Review of “Civil Rights Advocacy on Behalf of the Poor,” by Catherine Paden. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2011, paper, 232 pages.
This is an older book which provides a good foundation for understanding successful intervention to assist the poor. This book could be used in social studies and other courses, could be used as good background reading for educators, and could provide good insight into how advocates can establish entities and projects that can actually help the poor.
The history of some of the more beneficial processes and organizations is included, as is reference to what happened after Hurricane Katrina. Catherine Paden shows how a variety of organizations have responded to issues related to poverty, starting earlier in the 1900s and up to and including the assistance give to those suffering from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. The book also compares earlier responses to answers to Katrina.
Paden bases her conclusions on the qualitative study she conducted that focused on document review for several different organizations: the National Urban League, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Congress of Racial Equality, and others. She looks at internal correspondence and management notes in a variety of structures to be able to make the statements she does. Without giving away the content of this very informative book, I can talk about how the author builds her discussion and uses examples from the documents to support her case.
The author discusses in the first chapter how persons of different races get different levels of representation. We know that poor persons do not get as much representation in our society, but Paden is able to document this so that in the cases and archives she studies she can prove this is a fact and not an opinion. Paden includes a good deal of information about several presidents who are in the White House when the various organizations are forming, growing, changing, and also reacting to need.
In the second chapter, the author shows civil rights organizations and their changing priorities over time. Paden finds out that if federal dollars are provided, some organizations devote much more attention to advocacy, service, and programs. The third chapter shows the connections of various organizations to the war on poverty. The fourth chapter takes us through the growing organizations in the 1960s. The fifth chapter looks at changing priorities for those organizations in the 1960s and the sixth chapter focuses on changes in priorities in the 1970s.
In the seventh chapter, the author discusses more recent battles and challenges, focusing directly on what the response to Katrina—or lack of it—means to the organizations involved in helping. In the eighth chapter, the author draws conclusions and cites instances of the poor not being served well at all by most of the government and other groups specially meant to help them. While some groups start out to serve certain races, they sometimes migrate to provide more emphasis on anti-poverty programs, again especially if there are federal dollars available.
I would recommend the book for all educators and can see especially good uses for teachers in urban areas and in social studies programs. The study of the impact of Katrina and the lack of immediate response to the hurricane is a very telling part of American history. Students need to know that the majority of the poor people most impacted by the hurricane were African American and that the solutions for helping them were a terrible shortcoming on the part of FEMA and other groups. Relating this story now is important to better understand the racism and lack of care given to certain people in this nation.
As a book for social studies programs, it is important to look at racial, cultural, and political ramifications of the lack of response for the victims. It is also important to look at how poverty, natural disasters, and politics combine to form an intricate web of challenges. Teachers of history, physical geography, and political science can make good use of the information presented by Paden in this book. Not only background reading, the book can be used to design units and lessons on a variety of topics covered here. The book includes a good index with the names of the organizations spelled out for the abbreviations (e.g., CORE) and many excellent references for further reading.
The book shows with the clear information from the archives how people help—or don’t help—others in society. Understanding what is behind social services is very important for students in our classes. The intricacies and hidden agendas of many groups show that human nature is often complex indeed and that government and private organizations take approaches that are often not very humane.
The information could be used for advanced high school courses in social studies subjects. The book would also be helpful for professional development courses for social workers and for school administrators and board members. It is important to explore these issues to get a better understanding of the challenges of poverty, the realities of racism, and the hope for building a better society.