At The Dark End Of The Street Summary

Many people see the words “Civil Rights Movement” and automatically think of the bus boycott, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Ku Klux Klan. However, the movement was much more than that. In the book At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power by Danielle L. McGuire, the author shows us some of what was happening in the lesser known parts of the movement focusing on how sexual violence against both women and men played a big part in the Civil Rights Movement. The book starts at nearly the beginning of the movement (1940s) and spans throughout the whole movement, seeming to mainly focus on the rape case of one Recy Taylor in 1944, as the book begins and ends with the story of Mrs. Taylor. There are also cases of other African American women assaulted and/or raped by white men as well as cases of African American men falsely accused of rape, neither of which containing court rulings that are backed up with substantial evidence. McGuire’s argument seems to be that there are many unfair and unjustified rulings made by the courts in cases of sexual violence. The case of Recy Taylor is discussed a great amount throughout the book, while others such as the case of the Scottsboro Nine are seemingly tied into this case, making it …show more content…
This book serves as a reminder that the common person doesn’t know nearly enough about the movement and that there are many important, yet untold, stories that will open the reader’s eye to all that really happened in this time period. This book will leave its audience hungering to learn more and give them an understanding of the trials of the Civil Rights