In the spring of 2013; seventeen people gathered at the North Carolina state legislature to protest extreme legislation passed by the General Assembly attacking health insurance; unemployment insurance; labor; and voting rights. The ministers; labor; and human rights activists began praying; singing; and chanting; and were ultimately arrested. That group grew into crowds of thousands at successive "Moral Mondays" rallies; and by summer's end nearly 1;000 people had been arrested; making this sustained moral protest one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in U.S. history. The effort grew out of seven years of organizing with more than 160 groups. Rallies continued in 2014; with a "Moral March" of 80;000 people in February. Rev. Dr. William Barber II; a pastor and president of the North Carolina Conference of the NAACP; now the largest in the South; became one of the architects of the Forward Together Moral Movement. In a new book; Forward Together; Rev. Barber tells the story of a new fusion civil rights movement; a "big tent;" in which black and white; gay and straight; rich and poor; old and young; Republicans and Democrats are all welcome. Rev. Barber's sermons/speeches at the protests; many of them collected in Forward Together; became the inspiration and rallying cry for a new civil rights movement. North Carolina today is at the epicenter of the political and spiritual crisis affecting 21st-century America. What happens here; says Barber; can shift the center of gravity in the American political discourse. Similar movements are now growing in states around the country. Forward Together captures the essence of what it means to preach in the public square.
#1359987 in Books University of New Mexico Press 2004-10-30Ingredients: Example IngredientsOriginal language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .70 x 6.00l; .83 #File Name: 0826334113246 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy CustomerAll good; received on time3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Dutra's WorldBy PubliusScholars have long noted the pervasiveness of slavery in the formation of Latin America. While sources typically privilege the social elites; less on average is known about the so-called "middling class". Zephyr L. Frank's 'Dutra's World;' a recent work on that very group; seeks to narrow that gap. Claiming roughly eighty percent of the free population in its corner; slaveholding pervaded all social levels. As an affordable and highly accessible form of property; Frank demonstrates that African slaves represented the only feasible road to social mobility. From 1820 to 1850; the author posits; a slavery-based economic and social order gave the middling class their best opportunity to acquire significant wealth and prosperity; regardless of their origins. However; the "ephemeral" moment of promise quickly collapsed after 1850. Unable to replicate its earlier success; the middling class nearly collapsed and lost much of its holdings to immigrants and; more importantly; the burgeoning economic elite.As a work of microhistory; 'Dutra's World' aims to illustrate the broad socioeconomic context of the "middle class" (for all purposes roughly categorized as an economic and hierarchical mid-level sort; though lacking group self-consciousness) primarily derived from analysis of estate records. The work's namesake; Antonio Jose Dutra; in many ways stands in for the class as a whole. Despite his birth as a slave; Dutra managed to acquire an impressive body of property in urban real estate and slaves within a generation. A barber by trade; Dutra's story; Frank suggests; indicates the diversity of experiences in mid-century Brazil. Economically successful by most accounts; those like Dutra typified the hardworking class most devoted to slavery. But unlike their elite counterparts; the over-reliance on slavery as an economic investment invariably stunted the middle class's ability to navigate the new economy.Propelled by the diversity of its transatlantic ties; the Brazilian socioeconomic situation exploded. Wages overall failed to keep pace with skyrocketing slave and urban real estate prices. To make matters worse; estate divisions in the middle class sector all but annihilated the group. In stark contrast; the economic elites typically improved their situations. Invested heavily in urban real estate; as opposed to slavery; elites weathered the slave trade's end without so much as a whimper. Forward thinking (economically speaking) and aggressive in its accumulation of wealth; the elite grew wealthier still; particularly when coffee exportation and railroads boomed in southeastern Brazil through the 1860s. Initially lacking any real domestic financial competition; economic elites survived long past their middling counterparts.In reconstructing Dutra's world; Frank relies on a rather impressive balance of archival and secondary sources. He rather elegantly contextualizes and sums extensive estate records in conjunction with recent literature throughout the work. While the author clearly has an abundance of material sources; he frankly admits their limitations. Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of this work (apart from its concise arguments and clear prose) is Frank's willingness to tease carefully reasoned conclusions from incomplete data. His almost daunting mastery of sources and figures enable the author to highlight often-surprising trends. Calculating slave ages belonging to elite- and middling-owners; to cite one example; is a fascinating exercise in elucidating the economic constriction of the 1850s on the latter group (p.85).The world of Antonio Jose Dutra illustrates the diversity of experiences in nineteenth-century Latin America. African slaves could; for a fleeting moment; achieve social and economic freedom. Immigrants found highly lucrative employment at the expense of the native population. Elites; as they always seem to do; managed to grow wealthier still. The lower and middle classes at once thrived and subsequently atrophied at the hands of chattel slavery--always a precarious investment to stake one's livelihood on. That is the real virtue of 'Dutra's World': a well-balanced account that demonstrates the fleeting moment of hope for the aspiring in nineteenth-century Brazil. For all of its strengths; one minor quibble is its dreadful presentation. Its rather juvenile layout is disruptive and the frequent chapter partitioning detracts from the argumentative flow. These; however; are likely beyond the author's control.
