progress that was made in the intervening period. The reality of sexual assault against black women by white men is one of the facts of Jim Crow rule in the south that does not get enough attention. While you may briefly hear about a few lynching cases of black men accused of raping white women, the reality of sexual terrorism against black women during the same time period is rarely discussed but it was an open secret at the time. Since domestic work was about the only work available to black women at the time, they were especially vulnerable to sexual violence by the men in whose houses they worked. The author uses Rosa Parks as an example. Parks started as an investigator of sexual assault in the south and was an active member of the NAACP and the freedom movement in Alabama. The author also points out that Parks was chosen to be the face of the Mongomery Bus Boycott not because she was the first person to be arrested but because she fit the "politics of respectability" that was so important to the movement at the time but as the author shows became much less important as the movement progressed and developed. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of the civil rights movement and the role of women in that movement. Women's fight against sexual violence and for civil rights is a role that has not received the attention it deserves. It also exposes sexual violence as a part of the Jim Crow South's racial caste system that receives little attention in the history books but is crucial to understanding the time period and the moment.

The item was exactly what I wanted but I was a bit disappointed with the condition. The other books look like new but this one came with the back cover and last several pages folded back and a bit ripped. These were texts I had hoped to have in my personal library as reference material and was disappointed it was not in better condition. Amazon is usually VERY good about this so I was just a bit surprised.

I've been looking forward to reading this book for quite some time, but I'm glad that I hadn't done so until I left Mississippi. There's a part of me that wishes I would have known to see some of the places mentioned in this book, but I'm also glad that I didn't have to live with the full truth. It's hard to miss the racism, even now that persists in some places down there, but it's apparently not what it was. I grew up learning about slavery and civil rights campaign, but never in this kind of detail and never concentrating on the experiences of the women. Growing up in a community of Hispanics who were either first generation American or not born in the US, we didn't relate to it as our history so it didn't resonate at the time. Even our parents couldn't take it that way because many of them were dealing with Castro during this timeframe. Since then, I've gotten more into learning US history, lived in more of the country, and known people with a greater variety of backgrounds. I can better appreciate the struggles of others and how they shaped US. This book does an amazing job of relating to the reader how the struggle of black women during this time was unique to them and not necessarily the same as black men or white women. It also ties it into the rest of the civil rights movement and where their struggle finally connected to second wave feminism. There were some parts that were covered that I knew about and many new things, such as Rosa Parks involvement prior to that infamous day on the bus that we're all taught. This was an enlightening book about the civil rights movement and the role of black women within it. I especially enjoyed the way it didn't veer off into the familiar things that everyone in the US learns in elementary school. Those things were mentioned and given their due, but they didn't overtake the story of the women here, which I thought was great. This was about black women specifically and that there's more to feminism and being a woman than the experience of white women and more to civil rights than the experiences of black men. I had loved the reaction of E.D. Nixon when Parks was arrested that's given in the book (around page 102).

This book is simply outstanding. It is a treasure trove of mostly unknown Black history. I'm in my sixties, and as a young girl I wondered why my mother, my aunts, and so many other older black women I knew were so loath to wear reveling or tight clothing. For example, I particularly noticed an unwillingness to put on swim suits, to go swimming. I had just put it down as prudishness or as their trying to "be a good Christian." But after reading this book, the pieces fell into place. My mom and her sisters were born in Mississippi in the 1920s. Now I can see why they were taught not to wear clothing that might draw the attention of a man inclined to sexual abuse. Knowing they had no legal protection against the type of outrages outlined in this book, they did everything possible to downplay their sexuality out of a sense of self preservation. I am myself a published author. I am impressed with the author's writing style. It is clear and concise, but still lively. I had the honor of interviewing Rosa Parks for my university's newspaper when I was in college. I was very interested in reading about her in this book, which revealed that her role in initiating the Civil Rights movement to be so much more than is generally known. A well written book full of little known information that should be shared with every American citizen, as it is an integral part of our country's past.

NOT QUITE CLEAR

We all heard the story of how Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat to a White man, jump started the Montgomery Bus Boycott & therefore the Civil Rights Movement. But in truth, there's more to this story than just Ms. Park not giving up a bus seat. The 1st part of this book is a mini bio on Rosa Parks herself, & how her involvement with civil rights goes back to 1943 when she 1st joined the NAACP (her 1st husband Raymond Parks helped collect money for the Scottsboro Boys, a group of Black boys who were accused of raping 2 White women). Afterwards, we see the real reason behind the bus boycott- Black women were getting tried of the sexually harassment & racial insults from the bus drivers. Sadly their struggles gets thrown to the waste side as the media puts a bigger focus on the then unknown Martin Luther King Jr. & turning him into a Moses for people of color. While reading this book, I sometimes get frustrated reading accounts of Black women getting sexually assaulted by White males & how the courts usually lets them go free, which exposes the double standards of the Jim Crow South; a Black man simply being accused of rape by a White woman is given a death sentence- either from the courts or from a lynch mob. Thankfully that started to change after the conviction of four men in Tallahassee, Florida for kidnapping & rape in 1959. Although race-driven sexual assaults continued into the 1970s, that case marked the beginning of the end of the double standards of the South letting White males who assault Black women get away scotch free. The author has done a great job with this book as it's a real page turner & should be a must read for all in order to truly understand the real story behind the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s & 1960s.

Speaking for my own education, I think it tended to emphasize the contributions of men - particularly those of Western European descent. This book retold US history from the perspective of women- with emphasis on African American women. As such, it was eye-opening and I feel more informed and that I have a better, broader perspective on (relatively) recent American history. I also think this helps me better understand some of what has happened in 2020 particularly pertaining to the BLM movement.

While I have only read a few pages so far, I am really grateful to Ms McGuire. I have been waiting for many years to read this book. I always knew that the Civil Rights movement's history was seriously incomplete. Since the civil rights movement grew out of the Black church in the south, one knew that black women had to be at the core of any change. The little side story of Rosa Parks was emblematic of the problem. Again, thank you Danielle McGuire. Personally I feel that this omission allowed the vicious attacks on Anita Hill. It is finally time to balance the record.

I didn't buy the book off of Amazon but you will not regret reading this book! Like many people I was told that Rosa Parks was this sweet, delicate woman who refuse to give up her sit because she was tired and that how the civil rights movement was started. But actually Rosa Parks was an active member of the NAACP and work tirelessly to bring the attention of white men raping black women. Danielle McGuire does a great job in getting the story straight. This book not only shows black women have been fighting for their rights, it shows that black women were the catalyst and backbone of the Civl Rights Movement. This Book also shows the hypocrisy of white men fears of miscegenation between black men and white women. I recommend this book to anyone because this is not taught in history class. This is not even talked about in a college level African American class. We are usually taught that straight men have made most of the contribution through The Civil Rights Movement with a few exceptions. This book adds to the history of this movement. I love this book so much I want to use it in the future for when I becomes a professor. I look foward to reading more books from this author.

This is a well-documented history that is a gripping and often frightening account that focuses on the the very real dangers black women have endured and fought against in this country. The frequent use of sexual assault and rape as a means of subjugation and the belittling and trivializing of criminal charges when victims attempted to get justice is beyond shameful. It is a powerful book.

For all of us who feel the surge of momentum around the #MeToo movement, this is hugely important book. McGuire does a stellar job piecing together the back story which began hundreds of years ago. Lest we forget, we ride on the backs of black women who risked their lives (and far too often often lost their lives) in the fight for bodily integrity. This is a very painful book to read but one that brings me courage and hope that someday, change will happen.

I listened to the author on NPR today (WHYY-Radio Times) and was astounded by the level of research she has shared. It's astonishing to learn that while sexually abused women were suffering in silence--during and before the sixties--black women and some others oppressed in the South stood strong against their abusers. Also important: the men (black and some white) who courageously opposed the abuse. There's a French saying: the truth does not die but lives like a pauper. Another French saying: The Truth drags its feet. The victims spoke out, despite widespread collusion against them. If they had lived a few hundred years longer, they would have lived to see their efforts respected, rather than denigrated. This book adds insight and strength to problems we still face.

This book presents such a terrifying history with impeccable accuracy. Early organizing around anti-black racism/sexual violence was central to the momentum of the Civil Rights Movement. McGuire centers the work of Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer and so many others to show the realities of racism and patriarchy in early 1900's - 1970's south. What is more, the book doesn't simply frame black women as victims. Rather, it shows the many ways in which black women have (for so long) been fighting for justice, dignity and liberation. This is possibly one of the most interesting books I have ever read.

You may think you know a lot about American history or the Civil Rights movement, but like I found out, we've been thinking about it all wrong. This book had me boiling mad and dismally sad. We have to hear these stories to be better, and as Americans, we have a responsibility to our history. Let's make sure we get it right, and that we are aware of the injustices people have faced in "the land of the free."

If you're going to read one book written by a white woman about black women during the civil rights era, this should be the one. And if you read that other one everyone's talking about, make sure to read this one too. McGuire is a good writer, a good storyteller, and a good researcher. The stories are compelling, appalling, and inspiring. I found while reading this book that some things about racism in America and about the civil rights movement made more sense. Very highly recommended.

