42 pages • 1 hour read
Danielle L. McGuireAt the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance—a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Key Figures
Themes
Index of Terms
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
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BetaEssay Topics
In the Epilogue, McGuire describes the 2009 presidential inauguration, during which Michelle Obama became the first Black First Lady. Does Michelle Obama’s achievement prove that Black women have won full social equality in the United States, or do structures of oppression against Black women still exist? Use concrete examples to support your argument.
Why has Rosa Parks’s history as a radical activist been forgotten? In what ways does this erasure of Parks’s role serve as an important political tool?
A recurring idea throughout At the Dark End of the Street is the politics of respectability, in which “middle-class decorum” is required of activists to gain broad political support (76). How does this idea shape three of the anti-rape campaigns discussed throughout the book?
Martin Luther King Jr. used the term “thingification” to describe the process by which Black people are denied their humanity under a white supremacist society (xx). In At the Dark End of the Street, what are some of the ways that Black people are made to feel like things rather than human beings?
While Black women were at the forefront of the Montgomery bus boycott, their role in planning the campaign has been overshadowed by its male leaders. What are some causes of this erasure?
How were fears about interracial sex at the core of white supremacists’ justifications for segregation? How did these fears lead to different treatments of Black men and Black women?
Consider the sexual assault protest campaigns for Recy Taylor, Betty Jean Owens, and Joan Little. Choose one and analyze the rhetorical strategies used by Black activists to support the rape victim. How did the activists make the argument that the assault is part of the larger history of racism?
Throughout the civil rights movement, the United States passed numerous laws that sought to establish equality between Black and white citizens. Is the passing of laws enough to ensure social equality? Why or why not?
Throughout At the Dark End of the Street, McGuire argues that it is through a “tradition of testimony and truth-telling” that Black women were able to fight back against sexual violence (30). Why is testimony an important tool for advancing civil rights? Are there cases in which testimony does not work? Why or why not?
Sexual assault continues to be a part of public discussion in the United States. In what ways is the #MeToo movement similar to civil rights anti-rape campaigns? What can contemporary sexual assault activists learn from the anti-rape campaigns of Recy Taylor, Betty Jean Owens, and others?
