In this remarkable biography, Sara Haviland examines the ideas and activism of two of the most committed and significant freedom fighters in twentieth-century America. Haviland's brilliantly constructed narrative explores how Esther Cooper Jackson and James Jackson grappled with profound racial, class, and gender inequalities and, through their seven decades of experiences and love for each other, sought to interpret and refashion pathways to bring about the democratic, antiracist world they envisioned
~Erik Gellman, author of Death Blow to Jim Crow: The National Negro Congress and the Rise of Militant Civil Rights
Esther and James Jackson forged a sixty-six year marriage alongside deep and abiding commitments to the Black freedom struggle and Communist ideals. Sara Rzeszutek Haviland tells their story with warmth, insight, and a great flair for distilling the tumultuous landscape of the American left.
~Martha Biondi, author of The Black Revolution on Campus
Haviland's use of personal correspondence brings this important period of history to life and shows the cost of those who worked in the black freedom movement. Highly recommended.
~Library Journal (starred review)
James and Esther Cooper Jackson: Love and Courage in the Black Freedom Movement is rich with first-person accounts and archival material straight from the Jacksons that sheds new light on the intertwining and unwinding of the communist and civil rights movements.
~Brooklyn Daily Eagle
St. Francis College historian Haviland's fascinating and informative book illuminates a missing chapter in the black freedom struggle and the intersection between that struggle and the Communist Party USA.
~CHOICE connect
James and Esther Cooper Jackson: Love and Courage in the Black Freedom Movement, by Sara Rzeszutek Haviland, isn't just a political history. It is a joint biography of the highest order.
~People's World
In an engrossing narrative spanning nine decades, Sara Rzeszutek Haviland weaves romance, war, separation, and struggle in a story that speaks to central themes in civil rights, gender, and family history.
~Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
The author captures the life and times of two of the most important African American leaders of the Long Civil Rights Revolution, portraying their endearing love for each other over a marriage that lasted 66 years, and shows how their commitment translated into their public life.
~Left Turn
Using archives, extensive secondary literature, and interviews with the Jacksons and their colleagues, Haviland strikes a balance between respect for this revered couple and critical analysis of their choices. Books such as this joint biography preserve important legacies, reveal interconnections, and complicate narratives of the long black freedom struggle.
~Journal of American History
The book is [an] inspiring story of two people who, over the course of a 66-year marriage, succeeded in working both together and separately to combine their love of family with their activism, to advance the cause of African American civil rights.
~The Southeastern Librarian
