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In the summer of 1964, the United States of America (USA) witnessed a new era whereby whites and African Americans joined hands to add value to the nation’s democracy. The book Freedom Summer: The Savage Season of 1964 that Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy by Bruce Watson highlights the events and initiatives of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Such activities played a significant role in transforming the lives of the downtrodden in Mississippi. The participants and volunteers involved overcame all fears and violence, left their activities, and persisted to change America. In the text, the author’s thesis is that SNCC helped oppressed African Americans liaise with the incoming whites to collaborate amidst the chaos to present new ideologies regarding democracy.
Before the enactment of the Civil Rights Act in the year 1964, racial tensions, bias, and violence remained prevalent in different regions across the USA. Such social challenges made it impossible for many individuals to realize their aims and lead high-quality lives. As the selected book indicates, Mississippi was one of the areas widely affected by the challenges of inequality, inability to engage in electoral processes, and injustices (Watson 7). Without proper strategies in place, such predicaments would continue to disorient and affect the welfare of more African Americans in the coming years. Fortunately, some individuals were ready to tackle the existing problems and focus on a better society. The selected book, therefore, explores the efforts of some of the involved stakeholders and how their contributions led to the establishment of a democratic nation.
During the summer of the year 1964, SNCC decided to prepare over seven hundred learners for the troubled region with the help of guiding African Americans to register and become potential voters. The effort attracted the attention of adversaries and enemies, including the Ku Klux Klan. Watson decides to focus on the events of this period to explain the history of the US from a divergent perspective. Some of the volunteers would become possible victims of these tensions and violence. Nonetheless, most of the participants decided not to waver and instead focus on their mission of making American society equal, fairer, and just (Watson 6). The efforts would culminate in the memorable Democratic National Convention that helped reshape America’s politics and democracy.
To deliver the intended message, Watson relied on authentic secondary and primary documents to gather adequate information and formulate the presented argument. This method makes the book admirable and capable of guiding more Americans to learn more about the events and efforts that would augment their country’s democratic standing. The use of such sources, historical materials, and the inclusion of detailed occurrences and their respective timelines form a unique strength of this text. Another key aspect is the fact that the descriptions shed more light on issues many people were unaware of before. Watson also utilized understandable words while arranging the events and arguments professionally (Watson 65). These strengths would encourage more people to consider the text and learn more about the nation’s history surrounding the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The reader would find it hard to identify notable weaknesses in this book.
After going through the text, it becomes clear that the author has presented a new approach to teaching American history and events surrounding the struggle for equality. To begin with, most of the books published in the past have only focused on African Americans and other minorities as groups that worked tirelessly and singlehandedly to fight racial injustices. Others have gone further to identify the state and the white majority as the major forces opposed to the emancipation of the people (Watson 24). Additionally, historians focusing on the war against inequality have focused mostly on the works and efforts of great icons, including Martin Luther King Junior and Booker Washington. In this book, the reader is introduced to a new understanding that some of the white students during the 1960s were willing to leave their families behind and liaise with more African Americans. Notably, some of the organizations and agencies were willing to midwife most of these activities and help transform the country for the better.
Watson applies an ingenious approach to sensitize more people about a unique strategy that helped reshape America’s fight against racial injustices. Specifically, the government of the day had done very little to empower and encourage African Americans to engage in voting processes. The text pinpoints the notion of universal suffrage as an approach that would help redefine and improve the country’s democracy. The actions and efforts of the involved agencies helped redefine America by ensuring that more African Americans were able to vote. Such an achievement would create new opportunities and make it possible for most of these underserved people to elect leaders whose manifestos and ideologies resonated with their social and economic needs (Watson 39). These insights make it easier for the reader to get a clear picture of the war against injustice and the role of whites in improving the nation’s democracy. The approaches can also inform future strategies to address most of the social challenges different racial groups continue to face.
Based on the outlined observations, it would be agreeable that the selected book presents a new interpretation and understanding of the struggle for equality in the 1960s. While most of the whites could have been unwilling to be part of the process, some were willing to sacrifice and transform the plight of African Americans. Despite the presence of the Ku Klux Klan and other opponents, these selfless students Watson describes remain a recognizable part of this indelible history. Consequently, the author has succeeded in rehashing old information in a more authentic and admirable approach. In a nutshell, the reader can acquire additional insights into the long history of inequality and the far African Americans have come (Watson 24). Based on this knowledge, the author appears to revisit most of the events of the summer of 1964 to encourage more Americans to start living harmoniously (Watson 7). Such an effort can ensure that racial inequalities, injustices, and oppression become things of the past.
After going through the studied text, the reader would acknowledge that the author succeeded in accomplishing what he had set out to do. Through the presentation and analysis of the events different participants undertook during the summer of 1964 in Mississippi, the scholar was able to support the outlined thesis adequately. The evidence found in the text is powerful enough to augment the information and make it easier for more people to learn more about this country’s past. On top of the studied thesis, this book stands out since it is valuable to scholars of history. Specifically, it sheds more light on the involvement of different racial groups in the war against inequality and how they improved the USA’s democracy (Watson 7). In conclusion, I enjoyed reading Watson’s text since it is authentic and interesting, presents America’s 1960s in a new light, and outlines the role of some whites who chose to act. This book is, therefore, recommendable to all readers who want to understand the history of America’s democracy.
Work Cited
Watson, Bruce. Freedom Summer: The Savage Season of 1964 that Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy. Viking Penguin, 2010.
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