Saying It Loud, Mark Whitaker
Saying It Loud, Mark Whitaker
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Saying It Loud
1966—The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement

Author: Mark Whitaker

Narrator: JD Jackson

Unabridged: 12 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/07/2023


Synopsis

Mark Whitaker “writes with the eye of a journalist and ear of a poet” (The Boston Globe) to tell the story of the momentous year that redefined the civil rights movement as a new sense of Black identity, expressed in the slogan “Black Power,” challenged the nonviolent philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis.

In “crisp prose” (The New York Times) and novelistic detail Saying It Loud tells the story of how the Black Power phenomenon began to challenge the traditional civil rights movement in the turbulent year of 1966. Saying It Loud takes you inside the dramatic events in this seminal year, from Stokely Carmichael’s middle-of-the-night ouster of moderate icon John Lewis as a chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to Carmichael’s impassioned cry of “Black Power!” during a protest march in rural Mississippi. From Julian Bond’s humiliating and racist ouster from the Georgia state legislature because of his antiwar statements to Ronald Reagan’s election as California governor riding a “white backlash” vote against Black Power and urban unrest. From the founding of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California, to the origins of Kwanzaa, the Black Arts Movement, and the first Black studies programs. From Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ill-fated campaign to take the civil rights movement north to Chicago to the wrenching ousting of the white members of SNCC.

Deeply researched and widely reported, Saying It Loud offers brilliant portraits of the major characters in the yearlong drama and provides new details and insights from key players and journalists who covered the story. It also makes a compelling case for why the lessons from 1966 still resonate in the era of Black Lives Matter and the fierce contemporary battles over voting rights, identity politics, and the teaching of Black History.

About Mark Whitaker

Mark Whitaker is the former editor of Newsweek and the first African American to lead a national newsweekly. He then served as Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News and Managing Editor of CNN Worldwide. Whitaker’s memoir My Long Trip Home was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His social histories Smoketown: The Untold Story of the Other Great Black Renaissance and Saying it Loud: 1966—The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement were both named among the best nonfiction books of the year by The Washington Post


Reviews

Goodreads review by Craig

Not much here new to anyone who's read as many of Whitaker's sources as I have, admittedly a tiny tiny group, smile. But he does a solid job telling the story of a complicated year and he doesn't fall into the traps of either simplifying or romanticizing Black Power. He leans heavily on Peniel Josep......more

Goodreads review by Carol

Powerful account of the rise and fall of the Black Power movement. For those who doubt that there was any real reason for Black youth to reject non-violence in favor of militancy, this book provides graphic examples of white mob violence, murderous police violence, and open racism in every city and......more

Goodreads review by Shelley

Good history to read and know. White people and systemic racism is unbelievably horrible.......more

Goodreads review by Nancy

Having been in junior high in 1966, I only got the white/Walter Cronkite version of what was going on in civil rights. So this book was an interesting and inside look at various pieces of civil rights from a Black perspective. The author did some great research and I enjoyed his writing. The downsid......more