Let Freedom Ring: A Documentary History of the Modern Civil Rights Movement

This book bears only my name on the title page. Yet, it is truly the result of a collective effort, having benefited enormously from the constructive criticism and moral and logistical support of many people and institutions. By encouraging me to develop a course on the modern civil rights movement, Jan Lewis and Clement Price of Rutgers University--Newark, provided the foundation out of which this book grew in the first place. Simply by using many of the documents that I had compiled, Clem, in particular, without even knowing it, motivated me to transform some sloppy xeroxes, bunched together in the reserve reading room of the library, into a publishable manuscript. By sharing their insights on the civil rights movement during a "Retrospective" at Rutgers--Newark and/or at a panel discussion on ways to teach the history of the movement at the 1989 conference of the Organization of American Historians, David Garrow, Clayborne Carson, J. Mills Thornton, Don Miller, Dorothy Cotton, Cheryl Greenberg, and Martha Norman sharpened my understanding of the movement and encouraged me to push on with my book. My friends and colleagues at Columbia University, Rutgers University--Newark, and York College helped me in innumerable ways, but most importantly through hallway and luncheon chats that kept my spirits up. In particular let me thank Tim Gilfoyle, Myra Sletson, Richard Giardano, Mary Curtin, Barbara Tischler, Tim Coogen, Colin Davis, Abigail Mellen, Roger Whitney, Phil Avillo, Mel Kublicki, and Chip Miller. Dean William

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