Register
Register here for the annual meeting and to begin or renew an ASA membership
Register here to submit a proposal through the ASA's 2012 submission site.
Register here for JHU Press and ASA membership services, including online access to American Quarterly and the Encyclopedia of American Studies Online.Register here to join an ASA community. Only current ASA members may contribute to the community blogs. Registration is not required to submit display or text ads or news and events or to view many pages. We will refuse posts that are not of professional interest to ASA members.
Click here for membership FAQ's
Events
Jun. 30 | 2012 Bode-Pearson Prize
Nominations for the 2012 Bode-Pearson Prize for Outstanding Contributions to American Studies due
Jun. 30 | 2012 Mary C. Turpie Prize
Nominations for the 2012 Mary C. Turpie Prize for Outstanding Contributions to American Studies Teaching, Advising, and Program Development due
Oct. 1 | Travel Grants for Graduate Students
For submission guidelines, click here
Resources: Abstracts of American Studies Dissertations
By University | By Year
Collins, Elliott. "Bayard Rustin: A Civil Rights Biography," New York University, January 2000.
This study traces the contributions of Bayard Rustin (1912-87) to the civil rights movement, contending that Rustin formally introduced the tactics of nonviolence and nonviolent direct action to the Montgomery bus boycott in 1956. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., despite a knowledge of and fascination wit the nonviolent direct action strategies used by Mohandas K. Gandhi, did not view them as viable weapons in the black American struggle for equal rights. In a series of critical discussions, Rustin was able to convince King of the efficacy of these strategies and the need to impose them on the protest in Montgomery. Conscious of the need for a south wide campaign to destroy segregation in public accommodations, education, voting, and interstate transit, Rustin conceived of an organization (the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) that would provide support and coordination to the spontaneous, local grassroots protests that erupted in the wake of the success of the Montgomery boycott. Furthermore, despite being a member of the Young Communist League in his youth, a conscientious objector, and a homosexual, Rustin functioned as a close and trusted advisor to King from 1956-60. This study addresses the influences that shaped the civil rights movement using archive materials, interviews, FBI files, and other primary sources. It concludes that Rustin was critical to the introduction of nonviolence an nonviolent direct action to that movement.
Quick Links
American Quarterly [official journal site]
American Quarterly [editorial site]
Encyclopedia of American Studies
Encyclopedia of American Studies [editorial site]