I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle - Hardcover

"I was surprised at how much there is for myself and other movement people to learn about the Mississippi freedom struggle from Charles Payne's book."—Bob Moses, SNIC Field Secretary, Mississippi, 1961-1965

"A superb and important book, remarkably astute in its judgments and strikingly sophisticated in its analyses. Impressively original, it is one of the most significant studies of the Black freedom struggle yet published."—David J. Garrow, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Bearing the Cross

"A compelling story of the black freedom struggle in the Mississippi Delta. Charles Payne has written the definitive study of the civil rights movement in the Delta. Through his superb use of oral history interviews, Payne reveals the courage, passion, humor, and dedication of thousands of black women and men who worked, against overwhelming odds, to take charge of their destiny. This is the most comprehensive and revealing study of organizing on the grass-roots level that we have, and will be invaluable to scholars, students, and activists alike."—John Dittmer, author of Local People

"This extremely important book clearly reveals the logic of how ordinary people propelled the Civil Rights Movement. . . . [It] provides a basis for optimism as we approach the next century."—Aldon Morris, author of The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

"No book on the movement—perhaps any movement—does a better job of capturing the 'feel' of organizing and the slow, incremental accretion of shared experiences that are responsible for the dramatic victories that the history books record."—Doug McAdam, author of Freedom Summer

"This is a story with deep resonance for our own unsettled times, a book about intellectuals and social change, about the uncommon courage of common folk, and about the relationship between trust and the possibility of racial harmony."—Robert Jackall, Williams College

"Charles Payne's stunning narrative provides a reminder of the importance of the African-American organizing tradition that made possible the civil rights reforms of the 1960s. His study brings needed attention to the courageous struggles of little known grassroots leaders in the Mississippi strongholds of white supremacy."—Clayborne Carson, Editor, The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I was surprised at how much there is for myself and other movement people to learn about the Mississippi freedom struggle from Charles Payne's book."—Bob Moses, SNIC Field Secretary, Mississippi, 1961-1965

"A superb and important book, remarkably astute in its judgments and strikingly sophisticated in its analyses. Impressively original, it is one of the most significant studies of the Black freedom struggle yet published."—David J. Garrow, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Bearing the Cross

"A compelling story of the black freedom struggle in the Mississippi Delta. Charles Payne has written the definitive study of the civil rights movement in the Delta. Through his superb use of oral history interviews, Payne reveals the courage, passion, humor, and dedication of thousands of black women and men who worked, against overwhelming odds, to take charge of their destiny. This is the most comprehensive and revealing study of organizing on the grass-roots level that we have, and will be invaluable to scholars, students, and activists alike."—John Dittmer, author of Local People

"This extremely important book clearly reveals the logic of how ordinary people propelled the Civil Rights Movement. . . . [It] provides a basis for optimism as we approach the next century."—Aldon Morris, author of The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

"No book on the movement—perhaps any movement—does a better job of capturing the 'feel' of organizing and the slow, incremental accretion of shared experiences that are responsible for the dramatic victories that the history books record."—Doug McAdam, author of Freedom Summer

"This is a story with deep resonance for our own unsettled times, a book about intellectuals and social change, about the uncommon courage of common folk, and about the relationship between trust and the possibility of racial harmony."—Robert Jackall, Williams College

"Charles Payne's stunning narrative provides a reminder of the importance of the African-American organizing tradition that made possible the civil rights reforms of the 1960s. His study brings needed attention to the courageous struggles of little known grassroots leaders in the Mississippi strongholds of white supremacy."—Clayborne Carson, Editor, The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.