Approximately one year before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. remarked that his dream had become a nightmare.
Largely identified with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights movement continues to have a lasting impact on American politics and society. Though focused on African Americans, it helped make possible later protests by other groups. As one of the most important movements in modern U.S. history, it has been at the center of a number of historical misconceptions. This book examines some mistaken ideas about the civil rights movement and the truths behind the myths.
Each chapter is devoted to a particular historical misconception about the civil rights movement, such as the belief that Southern whites were not civil rights activists or that the movement ended with King. Chapters discuss how the misconception developed and spread, along with what we now believe to be the historical truth and why. Quotations from primary sources provide evidence for the historical facts and fictions, and a selected, general bibliography directs readers to additional sources of information.
