Living for the City

“Offers a fresh perspective on East Bay black activism. . . . An engaging work that adds to the expanding literature on the interplay between Black migration and political mobilization.” —Journal of African American History

“In this well-researched, smoothly written book, the author plunges deeply into the archives and emerges with what is probably the most thoughtful history of this important organization written to this point. . . . It is quite doubtful if any [study] will surpass this one in terms of imagination, clear writing, deft scholarship and weighty conclusions.”—Journal of American Studies

“Living for the City provides great insight into the motivations of the BPP and the effects it had on civil rights and residents in the Bay Area and around the country. This book would serve as a useful text for undergraduate and graduate students of race and social movements.”—Contemporary Sociology

“Creates an important framework of analysis of local Black radical politics by placing higher education and southern Black migrants as central to its development.” —Pacific Historical Review

“Insightful . . . A well crafted and rigorously researched text that makes a strong contribution to the literature.”—Left History

“A provocative reinterpretation of the origins of the Black Panther Party in Oakland . . . Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.”—CHOICE

“Donna Murch has crafted a remarkable study of the Emmett Till generation, the young African American men and women whose coming of age was radicalized by a decade of violence— from Till’s murder to the assassination of Malcolm X— but leavened by an optimism born of faith in migration, education, and self-invention. From debutante balls in the 1950s to Panther breakfast programs in the 1970s, it was southerners, Murch artfully shows, who transformed Oakland, California, in the civil rights and black power eras.”—Robert Self, Brown University

“This is a brilliant study of the Black Power movement and a major contribution to American social, cultural, and intellectual history, particularly the study of the African American experience. Donna Murch has impressive insights into the political culture of the Black Panther Party, and this book will have a dramatic impact on the way the history of Black Power politics is written.” —Komozi Woodard, Sarah Lawrence College