Reviewed by Rethinking Schools Book Author: African American sharecroppers in Fayette County, Tennessee, tried to exercise their legal right to register to vote in the late 1950s. A key motivation was to break the practice of all-white juries which denied African Americans a fair trial. The white backlash was brutal. Black people who attempted to register […]
Risking Everything: A Freedom Summer Reader
Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Zinn Education Project Book Author: This year marks the 50th anniversary of a milestone event in U.S. history, Freedom Summer. The largest collection of primary documents from Freedom Summer is now housed (much available online) at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Continue reading.
The Voting Booth
Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: This novel for ages 12+ lives up to its dedication to Fannie Lou Hamer. Two storylines sweep readers along — one about contemporary challenges of voting on election day and the other a budding love story. High school student protagonist Marva Sheridan has been […]
Belle, the Last Mule at Gee’s Bend: A Civil Rights Story
Reviewed by: Rebecca Lehr Book Author: As Alex’s mother shops for a quilt in Gee’s Bend, Alabama, he sits outside and spots an old mule eating collard greens from a garden. An elderly woman, Miz Pettway, sits down next to him and begins to tell him why Belle, the mule, is allowed to eat all […]
Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights
Reviewed by Edi Campbell Review Source: Cotton Quilts Book Authors: OUT OF PRINT I didn’t begin to appreciate nonfiction until my adult years. During my childhood, nonfiction I think was primarily written for for adults; particularly white, male adults. Even more so, it was a dry, informational text, a text that led readers to think it was […]
Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement
Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Reviewed Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: Finally, a book for children about Fannie Lou Hamer, one of the most influential women in the modern Civil Rights Movement. Voice of Freedom is infused with Hamer’s own quotes and the colloquial style that defined her skill as a speaker. It introduces key events […]