African American women played a more significant leadership role in the civil rights movement than what chroniclers typically acknowledge, says a UC Davis sociologist, who has written a new book on the subject. Higher-profile African American men and white women have received attention for their efforts in civil rights achievement, yet it was black women leaders who provided a particular kind of leadership critical to the movement's successful mobilization of rural communities and small cities, writes Belinda Robnett in her recent book "How Long? How Long? African-American Women in the Struggle for Civil Rights" (Oxford University Press). "Given the lack of media resources and the realistic fear of reprisals, most of those in these (rural) communities would not have joined the movement otherwise. It was the work of indigenous bridge leaders, many of whom were black women, that led to the successful identity transformation and shared solidarity of the movement," Robnett says. Bridge leaders are those who fostered ties between the social movement and communities, and were "able to cross the boundaries between the public life of a movement organization and the private spheres of adherents and potential constituents." The assistant professor cites the work of Ella Baker, whom she describes as one of the most important figures in the civil rights movement, "with an ideological bent developed out of the Harlem Renaissance. Baker's notions of a participatory democracy governed the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and provided a permanent belief in the development and mobilization of community leaders. SNCC...became critical grassroots mobilizers, often acting spontaneously to sustain the momentum of the movement."