At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape and Resistance/Danielle L. McGuire

Since it’s Women’s History Month, I thought I’d suggest a book that highlights women making history (which is pretty chic, no?). 

If you think you’ve read it all about the civil rights movement or its foot soldiers, think again. Danielle McGuire’s research uncovers the unsung role of women in the movement, born of their prescient need for protest and the ownership of their own bodies in the Jim Crow South.  Her work details the abduction and rape of Abbeville, Alabama’s Recy Taylor and places the Montgomery Bus Boycott and ensuing civil rights movement in an entirely new context.  As a Publishers Weekly review notes, McGuire “foregrounds black women’s experiences [of abuse] as prime movers of the grassroots movement.” I found this book to be heart-rending and eye-opening; it’s a MUST READ for mature readers.

Mrs. Recy Taylor

Note: Mrs. Taylor received an official apology from the Abbeville mayor last March, one from Alabama lawmakers last April, and visited the White House to meet President Obama last June. 

Images via amazon.com and lackVoices.com