As a young white woman in the 1970s, freshly arrived in America from England, I was pretty ignorant about the history of the Women's Movement in the U.S. over time I have come to appreciate how much of the Peace, Gay, and Feminist movements came out of African american struggle. This book very much pulled it all together for me and I couldn't put it down. Focused on women and the danger and difficulty for African american women to speak out, I recognized not only their struggle but how, for better or worse, their heroism got assumed by men. I knew Rosa Parks was already an activist etc but this gave me much deeper--and broader--understanding. A must-read!

Until you truly understand the background of Rosa Parks, as I learned from this wonderful book by Danielle McGuire, you cannot truly understand the significance of her life within the Civil Rights Movement, and you cannot truly understand the importance of the Civil Rights Movement within our Nation. While Rosa Parks was an often referenced individual in college, and a critical icon during my legal training, until I read At the Dark End of the Street, I had no idea why her life had the impact on our society as it did. Her story, as detailed in this book, was much bigger than she was, precisely because of what she went through and how she reacted to it. For anyone who hears the name Rosa Parks and would like to be swept up into a heart-wrenching story while learning about how one individual led a nation through her action and personal history, rather than an esteemed political position, read At the Dark End of the Street.

You don't realize how unaware you are our your history until you read this book. Thank you for the empowerment.

Most Americans have only the slightest notions about what was really behind the 1960's civil rights movement. Even though I was a baby boomer who was raised in Detroit, (certainly a racially mixed city), I had no concept of the real motivations behind the great social changes which actually began in the 1950's. Dr Danielle McGuire is a member of The Organization of American Historians Distinguished Leadership Program. Serving as an assistant professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan focuses her research and writing interests on the role of African American Women in the civil rights movement. She explores this era in her captivating book, At the Dark End of the Street, which describes the events leading up to this crucial period "Sex is the principal around which the whole structure of segregation is organized". As the opening quotation in her book , McGuire immediately confronts us with her primary theme. In the book McGuire describes the sexual terror and violence suffered by African American women and how significant a part they played in the civil rights movement. More importantly she explores the sexual exploitation of southern African American women, by southern white men. The author devotes a substantial portion of the book to the important role black women played in not only starting the movement, but also by providing organization, fund raising and support without which the movement could never have been successful. With these women serving as central to the work, McGuire also provides a tremendous amount of information concerning the civil rights movement itself. Furthermore the author explains how difficult a task it was for this exploitation to be challenged in the courts by African American women. McGuire identifies this exploitation as the primary factor behind the struggle between whites and African Americans since slavery. Despite segregationist cries against a "mixed breed society" and defense of the white women's honor, McGuire feels that the real civil rights issues centered around the ability of southern white men to have free sexual access to the African American community. She cites countless examples through her narrative clearly demonstrating the validity of her ideas. McGuire uses the stories of the sexual violence not only to shock the reader but also to educate the reader as to the experience of being a Black female victim of sexual violence in the 1950's. Ranging from 1940 through 1975, At the Dark End of the Street traces the history of several black women, all victims of sexual violence, who were important to the civil rights movement. These women include, but are not limited to: Recy Taylor, Gertrude Perkins, Flossie Hardman, Annette Butler, Betty Jean Owen, Fannie Lou Hammer and Joan Little. A group of 7 white men raped Recy Taylor in 1944: Two white policemen raped Gertrude Perkins in 1949, A young white male raped Flossie Hardman after she had babysat for his family in 1951; Four white males took 16 yr old Annette Butler from her home and raped her: Four white men kidnapped Betty Jean Owens from a car, took her to an isolated spot and raped her in 1959; A doctor performed a forced hysterectomy on Fannie Lou Hammer, during a procedure to remove a small cyst in1961: A sheriffs deputy molested and raped Joan Little in her jail cell in 1974. Maguire also demonstrates how these women and their cases, prior to the 1956 bus boycott, played such an integral role in creating a foundation for the bus boycott. The bus boycott was more than just a struggle for a seat on the bus, it was the pinnacle of a struggle for the dignity of black women throughout the south. Recy Taylor, the first victim described in the book was twenty four at the time of the crime. She was walking down a country road, in Abbeville Alabama, with friends when a car carrying seven white males stopped on the road. The men confronted Recy with the story that she had been accused of knifing someone earlier in the day. Although both she and her companions denied her involvement since they had been together that day, the white men persuaded Taylor that she needed to come with them. One of the men said, "If she's not the one, we will bring her right back". The men took Taylor to a nearby pecan grove where six of them raped her. The men then drove Recy Taylor to the main highway and dropped her off with no concern for her welfare or for the fact that she might complain to the authorities McGuire's telling certainly illustrates that these men had absolutely no fear in kidnapping and raping Recy Taylor. They did not hide their faces nor try to conceal the vehicle they were in. Nor was Taylor blindfold during the abduction and subsequent rape. She could clearly identify her assailants. In fact, some of her assailants were actually her neighbors. The pure arrogance of the act demonstrated the men's confidence that the southern