Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Musings: Root and Branch

Root and Branch
Root and Branch:  Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation is the first audiobook I have really listened to in a long time.  I listened to the end of Middlemarch on audiobook, but this is the first full book I experienced in audio on my commute to and from the new job.

Thurgood Marshall is remembered for being the first African-American justice on the United States Supreme Court.  He also is a familiar name because he fought on the monumental case Brown vs. Board of Education, which ended the "separate but equal" doctrine for segregation of schools in the United States.

But Marshall was worthy of inclusion in history books well before Brown vs. Board of Education.  Under the guidance of his friend and mentor, Charles Hamilton Houston ("The Man Who Killed Jim Crow"), Marshall successfully won many cases at the US Supreme Court as a lawyer for the NAACP.

I don't know how school children are taught history in other countries, or even in other parts of America.  But in my experience, we learned history in very specific timelines.  We learned about colonization, we learned about the Revolution, we learned about the deepening divide between North and South, the Civil War, the World Wars and then, very briefly, the Civil Rights movement.  But there was no real link between one era and the next.  We learn about slavery ending and Jim Crow coming into existence, but we're made to think that African-Americans just docilely accepted their fates until Martin Luther King, Jr. came to the fore.

And that is completely false.  As Root and Branch makes clear, there were so many people working so hard for so long to bring equal rights to people in America, from the end of the Civil War, through the World Wars, and sparking the Civil Rights movement.  I thoroughly enjoyed learning about two of the most prolific individuals in this book.  Houston and Marshall were so devoted to their cause, working tirelessly for little money, in very dangerous circumstances.  It was fascinating to learn about all the cases that came before Brown vs. Board of Education, so crucial to ending segregation little by little and making America (and people around the world) realize just how unjust the system of Jim Crow was.

This is an excellent book to bridge the gap between the post-Civil War era and the Civil Rights movement, to understand just how much was happening in America at the time.  The narrator was easy to understand and very engaging.  The only thing that was difficult for me to follow was the timeline - in audiobook form, I realized, I am much worse at keeping dates straight.  But that was my own problem, and not the fault of the book.  Highly recommended.

17 comments:

  1. I know quite a bit about Thurgood Marshall from the time that I was working at a nonprofit and we had an annual awards dinner that celebrated his achievements, and the achievements of high school students who had made an impact in the lives of others. It was always a bright time of year for me when I helped host those dinners.

    This was a great review, and I am glad that you read and liked this one. Thurgood Marshall doesn't get half of the attention that he deserves, and I hope that others reading today realize what a unique and special man he was. Great review!

    P.S.- I just bought 1491 last night, and took a little peek into the first chapter. I can't wait to read it!

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    1. Oh, that's so cool about the nonprofit celebrating Marshall. He did some truly inspiring things, and I'm glad that they haven't been forgotten.

      Also thrilled that you have 1491! Can't wait to hear what you think.

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  2. The more I learn about history the more I realise how common that oversimplification really is. Excellent review as always.

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    1. Yes, again an issue of learning in silos, I think. If you learn only based on eras and not on themes/subjects, it can make the process more difficult to see as a fluid thing.

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  3. Thanks for reviewing this book. I just read Elizabeth & Hazel about the Little Rock Nine. It didn't mention Thurgood Marshall but I know he was involved in that issue at Central High. I would love to read about him because I don't know very much about him.

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    1. Yes, I saw your review of that book and noted it as it's on my wish list. Such an important period of history that we don't learn nearly enough about.

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  4. I will have to track this down as it sounds like a great read. Having enjoyed it myself, I highly recommend Marshalling Justice: The Early Civil Rights Letters of Thurgood Marshall if you want to read more about his NACCP years and get a sense of him as a man.

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    1. Oh, thank you! That sounds like a book I would really enjoy.

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  5. Excellent review. Thank you!

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  6. You've certainly been doing some interesting reading lately! Just like in your 1491 post, what strikes me most is how sad it is that history class doesn't link all the different aspects of life, whether it's regions or time periods. It's from books like this one that we can really see how things really happened, how real people contributed towards something. Fascinating.

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    1. Yes, exactly! There is so much nuance to history and so much that happens below the radar that we are not exposed to - I am so glad that we have the opportunity to get a fresh look through books like this one.

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  7. On to wishlist it goes! I know I owe you an e-mail; sorry about that. But I'm thrilled you loved King, and way to go on Suitable Boy! I remember how gigantic that felt when I read it, but I really did love it. :D

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    1. No worries on the email front - I'll be thrilled when I get it and can spend some time anticipating it now :-)

      I think you'd like this one - hope your librarian hooks you up!

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  8. Was just blog hopping and found your site! I've been very into historical fiction and non-fiction lately and this seems like a fabulous book. I will try to get my hands on it: a paperback, hopefully, I never listen to audiobooks, I get distracted too easily. Nice review!

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    1. Thanks for visiting! I am very interested in history myself and have really enjoyed learning more about different eras through books. I know what you mean about getting distracted by audiobooks, too - I am still working on that...

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  9. You are so right about how history is taught in schools here in the US. I have my degree in History and didn't get much background on Civil Rights in college either. This is a huge gap in how we teach and it sounds like this book is one of many that can help bridge that gap. I'd like to read this one.

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