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

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.

Was turned onto this book by 1 of my professors. It's almost impossible to put down and I'll be honest, the book will teach you what NO 1 speaks about with Rosa Parks & the Civil Rights Movement. It's also gonna make you a bit pissed if you are a decent human being.

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.

Through a chronological reexamination of the sexual violence suffered by Black women in the South prior, during, and after to the Civil Rights Movement, At The Dark End of the Street by Danielle McGuire argues that rapes of Black women by white men were largely ignored by mainstream society due to an underlying racial and economic hierarchy. As a result, rape systematically subjugated the Black race and also challenged black respectability. Black people—specifically Black women—were under continuous public scrutiny and in danger of sexual violence. While the Civil Rights Movement has frequently been associated with its male leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr., E.D Nixon and Fred Gray, McGuire argues that Black women have always been at the forefront of anti-racist activism. Three themes are prevalent throughout the book: sexual violence, protest and respectability politics.

Sobering and Inspirational. It gives people the impetus to tell their stories. A must read for all, and especially for those dealing with the yoke of oppression.

Great book! Will read again.

Such a fascinating read about a subject I previously knew nothing about. Dr McGuire's research is impeccable and her writing is engaging, passionate and accessible. Thoroughly recommended.

Good read of the true usa still to this day

Thoroughly researched, well written history of the role of black women and their struggle for control of their bodies in the civil rights movement. A must for anyone interested in American history and society.