Introduction: Gendered contexts: civil rights, leadership, exodus politics, and African American literature -- Is he the one?: the politics of gender and gender politics: civil rights activism and leadership in Ernest Gaines’ The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman -- The refusal of Christ to accept crucifixion: bridge leadership refutes the paradoxes of exodus politics in Alice Walker’s Meridian -- The important thing is making generations: reconsidering reproduction and blues performances as forms of civil rights leadership in Gayl Jones’ Corregidora -- We all killed him the limits of (formal) leadership and civil rights legislation in Charles Johnson’s Dreamer -- Epilogue: Is there life after exodus politics?.