Robert Parris Moses

One of the most influential leaders in the civil rights movement Robert Parris Moses was essential in making Mississippi a central battleground state in the fight for voting rights. As a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Moses presented himself as a mere facilitator of grassroots activism rather than a charismatic figure like Martin Luther King Jr. His self-effacing demeanor and his success especially in steering the events that led to the volatile 1964 Freedom Summer and the formation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party paradoxically gave him a reputation of nearly heroic proportions. Examining the dilemmas of a leader who worked to cultivate local leadership historian Laura Visser-Maessen explores the intellectual underpinnings of Moses’s strategy its achievements and its struggles.<br/><br/>This new biography recasts Moses as an effective hands-on organizer safeguarding his ideals while leading from behind the scenes. By returning Moses to his rightful place among the foremost leaders of the movement Visser-Maessen testifies to Moses’s revolutionary approach to grassroots leadership and the power of the individual in generating social change.