Summary

Examining a fuller history of the civil rights movement highlights the importance of persistence and long-term organizing in building and sustaining a social justice movement. This is an important lesson that should be applied to our contemporary social justice struggles. In the past just like today, an accumulation of injustice brings people to a breaking point. The lamentation that contemporary activists aren't living up to their predecessors ignores the fact that those we consider heroes today were mistrusted, criticized, and vilified in their time. Theoharis argues that efforts to create social change are fundamentally hard work and the challenge to the status quo is alarming to many. There was nothing clear or destined about the civil rights movement, and the activists of today have much in common with those of the past. A more accurate history shows us...