The following version of the book was used to create this study guide: Theoharis, Jeanne. A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History. Boston: Beacon Press, 2018. Amazon Kindle Ebook Edition.

The history of the civil rights movement has become a national narrative that glorifies American values and reinforces the myth of a postracial America. This inaccurate history is also used to critique and undermine current social justice movements. With this book, author Jeanne Theoharis, intends to tell a more accurate and complete history of the civil rights movement that analyses how the national narrative is used by those in power as well as what lessons we can learn from history in order to further our contemporary social justice battles.

In the introduction, Theoharis summarizes the national narrative of the civil rights movement, the familiar history that she intends to subvert in the rest of the book. This popular history reinforces the idea of a post-racial era and frames racism as an issue of personal hatred rather than systemic and legal injustice. Theoharis critiques memorials to civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks because they present these figures in watered-down uncontroversial versions that are not indicative of reality. The fable of the civil rights movement is politically useful and support comfortable myths of American exceptionalism. In order to make a more accurate history widespread, public history and education systems need to be desegregated.

Chapter One addresses the myth that the civil rights movement was a struggle largely confined to Southern states and that there was no segregation in the North. Theoharis writes about school segregation in New York City and Boston to demonstrate that this was not true. While many Northerners suggest that any segregation in their cities was circumstantial and not legally sanctioned, the opposition that Northern civil rights activists faced when attempting to desegregate their schools demonstrates that this was not the case. Theoharis also notes how the issue of desegregation was often framed to deflect attention from the real issue. For example, journalists and white parents focused on the issue of "forced busing" to try and suggest that the issue was not about race, which it was (38).

Chapter Two corrects the misimpression that riots and uprisings in the 1960s occurred spontaneously out of nowhere. Theoharis writes specifically about the Watts riots in Los Angeles in 1965 and the Detroit uprising in 1967. In both cases, these events were preceded by many years of activism that was ignored and silenced and therefore achieved little to no results. Presenting rising militancy as having come out of nowhere diminishes and negates the years of preceding, unsuccessful activist efforts.

Chapter Three addresses the tendency to focus on what Theoharis calls "Southern backwardness" and "redneck racism" (83, 84). In reality, there are complex systems of racial injustice present across the country. Theoharis cautions against polite racism and reminds readers that injustice is not only perpetrated by hatred but also by indifference, fear, and selfishness. The tools of polite racism are language, political power, and the idea that dysfunctional cultural adaptations of Black people are responsible for inequities.

Chapter Four is about the role that the media played in creating obstacles to the civil rights movement. One example of this is the way the mainstream media presented the uprisings of the 1960s has having occurred in a vacuum. The media is also guilty of perpetuating polite racism through its use of language and how it chose to frame the civil rights struggle. Theoharis examines media coverage in Boston, New York City, and Los Angeles specifically. The media also perpetuated polite racism by reinforcing the idea that there were cultural explanations for inequality. At the end of the chapter, Theoharis notes that the same problems regarding media coverage persist today.

Chapter Five is about the intersectional elements of the civil rights movement including substantive desegregation, economic justice, criminal justice reform, the importance of antipoverty and welfare programs, school equity, anticolonialism, and union rights. In this chapter, Theoharis focuses specifically on the importance of criminal justice, economic justice, welfare rights, and global, anticolonial justice to the civil rights movement and to ongoing antiracism efforts.

Chapter Six is about the role that young people played in the civil rights movement. Theoharis writes in detail about the student protests that occurred throughout the 1960s with a specific focus on the student activism that occurred among Black, Latino, and Chicano students in Los Angeles. Chapter Seven is about the role of women in the civil rights movement. Female leaders were often cast aside, ignored, or denied positions of prominence by the men in the movement. Theoharis writes about Coretta Scott King in particular, who is memorized in a supporting role to her husband, Martin Luther King Jr., despite the fact that she was a dedicated activist in her own right both before, during, and after her marriage.

Chapter Eight highlights the fact that activists, like Martin Luther King Jr., who are now memorialized as national heroes, were mistrusted and criminalized in their time. The FBI heavily monitored and surveilled many activists and peaceful protests. This chapter demonstrates how fears around national security and public safety are used to justify political repression. Theoharis encourages readers to use these past examples to think about who is feared and surveilled today.

Chapter Nine provides a fuller and more accurate history of the Montgomery bus boycott with a particular focus on ten lessons that we should learn from this historical event. These lessons include the importance of perseverance, collective action, community, taking action, and using multiple tactics.

In the Afterword, Theoharis emphasizes the lessons we can learn now that we have a fuller history of the civil rights movement. These include the importance of persistence and long-term organizing. She reminds readers that contemporary social justice advocates have a lot in common with their predecessors and that change happens after hard work and decades of struggle.