Freedom Writer: Virginia Foster Durr, Letters from the Civil Rights Years

Description

From Publishers Weekly
Civil rights activist Virginia Durr (1903-1999) was, as her husband, the attorney Clifford Durr, noted, a Southern belle possessed of "more than one person's share of guts," as this collection of her letters, published on the 100th anniversary of her birth, demonstrates. Written when Durr was in her 50s and 60s, the letters are divided into four groups, and tell a story both personal and political: 1951-55 (from the Durr's return to their native Alabama to Rosa Park's arrest), 1956-60 (the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the sit-ins), 1961-65 (the Freedom Riders to the Selma March) and 1966-68 (to the Democratic Convention). They make compelling reading, as Durr relates "the jagged edge of daily experience" for white supporters in the South-the social isolation, the financial deprivation. Full of intimate detail, Durr's letters remind readers of the slow and painful process of change; of the tough fight for the abolition of the poll tax; of legal executions and illegal beatings and lynchings. They also chart the private costs (her brother-in-law Justice Hugo Black could not attend her daughter's wedding because Jessica Mitford was there) and the petty harassments (local sabotage-via a "power failure" during the broadcast of Martin Agronsky's interview with Martin Luther King). Harvard Fellow and historian Sullivan (Days of Hope) provides a biography in letters in this exemplary edition, complete with an identifying guide to the correspondents and succinct, context setting introductions to individual letters. Helpful footnotes appear with the letters; bibliographic data is in the endnotes. All contribute to making a highly readable tale and tribute to a woman for whom "politics in the service of changing the South was a passion."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
"Patricia Sullivan's editing is skillful. She supplies a useful introduction and explanatory headnotes for each of four chronological sections (1951-1955, 1956-1960, 1961-1965, 1966-1968). Deeply knowledgeable about southern history, African American history, and the intricacies of the New Deal, Sullivan is on solid ground as she explains the times and the correspondents of Virginia Foster Durr, some of whom were prominent indeed (Lyndon Johnson, C. Vann Woodward, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jessica Mitford, and Clark Howell Foreman, for example). Commenting once on her attempts to write an autobiography, Virginia asserted that "all my life is in my letters" (p. 225). Sullivan's edition of Durr's correspondence will find many uses in our classrooms, keeping alive the experiences and opinions of a remarkable witness to history, in her own inimitable words." --Pamela Tyler, Journal of Southern History

Copyright Disclaimer:
Contents of this page are indexed from the Internet. All actions are under your responsability. Email us to report illegal contents or external links and we'll remove them immediately.

Link Desc...: required

Download Link: required