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"Expanding the Frontiers of Civil Rights" Michigan, 1948-1968 Sidney Fine

Although historians have devoted a great deal of attention to the development of federal government policy regarding civil rights in the quarter century following World War II, little attention has been paid to the equally important developments at the state level. Few states underwent a more dramatic transformation with regard to civil rights than Michigan did. In 1948, the Michigan Committee on Civil Rights characterized the state of civil rights in Michigan as presenting "an ugly picture." Twenty years later, Michigan was a leader among the states in civil rights legislation. "Expanding the Frontiers of Civil Rights" documents this important shift in state level policy and makes clear that civil rights in Michigan embraced not only blacks but women, the elderly, native Americans, migrant workers, and the physically handicapped.

"Sidney Fine has written the most comprehensive study of civil rights politics in the North. He captures the humane vision of Michigan liberals who strove mightily to challenge racial inequality. And he uncovers the largely forgotten history of public efforts on behalf of migrant farm workers, women, the elderly, and the disabled. In an era of backlash against civil rights, Fine's book has much to teach us."—Thomas J. Sugrue, University of Pennsylvania Sidney Fine is the Andrew Dickson White Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Michigan.

Great Lakes Books Series $49.95s cloth / ISBN 0-8143-2875-X 512 pages 10 b&w illustrations 2000 contents > extract > index >