judicial system would not prosecute them for acts of violence against African American women. Despite the two grand juries that were formed to investigate the case, none of these men would ever be prosecuted for the crime. What is most remarkable about the case is the courage and fortitude which Recy Taylor demonstrated in telling her family, the police and a jury about the horrendous crime which had taken place. She was a very brave woman to expose her shame on such a public stage. On March 27, 1949 Gertrude Perkins was walking home from a party in Montgomery Alabama when she was arrested by two white police officers. Smelling beer on her breath, the two officers ordered her to get in their squad car as they accused her of public drunkenness. When she refused they forced Perkins into the backseat. The officers then drove to a railroad embankment and proceeded to rape her several times at gunpoint. When they finished, the officers took Perkins back to where they found her and dumped her in the middle of town. Once more, these events describe an incident where the assailants did nothing to hide who they were and where they were from. The fact that they were local white policemen who knew the legal system, further demonstrates that southern white males knew absolutely nothing would happen to a white male who raped a black female. The local authorities did nothing to pursue the case. After several organizing efforts and pressure on a national level a grand jury was formed to investigate the case. The grand jury found no grounds for prosecuting the officer in question. In 1951, Sam E Green, a white grocery store owner in Montgomery Alabama, who employed fifteen year old Flossie Hardman as a babysitter, drove her home at the end of the evening. Instead of taking her home, he pulled to the side of a quiet road and raped her. This crime was especially brutal considering the girl was an adolescent. Obviously, even the threat of statutory rape was not enough to discourage Green from attacking Hardman. After a considerable amount of protest by the African American community, Green was brought to trial. An all white jury found him innocent after deliberating for only five minutes. The outcome in this case absolutely enraged the black community. Despite the fact that there was overwhelming evidence that she had been raped, the defendant was released without so much as a slap on the hands. These cases served to provide further tinder to the flame of discontent which was building in the black community. On Mother's Day, May 13, 1956, four white males went looking for "some colored women" . The .men took weapons including, a sawed off shotgun, and approached an African American man who was preparing for work. The men ordered the African American man to take them to the house where there were some black women inside. They were lead to the house of a sixteen year old African American girl, Annette Butler. She was sleeping in bed with her mother. The teenager was pulled out of bed while the men pointed a shotgun at her mother who they threatened to kill. The men forced the girl into their car and drove to a local swamp. After raping her, the white males left her at the scene. Once again the arrogance of southern white men was described by the author. Not only did these men involve the victim, but also a total stranger who could tie them to the victim and the victim's mother. Although justice was partially served when the four men were given long term sentences, their total disregard for the law demonstrates southern white male confidence that they would not suffer any punishment. What is particularly notable about this case is that it took place in Mississippi. This was the first instance where a white male was given a strong jail sentence for the rape of a black woman. In addition to doing an excellent job detailing the cases of sexual violence, McGuire goes one step further when she describes the difficulty experienced by these women and their families in attempting to go to the authorities for each of the victims. Not only had the victims felt the trauma associated with the crime, they now had to face an even bigger obstacle. Victims would have to make public their humiliation. More importantly, they would have to face the perpetrators responsible for these crimes. Victims were subjected to death threats, house bombings and abuse in their own towns. Although they all had a support base, many African Americans felt that the proactive stance was dangerous to their community and would only fostered more discontent between the African American and white communities. Most white and many black ministers believed in taking a passive role in these matters and segregation as a while. They felt that things were changing and through the passage of time these injustices would be corrected. McGuire clearly shows the bravery and fortitude of these women and their willingness to take a stand against the southern white supremacist legal system. McGuire firmly believes that the stand taken by these women against violence was critical in the breaking down segregation in the south. Leon A. Lowery, who was head of the Florida state NAACP said after the case that it would help "Negroes more in the long run" by setting a precedent for equal justice in future rape case. The book spends a good deal of time describing some of the other very important women in the early days of civil rights. Rosa Perkins, Joann Robinson, and Georgia Gilmore were examples of women who played a major rule in the early days of the civil rights movement. Their actions and support during the Montgomery Bus Boycott were critical to the success of the boycott. McGuire is a passionate author who wastes no time in bringing her message to her audience. The opening quotation of her book is "Sex is the principle around which the whole structure of segregation is organized." This statement succinctly describes McGuire's ideas regarding segregation. Just the title, At the Dark End of The Street conveys the message that what is contained within the book is dark and terrifying. McGuire has a very special skill in not only conveying interesting stories of each victim, but in telling stories for which she has sympathy and compassion. McGuire develops each story so that we not only see the victim but we see that each of these women are heroines demonstrating tremendous courage in the face of a southern judicial system which has ignored them for two hundred years. The bravery that these women demonstrated became an integral part of the foundation for the civil rights movement of the 1960's.

