Review: The Struggle for Black Equality by Harvard Sitkoff
This paper reviews Harvard Sitkoff's The Struggle for Black Equality (1981), a narrative history of the Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1980. The review examines Sitkoff's chronological approach, his openly acknowledged bias in favor of Black Americans' fight for justice, and his treatment of key events and figures — from Rosa Parks to the Black Panthers to President Nixon's racial politics. The paper then evaluates whether the struggle for Black equality has concluded, drawing on 2010 polling data from ABC News/Washington Post and the Pew Research Center to argue that, while significant legal progress has been made, racial equality in America remains incomplete.
- Introduction: Sitkoff's Narrative History: Sitkoff's scope, style, and opening impact
- Coverage of the Civil Rights Movement: Key events and figures covered in the book
- Thesis, Bias, and Authorial Intent: Sitkoff's stated bias and argumentative goals
- Has the Struggle for Black Equality Ended?: Legal progress versus persistent racial inequality
- Polling Data and the State of Race Relations: 2010 Pew data on racial attitudes and progress
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What makes this paper effective
- The review goes beyond plot summary by directly engaging Sitkoff's stated thesis and his admitted bias, which gives the analysis critical depth.
- The use of contemporaneous polling data (ABC/Washington Post and Pew, 2010) effectively bridges the historical subject matter with present-day relevance.
- Specific page-level citations from the book lend credibility and demonstrate close reading, even in a brief review format.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates evaluative source engagement — the writer does not simply describe the book but interrogates its methodology, acknowledges the author's self-declared subjectivity, and weighs the book's arguments against external evidence. This is a core skill in historical and literary criticism.
Structure breakdown
The review opens by contextualizing the book's publication and subject, then summarizes Sitkoff's major arguments and narrative scope. A central section addresses Sitkoff's thesis and bias directly, using the author's own preface. The paper closes by turning outward to ask whether the struggle Sitkoff documents has been resolved, using 2010 polling data to support a "glass half full" conclusion. The Works Cited follows MLA-adjacent formatting.
Introduction: Sitkoff's Narrative History
When Harvard Sitkoff published The Struggle for Black Equality in 1981, Barack Obama was 20 years old. Today, Obama has ascended to the White House in part because of the struggles that Sitkoff describes so compellingly in his book. Sitkoff's succinctly written chapters are chronological, beginning in the year of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), but he includes appropriate flashbacks to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He sets the stage for the anger among Black Americans that would spill over and help drive the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. "Over a thousand [African Americans] were lynched between 1900 and 1915" (Sitkoff, 1981, p. 5), the author writes, immediately commanding the reader's full attention. He is very convincing because he blends narrative emotion with historical dates and facts.
Coverage of the Civil Rights Movement
Sitkoff carefully traces the various phases of the Civil Rights Movement, including Rosa Parks' refusal to move to the back of the bus, as well as the militant side of the movement — the Black Panthers and Malcolm X. He also points to the institutional racism promoted by the U.S. government under President Richard Nixon. Nixon "took every opportunity to exploit the emotions of race," Sitkoff asserts (p. 224). Nixon "emasculated the Offices for Civil Rights"; he "vetoed bills and impounded funds designed to assist Blacks"; he urged Congress to "impose a moratorium on court-ordered bussing"; and he sent Vice President Agnew out to "play on the anxieties of Americans" (p. 224).
Thesis, Bias, and Authorial Intent
What is Sitkoff's thesis? Is he biased or objective? In his preface, he makes clear that his book is not "scholarly" nor is it absolutely thorough. He openly admits he is biased in favor of those Black Americans who struggled for so many years for justice: "I want the reader to encounter the anguish and hope, the violence and passion, the joy and sorrow that the fighters for freedom experienced" (p. viii). The thesis of the book is that his value judgments and the drama he captures in his narrative "will certainly provoke disagreement," he admits. "Good," he states, going on to insist that writing history "ought to stimulate debate." He is saying, essentially, that he knows some readers will disagree but that he is telling it as he sees it — Black Americans have been struggling for fairness and economic justice for a long time, and their story must be heard. He is also saying there is much more to be explained about the period 1954–1980. He conveniently provides a bibliographical essay (pp. 239–248) for readers who wish to pursue further research.
Has the Struggle for Black Equality Ended?
Is the struggle for Black equality over? There is certainly evidence that some battles of the Civil Rights Movement have been won. Black Americans now have the right to vote — a right not effectively secured until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — and they have, on paper at least, all fundamental civil rights guaranteed under the Constitution, thanks to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the context of the Civil Rights Movement, the glass is half full. However, it cannot be said that Black Americans are on an equal footing with white Americans in all aspects of American life. The election of Obama as president does not by itself mean that equality has been achieved. An ABC News/Washington Post poll (2010) found that "fewer Americans believe Obama has helped race relations than when he took office, dropping from 58% to 41%" (Netter, 2010). A minority of vocal conservative Americans still believed Obama was Muslim, and the president's image had been "altered to look like an African witch doctor" (Netter, 2010).
Works Cited
Netter, Sarah. (2010). Racism in Obama's America One Year Later. ABC News. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from http://abcnews.go.com/.
Pew Social Trends. (2010). Blacks Upbeat about Black Progress, Prospects. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from
Sitkoff, Harvard. (1981). The Struggle for Black Equality, 1954–1980. New York: Hill & Wang.
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