A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History

This chapter again discusses how popular civil rights narratives both are narrow and obscure important elements of the movement. The chapter also elaborates on the proper context in which to understand the influence and legacy of Rosa Parks: not as a tired, seated woman but as a savvy longtime activist highly influential in her field.

This is also the first chapter that centrally discusses Black Power, a phase of civil rights characterized by militancy that emerged in the late 1960s. Modern Americans are often critical of Black Power, misrepresenting it as unnecessarily violent and impulsive: “There’s a convenience in making Black radicalism all about the guns and leather jackets,” Theoharis explains, “because it obscures the larger goals for social, political, and economic transformation that ran through the Black freedom struggle and the deep resistance Black activists encountered” (128). Black Power represented new tactics towards old ends.

As the chapter subtitle indicates, desegregation was only one major issue within the movement, even though it has become the enduring public face of activist efforts. Desegregation itself was not just about sharing public space; it was a blow to a bigoted system that attacked Black people from many angles (130). Theoharis elaborates on the famous Montgomery bus boycott—the recognized start of the formal civil rights movement—to illustrate the breadth of movement goals.