Building a Latino Civil Rights Movement: Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and the Pursuit of Racial Justice in New York City. By Sonia Song-Ha Lee. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014. Pp. 352. $34.95 (cloth).

2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-207
Author(s):  
Shana Bernstein
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
North Carolina ◽  
New York City ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
York City ◽  
Puerto Ricans ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Chapel Hill

“Out of These Ghettos, People Who Would Fight”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Gold
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
York City ◽  
Rent Control ◽  
Community Power ◽  
The 1960S

This chapter examines the rent strikes that erupted in Harlem and other ghettos in the 1960s. Ideologically, the rent strikes blur the line between civil rights liberalism and Black Power. Rent strikers renounced the liberal integrationist vision—moving out of the ghetto—that had animated the previous decade's black housing struggles. Instead they sought to improve conditions and build power within the segregated neighborhoods where they, like most African Americans, actually lived. This chapter considers the rent rebellion launched by ghetto residents, drawing inspiration from the burgeoning civil rights movement and support from New York's longtime tenant advocates. It shows that this rent rebellion won modest material improvements and contributed to a growing movement for community power in the ghettos. One of the strikes' main achievements was to galvanize tenants throughout New York City at a critical moment in the long-term fight over rent control. The chapter also discusses issues of gender and race in the Harlem rent strikes.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document