Description
Book SynopsisMothers of Massive Resistance tells the story of how white women shaped racial segregation in the South and postwar conservatism across the nation. Through their work in social welfare, public education, partisan politics, and culture, they created a massive resistance that spanned five decades, and continues to mobilize local communities and survive legislative defeat.
Trade ReviewReaders will find this to be a deeply researched and chronologically impressive account of white conservative women in the twentieth century. While McRae claims a specific focus on four white southern women who were activists in conservative organising, the chapters often extend into broader sketches of rapidly shifting global and national landscapes. The New Deal, world war, the threat of communism, decolonisation, and the civil rights movement provided these women with new approaches to championing the cause of white supremacy. McRae's work highlights the resilience of that position. * Stephanie R. Rolph, English Historical Review *
Mothers of Massive Resistance effectively ties segregationists to the development of conservatism nationally and shows that massive resistance was not a sudden and short-lived response to the Brown decision. * Lisa Lindquist Dorr, Journal of Southern History *
Brilliantly argued...Rather than hewing to southern exceptionalism, McRae explains how segregationist activists connected themselves to national debates...Mothers of Massive Resistance, like other recent books on right-wing women, is part of an important feminist historical project that goes beyond celebrating foremothers to understanding how and why women have helped build oppressive institutions. * Rebecca Hill, Journal of American History *
A valuable addition to the politically urgent study of whiteness in American History. * Anna J. Clutterbuck-Cook, Library Journal, starred review *
Though this is a thoroughly-researched historical study, McRae does not present strictly chronological order, but lets the lives of the women shine forth and parallel the historical events -- local and national, domestic and private -- that they shaped ... McRae is unafraid to plainly state where segregationist and conservative interests and rhetoric overlap and to pinpoint where even academics fail to showcase them. * LaToya Jefferson-James, Arkansas Review *
This is an ambitious and well-written book, and McRae makes compelling case that white southern segregationists had more power to fortify and shape white supremacy and the rise of massive resistance than historians to date have recognized. Readers will find that one of the most striking features of this book is the haunting familiarity of these white supremacist tropes in our current political discourse, evidence that this history is vitally important to the ongoing struggle for racial justice. * Zoë Burkholder, History of Education Quarterly *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Segregation's Constant Gardeners Part I: Massive Support for Segregation, 1920-1942 Ch. 1 The Color Line in Virginia: The Home Grown Production of White Supremacy Ch. 2 Citizenship Education for a Segregated Nation Ch. 3 Campaigning for a Jim Crow South Ch. 4 Jim Crow Storytelling Part II: Massive Resistance to the Black Freedom Struggle Ch. 5 Partisan Betrayals: A Bad Woman, Weak White Men, and the End of a Party Ch. 6 Jim Crow's International Enemies and Nationwide Allies Ch. 7 Threats Within: Black Southerners, 1954-1956 Ch. 8 White Women, White Youth, and the Hope of the Nation Conclusion: The New National Face of Segregation: Boston Women Against Busing Notes Bibliography Index
