Freedom Season: How 1963 Transformed America’s Civil Rights Revolution

FREEDOM SEASON offers a panoramic view of the civil rights movement through the stories of historical giants like James Baldwin, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as less celebrated leaders like playwright Lorraine Hansberry and activist Gloria Richardson. Joseph gives Baldwin his due, not just as a writer but also as an activist who was intimately connected to the movement and redefined the language and meaning of freedom.

Throughout 1963, the civil rights struggle unfolded as a series of ideas and controversies debated amongst and between liberals, conservatives, and radicals. This was a period in which establishment Democrats took their radical counterparts seriously. At the same time, the roots for today’s polarization and partisanship, the authoritarian right wing, the growth of conspiracy theorists, and the proliferation of political violence can be traced back to this era with the rise of William F. Buckley and National Review, George Wallace and Southern Dixiecrats, the movement conservativism of Barry Goldwater, and the rightwing conspiracy theory-driven fantasies of the John Birch Society.

FREEDOM SEASON vividly narrates an unforgettable year when America, amidst a mean season of domestic political strife and racial violence, found redemption and hope in the promise and possibility of freedom.