Waking from the Dream: The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“After King’s death,” University of Oklahoma historian Chappell (A Stone of Hope) asserts, “his survivors in the movement had some lasting achievements that deserve recognition,” five of which he focuses on here: the Civil Rights Act of 1968; the National Black Political Conventions of 1972 and 1974; the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act of 1978; the establishment of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns. Chappell’s assessment is mixed. For example, he asserts that the Civil Rights Act “had no memorably singular, decisive world-changing effect.” In delineating the National Political Conventions, he concludes that the “quest for black political solidarity [ran] aground.” Legislative achievements represent the more solid successes, and Jackson’s candidacy, he concludes, “had been for better or for worse at the center of a decade of renewed advancement and momentum in civil rights.” Chappell diligently studies the internal organizational machinations and the external press reportage; he pays welcome attention to Coretta Scott King’s role in the “post-King era.” In a rather dark conclusion, Chappell details Rev. King’s “extramarital affairs and academic dishonesty.” 16-page photo insert. Agent: Sandra Dijkstra, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. (Jan.)