Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights

“Penningroth’s conclusions emerge from an epic research agenda…. Before the Movement presents an original and provocative account of how civil law was experienced by Black citizens and how their ‘legal lives’ changed over time . . . [an] ambitious, stimulating, and provocative book.” —Eric Foner, New York Review of Books

Finalist for the Cundill History Prize
Winner of the Merle Curti Social History Award from the Organization of American Historians
Winner of the Ellis W. Hawley Prize from the Organization of American Historians
Winner of the David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American Legal History
Winner of the James Willard Hurst Prize (Law and Society Association)
Winner of the Scribes Book Award (American Society of Legal Writers)

A prize-winning scholar draws on astonishing new research to demonstrate how Black people used the law to their advantage long before the Civil Rights Movement.