Speak Now Against The Day: The Generation Before the Civil Rights Movement in the South

New York: Alfred A. Knopf; A Borzoi Book, 1994. 704 pages, [48] pages of plates, illustrations; 25 cm. Near fine. Firm binding, clean inside copy. Spine slightly rolled at the crown. Stated First Edition. Dust jacket with light edgewear. OVERSIZE! No priority/international, except by arrangement. With 48 pages of photographs. "Speak Now Against the Day is the astonishing, little-known story of the Southerners who, in the generation before the Supreme Court outlawed school segregation and before Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery bus, challenged the validity of a white ruling class and a "separate but equal" division of the races. The voices of the dissenters, although present throughout the South's troubled history, grew louder with Roosevelt's election in 1932. An increasing number of men and women who grappled daily with the economic and social woes of the South began forcefully and courageously to speak and to work toward the day when the South'and the nation'would deliver on the historic promises in the country's founding documents. This is the story of those brave prophets'thhe ministers, writers, educators, journalists, social activists, union members, and politicians, black and white, who pointed the way to higher ground. Published forty years after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling of the Supreme Court, this compelling book is not only a rich trove of forgotten history, it also speaks profoundly to us in the context of today's continuing racial and social conflict." - Publisher. CONTENTS: Hinge of history; 1932-1938: A feudal land. The cruelest year; The state of the South; Bourbon legacy; A stirring of new voices; Eve of the New Deal; The fireman cometh; Thunder on the right; Shaking the pillars; Pens and swords; Lightning on the left; Birth of a notion; Revival in Birmingham; 1938-1945: Road of hope. A liberating war; The locust confederacy; Leaders, followers, scouts; Dancing in the dark; Speaking their minds; The fire this time; "We of the South must decide"; Farewell to the chief; Interlogue: Yesterday and tomorrow; 1945-1950: Breaking the mold. Postwar opportunity; Epidemic of violence; Spotlight on Georgia; Old-guard politics; New signs of reform; Homegrown progressives; Anticommunism, Southern-style; Striving for equilibrium; Democrats and Dixiecrats; Truman's triumph; One last chance for change; 1950-1954: Days of grace. Coming to a choice; Anticommunist white supremacy; Tiptoeing and whispering; Courts of last resort; There comes a time.. 1st. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo.