More Than a Dream: The Radical March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

(Hardback)

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Description

On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom-a moment often revered as the culmination of this Black-led protest. But at its core, the March on Washington was not a beautiful dream of future integration; it was a mass outcry for jobs and freedom NOW-not at some undetermined point in the future. It was a revolutionary march with its own controversies and problems, the themes of which still resonate to this day. Without diminishing the words of Dr. King, More Than a Dream looks at the march through a wider lens, using Black newspaper reports from the period as a primary resource, recognizing the overlooked work of socialist organizers and Black women protesters, and repositioning this momentous day as radical in its roots, methods, demands, and results. From the acclaimed authors of Call Him Jack comes a classic-in-the-making that will transform our modern understanding of this legendary event in the fight for racial justice and civil rights.

Reviews

Kirkus Reviews 150 Most Anticipated Books of the Fall
Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

"A frank and perspicuous study of the watershed 1963 event in the Civil Rights Movement . . . Rather than build their thoroughly researched account around Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, Williams and Long focus on what went on behind the scenes to organize the one-day March on Washington . . . Numerous photos and news clippings add immediacy to events, and though the main story closes with the dispersal of the crowd at the historic day's end, rich troves of additional facts and questions posed to readers spur further research and reflection. Coherent, compellingly passionate, rich in sometimes-startling and consistently well-founded insights." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"The authors have relied heavily on contemporary newspaper stories, a number of which are reproduced here along with a generous collection of black-and-white photos. Important appended material evidences the authors' deep research (18 pages of notes) and a collection of discussion questions. This is, in short, an indispensable work that belongs in every library." --Booklist, starred review

"Williams and Long do more than retread the well-worn paths of this historic moment in the civil rights movement--they blaze an entirely new trail for our collective understanding of the 1963 March on Washington. More Than a Dream reorients the march's origins, reappraises its demands, and rejuvenates its modern day connections for young readers. Consider this an essential reeducation on one of the most consequential events in US history." --Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist

Author Bio

Yohuru Williams is a professor of history at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. The former chief historian of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, he appeared in Ken Burns's Jackie Robinson and is also the author of numerous books, including Teaching Beyond the Textbook. He lives in Minnesota. Michael G. Long is the author and editor of several books on Jack Robinson and civil rights history. He appeared in Ken Burns's Jackie Robinson, and his op-ed pieces about Robinson have been published in many national media outlets such as the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and ESPN. He lives in Pennsylvania.