This book was first published in 2003. As World War II drew to a close and the world awakened to the horror wrought by white supremacists in Nazi Germany, African American leaders, led by the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), sensed the opportunity to launch an offensive against the conditions of segregation and inequality in America. The 'prize' they sought was not civil rights, but human rights. Only the human rights lexicon, shaped by the Holocaust and articulated by the United Nations, contained the language and the moral power to address not only the political and legal inequality but also the education, health care, housing, and employment needs that haunted the black community. But the onset of the Cold War and rising anti-communism allowed powerful Southerners to cast those rights as Soviet-inspired. Thus the Civil Rights Movement was launched with neither the language nor the mission it needed to truly achieve black equality.

A 2003 account of the politics that forced the NAACP to abandon their human rights agenda.
Reviews
'... a superb account ...'. Ethnic and Racial Studies
'... compelling ... Eyes off the Prize bravely punctures the reputations of some usually unimpeachable figures in the freedom pantheon. It also uncovers some less familiar examples of the brutality meted out against blacks in the postwar period ... Anderson's work deserves the widest possible audience.' Journal of American Studies


Awards
Joint winner of Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award 2003.



Book Information
ISBN 9780521531580
Author Carol Anderson
Format Paperback
Page Count 318
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 480g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 150mm * 20mm