For years, I have read mostly fiction because, at the end of a day of working and chores and such, I usually want to read something that is lovely and that rolls along, frankly, without much effort. I want to visit another world and peer into other lives. At best, I want to be inspired. At worst, I want to be entertained and to not be annoyed by poorly written prose. Through the years, because I want my reading to inform my perception of the real world, I have gravitated more and more toward fiction that is written in order to illuminate a particular time or an actual human struggle. Although Danielle McGuire's At the Dark End of the Street is a solidly researched history book (with an attendant fat section of fascinating endnotes) it met all of my requirements, and impressed me enough that I am taking the time to recommend it to you. It is beautifully written and zips along, lining up stories that lead naturally one to the other. Each evening, as with a good novel, I was anxious to get back to the book to see what was happening to its protagonists. This book deals with a harsh and real world, but peoples that world with women who inspire through their willingness to make their tragedies public, and to tell truth to power even though that power could reload and hurt them, and those they loved, again and again. I hope that McGuire's book will be read widely, because it will challenge the Great Man narratives that predominate in our public telling of the civil rights movement and help us to recognize the potential that ordinary people, speaking bravely and honestly, can have to change the course of history. But perhaps my favorite aspect of this brutal but uplifting history is that it illuminates the power of testimony as a personal and social and political act.

I cant emphasize, through words, how essential it is for us to read this book. It exposes the unspoken struggles of women in American history. Further, it alludes to the resilient and unbreakable spirit of the African American woman.

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This important book sheds light on civil rights and sexual assaults. This book is important for women of any color and folks interested in civil rights. Absolutely Recommended.

At the Dark End of the Street is eye-opening...one of those books that just turns what you think you know, on its head. I read at the recommendation of a friend and am typically a novel reader - but this is the best of both worlds. It reads like a novel, but shares an important, and world-view shaking version of history that was new to me. This is a must read-to better understand the civil rights movement, to reframe your ideas of the women's movement, and to inspire and move you with every story. It is a fabulous gift for someone on your holiday list - a powerful history that reads like you are watching a movie. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

Well written, and emotionally charged. Really made me proud of my people in this age.

Dr. McGuire has opened my eyes to a disturbing part of our history our teachers forgot to mention. I am in awe of the strength and perseverance of the southern black women. This gripping story brings a new light to the brutality inflicted on black women and children and the decades of suppression of their race. I have always been disgusted by the KK. This book examines the larger story of white supremacy and roles our government played in perpetuating segregation. It makes me ashamed to be white. How can we convince people to look at the person within and not judge by the color of their skin? Awareness, tolerance and strength. Read "The Dark End of the Street". It should be a required read for everyone.

Fast shipping and very good quality, almost like new! Totally recommend

This book brings to light some of the most unexplored parts of the Civil Rights Movement. McGuire redefines our understanding of civil rights in America by placing black women, and their struggles against sexism and sexual violence, at the center of the long black freedom struggle. In addition, her well-written prose makes for a fast read. Anyone who desires to know and understand the true history of civil rights and black history in America should grab a copy of this amazing book!

At the Dark End of the Street has provided me with so much information about the linkages between gender, race, and class in the South. I only wish there was a book on the experiences of African American women in the North to accompany this text. Well done Ms. McGuire!

For me, books like this don't come around very often. I'm somewhat of an esteemed expert in this area of history and culture and I'm always impressed when I read something that truly adds to our body of history and establishes a viewpoint that creates or changes the dialogue on a subject. This is a book that shines a very brilliant light on a segment of the civil rights movement that hasn't been properly examined before and its a stunning, rich, and fascinating read. I was moved in just about every way that a person can be; and I can only hope that it finds its way into every home, heart and mind out there regardless of color or gender. It needs to be read. It needs to be heard. It needs to be felt.