White Women in the 1960s Freedom Movement, From Memory to History: The writing of “Shiloh Witness,” a chapter in Deep in Our Hearts (2000)

In this article, Joan C. Browning, a white female veteran of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, reflects on the writing of an autobiographical chapter she wrote for a collective book published in 2000 (Deep in Our Hearts: Nine White Women in the Freedom Movement). Focusing on the dialectical tension b...

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Main Author: Joan Browning
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Française d'Etudes Américaines 2019-05-01
Series:Transatlantica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/9993
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author Joan Browning
author_facet Joan Browning
author_sort Joan Browning
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description In this article, Joan C. Browning, a white female veteran of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, reflects on the writing of an autobiographical chapter she wrote for a collective book published in 2000 (Deep in Our Hearts: Nine White Women in the Freedom Movement). Focusing on the dialectical tension between memory and history, she discusses several questions ranging from the genesis of the book project to her regrets at censoring herself in anticipation of criticisms. The essay sheds new light on her personal experience of the Southern Civil Rights Movement—especially her participation in the Albany Freedom Ride in 1961, the role of religion in her commitment to the Movement, and her feelings about the movement’s evolution after 1964. The author describes the profound impact of the Movement on her life and her identity as a white, Southern woman. In addition to this personal account, she probes into the scientific issues of writing the history of the Civil Rights Movement, i.e. the place of women in historiography, the relationship between historians and their living subjects, the question of privacy, the tension between objectivity and subjectivity, and the difficult negotiation between history and activism in the self-writing process.
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spelling doaj-art-513b7a87feb540b0add5c6b44a45f7162025-01-30T10:45:26ZengAssociation Française d'Etudes AméricainesTransatlantica1765-27662019-05-01210.4000/transatlantica.9993White Women in the 1960s Freedom Movement, From Memory to History: The writing of “Shiloh Witness,” a chapter in Deep in Our Hearts (2000)Joan BrowningIn this article, Joan C. Browning, a white female veteran of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, reflects on the writing of an autobiographical chapter she wrote for a collective book published in 2000 (Deep in Our Hearts: Nine White Women in the Freedom Movement). Focusing on the dialectical tension between memory and history, she discusses several questions ranging from the genesis of the book project to her regrets at censoring herself in anticipation of criticisms. The essay sheds new light on her personal experience of the Southern Civil Rights Movement—especially her participation in the Albany Freedom Ride in 1961, the role of religion in her commitment to the Movement, and her feelings about the movement’s evolution after 1964. The author describes the profound impact of the Movement on her life and her identity as a white, Southern woman. In addition to this personal account, she probes into the scientific issues of writing the history of the Civil Rights Movement, i.e. the place of women in historiography, the relationship between historians and their living subjects, the question of privacy, the tension between objectivity and subjectivity, and the difficult negotiation between history and activism in the self-writing process.https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/9993autobiographymemoryhistoryreligionFreedom MovementAlbany Freedom Ride
spellingShingle Joan Browning
White Women in the 1960s Freedom Movement, From Memory to History: The writing of “Shiloh Witness,” a chapter in Deep in Our Hearts (2000)
Transatlantica
autobiography
memory
history
religion
Freedom Movement
Albany Freedom Ride
title White Women in the 1960s Freedom Movement, From Memory to History: The writing of “Shiloh Witness,” a chapter in Deep in Our Hearts (2000)
title_full White Women in the 1960s Freedom Movement, From Memory to History: The writing of “Shiloh Witness,” a chapter in Deep in Our Hearts (2000)
title_fullStr White Women in the 1960s Freedom Movement, From Memory to History: The writing of “Shiloh Witness,” a chapter in Deep in Our Hearts (2000)
title_full_unstemmed White Women in the 1960s Freedom Movement, From Memory to History: The writing of “Shiloh Witness,” a chapter in Deep in Our Hearts (2000)
title_short White Women in the 1960s Freedom Movement, From Memory to History: The writing of “Shiloh Witness,” a chapter in Deep in Our Hearts (2000)
title_sort white women in the 1960s freedom movement from memory to history the writing of shiloh witness a chapter in deep in our hearts 2000
topic autobiography
memory
history
religion
Freedom Movement
Albany Freedom Ride
url https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/9993
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