Lifting the Chains: The Black Freedom Struggle Since Reconstruction

All-Black institutions and local community groups have been at the forefront of the freedom struggle since the beginning. Lifting the Chains is a history of the Black experience in America since the Civil War, told by one of our mostdistinguished historians of modern America, William H.Chafe. He argues that, despite the wishes and arguments of many whites to the contrary, the struggle for freedom has been carried out primarily by Black Americans, with only occasional assistance from whites.Chafe highlights the role of all-black institutions--especially the churches, lodges, local gangs, neighborhood women's groups, and the Black college clubs that gathered at local pool halls--that talked up the issues, examined different courses of action, and then put their lives on the line to make change happen. The book draws heavily on the tremendous oral history archives at Duke that Chafe founded and nurtured, much of which is previously unpublished.The the archives are now a collection of more