I Am a Man!: Race, Manhood, and the Civil Rights Movement

252 Pages·2005·7.96 MB·English

by  Steve Estes

I AM A MAN!
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I AM
Race, Manhood, and the Civil Rights Movement
A MAN!
Steve Estes
The University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill and London
© 2005 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by April Leidig-Higgins
Set in Ehrhardt by Copperline Book Services, Inc.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book
Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
Part of this book has been reprinted with permission in revised
form from “ ‘I Am a Man!’: Race, Masculinity, and the 1968
Memphis Sanitation Strike,” Labor History 41, no. 2 (May 2000):
153 – 70; ‹ http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals ›.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Estes, Steve. I am a man!: race, manhood, and the civil rights
movement / Steve Estes.
p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.
 0-8078-2929-3 (cloth: alk. paper)
 0-8078-5593-6 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. African Americans — Civil rights — History — 20th century.
2. Civil rights movements — United States — History — 20th
century. 3. African American civil rights workers —
Attitudes — History — 20th century. 4. African American
men — Attitudes— History — 20th century. 5. Rhetoric —
Political aspects — United States — History — 20th century.
6. Masculinity — Political aspects — United States —
History — 20th century. 7. Sex role — Political aspects — United
States — History — 20th century. 8. Sexism — United States —
History — 20th century. 9. Racism — United States —
History — 20th century. 10. United States — Race relations.
I. Title.
185.61.76 2005 323.1196'073 — dc22 2004019092
cloth 09 08 07 06 05 5 4 3 2 1
paper 09 08 07 06 05 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
introduction
Am I Not a Man and a Brother? 1
chapter one
Man the Guns 11
chapter two
A Question of Honor 39
chapter three
Freedom Summer and the
Mississippi Movement 61
chapter four
God’s Angry Men 87
chapter five
The Moynihan Report 107
chapter six
I Am a Man!: The Memphis
Sanitation Strike 131
chapter seven
“The Baddest Motherfuckers Ever to
Set Foot Inside of History” 153
conclusion
“The Heartz of Men” 179
Notes 189
Bibliography 217
Index 235
vi contents
Illustrations
Abolitionists argued that the brotherhood of man included
African and African American slaves 3
McClelland Barclay’s “Man the Guns” and David Stone
Martin’s “Above and Beyond the Call of Duty” 14
Cartoon portraying Arkansas newspaper editor
Harry Ashmore as a woman 49
Ross Barnett waving the Confederate battle fl ag and
cheering on the Rebels of Ole Miss 58
Civil rights volunteers sing together at the end of
the orientation week in Oxford, Ohio 72
A Freedom School class meets in Mississippi 75
Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X 99
Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Ralph Abernathy 114
Demonstrators picket outside of the White House
conference “To Fulfi ll These Rights” 124
Martin Luther King Jr. speaks to supporters
of the Memphis sanitation strike 139
Striking sanitation workers in Memphis 141
Captain George “Baby D” Gaines and several
Panther recruits undergoing weapons training in
Marin City, California 161
Female Panther recruit attending a weapons
training class in Marin City, California 164
Charles Bursey works in the Black Panthers’
breakfast program at St. Augustine’s Episcopal
Church in Oakland, California 172
z illustrations
Acknowledgments
I couldn’t have fi nished this book without the help of my students, colleagues,
mentors, and of course, friends and family. Though it’s a cliché, it is also true
that every book is a journey. This one began in Athens, Georgia, and ended in
San Francisco, California. Along the way, I incurred more debts than any writ-
ten thanks could ever repay, but I hope that all of the people who helped me take
these acknowledgments as a fi rst installment toward full repayment.
Like most intellectual projects, this one really began with the guidance of
incredible teachers. At the University of Georgia, Bob Pratt and Bryant Simon
fostered my early interest in the civil rights movement. In North Carolina, Peter
Filene, Gerald Horne, Bill Chafe, Beth Millwood, Leon Fink, and most of all,
Jacquelyn Hall taught me how to “listen for a change” and how to learn history
from the people who made it. In Washington, D.C., Donna Walker James, Betsy
Brand, Glenda Partee, and Sam Halperin helped me climb down from the Ivory
Tower, so that I could try to make a difference in the real world. Once I returned
to academia and began presenting this work at conferences, I acquired the help
of a new cadre of teachers. Glenda Gilmore, Ernestine Jenkins, Ted Owenby,
Nancy McLean, Glenn Eskew, Clyde Woods, Linda Norton, and Robert Allen
all read and commented on portions of the manuscript. In the publication pro-
cess, Michael Honey and Tim Tyson were amazingly patient and insightful read-
ers, while Chuck Grench, Amanda McMillan, and Eric Combest were untiring
editors. Perhaps the most important teachers that guided this project were the
civil rights activists who graciously shared their time and stories with me in
interviews.
Half of the way through this project, I started writing for students as well as