Heroes of the Memphis Civil Rights Movement: Maxine A. Smith and Russell B. Sugarmon, Jr.

Authors

Elizabeth Gritter, Indiana University SoutheastFollow

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Two intertwined leaders of the modern civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s in Memphis, Tennessee, were Maxine Atkins Smith and Russell B. Sugarmon, Jr., both of whom were African American. Both were born in Memphis in 1929, and they shared commonalities in their personal histories and rose to become key leaders of the Memphis movement. Along with displaying courage and persistence, they were true pioneers in the Black freedom struggle in Memphis and Shelby County who employed organizational skills and community involvement as key to their social activism. This article examines their early activism from the mid-1950s until 1964.

DOI

10.26736/hs.2024.01.04

Recommended Citation

Gritter, Elizabeth (2024) "Heroes of the Memphis Civil Rights Movement: Maxine A. Smith and Russell B. Sugarmon, Jr.," Heroism Science: Vol. 9: Iss. 1, Article 3.
DOI: 10.26736/hs.2024.01.04
Available at: https://scholarship.richmond.edu/heroism-science/vol9/iss1/3