Overview

Biography of a civil rights activist who worked tirelessly at the heart of two social and political revolutions A native Alabamian, Reverend Robert E. Hughes worked full-time in the civil rights movement as executive director of the Alabama Council of Human Relations, where he developed a close relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After facing backlash from the Ku Klux Klan, spending four days in jail for refusing to disclose ACHR membership lists, and ultimately being forced to leave the state of Alabama, he served as a Methodist missionary in Southern Rhodesia. After two years of organizing Black liberation groups, he was banned as a “prohibited immigrant” by the Ian Smith government. His lifelong commitment to social justice, racial equality, and peaceful resolution of conflicts marks a fascinating career richly documented in this comprehensive biography. To Do Justice: The Civil Rights Ministry of Reverend Robert E. Hughes traces the life and career of an admirable and lesser-known civil rights figure who fought injustice on two continents. This account presents valuable new evidence about the civil rights movement in the United States as well as human rights and liberation issues in colonial Southern Rhodesia in the years leading up to independence and self-rule. Readers get a behind-the-scenes look at a courageous individual who worked out of the public spotlight but provided essential support and informational resources to public activists and news reporters. Randall C. Jimerson explores the interwoven threads of race relations and religious beliefs on two continents, focusing on the dual themes of the American civil rights movement and the African struggles for decolonization and majority rule. The life and career of Hughes provide insight into the international dimensions of racial prejudice and discrimination that can be viewed in comparative context to similar oppressions in other colonial lands.

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9780817321239

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Reviews

To Do Justice calls attention to a key but heretofore unsung figure who labored heroically in the midst of two related social/political revolutions. Bob Hughes deserves a place in the literature that connects these movements. --Carolyn Dupont, author of Mississippi Praying: Southern White Evangelicals and the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1975 Robert Hughes played a crucial role in the unfolding civil rights movement in Alabama. Now at last we have a full account of his remarkable career. --J. Mills Thornton III, author of Dividing Lines: Municipal Politics and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma White southerners who were on the right side of civil rights history when it literally put their survival on the line have never been fully recognized. Partly, of course, this is because they were supporting players in the African American freedom movement. But also their example shatters the excuse of the great majority of Good Southerners who claimed they went along with segregation because they had no choice. Robert Hughes, a white Alabamian, joined forces with his fellow young minister Martin Luther King Jr. early in the revolution during the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott and joined the global struggle against apartheid in Southern Rhodesia after being exiled from Alabama. Randall Jimerson's fine biography of Hughes brings context and rich detail to a life of moral courage impressive to this day. --Diane McWhorter, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama--The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution Bob Hughes is a remarkable figure, not to mention a paradigmatic example of a white southerner in the civil rights movement. Few books focus on one white person's impact on the civil rights movement. Jimerson's study does so in an engaging and illuminating way. --Stephen R. Haynes, author of The Last Segregated Hour: The Memphis Kneel-Ins and the Campaign for Southern Church Desegregation

"""To Do Justice calls attention to a key but heretofore unsung figure who labored heroically in the midst of two related social/political revolutions. Bob Hughes deserves a place in the literature that connects these movements."" --Carolyn Dupont, author of Mississippi Praying: Southern White Evangelicals and the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1975 ""Robert Hughes played a crucial role in the unfolding civil rights movement in Alabama. Now at last we have a full account of his remarkable career."" --J. Mills Thornton III, author of Dividing Lines: Municipal Politics and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma ""White southerners who were on the right side of civil rights history when it literally put their survival on the line have never been fully recognized. Partly, of course, this is because they were supporting players in the African American freedom movement. But also their example shatters the excuse of the great majority of Good Southerners who claimed they went along with segregation because they had no choice. Robert Hughes, a white Alabamian, joined forces with his fellow young minister Martin Luther King Jr. early in the revolution during the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott and joined the global struggle against apartheid in Southern Rhodesia after being exiled from Alabama. Randall Jimerson's fine biography of Hughes brings context and rich detail to a life of moral courage impressive to this day."" --Diane McWhorter, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama--The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution ""Bob Hughes is a remarkable figure, not to mention a paradigmatic example of a white southerner in the civil rights movement. Few books focus on one white person's impact on the civil rights movement. Jimerson's study does so in an engaging and illuminating way."" --Stephen R. Haynes, author of The Last Segregated Hour: The Memphis Kneel-Ins and the Campaign for Southern Church Desegregation"

To Do Justice calls attention to a key but heretofore unsung figure who labored heroically in the midst of two related social/political revolutions. Bob Hughes deserves a place in the literature that connects these movements. --Carolyn Dupont, author of Mississippi Praying: Southern White Evangelicals and the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1975 Robert Hughes played a crucial role in the unfolding civil rights movement in Alabama. Now at last we have a full account of his remarkable career. --J. Mills Thornton III, author of Dividing Lines: Municipal Politics and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma White southerners who were on the right side of civil rights history when it literally put their survival on the line have never been fully recognized. Partly, of course, this is because they were supporting players in the African American freedom movement. But also their example shatters the excuse of the great majority of Good Southerners who claimed they went along with segregation because they had no choice. Robert Hughes, a white Alabamian, joined forces with his fellow young minister Martin Luther King Jr. early in the revolution during the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott and joined the global struggle against apartheid in Southern Rhodesia after being exiled from Alabama. Randall Jimerson's fine biography of Hughes brings context and rich detail to a life of moral courage impressive to this day, especially. --Diane McWhorter, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama--The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution Bob Hughes is a remarkable figure, not to mention a paradigmatic example of a white southerner in the civil rights movement. Few books focus on one white person's impact on the civil rights movement. Jimerson's study does so in an engaging and illuminating way. --Stephen R. Haynes, author of The Last Segregated Hour: The Memphis Kneel-Ins and the Campaign for Southern Church Desegregation

Author Information

Randall C. Jimerson is emeritus professor of history at Western Washington University, where he was director of the graduate program in archives and record management. He is author of Shattered Glass in Birmingham: My Family's Fight for Civil Rights, 1961-1964, Archives Power: Memory, Accountability, and Social Justice, and The Private Civil War: Popular Thought during the Sectional Conflict.

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