NASA and the long civil rights movement / edited by Brian C. Odom and Stephen P. Waring.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword: "How we tell about the civil rights movement and why it matters" / Jacquelyn Dowd Hall -- Introduction: Exploring NASA in the "long" civil rights movement / Brian C. Odom and Stephen P. Waring -- New frameworks -- Space history matures -- and reaches a crossroads / Margaret A. Weitekamp -- Bringing mankind to the moon: the human rights narrative in the space age / P.J. Blount and David Miguel Molina -- Bringing the moon to mankind: the civil rights narrative and the space age / David Miguel Molina and P.J. Blount -- Southern context -- The newest South: race and space on the Dixie frontier / Brenda Plummer -- "Accommodating the forces of change": civil rights and economic development in space age Huntsville, Alabama / Matthew L. Downs -- NASA, the Association of Huntsville Area Contractors, and equal employment opportunity in the "Rocket City," 1963-1965 / Brian C. Odom -- International context -- Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez and Guion Bluford: the last cold war race battle / Cathleen Lewis -- The Congressional Black Caucus and the closure of NASA's satellite tracking station at Hartebeesthoek, South Africa / Keith Snedegar -- Broader context -- "A competence which should be used": NASA, social movements, and social problems in the 1970s / Cyrus C. M. Mody -- The gates of opportunity : NASA, black activism, and educational access / Eric Fenrich -- "Petite engineer likes math, music" / Christina K. Roberts -- Conclusion: "And where do we go from here?" ensuring the past and future history of space / Jonathan Coopersmith.

As NASA prepared for the launch of Apollo 11 in July 1969, many African American leaders protested the billions of dollars used to fund "space joyrides" rather than help tackle poverty, inequality, and discrimination at home. This volume examines such tensions as well as the ways in which NASA's goal of space exploration aligned with the cause of racial equality. Essays provide new insights into the complex relationship between the space program and the civil rights movement in the Jim Crow South and abroad. NASA and the Long Civil Rights Movement offers important lessons from history as today's activists grapple with the distance between social movements like Black Lives Matter and scientific ambitions such as NASA's mission to Mars.

Description based on print version record.

eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide