Communist front?

Gerald Horne offers a scholarly study of the Civil Rights Congress, which was active for a decade from 1946 to 1956. Although it was a significant force in twentieth-century American life, the group has received relatively little scholarly attention, and this book aims to fill that gap.

The organization worked on behalf of Black Americans, Communists, and other people facing oppression and exclusion. It drew national notice to cases of wrongful accusation and judicial failure, including those of Rosa Lee Ingram and Willie McGee. Through its We Charge Genocide petition, it also placed the struggle for Black liberation within an international frame.

As the Cold War intensified and anti-communist persecution reached its height, the Civil Rights Congress faced constant federal monitoring and hostility. That pressure ultimately brought the group to an early end in 1956.