From Rights to Economics

Examining the African American stuggle for economic parity in the South after the 1960s

Rich with the voices of Black and white southern workers, From Rights to Economics shows how African Americans have continued fighting for economic parity in the decades since the civil rights legislation of the 1960s.

Using oral histories and case studies that focus on Black activism throughout the entire South, award-winning historian Timothy Minchin examines the work of grassroots groups—including the Southern Regional Council and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund—who struggled with the economic dimensions of the movement.

While white workers and managers resisted integration, activists' efforts gradually secured a wider range of job opportunities for Black people. Minchin shows, however, that the decline of manufacturing industry in the South has been especially difficult for the African American community, wiping out many good jobs just as Black people were gaining access to them.

Minchin also offers a detailed discussion of a major school integration battle in Louisville, Kentucky, and examines the role of affirmative action in the ongoing Black struggle.

A volume in the series New Perspectives on the History of the South, edited by John David Smith.