Description
Book SynopsisFrom the nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, millions of Americans participated in fraternal associations - self-selecting brotherhoods and sisterhoods that provided aid to members, enacted group rituals, and engaged in community service. This book shows how African American groups played key roles in the struggle for civil rights.
Trade ReviewCo-Winner of the 2007 Oliver Cromwell Cox Award, Race, Gender, and Class Sectionof the American Sociological Association "Heavily researched and illuminating throughout, this unique study is not necessarily a book for the masses, but for those, mostly in academia, interested in examining a little-considered dimension in the complex history of the civil rights movement, and out civil society as a whole."--Publishers Weekly "This excellent, very readable, scholarly book fills many gaps in understanding the African American community."--Choice
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations vii List of Tables ix Preface xi CHAPTER ONE: African American Fraternalism: A Missing Chapter in the Story of U.S. Civic Democracy 1 CHAPTER TWO: The Panorama of African American Fraternal Federations with the assistance of Jennifer Lynn Oser 21 CHAPTER THREE: African American Fraternals as Schools for Democracy 61 CHAPTER FOUR: Proprietors, Helpmates, and Pilgrims in Black and White Fraternal Rituals by Bayliss Camp and Orit Kent 95 CHAPTER FIVE: Defending the Legal Right to Organize 135 CHAPTER SIX: Black Fraternalists and the Mid-Twentieth-Century Movement for Civil Rights 174 CHAPTER SEVEN: The Achievements of African American Fraternalism 214 Notes 229 References 265 Index 283
