The most recommended books on racial segregation

Who picked these books? Meet our 39 experts.

39 authors created a book list connected to racial segregation, and here are their favorite racial segregation books.
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Book cover of Rock and Roll, Desegregation Movements, and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era: An "Integrated Effort"

Thomas Kitts Author Of Keep on Believin': The Life and Music of Richie Furay

From Thomas' 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Professor, English and Popular Culture Author Pop music enthusiast Sports fan Traveler

Thomas' 3 favorite reads in 2023

Thomas Kitts Why did Thomas love this book?

Beth Fowler examines the connection between rock and roll and the civil rights movement.

Drawing on scholarly studies, newspaper and television reports, speeches, and oral histories, Fowler presents about as thorough a study as possible in one volume. The research is thorough and compelling.

It may not always be an easy read, but it is an important book, especially as its closing chapters deal with present times and America’s struggle to fulfill its promise of equality for all. Fowler gives us a new perspective on the power of music.

By Beth Fowler,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Rock and Roll, Desegregation Movements, and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The rock and roll music that dominated airwaves across the country during the 1950s and early 1960s is often described as a triumph for integration. Black and white musicians alike, including Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis, scored hit records with young audiences from different racial groups, blending sonic traditions from R&B, country, and pop. This so-called "desegregation of the charts" seemed particularly resonant since major civil rights groups were waging major battles for desegregation in public places at the same time. And yet the centering of integration, as well as the supposition that democratic rights…


Book cover of The South Strikes Back

Derek R. King Author Of The Life and Times of Clyde Kennard

From my list on lesser-known Civil Rights.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been fascinated by the Civil Rights Movement in the Deep South in the 1950s and 60s for many years. Keen to understand not just events in that timeframe, I also needed to understand how those entrenched and diametrically opposed positions had occurred. What triggered the responses of water cannon, German shepherd dogs, and Billy clubs to seemingly peaceful students marching or seated in a particular section of a café? Over a period of seventeen years, I amassed a private collection of books, magazines, newspapers, over two hundred in all, along with material from various state-run Departments of Archives of History, further amplifying my fascination and providing fodder for my book.

Derek's book list on lesser-known Civil Rights

Derek R. King Why did Derek love this book?

While many books are written after the event or events contained in the book, this book is contemporary to the events it relates to. In this case the birth and growth of the Citizens Councils in the Deep South in the mid-1950s. 

The author and then managing editor of the Greenville Democratic Times sets out, in a clear and readily understood way, the mood of the day among the white-collar political and business classes in the months and years immediately following the Brown v Board of Education decision.

It’s a worthy read and a touchstone of the rising political temperatures of those times.  

By Hodding Carter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The South Strikes Back as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In The South Strikes Back, Hodding Carter III describes the birth of the white Citizens' Council in the Mississippi Delta and its spread throughout the South. Carter begins with a brief historical overview and traces the formation of the Council, its treatment of African Americans, and its impact on white communities, concluding with an analysis of the Council's future in Mississippi.

Through economic boycott, social pressure, and political influence, the Citizens' Council was able to subdue its opponents and dominate the communities in which it operated. Carter considers trends working against the Council-the federal government's efforts to improve voting rights…


Book cover of Rock and Roll, Desegregation Movements, and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era: An "Integrated Effort"
Book cover of The South Strikes Back

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