Robert Parris Moses
A Life in Civil Rights and Leadership at the Grassroots
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
One of the most influential leaders in the civil rights movement, Robert Parris Moses was essential in making Mississippi a central battleground state in the fight for voting rights. As a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Moses presented himself as a mere facilitator of grassroots activism rather than a charismatic figure like Martin Luther King Jr. His self-effacing demeanor and his success, especially in steering the events that led to the volatile 1964 Freedom Summer and the formation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, paradoxically gave him a reputation of nearly heroic proportions. Examining the dilemmas of a leader who worked to cultivate local leadership, historian Laura Visser-Maessen explores the intellectual underpinnings of Moses's strategy, its achievements, and its struggles.
This new biography recasts Moses as an effective, hands-on organizer, safeguarding his ideals while leading from behind the scenes. By returning Moses to his rightful place among the foremost leaders of the movement, Visser-Maessen testifies to Moses's revolutionary approach to grassroots leadership and the power of the individual in generating social change.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Robert Parris Moses, a legendary figure in the civil rights movement and founder of the Algebra Project, an educational foundation for disadvantaged children, has led many lives, merged into a single life of service. Visser-Maessen, a Dutch historian specializing in the civil rights movement, eschews the trappings of conventional biography and focuses on Moses's activities (the best-known of which are the Mississippi-centered voter registration drives, the Freedom Summer Project, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party) and philosophical influences (chiefly Albert Camus and Quaker pacifism). Given Moses's commitment to grassroots-based activism, Visser-Maessen pays close attention to his daily activities as a self-effacing organizer. Sometimes the detail overwhelms, but it allows the author to delineate the roles of significant activists less known to the general public, such as Ella Baker and Amzie Moore. It also conveys the pervasive racial terror in Mississippi in the mid-20th century. While focusing on Moses's civil rights work, Visser-Maessen conveys that his subsequent work in education was not a departure, but a meaningful step forward. Of special value is the final section, a comprehensive critique of Moses's treatment in civil rights historiography. 10 illus.