The issues afflicting numerous African-Americans in the American South during the Civil Rights Movement was no small matter. With various organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) employing various tactics, by the end of the decade Blacks gain substantial civil rights. However, the often-turbulent era narrative of nonviolence working to reach that goal is not only misleading but also highly inaccurate. Depending on where a person knowledge derives from, most likely they learned a slanted version of events. However, this can be resolved with proper narratives written by individuals who directly participated in the movement. It is important …show more content…
Throughout Cobb’s book, he provided a plethora of examples of often time prominent African-American figures that refuted the narrative of only nonviolence in the South. In doing so, he revealed a culture within the area of Blacks owning guns to provide for their families and protect themselves from groups wanting to afflict harm to them. Cobb spoke on the complexities and challenges facing African-Americans in the South. He quoted Worth Long when he said, “Now you can pray with them or pray for ‘em, but if they kill you in the meantime you are not going to be an effective organizer”. This sentiment expresses the attitude found among some African-Americans in the South. In their eyes, they delineated violence and self-defense, rationalizing the latter as they continued to practice non-violence. The experiences of Black organizers in the South aiding the voter registration drives caused many of them to question nonviolence. In fact, at a SNCC Atlanta meeting the issue was unresolved, no official statement against self-defense. Cobb said, “the choice of which tactic to use in a given situation, was, ultimately, up to the organizers in the field.” It is false to assert civil rights groups condemned self-defense since it keep many people alive in the