Description
Book SynopsisJames Farmer Jr.: The Great Debater provides a rhetorical and biographical guide to how the American Civil Rights Movement came into being. It details James Farmer Jr.'s intellectual emergence as a young debater at an HBCU in Marshall, Texas and ultimately chronicles how this led to the emergence of the first non-violent sit-in against segregation in 1942 in Chicago. Farmer was a key founder of the Congress of Racial Equality [CORE] that pioneered the non-violent strategies that would later be used by Martin Luther King. He debated important figures like Malcolm X to provide a powerful advocacy grounded in the praxis of argumentation. Ben Voth demonstrates the ongoing relevance of Farmer's successful debate methodology in resolving contemporary race problems in the 21st century such as Black Lives Matter.
Trade ReviewVoth vividly recounts the story of perhaps the greatest forgotten hero of the Civil Rights Movement. This book is an inspiring chronicle of a forgotten legacy, which is unknowingly embedded in the very fabric of the lives of all Americans. -- Christopher Medina, director of debate at Wiley College
James Farmer was considered by many to be the intellectual of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. He was one of those charismatic leaders whose words and actions affected change not only in the United States but also all over the world. Now he’s been largely forgotten, but Ben Voth, in his book, James Farmer Jr.: The Great Debater, sheds new light on Farmer and one of the great reasons that he was able to do what he did. It adds new light to Farmer’s enduring legend. -- Gail Beil, Independent researcher
Table of ContentsContents Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Why James Farmer Jr. Matters Today Chapter 1. The Family of James Farmer Jr. Chapter 2. James Farmer Jr. at Wiley College—1934-1938 Chapter 3. The Debate Coach: Melvin Tolson Chapter 4. From Minister to Advocate Against Segregation Chapter 5. The first Sit-in— Jack Spratt in 1942 Chapter 6. The Freedom Rides 1961 Chapter 7. The MOW 1963 and Freedom Summer 1964 Chapter 8. Malcolm X and James Farmer Jr. Chapter 9. Republican for Congress and the Nixon Years Chapter 10. James Farmer and the Matter of Black Lives Today Chapter 11. The implications of Farmer Today Appendix Malcolm X debates James Farmer Jr. at Cornell References About the Author
