Review: There Goes My Everything: White Southerners in the Age of Civil Rights, 1945-1975

There Goes My Everything: White Southerners in the Age of Civil Rights, 1945-1975 by Jason Sokol
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“You’ve got to open the wound and clean it before it can heal,” James Prince reflected. “It’s as if we’ve had this open gash on the arm for 40 years and have done nothing but put a bandage on it.”

This is a book about racism. It is a different viewpoint of the Civil Rights movement from 1945 through 1975. Jason Sokol takes a look at how white southerners changed, or not, during this tumultuous time in American history. Many white southerners had very strong and direct viewpoints on race relations and many would not budge. There were those, though, who listened as Martin Luther King, Jr. and his followers marched through the streets, as students went to luncheonettes for sit-ins, as busing was protested. Their eyes were opened, sometimes slowly, but they did open.

The issue of racism was always there and is still seen in some parts today. In some southern towns, race relations are like a festering wound that will not heal. It is a subject not often discussed for fear of retribution from those whose beliefs are staunchly holding on to old segregationist ideology. Prince's analogy of the wound that will not heal until it is opened and cleaned still holds true today, in some parts of southern America.

This book takes a look at the history of those beliefs and the people who continued to fight for segregation and those that fought for desegregation and equal rights for all people. Sokol covers the battles of politicians fighting against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, desegregation, and voting rights, as well as following some ordinary citizens who fought to keep their businesses and restaurants segregated. There are those who willingly desegregated and others that were forced to integrate but would find new ways to draw racial lines. Sokol also revealed who truly seemed to change and see that we're all equal people deserving of the same human and civil rights.

I have read and studied many books on American Civil Rights. This book is one that should be read and discussed. Sadly, racism is not dead and it is important to continue fighting for equality for all.

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